it would serve Republican interests for California or the entire West Coast to leave,
Not it wouldn't. The Republicans already control the seats of power, and might well be able to maintain that.
The West Coast provides massive amounts of tax income, economic resources, and military personel that are also used by Republican majority states:
https://apnews.com/2f83c72de1bd440d92cdbc0d3b6bc08c/AP-FACT-CHECK:-Blue-high-tax-states-fund-red-low-tax-states
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnVPVd5YXnI
That is not to say this "blue states tend to subsidize red states" phenomenon is a bad thing, it simply follows from the fact that most of the richer people living in cities pay more taxes.
I don't disagree, you're probably right that at least in the short term, they have all the power anyway. And they'll rig it enough to keep that power in the long term. So I'll back offmy original point. But a different point... if the west coast wanted to leave, I can't imagine there would be the political will to actually start trying to physically force them back in. Now other measures to make west coast folks as uncomfortable as possible? Yeah, very possibly.
Not it wouldn't. The Republicans already control the seats of power, and might well be able to maintain that.
The West Coast provides massive amounts of tax income, economic resources, and military personel that are also used by Republican majority states:
https://apnews.com/2f83c72de1bd440d92cdbc0d3b6bc08c/AP-FACT-CHECK:-Blue-high-tax-states-fund-red-low-tax-states
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnVPVd5YXnI
That is not to say this "blue states tend to subsidize red states" phenomenon is a bad thing, it simply follows from the fact that most of the richer people living in cities pay more taxes.
I don't disagree, you're probably right that at least in the short term, they have all the power anyway. And they'll rig it enough to keep that power in the long term. So I'll back offmy original point. But a different point... if the west coast wanted to leave, I can't imagine there would be the political will to actually start trying to physically force them back in. Now other measures to make west coast folks as uncomfortable as possible? Yeah, very possibly.