#nils talking

My old lady deserves to go before she's only in agony.

In ~90 minutes my oral exam starts...

This is just an outsider's nerdy opinion on how to reshape the US and alter the structure of the US, so don't take this too seriously.

Also, I'm assuming no successful independence movements, even when they are deserved, though there

The State of West Virginia ceases to exist; the counties Brooke & Hancock & Marshall & Ohio join the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, as they are in the Greater Pittsburgh area; the counties Berkeley & Jefferson join the Commonwealth of Virginia, reversing the 1870 Supreme Court decision, as West Virginia would no longer exist. The remainder of West Virginia joins the Commonwealth of Kentucky, with the state capital moving slightly westwards to Lexington.

The State of Delware ceases to exist and joins the State of Maryland, now known as the State of Chesapeake. Its former exclaves near Finns Point and north of the Salem Nuclear Power Plant are ceded to the state of New Jersey. Anapolis is Chesapeake's state capital.

The States of Rhode Island and Connecticut merge into a new state called Nehantucket, named after the Niantic people that live in the border area of the two states. Nehantucket also cedes the Planning Regions of Western Connecticut and Greater Bridgeport to the State of New York. The state capital would be Providence.

Speaking of New York, the state is reduced to the Empire State Development Corporation Regions of Hudson Valley, Long Island, and New York City, as well as the two gained planning regions of the former State of Connecticut. The remainder of New York merges with the State of Vermont to form the State of Haudenosaunee.

The States of Maine and New Hampshire merge into the State of Sagadahoc. Its state capital would be Portland.

The Oklahoma Tribal Statistical Areas/Reservations of Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, Eastern Shawnee, Miami, Modoc, Osage, Ottawa, Pawnee, Peoria, Quapaw, Seminole, Seneca-Cayuga, and Wyandotte from the Associated Nation of Sequoyah, with its capital at Tulsa. The remainder of Oklahoma joins the State of Kansas, with the exception of the Oklahoma Panhandle (the counties Beaver. Cimarron, and Texas), which join the State of Texas. [Sidenote: the combined population of Sequoyah would be roughly 50 percent of Oklahoma's current 4 million people.]

But, speaking of Texas... The Lone Star State would be split north to south, with the areas of the state covering cities such as Austin, Corpus Christi, El Paso, Fredericksburg, Galveston, Houston, Laredo, and San Antonio forming a new state, potentially called Karankawa, with Austin being its state capital. The rump Texas would have its state capital moved to Fort Worth. Additionally, Texas would cede the narrow strip adjacent to the 103rd meridian to New Mexico, as outlined in the Compromise of 1850.

Further north, the West River portions of South Dakota, plus South Dakota's Crow Creek Indian Reservation and the Yankton Sioux Reservation east of the Mississippi River and North Dakota's Sioux County (part of Standing Rock Reservation) would form the Associated Nation of the Great Sioux. The remainder of South Dakota (having just under 70 percent of South Dakota's population based on 2020 census data) would join North Dakota, becoming the State of Dakota. Coincidentally, once this listicle is complete, it'd be the smallest US state in the "Lower 48" because...

The States of Montana and Wyoming should merge into a single state named Absaroka. Its state capital would be Billings.

The State of Nevada is to be partitioned between the States of Utah and Arizona along the 37th degrees North latitude, making Las Vegas an Arizonan city.

California is to be split into two, with the dividing line following the northern borers of the counties (from coast to Nevada) Monterey, San Benito, Fresno, Madera, and Inyo. The southern state would keep the name California (s. Baja California) and move its state capital to Palmdale. Northern California, which could be renamed to Shasta or Aurelia, could keep its state capital in Sacramento.

Hawaii and Alaska become Associated Nations, as does Marianas (Guam + Northern Marianas), the US Virgin Islands, and American Samoa.

Navajo Nation would also become an Associated Nation, potentially also including the Hopi Reservation. Some land swaps and land gains from Arizona and New Mexico would ensure contigous borders, including linking up the Hopi Reservation to Arizona if the Hopi were to decide to stay in Arizona and not join the Dinétah Associated Nation.

Puerto Rico becomes a state.

Washington, D.C. either becomes a suis generis entity equal to a state or joins the State of Chesapeake; potentially the government-relevant core remains a US territory.