January 31, 2018 01:00 PM UTC

Gardner cheerleads for Trump

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• by: Jason Salzman

U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO) took to conservative radio to cheerlead for Trump yesterday, in advance of the annual State of the Union Address.

Gardner is all-in for Trump now, despite Gardner’s occasional, and much-covered, denunciations of Trump along the way, on issues as marijuana and white supremacy.

“I think this is a chance for the President to really talk about those accomplishments, to talk about the fact that we passed significant bipartisan legislation to make it easier for lifesaving drugs to get approved, that we passed legislation to repeal a whole bunch of bad regulations that were dragging the economy down, that we passed a massive tax cut for the American people allowing them to keep more of their own dollars in their own pocket” Gardner told KNUS host Dan Caplis.

“So this is a little bit of a chance for the President to say, ‘Hey, this is what we accomplished over the last year. As a result, we have more people believing we have the strongest economy in decades. We have more people seeing wage growth. We have more people being able to keep more of their own dollars in their own pocket. We have more people finding better jobs. And this is what we can now do together to make this next year even better.'”

Gardner claimed the surging economy can be linked to passage of the tax bill, and the pro-business climate he says it’s created.

Gardner did not mention the specter of millions of people losing health insurance as a result of the GOP tax bill, nor the criticism of the rollback of environmental, financial, and health regulations under Trump.

The first-term senator did not address criticism that the tax bill will increase the debt while enriching the wealthy and relying on the dubious theory that wealth will trickle down to low-income people in the form of higher pay and more jobs.

Gardner told Caplis that the State of the Union is “a function of our Constitution,” which, in fact, it is not. The Constitution doesn’t say the president is supposed to give a speech to Congress.

Thomas Jefferson sent written reports to Congress, because he didn’t like speeches, and that was the custom until Woodrow Wilson revived the joint address.

The Constitution says: He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper; he shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers; he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the Officers of the United States.