June 22, 2018 11:11 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Friday (June 22)

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• by: Colorado Pols

If you still have a Primary ballot sitting on your kitchen table, you should take it to a ballot drop-off location rather than putting it in the mail at this point. Check GoVoteColorado.com for more information. It’s time to Get More Smarter. If you think we missed something important, please include the link in the comments below (here’s a good example). If you are more of a visual learner, check out The Get More Smarter Show.

TOP OF MIND TODAY… 

► Congressional Republicans will NOT vote on an immigration reform proposal this week, because President Trump used Twitter. From CNN:

“Republicans should stop wasting their time on Immigration until after we elect more Senators and Congressmen/women in November,” Trump tweeted. “Dems are just playing games, have no intention of doing anything to solves this decades old problem. We can pass great legislation after the Red Wave!”…

…Now. The so-called “compromise” legislation — constructed by House Speaker Paul Ryan to make moderates and conservative happy — was already on life support before Trump came in and pulled the plug. A vote on the measure was originally scheduled for Thursday. It was then set for Friday. Then late Thursday, it was postponed until next week as GOP leaders insisted they saw a glimmer of hope to write a bill that might actually pass the House.

That hope is dead now. Imagine you are a conservative Republican resistant to the “compromise” bill because it provides a path to citizenship for DACA recipients. You now have every reason in the world not to come to the table and take a tough vote. The President literally said there was no point!

As Politico notes, Republican leaders in Congress appear to be completely mystified by Trump’s ever-changing immigration positions. The same goes for Republican strategists, who don’t agree with Trump that immigration is a good issue for the GOP in 2018. From the Washington Post:

Despite Trump’s tactical retreat on family separations this week, he continues to believe that immigration should be a defining issue of the 2018 elections and that it will galvanize the GOP base. This puts him at odds with most veteran Republican strategists, campaign managers and pollsters who think the party would be much better off focusing on the strong economy and the GOP tax cuts. But Trump believes he has superior political instincts than these experts and that his unexpected victory in 2016 proves it.

But two new polls suggest that immigration may not be as effective an issue for Trump in 2018 as it was two years ago. In fact, Trump’s fixation on building the wall and reducing the number of immigrants who are allowed into the country appears to be a key reason that those ideas are becoming less popular…

…Gallup found a record-low number of Americans — only 29 percent — think immigration into the U.S. should be decreased, which has been one of Trump’s core demands to congressional negotiators. A 39 percent plurality think immigration should be kept at its present level, while 28 percent say it should be increased.

Trump is also accusing Democrats of planting “phony stories of sadness and grief” along the US-Mexico border.

► Walker Stumbleton Stapleton appears to be headed toward a victory in Tuesday’s Primary for the Republican gubernatorial nomination. Colorado Democrats are more than happy to see Stapleton atop the GOP ticket this fall.

► Congressman Scott Tipton (R-Cortez) is getting hammered by critics for pretending to send a letter to the Department of Homeland Security in protest of President Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy. 

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► If you click on this link to a story on the KOAA website (NBC Channel 5 in Colorado Springs), you will see a message indicating that “the page you requested is currently unavailable.” The link used to go to a story about a planned gubernatorial debate on Thursday evening in Colorado Springs, but because Democrat Donna Lynne was the only candidate to show up, the story appears to have been removed.

Side note: It’s not a good sign for your campaign when you show up at an event that even Greg Lopez decides to skip.

► Congressman Mike Coffman (R-Aurora) says he is planning a trip to the US-Mexico border to inspect living conditions for immigrant families being detained in U.S. facilities. Coffman is also calling on President Trump to fire senior adviser Stephen Miller, because calling for other people to be fired is Coffman’s go-to move in any crisis.

► Marianne Goodland reports on two big votes in Congress on Thursday for the publication formerly known as the Colorado Statesman:

The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday voted narrowly to approve a bill that extends farm programs overseen by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, but rejected a hard-line Republican-sponsored bill on immigration reform — a pair of votes that conservatives had insisted should be taken side by side.

The vote of 213 to 211 on H.R. 2 — the Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018 — included a “yes” vote from Rep. Ken Buck of Greeley, a member of the House’s Freedom Caucus…

…The other three Republicans in Colorado’s House delegation — Reps. Mike Coffman of Aurora, Doug Lamborn of Colorado Springs and Scott Tipton of Cortez — also voted in favor of the farm bill. The three Democrats — Reps. Diana DeGette of Denver, Ed Perlmutter of Arvada and Jared Polis of Boulder — all voted no.

The House version of the farm bill approved on Thursday is unchanged from the version rejected last month, and that could spell trouble for a final compromise with the U.S. Senate.

Congressman Ken Buck (R-Greeley) is also happy about a committee vote on Thursday to advance a bill that would “potentially open up new revenue streams for water supply and storage companies.”

► Nick Coltrain of the Ft. Collins Coloradoan breaks down policy positions of the candidates for Governor on energy and environmental issues.

► The U.S. Supreme Court rules that law enforcement agencies need a warrant to access data from cell phone towers.

► As Aaron Blake writes for the Washington Post, President Trump has every reason to be increasingly concerned about former attorney Michael Cohen:

It was already an ominous week for President Trump when it came to Michael Cohen. And it just became more so.

The Post’s Sarah Ellison reported Thursday evening that three sources tell her the National Enquirer shared stories about Trump with Cohen before publication — both during the 2016 campaign and after Trump became president…

…To the casual observer, this may seem like a media ethics story. But it’s potentially way more than that.

That’s because Trump’s control over — and Cohen’s involvement in — the Enquirer’s and American Media Inc.’s business is at the center of the probe into Cohen and alleged hush-money payments to Trump’s accusers.

► Walker Stapleton is very good at telling lies about himself. 

► The Colorado Lottery has a new director.

► The U.S. House of Representatives passed an extensive bill dealing with opioid abuse on Friday.

► RTD has removed flaggers from four A Line light rail crossings, effective today.