November 13, 2018 10:09 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Tuesday (November 13)

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• by: Colorado Pols

The 2018 election is already a week old. 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…

► Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen looks to be the next cabinet official on the way out of the Trump administration. From the Washington Post:

President Trump has told advisers he has decided to remove Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, and her departure from the administration is likely to occur in the coming weeks, if not sooner, according to five current and former White House officials.

Trump canceled a planned trip with Nielsen this week to visit U.S. troops at the border in South Texas and told aides over the weekend that he wants her out as soon as possible, these officials said. The president has grumbled for months about what he views as Nielsen’s lackluster performance on immigration enforcement and is believed to be looking for a replacement who will implement his policy ideas with more alacrity.

The announcement could come as soon as this week, three of these officials said.

Trump has changed his mind on key personnel decisions before, and Chief of Staff John F. Kelly is fighting Nielsen’s pending dismissal and attempting to postpone it, aides say. But Kelly’s future in the administration also is shaky, according to three White House officials.

President Trump canned Attorney General Jeff Sessions last week, less than 24 hours after Election Day.

► Democrats picked up another U.S. Senate seat on Monday when Rep. Martha McSally conceded to Democrat Kyrsten Sinema in Arizona. McSally could still end up in the U.S. Senate anyway, as Chris Cillizza of CNN explains.

► Colorado Democrats will hold 41 seats in the State House when the legislature reconvenes in January, which means that there will be more Democrats in the lower chamber than there are Republicans in both legislative chambers combined.

► A judge has delayed the certification of voting results in Georgia amid growing concerns of voter disenfranchisement.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post joins the chorus of voices wondering what in the hell Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner is thinking. Locally, Westword considers Gardner’s difficult path to re-election in 2020.

► Mississippi Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith faces a runoff election on November 27.  She’s not helping her own cause, as Chris Cillizza writes for CNN:

On Nov. 2, Cindy Hyde-Smith said something dumb.

Praising a cattle rancher and thanking him for his support, the Mississippi Republican senator said this: “If he invited me to a public hanging, I’d be on the front row.”…

…Which brings us to Monday in Mississippi. And specifically, a news conference with Hyde-Smith and Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant, who appointed her in March to fill the seat of Thad Cochran, who resigned due to health issues.

Let me just say this as plainly as possible: This news conference could not have gone worse for Cindy Hyde-Smith. Like, it’s simply not possible.

You can read more about the press conference here, which contains echos of former Colorado Republican Senate candidate Jon Keyser’s disastrous response to questions about petition signatures for ballot access.

► Nic Garcia of the Denver Post looks at how Colorado Republicans might move forward after devastating losses last week:

“The barn has been completely cleaned out,” said David Flaherty, a Colorado Republican pollster. “We’re trying to learn what motivated them. But you’re kidding yourself if you say President Trump didn’t have something to do with it.”

Long before the results from the 2018 election were known, Republicans — especially those running for statewide office — faced daunting electoral challenges. Colorado is getting younger; the party has registered fewer than 50,000 new voters since 2014; and the national mood favored Democrats.

Now, according to Flaherty and other political insiders interviewed by The Denver Post this week, the situation is more dire for Colorado’s GOP. Of most immediate concern: U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner’s re-election prospects are grim unless the party can develop a new message that appeals to both the Trump loyalists and the independent voters who dislike the president.

Garcia’s story is a fascinating look at Republicans in Colorado who remain uncertain about how much they should (or should not) campaign alongside President Trump in 2020.

► The Trump administration is pushing new regulations that could allow Colorado employers to deny health coverage for birth control.

► Colorado Public Radio looks ahead to 2019 and considers how Democrats may approach policy positions with their newfound majority control.

► The Colorado Sun reports on the transition team for Governor-elect Jared Polis.

► Colorado Public Radio considers the next steps on oil and gas drilling policies in Colorado after the failure of Proposition 112, which sought to increase setbacks for drilling.

► A Democratic vacancy committee will need to select a replacement for Sen. Matt Jones, who will leave his Longmont/Boulder seat after winning a spot as a Boulder County Commissioner last week.

► CNN is suing the White House after reporter Jim Acosta’s media credentials were suspended last week.

► As the New York Times explains, a tough 2018 election cycle for Republicans is looking increasingly worse as final ballot counts are reached across the country.
 

Your Daily Dose Of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

► Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker is consulting with ethics officials about whether or not he can decline to recuse himself from the special investigation into potential Russian collusion with the Trump campaign in 2016.

► Good luck with that secession thing.

ICYMI

► Senator Cory Gardner won’t say if he supports legislation to protect special investigator Robert Mueller as he looks into potential Russian collusion with Donald Trump’s campaign in 2016.

► Nobody hates to say they told you so. 

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