If you have gone the entire month without once writing “2018,” then give yourself a nice pat on the back. Now, let’s “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.
► The federal government shutdown is now in its 32nd day, and supporters of President Trump are increasingly getting fed up with the man they helped elect to the White House. From the Washington Post:
“What the [expletive] were we thinking?” [Pols emphasis] he asked the other night inside a Walmart here, in an area of blue-collar suburban Detroit that helped deliver the presidency to Trump.
While Trump’s relationship with much of his base remains strong, two years after his inauguration his ties are fraying with voters like Jeff Daudert, the kind who voted in droves for Trump in key pockets throughout the industrial Midwest, flipping previously Democratic states to him in 2016. The shutdown fight, as it has played out over the past month, is further eroding the president’s support among voters who like the idea of beefing up border security — but not enough to close the government.
Many here, even those who still support Trump, say they hold him most responsible. They recite his comment from the Oval Office that he would be “proud to shut down the government.” When he said it, they listened. [Pols emphasis]
“What the [expletive] were we thinking?” If there is a more perfect quote for Trump supporters, we’d love to see it.
► In local shutdown news, Colorado has spent more than $100,000 on unemployment benefits for federal workers who aren’t getting paychecks anymore; Gov. Jared Polis authorized an emergency rule to allow federal employees who remain on the job (without pay) to apply for unemployment benefits.
As the Denver Post reports, the shutdown is causing significant economic damage across a broad range of sectors in Colorado.
► Senate Republicans have ceded the shutdown/border wall debate to President Trump, offering little resistance to their man in the White House. And as Politico reports, upcoming Senate legislation to end the shutdown is filled with sharp, pointy bits that won’t do much for a compromise:
A 1,300-page spending bill released by Senate Republicans Monday night contains provisions to restrict asylum and other hard-line immigration changes that make it unlikely to generate bipartisan support.
Democrats already were poised to reject President Donald Trump’s proposal to pass his $5.7 billion funding request for a border wall in exchange for temporary protections for some immigrants brought to the United States as children and others covered by a humanitarian status. But hawkish measures embedded in the Republican spending bill will give Democrats even more reason to spurn the legislation.
“This is a Stephen Miller special,” Kerri Talbot, a director with the Washington, D.C.-based Immigration Hub, told reporters Tuesday. “It’s a Trojan horse with many extreme immigration proposals included.”
The bill doesn’t appear likely to end a partial shutdown of the federal government that stretched into its 32nd day Tuesday.
Elsewhere, CNN takes a look at six potential scenarios that could possibly lead to an end of the government shutdown.
► Republican State Rep. Lori Saine (R-Weld County) is getting blasted in both local and national press over comments she made suggesting that white and black people were lynched in equal numbers after Reconstruction (comments first reported here at Colorado Pols). Here’s a brief rundown of the coverage.
You know you done f*cked up when even Fox News calls you out.
Get even more smarter after the jump…
► Another upcoming book about President Trump, this one penned by a former top White House staffer, paints an excruciatingly-incompetent picture of the Trump administration. As Chris Cillizza writes for CNN:
Donald Trump isn’t a big policy guy. Or a big respect guy.
This anecdote, from a book set for release next week by former Trump White House aide Cliff Sims and first reported in The Washington Post, is illustrative of both of those facts:
“Sims recounts one time when (Paul) Ryan was in the Oval Office explaining the ins and outs of the Republican health-care bill to the president. As Ryan droned on for 15 minutes, Trump sipped on a glass of Diet Coke, peered out at the Rose Garden, stared aimlessly at the walls and, finally, walked out.“Ryan kept talking as the president wandered down the hall to his private dining room, where he flicked on his giant flat-screen TV. Apparently, he had had enough of Ryan’s talk. It fell to Vice President Pence to retrieve Trump and convince him to return to the Oval Office so they could continue their strategy session.”
WHAAAAAAAT?
Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States of America.
► The Associated Press takes a look at the re-election hopes of Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) with a specific focus on the Trump problem:
Republican Sen. Cory Gardner helped mastermind the GOP’s midterm strategy of pushing Senate candidates closer to President Donald Trump. But heading into his own 2020 re-election bid in Colorado, he’s allowing more distance with the not-so-popular president.
And he’s not alone…
…As Republican senators set out to run for re-election in states where views on Trump are mixed, they’re trying to figure out how closely to align themselves with Trump.
“I made it clear when I ran for Senate that, when my party’s wrong, I’m going to say it,” Gardner said in an interview. [Pols emphasis]
Yes, Gardner did say that when he ran for Senate in 2014. Of course, Gardner hasn’t actually followed through on that promise since he’s been in office, but it sure is neat that he said it once.
► California Sen. Kamala Harris raised about $1.5 million in the 24 hours after she announced that she would seek the Democratic nomination for President in 2020.
► The Supreme Court revived a ban preventing transgender Americans from serving in the military.
► New Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold wants to shine a brighter light on shady political donations.
► Colorado’s new Attorney General, Phil Weiser, sits down with Anne Trujillo of Denver7 to talk about his priorities in office.
► A tentative deal to end a teacher’s strike in Los Angeles may be within reach. In Denver, teachers are a few days away from walking off the job.
► The White House is pushing ahead with plans to hold the annual State of the Union address next week, even though President Trump was not invited to deliver the speech by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The White House is apparently preparing two versions of the speech in the event that Pelosi does not relent and allow Trump to speak in the House Chambers.
► Democrats in the state legislature are proposing legislation to ban “abstinence-only” sexual education classes.
► Colorado Republicans don’t have the votes to pass legislation to make it easier to own and carry firearms in the state, but that hasn’t stopped them from pushing anyway. They just do what the NRA tells them to do.
► A judge in North Carolina refused a request to certify election results in favor of Republican Mark Harris in a controversial Congressional race marred by claims of voter fraud.
► The ongoing government shutdown is making you less safe.
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It is not possible to know what might have happened if there were not intervention, but it seems likely that the police have arrested a man who was going to carry out a suicide attack against women. The man arrested is from Denver Colorado and was staying in Provo Utah. He was already under probation for stalking and harassment in Jefferson County.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/crime-law/2019/01/22/man-cited-his-virginity-reason-he-planned-kill-many-girls-he-could-police-say/