July 13, 2020 11:09 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Monday (July 13)

• 11 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

If you want to know what it feels like to be President Trump right now, just go stand outside on the pavement for about 10 minutes. 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 an audio/visual learner, check out The Get More Smarter Show or The Get More Smarter Podcast. And don’t forget to find us on Facebook and Twitter.

BECAUSE CORONAVIRUS…

*Colorado Coronavirus info:
CDPHE Coronavirus website 

*Daily Coronavirus numbers in Colorado:
http://covid19.colorado.gov

*How you can help in Colorado:
COVRN.com

*Locate a COVID-19 testing site in Colorado:
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment 

► President Trump is attacking Dr. Anthony Fauci because Fauci isn’t playing along with Trump’s plan to pretend the coronavirus outbreak is totally under control. As Maggie Haberman explains for The New York Times:

President Trump’s advisers undercut the nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, over the weekend, anonymously providing details to various news outlets about statements he had made early in the coronavirus outbreak that they said were inaccurate.

The move to treat Dr. Fauci, who has led the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for decades, as if he were a warring political rival came as he has grown increasingly vocal in his concerns about the national surge in coronavirus cases, as well as his lack of access to Mr. Trump over the past several weeks. It has been accompanied by more measured public criticism from administration officials, including the president.

And it came just days after the White House called school reopening guidelines released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention overly restrictive, part of a pattern of the administration trying to sideline recommendations that could slow the reopening of the economy, which Mr. Trump views as vital to his flailing re-election effort.

Aides to Mr. Trump first released to The Washington Post what the paper called a “lengthy list” of remarks that Dr. Fauci had made about the virus when it was in its early stages.

As Philip Bump writes for The Washington Post:

What’s unusual about the White House’s efforts to undermine Anthony S. Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a leading voice on the novel coronavirus pandemic, is that the only way in which Fauci has undercut the president is by being honest about the moment…

…What Fauci has done is make obvious both that the pandemic is as bad as it seems and that there are ways in which it can be addressed, which at times conflict with what Trump would like to see. Trump’s vision for what happens with the virus’s spread is fairly straightforward: Businesses reopen and kids go back to school and he gets reelected and then it just sort of becomes a nonissue somehow. Maybe he doesn’t get to that fourth step; it’s not clear. What Fauci and, more broadly, government and medical experts foresee is grimmer: With better containment and Americans taking more responsibility for stopping the spread of the virus, maybe we can keep the death toll down until there’s a vaccine.

Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) should theoretically be interested in defending Fauci, who he has called “a national treasure.”

► If you’re wondering if you missed Sen. Cory Gardner’s comments on Dear Leader Trump’s late Friday decision to commute the sentence of Roger Stone, never fear…Gardner hasn’t said a damn thing!

As Chris Cillizza writes for CNN, Trump’s “get out of jail” card for Stone is even worse than it looks at first glance:

These are not small crimes. Let’s be very clear what Stone did: He lied to Congress about his efforts to find out what WikiLeaks had in terms of hacked emails that were designed to damage Clinton. He also threatened someone — with death — unless that person lied to Congress about the nature of his role in the backchanneling of WikiLeaks information…

…And now Stone has been rewarded with a commutation of what was to be a 40-month prison sentence set to start Tuesday — not because he didn’t do what he was convicted of doing but rather because a) he stayed loyal to Trump (“There is no circumstance whatsoever under which I will bear false witness against the president,” Stone said when he was formally indicted) and b) his conviction played into Trump’s deep-seated resentments that the fact that Russia meddled in the 2016 election to help him somehow invalidates his victory.

It IS possible for Republicans to be concerned about Trump’s bailout of Stone:

Unprecedented, historic corruption: an American president commutes the sentence of a person convicted by a jury of lying to shield that very president.

— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) July 11, 2020

► Douglas County Republicans are classy. A certain section of rich, white, suburbanites in Metro Denver are out of their freaking minds.

Meanwhile, a mask requirement for Adams, Arapahoe, and Douglas counties goes into effect on July 24.

► As The Denver Post reports, President Trump’s ban on temporary worker visas is causing havoc in Colorado:

“Honestly, it’s just horrendous,” Brian Carlson, the CEO of Lafayette-based Green Landscape Solutions, said. “What I tell people is at this point my business plan comes down to a lottery or luck.”

But 2020 is not just any year — the visa roller coaster has come off the tracks. The H-2B and other programs have been frozen by presidential decree. Whether or not that will mean the hundreds of thousands of Colorado workers who are unemployed amid the COVID-19 pandemic will seek out the jobs normally filled by foreign laborers remains to be seen…

…The president’s bans are not only impacting landscaping businesses like Carlson’s that are in peak season but stand to reverberate through some of Colorado’s key industries, including winter tourism.

► Senate Republicans are getting very concerned about being significantly outraised by Democrats across the country. As POLITICO reports:

“It’s a slow-moving trainwreck,” said Eric Wilson, a Republican consultant who led Marco Rubio’s digital strategy in the 2016 presidential campaign. “The warning signs are flashing right now, and they’re ignoring it.”

Democratic Senate campaigns have outraised Republicans in small-dollar donations (under $200) in 10 of the 12 most competitive races, according to a review of the most recent Federal Election Commission reports, which this week are due for an update covering the second quarter. Already, many Democratic campaigns have announced that they raised massive sums in the last three months, while few Republicans have tipped their hands. Unitemized donations also represented a higher percentage of individual receipts for Democrats in every competitive race featuring a GOP senator.

If you’re looking for political news that isn’t about Coronavirus, it’s available right after the jump…

Now Only Partially Coronavirus-Related…

► As Mark Meadows is learning, serving as President Trump’s Chief of Staff is a really terrible job.

► Republican Congressional candidate Lauren “Q*Bert” Boebert has her very own “I am not a witch” moment.

Elsewhere, The Grand Junction Sentinel reports on both excitement and apprehension among Republicans regarding Boebert’s upset Primary victory over Rep. Scott Tipton — including more comments from “Q*Bert” on QAnon:

► A temporary increase in federal unemployment benefits is scheduled to end on July 25, which looks to be a big problem in Colorado and around the country. From The Denver Post:

Colorado stands to lose more than 66,898 jobs over the coming year if the extra $600 a week that the federal government is providing to unemployed workers and contractors goes away completely, according to an analysis from the EPI.

The estimate represents about 2.4% of the state’s current workforce and reflects the decrease in spending the loss of personal income that the elimination of federal benefits would cause.

The Ascent, a Motley Fool company, surveyed  2,000 Americans who lost income because of the pandemic and found that nearly one in three couldn’t last more than a month without the extra $600 a week. Nearly nine in 10 said they would be financially sunk within six months, which in turn would likely carry severe repercussions for landlords and consumer lenders.

Here in Colorado, Gov. Jared Polis is helping to extend timelines for rent payments and unemployment benefits.

► Denver7 explains how the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) is supposed to work.

► Jefferson County Schools Superintendent Jason Glass is leaving his post for a job as Commissioner of Education in Kentucky. As The Canyon Courier reports, Glass was attracted to the pull of returning to his home state:

Glass’ contract, which was extended through 2025 in March 2019, requires that he remain on staff for an additional 60 days. He plans to stay with Jeffco until early September. The Board of Education will now determine a transition plan and outline the necessary steps to find a new superintendent.

His departure comes in the middle of some tough decisions, including developing a plan for restarting school in the midst of a pandemic. However, there won’t be any immediate change and Glass said he plans to ensure “we leave Jeffco in good shape.”

Colorado has been Glass’ home for a while. Prior to coming to Jefferson County in 2017, he served as the superintendent of Eagle County Schools.

“We’ve been incredibly happy here in Jeffco,” Glass said. “It’s been a great job and a wonderful community.”

► Jesse Paul of The Colorado Sun reports on two recent legislative vetoes from Gov. Jared Polis. Meanwhile, CBS4 Denver looks at a new law that assists restaurants in Colorado by extending an allowance to sell alcoholic beverages for to-go pickup.

► The new name of the Denver neighborhood formerly known as Stapleton will come from a list of 9 finalists, as CBS4 Denver reports:

♦ Mosley
♦ Meadowlark
♦ Concourse
♦ Peterson
♦ Central Park
♦ Skyview
♦ Randolph
♦ Park Central
♦ Tailwinds

We’re a little sad that “Neighborhood McNeighborhood Face” didn’t even make it as a finalist.

Don’t feel like you’ve been singled out, Stapletonites; we’re pretty much renaming everything.

► As Colorado Public Radio reports, Colorado health departments are facing a serious problem from a combination of coronavirus and budget cuts.

► Protests in Denver over police brutality are still going strong.

► Coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in Colorado are on the rise, though not nearly to the same extent as in states such as Florida, which now has more new coronavirus cases THAN ALL OF EUROPE COMBINED. 

Denver Mayor Michael Hancock is warning that that city residents are trending in the wrong direction when it comes to managing the pandemic. Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers, meanwhile, is warning that a mask requirement could be on the horizon. The City of Golden recently extended its mask ordinance.

► The race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine has been ongoing for months. Now a new race is heating up: The push to manufacture enough glass vials to house a potential vaccine.

► The Denver Post does a deep dive into how COVID-19 spread so quickly — and with such deadly consequences — at the JBS meatpacking plant in Greeley.

Your Daily Dose Of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

► President Trump is re-tweeting Chuck Woolery, because of course:

The most outrageous lies are the ones about Covid 19. Everyone is lying. The CDC, Media, Democrats, our Doctors, not all but most ,that we are told to trust. I think it’s all about the election and keeping the economy from coming back, which is about the election. I’m sick of it.

— Chuck Woolery (@chuckwoolery) July 13, 2020

For those of you wondering what a “Chuck Woolery” is…he was the original host of “Wheel of Fortune” and “The Love Connection.” In other words, Woolery is an expert in infectious sexually transmitted diseases.

► Dolly Parton is thanking Gov. Jared Polis for signing legislation related to libraries. This is a real sentence.

ICYMI

► President Trump’s polling numbers keep getting worse, and worse, and worse.

► Senator Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) is touting the eight bills he has passed in six years in the U.S. Senate. Five of these bills are, in a word, silly.

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