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February 28, 2024 10:18 AM UTC

Colorado's Leading Talibangelical, Biggest Conservative Conference Slink Away

  • 10 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols
Centennial Institute’s Jeff Hunt in full cowboy get-up.

Over the years readers have gotten to know Jeff Hunt, the head of Colorado Christian University’s political activism wing known as the Centennial Institute, from his wedge issue grandstands at the state capitol and on social media, sometimes burning fellow Republicans–and also the Centennial Institute’s annual Western Conservative Summit, which during its heyday landed a full slate of “A-List” Republican speakers from Donald Trump to Dutch far-right racist provocateur Geert Wilders. The Centennial Institute in addition formerly listed convicted felon attorney Jenna Ellis as a Fellow, though since Ellis now resides in Florida awaiting the results of the second investigation by Colorado attorney regulators for her role in the 2020 Trump coup plot she has no known role with the organization is today.

And those details might not get any clearer, since CCU announced yesterday that Jeff Hunt is leaving the Centennial Institute effective immediately after nine years of whatever it is he did there:

Colorado Christian University (CCU) announced the departure of Jeff Hunt from the university and his role as the executive director of the Centennial Institute, the university’s nonpartisan thinktank.

“We thank Jeff Hunt for his steadfast leadership of the Centennial Institute and the Western Conservative Summit,” said Eric Hogue, CCU president. “Jeff was a tireless advocate for the advancement of faith, family and freedom while leading the institute and we support Jeff as he continues his transition into broadcasting. As a former radio host myself, it is obvious that Jeff has the unique skillset and personality to be successful on air.”

Hunt will be the daily morning host of The Jeff and Bill Show on KNUS 710 AM in Denver. The recently launched talk show airs Monday through Friday from 6-10 a.m. and can heard be both over the air and online.

First and foremost, let’s be clear that this is not career advancement in any respect for Jeff Hunt. One does not suddenly step down from a six-figure job as the director of a major conservative “stink tank” to pursue vastly less money in the declining conservative AM talk radio business. As for the Centennial Institute’s signature product, the annual Western Conservative Summit?

There’s apparently not going to be one in 2024:

A national search is underway for a new executive director. Dr. Tom Copeland, director of research at CI, will oversee operations during the interim. The Western Conservative Summit, originally scheduled for June 7-8, has been postponed. The event will return in 2025 under the leadership of CI’s next executive director.

In recent years as we’ve noted in this space, the WCS’ roster of speakers has steadily declined from once including some of the best-known conservative luminaries to a relative sideshow of B-List lawmakers and ideological crackpots most Americans have never heard of. Hunt himself publicly lamented last year that “we can’t seem to get the national conservatives to pay attention” to the WCS anymore, and it looks to us like a key funder or funders eventually took Hunt at his word. Without the draw of their once-great annual conference, it’s fair to question what exactly Jeff Hunt and the Centennial Institute does. Were they just paying Jeff Hunt to Tweet?

The suddenness of Hunt’s departure and cancellation of this year’s Western Conservative Summit invite speculation about as-yet undisclosed intrigue factoring into these events. It could be as simple as a key funder deciding the return on investment was no longer justified, or that Hunt and the high-profile Centennial Institute were becoming a distraction from the publicly-funded university’s mission.

Or, it could be substantially more interesting. We’ll be on the watch for fallout.

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10 thoughts on “Colorado’s Leading Talibangelical, Biggest Conservative Conference Slink Away”

  2. The lack of enthusiasm, money and followers for this kind of perverse, extreme nutjob ideology allows folks like Jeff Hunt to rightfully fail downward, instead of the other way, which used to be the norm. Good to see.

    You’re next Dave Williams !

  4. My theory is that they are victims of their own success. The drumbeat that Denver is a cesspool. that all cities are cesspools. CRIME IS OUT OF CONTROL! You can't get people to travel from their gun nest when they fear everything.

    They create fake boogiemen like "woke" and fake attacks upon themselves like the "War on Christmas". How could they go to Denver's Christkindlmarket when the woke canceled christmas, and businesses cant exist, and their truck might get stolen, and they would get attacked for their chrisitian beliefs, and… 

    They believe only the bad and can't see anything else. They decry the number of restaurants closing but ignore the rate of openings and closings that has remained constant. They scream that retail is dying because of crime but ignore the reality that consumer behavior and preferences have changed to internet purchasing.

    Media is complicit in promoting these BS attention grabing pearl clutching headlines. However, I can understand its not exactly a story: "74 year old parents visit riding RTD with no incident" "Couple travels to San Francisco notes House of Prime Rib area roads have never been better". Not everyone has better vibes knowing that crime is down nationwide and the only people crying are conservatives. That said iv got my canoe ready just for their tears and loving every minute of it.

    1. that all cities are cesspools

      Sadly, there is some truth to that. My husband and I were driving through Colorado Springs yesterday and gettting on to I-25 from Tejon. There were all the homeless people urban campers with their tents set up under the highway and along the river. One man was walking along the street shouting out to no one in particular. 

      Remember, if this is happening in Colorado Springs – the home of Focus on the Family and the birthplace of Amendment Two – the place the is predicted to be Ground Zero when the Rapture begins – it happens in every urban area. It's not just the gun nuts from Rural Merika who avoid spending time in major cities.

      1. So your story is NOTHING HAPPENED. Why are you sharing this? 

        My husband and I drove to Colorado Springs and I had a fantasy that bad things could happen. That's what I got from this. If you think I'm mocking you I am. You are creating bad vibes presumably just to feel shitty. Enjoy wallowing in it.

  7. From the horses mouth, a previous WCS keynote speaker:  (I assume he's going to be down with Judaism?) 

    Michael Flynn, the man who Trump says he will "bring back" if he's elected President again, just said that American needs to have just ONE Religion.

    "If we are going to have one nation under God which we must, we have to have one religion. One nation under God and one religion under God.”
     

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