February 08, 2017 02:05 PM UTC

Colorado GOP Leaders Love Trump...Even if They Don't Know Why

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• by: Colorado Pols

There’s a fascinating new story in the Colorado Statesman from Ernest Luning about how Colorado Republican leaders view the state’s electorate entering the 2018 cycle. As Luning reports from a GOP donor luncheon last month in Denver, Colorado legislative leaders have totally bought-in to the Donald Trump phenomenon — not that they understand any of it:

Leading Republican lawmakers told a group of GOP donors that the party is poised to capture the Colorado voters who swung to Donald Trump last fall but cautioned against assuming they’re in the bag just yet…

…Colorado Republicans have the chance to bring Trump voters into the fold, [Senate President Kevin] Grantham said, as some elements of the traditional party coalitions appear to be up for grabs.

“It’s going to be simple, but it won’t be easy,” he said…

There are some interesting things happening in this discussion, but the central theme is the same: Colorado Republicans want you to know that they are pro-Trump because they think you are also pro-Trump. But they don’t know why:

Noting that Trump did unusually well among blue collar and union workers in Colorado, Grantham said that figuring out how the billionaire businessman peeled them away from the Democrats would be the key to adding those voters to the Republican coalition.

“Why Pueblo? Why Wisconsin? Why Michigan? Let’s latch onto that and carry it into the next cycle,” Grantham said. “We need to start looking for a governor candidate who can speak to these folks,” he added.

As Luning points out, of course, Democrat Hillary Clinton actually carried Colorado by five points over Trump — the third straight victory for the Democratic Presidential candidate in our state. Democrats have been pondering the loss of Wisconsin and Michigan since Election Day, and apparently they are not alone in their confusion as to what happened and why. Colorado Republicans don’t seem to know what happened here.

Nevertheless, there will be giant heaping helpings of red meat. And lots of Trump. You had better like both.