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June 05, 2017 11:04 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Monday (June 5)

  • 12 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

Don’t forget the sunscreen, friends; Climate Change doesn’t care if you believe in it or not. 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…

► President Trump is totally winning…the award for most unpopular President ever. As Chris Cillizza explains for CNN:

Trump finds himself in the midst of his worst extended poll run of his presidency. Starting on May 28 when Gallup put his job approval at 42%, Trump has been sliding downward. The latest Gallup track on June 3 put Trump’s job approval at a dismal 36% — a single percentage point away from the lowest ebb of his time in the White House. (On March 28, Trump’s job approval was at 35%.)

The Gallup numbers are no anomaly. A Quinnipiac University poll released in late May put Trump’s job approval at 37%. A Monmouth poll conducted in mid-May put Trump’s job approval at 39%.

Where Trump’s numbers do stand out is compared to his presidential predecessors. President Obama was at 61% in the Gallup tracking poll in early June 2009. George W. Bush was at 55% in Gallup at this time in 2001.

Former President Bill Clinton was polling at 37% in June 1993, which was the lowest mark of his Presidency. Things got better for Clinton after June — his first-term approval ratings averaged out at 50% — but it’s probably more likely that Trump continues his downward trend for the foreseeable future.

 

► Senate Republicans are not encouraged by the prospects of coming up with some sort of healthcare legislation to compare to the nonsense bill produced by the House last month. Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) is among the Senate Republicans tasked with drafting some sort of compromise legislation, which apparently isn’t as easy as just complaining about Obamacare.

 

► It has been nearly seven months since the 2016 election, and there is no sign of waning interest from protestors upset with the Trump administration. As the Denver Post reports:

A few hundred people showed up for Denver’s March for Truth rally at Commons Park Saturday, calling for greater transparency regarding President Donald Trump’s relationship with Russia.

The protest was a mix of politically charged speeches, a march through the streets and a concert as protesters sang newly created activist songs, such as “Let the Country See Your Taxes” to the tune of “She’ll Be Coming Around the Mountain” and “We Shall Find the Truth” to the tune of “We Shall Not Be Moved.”

“March for Truth” events were held throughout the country on Saturday. In a separate event in Colorado Springs, about 100 people showed up over the weekend to protest President Trump’s decision to remove the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement.

 

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► President Trump responded to this weekend’s terror attacks in London in his typical blustery manner. As Jennifer Rubin writes for the Washington Post:

Meanwhile — and it pains me to write this — our president acted like a clod, a heartless and dull-witted thug in sending out a series of tweets. He — commander in chief and leader of the Free World — first retweeted an unverified, unofficial Drudge headline about the unfolding terrorist attack. Then he aimed to bolster his Muslim travel ban (which is not supposed to be a Muslim travel ban). “We need to be smart, vigilant and tough,” he tweeted. “We need the courts to give us back our rights. We need the Travel Ban as an extra level of safety!” (Aside from the inappropriateness of President Trump’s tweet, he fails to grasp that the courts in these cases are reaffirming our rights against an overreaching, discriminatory edict.)

After receiving blowback for that obnoxious missive, he tweeted out, “Whatever the United States can do to help out in London and the U. K., we will be there – WE ARE WITH YOU. GOD BLESS!” But then he decided to slam the mayor of the city attacked, who had calmly warned his fellow Londoners: “Londoners will see an increased police presence today and over the course of the next few days. There’s no reason to be alarmed.” Trump took the second part out of context and responded viciously, “At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is ‘no reason to be alarmed!’” (The mayor, of course, was telling them not to be alarmed by the heightened police presence.) Trump was not done, however, inanely tweeting, “Do you notice we are not having a gun debate right now? That’s because they used knives and a truck!” [Pols emphasis]

One is prompted to ask if he is off his rocker. But this is vintage Trump — impulsive and cruel, without an ounce of class or human decency.

“Disappointment” seems to be a common theme in assessing Trump’s response to the London attacks.

 

► Yes, Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) was absolutely used as a pawn by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. The only question is whether Gardner realizes it himself.

 

► Many Colorado municipalities are doubling-down on their commitment to fighting Climate Change in the wake of President Trump’s decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement.

 

► Colorado’s ski industry proves that immigrants are not, in fact, taking all of our jobs. From the Denver Post:

As unemployment rates reach historic lows — especially in Colorado’s resort-centric high country — the National Ski Areas Association is imploring the secretary of Homeland Security to grow the number of immigrant H-2B visas for seasonal, unskilled workers, an overture that defies President Donald Trump’s campaign promises to put “America first.”…

…“One would have to ignore reality to refuse to acknowledge that the ski industry — and all related businesses in rural mountain communities — are in critical need of help with finding reliable seasonal workers to staff our businesses,” reads an NSAA letter dated May 24 and sent to Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly and senators from Colorado, Utah, Vermont, Wyoming and Idaho. “In short, allowing more H-2B visa workers will not take away jobs from American workers, particularly in the ski industry.”

 

► The recent terror attacks in London could upend Britain’s Parliamentary elections scheduled for Thursday. Prime Minister Theresa May is facing new questions about her leadership abilities in the wake of the attacks.

 

► As Politico reports, Senate Republicans are growing increasingly nervous about a potential budget “train wreck” coming in September:

Concerns are rising in Washington that Congress may be headed toward the economic and political disaster of a debt default and a government shutdown later this year. And the chamber most likely to get Congress out of the jam — the Senate — is failing to live up to its moniker as the world’s greatest deliberative body.

Rather than a honeymoon with a new presidency and Republicans firmly in the majority, the Senate has become a grinding churn of nomination votes constantly delayed by Democrats, and partisan warfare with little bipartisan cooperation other than averting an April government shutdown.

There’s no budget, no funding levels for the fall and little talk between the two parties on how to avoid a shutdown and debt default in late summer or early fall, worrying senators in both parties.

“No meeting, no anything and no plan. I look at September and it’s just: How are we going to get that done?” said an exasperated Sen. Patty Murray of Washington state, the No. 3 Senate Democrat.

 

► Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke may not be inclined to support protecting habitats of the greater sage grouse.

 

► We may not have money for major road improvements in Colorado, but Gov. John Hickenlooper is at least able to sign new legislation aimed at making things safer for drivers. 

 

► You can feel “mostly” better about the safety of oil and gas drilling operations in Colorado. As the Denver Post reports:

Oil and gas operators are mostly complying with a statewide order from Gov. John Hickenlooper to identify and inspect any of their lines located near occupied buildings, the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission said Friday.

The commission received 129 reports, more than expected, by the May 30 deadline. [Pols emphasis] The reports detail the GPS coordinates of risers, or the part of the flow lines that come out of the ground, located within 1,000 feet of occupied buildings.

The May 2 order followed a home explosion in Firestone that killed two men. Inspectors traced the gas behind the blast to a severed flowline that was still attached to a nearby well owned by Anadarko Petroleum.

The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission says it received a better response than expected to a statewide order from Gov. Hickenlooper. How is this okay?

 

► President Trump says he is officially calling his “travel ban” a “travel ban.” White House lawyers are not thrilled by this.

 

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► If you are a Republican and you have a pulse, you have probably been invited to speak at this year’s Western Conservative Summit.

 

► President Trump continues to do everything he can to get in the way of anyone who is trying to get information about his administration — including instructing government officials to ignore oversight requests from Democrats in Congress.  

ICYMI

► This here is what you would call “political satire.”

 

 

Click here for The Get More Smarter Show. You can also Get More Smarter by liking Colorado Pols on Facebook!

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12 thoughts on “Get More Smarter on Monday (June 5)”

  1. Those Trump polls all are fake news. Everyone knows that the country loves their President in a bigly and hugely way. Right Andrew?

      2. Hey fucktoad, we're all supporting Drumpf more than any of us would like to admit . . .

        . . . when's he gonna' get off the public dole and end his personal graft campaign??!!?

  2. Judge Roy Moore, the fanatical gay-hating judge who mentored and witnessed for Gordon Klingenschmitt, is on track to win the Alabama Senate seat vacated by AG Jeff Sessions. Judge Moore was fired after he directed state employees not to marry gay couples.

    Moore is polling 10 points ahead of his nearest Republican rival, Luther Strange. Strange was appointed to Sessions' vacant seat after Sessions was confirmed to the AG position by creepy aging sexter  ex-Guv Robert Bentley. Strange was supposedly prosecuting Bentley in the sex scandal, and many believe that the Senate appointment was a pay-for-play deal for not "prosecuting" too harshly.

    The Alabama primary will be held on August 15, and the general election will be on December 12. (per CNN)

    I found out about this by following up on Klingenschmitt's claim that Moore was polling ahead by 30 points. That last was not true; but evidently, Moore could actually represent Alabama in the US Senate, unless the DNC gets on the ball and supports the Dem challenger.

     

    The list of Democratic candidates includes Robert Kennedy, Jr.

    But it isn’t the RFK you think it is. Not JFK’s nephew and host of “Ring of Fire”, who lives in New York. This is someone else named Robert Kennedy, Jr.

    This should be an interesting race to watch.

    1. So the Alabama Republicans are replacing one old bigot (Sessions) with another (Strange or Moore)? Tell me something that doesn't surprise me, M.J. They're corrupt bastards, going all the way back to Reconstruction. The only difference is that what the parties stand for has flipped and the grifters flipped with them.

    2. Why not? Moore was already re-elected once by the good citizens of Alabama after being suspended from the job of AL Supreme Court Chief Justice, only to be suspended a second time. He has a reputation of "standing up" to the US Supreme Court, that makes him "strong", which apparently Republicans are more interested in than candidates who follow the law.

      On the bright side, he'd be one more bomb-thrower in the Republican caucus in the Senate – one more "hell, no" vote to make Senate Republicans as dysfunctional as the House GOP.

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