So far, Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) has had President Trump’s back at every turn.
We’ve been keeping track in this space of Sen. Cory Gardner’s (R-Yuma) slow waffle on supporting President Trump’s “emergency declaration” so that he can hijack other funds to build his great big wall. Last week, literally hours before Trump declared his great big emergency, Gardner told Colorado Public Radio’s Ryan Warner that he opposed the idea of an emergency declaration:
GARDNER: …I don’t think he should do anything without Congress’ approval. It’s important for Congress to have the appropriate oversight…
WARNER: So how do you get the message to [President Trump] perhaps that you don’t want him to declare a national emergency, as has been hinted, or raid other funds for this?
GARDNER: Well, it’s pretty simple. I can tell him that in person, that I think Congress needs to do its job.
WARNER: Have you done that?
GARDNER: I have.
WARNER: Alright.
We have since learned that Gardner is among a handful of Republican leaders who speak regularly with Trump on the phone, which makes Gardner’s claim that he told Trump not to go the “emergency declaration” route all the more plausible.
Anyhoo, Gardner started backpedaling on his opposition to Trump’s plan the very next day, telling Anna Staver of the Denver Post that he was “reviewing” the President’s emergency declaration.
This brings us full circle back to Warner, who is doggedly trying to figure out WTF Gardner is doing here:
Still trying to get @SenCoryGardner to give me his stance on the emergency declaration. Does he support or not? No matter how you feel about the wall, you should know where a US Senator stands. (I have included his remarks before and after @realDonaldTrump declared). #copolitics https://t.co/iViIRIEZaw
— Ryan Warner (@cprwarner) February 22, 2019
Yeah, not a good look at all.
Yeah.
(“Can you hear me now? . . .”)
Cory is, #1 a coward, and #2 a weasel (or maybe vice versa?).
He does know, however, regardless of what he does he’s gonna’ get rafts-o-shite from one side or the other if he announces his intentions in advance. The fallout is probably actually less after-the-fact, when the deed has been done, and no one’s gonna change it?
Where does he stand? Hell, we all know already! But, Cory’s learned never to say so publicly in advance — you ain’t never gonna’ get him to admit he knows what he’s gonna do.
Cuz’, he’s a weasel and a coward (or is it the other way around?).
never publicly in advance
– it's how he got the nomination and then won the election in an R (mini) wave
– it's how he's been as a Senator
It works – people can and do to choose to believe whatever they want before, and after no one remembers.
If it wasn't so… stupid, it would be perfect
I guess it’s like that Gump feller always said . . .
Cory will waltz around but in the end he'll stand wherever Yertle tells him to.
I think this is the only way Cory knows how to operate. He's a shitty politician. Can't actually cover his ass worth a damn, he only thinks he can.
He managed to get elected.
Gardner’s strategy worked in 2014, when circumstances and political climate made this approach more plausible. Colorado’s electorate and climate have changed significantly since then. It’s not clear that Gardner can figure out a way to exist within this new environment