July 18, 2019 10:44 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Thursday (July 18)

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• by: Colorado Pols

High temperatures in the Denver area are predicted to exceed 100 degrees today, so slather that sunscreen in every nook and cranny. 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…

► “Send her back” might be the “lock her up” chant equivalent of 2020 for supporters of President Trump. As Stephen Collinson writes for CNN:

In a moment of unrestrained demagoguery, President Donald Trump presided Wednesday over a crowd chanting “Send her back! Send her back!” about an American Muslim congresswoman who he targeted with racist attacks.

The scenes at a North Carolina rally provided an ugly overture to a 2020 election campaign already soaked in hate. They exemplified the tribal politics and white nationalism that Trump is making clear he plans to ride to reelection, no matter their impact on America’s fragile societal harmony.

The chants of “Send her back!” referred to Somalia-born, American citizen Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, one of four minority lawmakers attacked by Trump over the weekend. The invective from the crowd replaced the “Lock her up!” and “Build the wall!” chants of Trump’s first campaign with a jarring racial refrain that the commander-in-chief, speaking from behind a podium bearing the symbolic presidential seal, made no effort to stop.

There is at least one Republican Congressman who is aghast at these chants, and he’s speaking up. Again, from CNN:

Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois on Thursday morning called a chant that broke out at President Donald Trump’s rally the previous night — when the crowd yelled “send her back” as the President targeted Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota — “ugly” and “wrong” and said it “would send chills down the spines of our Founding Fathers.”

“I deeply disagree with the extreme left & have been disgusted by their tone. I woke up today equally disgusted – chants like ‘send her back’ are ugly, wrong, & would send chills down the spines of our Founding Fathers. This ugliness must end, or we risk our great union,” Kinzinger said in a tweet on Thursday morning.

Other Republican elected officials are looking to Vice President Mike Pence for answers, since they’re too afraid to actually confront the big orange guy. No, seriously, read this story.

► It’s gonna be a hot day today in Colorado, which might make you wonder about the impact of Climate Change. You could ask the federal government for more information, but as Politico reports, you would have trouble finding an answer:

The Agriculture Department quashed the release of a sweeping plan on how to respond to climate change that was finalized in the early days of the Trump administration, according to a USDA employee with knowledge of the decision.

Staff members across several USDA agencies drafted the multiyear plan that outlines how the department should help agriculture understand, adapt to and minimize the effects of climate change…

…The revelation comes after a recent POLITICO investigation found that the department had largely stopped promoting its own scientific findings about the consequences of climate change. The USDA has also moved away from using phrases like climate change, climate, and greenhouse gas emissions in press releases and social media posts.

► If Senator Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) thinks President Trump is guilty of making racist statements, he is keeping that opinion to himself. As Kyle Clark of 9News notes, Gardner’s staff finally responded to requests for comment in a very odd manner:

Days after #9News reached out to @SenCoryGardner about President Trump’s “go back” tweets, his staff responded… with a link to an interview he gave a radio station. #copolitics

— Kyle Clark (@KyleClark) July 18, 2019

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► There was a time in Colorado when Republicans opposed obvious racist remarks and attitudes. It wasn’t even that long ago, either.

► Relocating the headquarters of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to Grand Junction seemed like it would be a much bigger deal before it was actually announced. As more details emerge, enthusiasm for the BLM move is quickly diminishing.

► The House of Representatives rejected an effort to begin impeachment proceedings against President Trump. As Colorado Public Radio reports:

Reps. Diana DeGette and Joe Neguse voted to consider the articles of impeachment resolution against President Donald Trump.

“At some point, you have to say: enough is enough,” DeGette said in a statement. “It’s beyond time to launch an impeachment inquiry and this bill should have been referred to the Judiciary committee for consideration.”

Meanwhile, Reps. Ed Perlmutter and Jason Crow voted to table them, joining their Republican counterparts Reps. Ken Buck, Scott Tipton and Doug Lamborn.

Both Crow and Perlmutter condemned the president’s behavior in statements, but went on to say that Congress first needed to complete an investigation.

► House Democrats on Thursday passed legislation to increase the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour by the year 2025. The bill is unlikely to even be discussed in the Republican-held Senate, however.

► Jim Pfaff, the Chief of Staff to House Minority Leader Patrick Neville, is (kinda) denying claims that he threatened a former El Paso County Republican Party Chairman.

► If you use FaceApp, you should probably reconsider.

► A federal judge on Thursday denied bail for Jeffrey Epstein, the wealthy financier accused of a long list of crimes related to sexual assault and human trafficking. On Wednesday, NBC News aired a video of a decades-old event that doesn’t look good for President Trump:

The November 1992 tape in the NBC archives shows Donald Trump partying with Jeffrey Epstein at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, now a private club, more than a decade before Epstein pleaded guilty to felony prostitution charges in Florida.

At one point in the video, Trump is seen grabbing a woman toward him and patting her behind.

► Justin Wingerter of the Denver Post looks at some of the notable names appearing on campaign finance reports for Colorado U.S. Senate candidates.

► Court records released Thursday indicate that President Trump actively sought to squash stories about his philandering with other women.

► House Democrats on Wednesday voted to hold two top Trump administration officials in Contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with subpoenas. As the Associated Press reports, Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross are being held in contempt for refusing to cooperate with investigations into Trump administration efforts to add a citizenship question to the 2020 U.S. Census form.

► The Colorado Department of Transportation has selected a contractor to repair badly-damaged sections of U.S. 36 north of Denver.

► Former South Carolina Governor and infamous Appalachian hiker Mark Sanford says he is considering a Republican Primary challenge against President Trump.

Your Daily Dose Of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

► “Night of the Fascist.”

► Ivanka Trump will visit Lockheed Martin in Littleton on Monday.

ICYMI

► And now a white male Republican Congressman is calling himself “a person of color.”

For more political learnings, check out the latest episode of The Get More Smarter Show. You can also Get More Smarter by liking Colorado Pols on Facebook!