July 31, 2023 02:47 PM UTC

BREAKING: Suck It Tuberville, Colorado Keeps Space Command

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• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE #2: Never forget how Colorado GOP chairman Dave “Let’s Go Brandon” Williams bet against Colorado and lost, dragging the state party’s brand down with him:

This will be an interesting follow-up.

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UPDATE: Nicely done, Rep. Brittany Pettersen:

Sweet home Colorado 🚀 https://t.co/4KEhIFfALF

— Brittany Pettersen (@pettersen4co) July 31, 2023

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Colorado Public Radio’s Caitlyn Kim reports, with help from the AP–one of ex-President Donald Trump’s final acts of political treachery against Colorado, a state that consistently jilted Trump and was delighted to see him go, has been undone by his duly elected successor:

The AP reported Monday afternoon that the Biden Administration decided to overturn former President Donald Trump’s decision to move the headquarters to Alabama. CPR News confirmed the decision with a source familiar with the matter.

The announcement brings an end to months of speculation over whether the new command would remain in Colorado or move to Alabama.

It was a vindication to Colorado’s congressional delegation, who worked publicly and behind the scenes for the last two years to get the Biden administration to reconsider the basing decision made in the last weeks of the Trump administration. That effort included requesting investigations from two offices, the Government Accountability Office and the Department of Defense’s Inspector General.

Colorado’s Democratic U.S. Senators, who had to play hardball to get the administration’s attention, are ebullient in victory:

For two and a half years we’ve known any objective analysis of this basing decision would reach the same conclusion we did, that Peterson Space Force Base is the best home for Space Command. https://t.co/u1IOLtQGbI

— Senator John Hickenlooper (@SenatorHick) July 31, 2023

Today’s decision restores integrity to the Pentagon’s basing process and sends a strong message that national security and the readiness of our Armed Forces drive our military decisions.

— Michael Bennet (@SenatorBennet) July 31, 2023

We haven’t yet heard from the Republican representing the Colorado Springs area where Space Command is located, Rep. Doug Lamborn, but the last-minute decision to move Space Command to Alabama as a reward for the loyalty of Alabama Republicans in Trump’s attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election was unjust enough to get even Colorado’s least inspiring backbencher off his duff to resist. Lamborn basically has no choice now but to thank the Biden administration for saving thousands of jobs in his district, which we hope Lamborn manages to get through without some embarrassing partisan begrudgment.

It’s possible we’ll hear from GOP Sen. Cory Gardner about this decision as well, much like Gardner tried to glom on to the FDA’s recent decision to allow over-the-counter sales of an oral contraceptive for credit he didn’t deserve. The problem is, we got into this predicament over Space Command because Trump as policy doesn’t reward losers like Cory Gardner.

All told, it’s probably better for Republicans to let Hickenlooper and Bennet have this one.

No matter how you look at it, for Colorado this was not the GOP’s finest hour.