May 01, 2025 10:53 AM UTC

Of Course Republicans Hate The Colorado Trump Defense Fund

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• by: Colorado Pols

As Denver7’s Brandon Richard reports, a bill allocating a relatively small amount of money to a fund for expenses incurred by the state fighting against adverse actions from the federal government is headed for Gov. Jared Polis’ desk, and in the least surprising development of this soon-to-end legislative session, minority Republicans are hopping mad about it:

The Democratic-sponsored bill sets aside $4 million for the Colorado Defense Fund, which the governor could tap into to defend Colorado from adverse federal actions, including funding freezes.

“We need to be prepared for what may be coming from the [Trump] administration,” said House Speaker Julie McCluskie, D-Dillon…

Earlier this year, the Trump administration froze $570 million in federal funding to Colorado. A federal judge restored most of that funding, but state officials say about $70 million in public safety grants are still frozen.

In mid-April, Republican House Minority Leader Rose Pugliese appeared on Donald Trump’s favorite Fox News to decry the state of Colorado daring to defend itself from the Dear Leader’s edicts, which if you’ve been watching the news you already know have been going historically amazingly bigly well:

Rep. Brandi Bradley, one of the “Mini 22” minority’s noisiest (and nastiest) members, got some White House-targeted love in the same segment:

It makes sense that local Republicans are determined to downplay the chaos and destruction of Donald Trump’s first 100 days back in office, during which the state of Colorado has joined a total of 15 lawsuits against Trump’s executive orders and the DOGE campaign, from mass federal layoffs to cuts to medical research to keeping DOGE out of Social Security records. If you support Trump, allocating money to defend the state against Trump in court naturally seems like a waste.

But to the majority of Coloradans who didn’t vote for Trump and vehemently oppose the direction the country has taken since Trump regained power, this is the most essential allocation the state can make right now. For as long as dissent against the Trump administration is legal, in Colorado it will remain politically popular.

We can only hope that caveat is never tested.