July 11, 2016 01:41 PM UTC

Notes From The Colorado GOP's Irony-Packed "Unity Tour"

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• by: Colorado Pols

On Saturday, GOP U.S. Senate candidate Darryl Glenn was joined by a variety of Republican politicos up and down the Front Range on a “GOP Unity Tour” to promote Glenn and the GOP’s much-discussed campaign efforts in general this year. Here’s a roundup starting with the Denver Post’s John Frank:

Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner on Saturday heralded Darryl Glenn as the U.S. Senate candidate “who is going to stand up for what is right” in an effort to champion a message of Republican Party unity in a year marked by conflict…

Glenn criticized Gardner earlier this year for his support of the omnibus budget bill, which helped prevent a government shutdown, and found plenty of his critics on the campaign trail. But Glenn didn’t hesitate to welcome the Yuma lawmaker’s support.

Marcomentum! As for the elephant in the room,

Glenn called Trump “a patriot.” Gardner called Trump “a buffoon.” Glenn endorsed Trump. Gardner remains silent.

Now that’s what we call “unity!” But as the Colorado Springs Gazette’s Megan Schrader reports, at least one of Glenn’s former opponents is joining the Donald Trump campaign in a fairly substantial way:

Robert Blaha was absent, but House hinted Blaha was on an important mission. Later, Patrick Davis, state director for Trump’s Colorado campaign, confirmed that Blaha will be a co-chairman of the Trump campaign. Blaha is the first to be announced.

Up in Fort Collins, as the Loveland Reporter-Herald’s Sady Swanson reports, Rep. Ken Buck tried to turn the conversation back toward the common…well, this gets a little more complicated:

Buck said the divisions within the Senate are preventing things from getting done and getting another conservative like Glenn in the Senate would be beneficial for the party.

“The Democrats are our opponents and the Senate is our enemy,” Buck said. [Pols emphasis] “There are so many bad rules we are fighting every day.”

Got that? The Republican-controlled U.S. Senate is the “enemy!” Now we know Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell hasn’t been very kind to Glenn on the campaign trail, and of course 2010 U.S. Senate loser Ken Buck has no love lost for the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC). But did anyone snap a photo of Sen. Cory Gardner’s face when Buck called the Senate the “enemy?”

To recap, you’ve got a sitting GOP Senator who won’t support his party’s own presidential nominee, and a Senate nominee who does support the presidential nominee and has made a sport out of criticizing said senior Senator. Plus you’ve got a member of Congress who calls the Senate, even though it’s controlled by his own party, the “enemy.”

All of which played out this weekend. On the Colorado GOP’s “unity tour.”

Sometimes we spend way too long looking for a punchline, only to realize that none is needed.