August 31, 2016 11:59 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Wednesday (August 31)

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• by: Colorado Pols

Donald Trump goes looking for an authentic taco salad experience today in Mexico. It’s time to Get More Smarter with Colorado Pols. 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…

► It’s Immigration Policy Day in Trumpville. Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump is scheduled to reveal his new proposal for dealing with illegal immigration during a speech in Arizona today. As Eli Stokols writes for Politico:

Conflicting advice from Trump’s remade inner circle of advisers — including former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes, newly installed campaign manager Kellyanne Conway and campaign CEO Steve Bannon — and the outside counsel of conservative mega-donor Sheldon Adelson have led to a series of muddled statements that have left Trump sounding at times like President Barack Obama and his former GOP rivals on immigration, not a hard-liner ready to deport illegal immigrants.

But over the past week, this coterie of aides, together with speechwriter Stephen Miller, has convinced Trump that some moderation in his rhetoric is undeniably necessary if he aims to compete in swing states on Election Day.

“Trump cannot get the current levels of Latino votes he’s getting in Florida, Colorado and Nevada and win,” one campaign source, speaking privately, acknowledged. “He’s just trying to soften the rhetoric just a little bit. They should have understood sooner the logistical impossibility of what they were saying about mass deportations and the potential political damage, but here we are.”

Trump will travel to Phoenix from (of all places) Mexico, where he is scheduled to meet with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto. As the Washington Post reports, Peña Nieto invited both Trump and Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to visit Mexico…but might have been hoping Trump’s invitation got lost in the mail:

Senior Mexican officials appeared surprised that Trump had taken Peña Nieto up on the offer. The President later tweeted that he believes in dialogue in order to “promote the interests of Mexico in the world and, principally, to protect Mexicans wherever they are.”

Even as arrangements for the visit were being finalized, Mexico’s top foreign policy official, opening a new Mexican consulate in Milwaukee on Tuesday, used the opportunity to lambast Trump. In a speech, Foreign Minister Claudia Ruiz Massieu never mentioned his name, but noted that “Facts speak against stereotypes. History against bigotry. Cooperation against xenophobia,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

With any luck, Mexico will not have declared war on the United States by this time tomorrow.

► The Primary Election season is finally over after votes were tallied in Arizona and Florida on Tuesday night. In Arizona, Sen. John McCain made it through a Republican Primary, as did Sen. Marco Rubio in Florida (even if he doesn’t really want the job anyway); Rubio will face Rep. Patrick Murphy in the General Election after Murphy dispatched Rep. Alan Grayson in the Democratic Primary.

Also in Florida, embattled Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz cruised to a relatively-easy Primary victory over Tim Canova.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► If you had “August 31” in the Brazilian impeachment pool, you may collect your winnings. On Wednesday, the Brazilian Senate voted overwhelmingly in favor of ousting President Dilma Rousseff over charges of economic corruption.

► Meg Whitman, the CEO of Hewlett-Packard and a major Republican fundraiser and donor, was in Denver on Tuesday to help raise money for the campaign of Democrat Hillary Clinton.

► Donald Trump is finally running campaign ads in Colorado. The ads highlight Trump’s economic “plan,” and include references to two contradictory tax plans.

► Angry Maine Gov. Paul LePage vows that he will never again speak to the media.

► Senate District 19 in Arvada is universally considered to be the most important state Senate race of 2016. If you’re wondering why Sen. Laura Waters Woods keeps bringing up discredited anti-vaxxer nonsense…you’re not alone.

In order to win re-election, Sen. Woods is also going to need to figure out how to explain her ties to the recalled Jefferson County School Board.

► Club 20 hosts the first U.S. Senate debate of the cycle on September 10th, but Libertarian candidate Lilly Tang Williams did not make the cut to join the stage with Sen. Michael Bennet and Republican challenger Darryl Glenn. As the Colorado Independent reports:

Williams was told she won’t make the cut because the Libertarian Party’s membership in Colorado doesn’t make up at least 1 percent of the state’s registered voters, as needed under the bylaws of Club 20, a Grand Junction-based nonprofit group that sponsors high-profile debates in election years.

“According to the Secretary of State’s office, there are currently 3,678,915 registered voters in the State through the end of August and 35,967 of those are registered as Libertarian voters,” wrote Club 20 director Christian Reece in an email to Williams. “The Libertarian Party represents .977% of registered voters in Colorado which falls short of the 1% threshold needed to be included in our candidate debates.”

► Congressman Mike Coffman (R-Aurora) is doing his best to muddy the waters on his own immigration policies.

► Email threats led to the closure of USDA offices in five states on Tuesday — including a Ft. Collins location. As the Denver Post reports:

A group of anonymous e-mail messages prompted the closure of U.S. Department of Agriculture offices across the nation on Tuesday, including a U.S. Forest Service facility in Fort Collins.

The USDA said the messages were received by the agency on Monday and concerned officials about the safety of department personnel. Officials did not elaborate.

The closed offices spanned five states and six different locations, including Hamden, Conn.; Beltsville, Md.; Raleigh, N.C.; and Kearneysville and Leetown in W.V…

…“USDA is working closely with federal and local law enforcement, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to determine whether the threats are credible,” a USDA spokesman said in a statement to The Denver Post. “Personnel at these locations have been made aware of the threats and will not report to these offices until further notice.”

USDA agencies impacted by the closures include the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Agricultural Research Service, Food Safety Inspection Service, Forest Service, National Agricultural Library, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Office of the Inspector General and USDA Departmental Management.

► Supporters of the ColoradoCare ballot measure (Amendment 69) are touting a new study that they say shows a single-payer healthcare program in Colorado could operate without running a deficit for at least nine years.

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► The City of Arvada approved two measures for the fall ballot on Tuesday. One measure seeks approval for a sales-and-use tax increase, while the second asks voters to give Arvada permission to opt out of a state law regarding high speed Internet access. 

► University of Northern Colorado President Kay Norton is trying to address concerns about how the school handles student complaints.

ICYMI

► Save the elephants.

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