November 14, 2016 02:54 PM UTC

Coffman and Trump: The Joke's on You

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• by: Colorado Pols

Remember when Rep. Mike Coffman promised he would disclose who he voted for in the presidential election when ballots were delivered last month? Well, Coffman won his race, but the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee notes for the record:

After speaking at an anti-Muslim hate group, embracing Trump’s hardline immigration plan in the final weeks of the campaign, and switching his stance on the presidential election more times than we can count, Coffman promised that he would stand up to Trump and that he would divulge when ballots went out who he would vote for. It’s clear now that he broke both of those promises.

Yesterday, Trump appointed a dangerous member of the white nationalist movement as his chief strategist. This provided the first proving ground for whether or not Coffman would keep his promise to be independent and stand up to Trump on behalf of his diverse constituency. But just like so many times throughout the campaign – for example when he neglected to stand up to Trump’s Muslim ban after Coffman spoke to an anti-Muslim hate group – Coffman lacked the moral conviction to take a stand.

“Congressman Mike Coffman lied over and over again to his constituents and to the press – and that’s not something that he can easily escape,” said DCCC Spokesman Tyler Law.

The tension was evident on Election Night during Coffman’s victory speech, in which Coffman was repeatedly heckled by the crowd about his non-support for Donald Trump–and then, right at the end…

After Coffman’s speech ended, Attorney General Cynthia Coffman gave the biggest applause line of anyone named Coffman on Tuesday night: “go Trump!” And the crowd went wild! After Coffman’s months long and very well-funded campaign to put daylight between himself and the Republican nominee, a more frank admission that it was all for show couldn’t be had.

Of course, if you were one of those reporter types who stenographed Coffman’s Trump denials without questioning any of it–or worse yet, a voter who supported Coffman because he was a Republican standing up to Trump–you might feel, you know, betrayed. But now you have to wait two more years to do anything about it. And by then you’ll be distracted by something else. At this point, it’s not even a risk. They know it will work.

Colorado’s foremost Republican power couple is laughing at you.