January 30, 2017 12:07 PM UTC

Get More Smarter on Monday (January 30)

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• by: Colorado Pols

Forget travel bans; if Donald Trump continues on this same path in the White House, soon nobody will want to come to America anyway. 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…

► President Donald Trump says he will unveil his choice to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court at 6:00 pm on Tuesday in the season premiere of “The Apprentice: White House.” Senate Democrats, meanwhile, are uniting in opposition to Trump’s potential nominee. From Politico:

Senate Democrats are going to try to bring down Donald Trump’s Supreme Court pick no matter who the president chooses to fill the current vacancy.

With Trump prepared to announce his nominee on Tuesday evening, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) said in an interview on Monday morning that he will filibuster any pick that is not Merrick Garland and that the vast majority of his caucus will oppose Trump’s nomination. That means Trump’s nominee will need 60 votes to be confirmed by the Senate.

“This is a stolen seat. This is the first time a Senate majority has stolen a seat,” Merkley said in an interview. “We will use every lever in our power to stop this.”

It’s a move that will prompt a massive partisan battle over Trump’s nominee and could lead to an unraveling of the Senate rules if Merkley is able to get 41 Democrats to join him in a filibuster. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) also reminded her Twitter followers on Sunday night that Supreme Court nominees can still be blocked by the Senate minority, unlike all other executive and judicial nominees.

Any senator can object to swift approval of a nominee and require a supermajority. Asked directly whether he would do that, Merkley replied: “I will definitely object to a simple majority” vote.

Senate Republicans are already crying foul here, but it’s hard for the GOP to generate much sympathy after the Senate refused to even hold a hearing on President Obama’s pick for the Supreme Court in 2016.

It is still unclear just who might be Trump’s choice for the Supreme Court, though a handful of names seem to be emerging as finalists. Depending on who you ask, Trump could be leaning toward Thomas Hardiman, William H. Pryor, or Colorado Judge Neil Gorsuch.

► Backlash continues to grow around President Trump’s weekend Executive Order banning immigrants to the U.S. from several largely-Muslim countries. Donald Trump’s  Twitter Account, which may or may not be making autonomous decisions about the fate of the free world, has been busy trying to defend his poorly-received travel ban.

Meanwhile, Republicans are breaking ranks and openly criticizing Trump’s travel ban, as Politico reports. The list of outspoken GOP lawmakers includes Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Yuma), who said that “a blanket travel ban goes too far.” Colorado Reps. Scott Tipton (R-Cortez) and Ken Buck (R-Greeley) are still not commenting on Trump’s travel ban.

And as the New York Times reports, the Trump administration left several key officials in the dark in its weekend rush to enforce the “don’t-call-it-a-travel-ban” travel ban.

► Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Denver) says he is adamantly opposed to the nomination of Jeff Sessions as Attorney General. Said Bennet on Friday:

“The U.S. Attorney General must ensure equal justice under the law, regardless of race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation. Jeff Sessions has repeatedly opposed efforts to protect the rights and liberties of all Americans. I cannot support his nomination.”

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► Guess who actually likes President Trump’s travel ban on Muslims people who happen to live in largely-Muslim areas? As the Washington Post reports, Trump played right into the hands of several terrorist groups:

Jihadist groups on Sunday celebrated the Trump administration’s ban on travel from seven Muslim-majority countries, saying the new policy validates their claim that the United States is at war with Islam.

Comments posted to pro-Islamic State social media accounts predicted that President Trump’s executive order would persuade American Muslims to side with the extremists. One posting hailed the U.S. president as “the best caller to Islam,” while others predicted that Trump would soon launch a new war in the Middle East.

“[Islamic State leader Abu Bakr] al-Baghdadi has the right to come out and inform Trump that banning Muslims from entering America is a ‘blessed ban,’” said one posting to a pro-Islamic State channel on Telegram, a social-media platform. The writer compared the executive order to the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, which Islamic militant leaders at the time hailed as a “blessed invasion” that ignited anti-Western fervor across the Islamic world.

► Congressman Mike Coffman (R-Aurora) and his back door disappearance from a town hall meeting continues to be a prominent topic.

► Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, Kellyanne “Napoleon” Conway, continues to get booked for television interviews despite the fact that she refuses to actually answer any significant questions.

► Even right-wing gazillionaires are worried about President Trump. At a recent donor retreat hosted by the Koch Brothers, attendees heard about the danger of America falling into authoritarianism:

During a panel discussion later in the afternoon, billionaire industrialist Charles Koch – who has been convening these twice-annual seminars since 2003 – reiterated Murray’s point.“We have a tremendous danger because we can go the authoritarian route,” he said, “or we can move toward a free and open society.”

► Ernest Luning of the Colorado Statesman reports on strong remarks from Denver Mayor Michael Hancock regarding President Trump’s attempted crackdown on so-called “sanctuary cities.”

► Donald Trump’s administration is apparently exempting the VA Hospital in Colorado from a recently-enacted federal hiring freeze.

► Boulder District Attorney Stan Garnett is among a group of prosecutors from around the country who have been chosen to advise President Trump on marijuana legalization policies.

► House Minority Leader Patrick Neville is getting grief from his caucus for not naming a Western Slope lawmaker to the House Agriculture, Livestock & Natural Resources Committee.

► Home inspectors in Colorado are not required to be registered with the state. This seems like a bad idea, and a few Colorado legislators are working to fix the issue.

► Marianne Goodland of the Colorado Independent talks about the latest news from the state legislature with “Politics Unplugged” on Denver7.

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► Colorado Republicans are still really concerned about the number of words and pages that make up certain government regulations. We could fix most of our problems if we just had a better official copy editor!

► The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel previews this week in the state legislature.

ICYMI

► Donald Trump’s choice for Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, can’t even consolidate support among the Evangelical community. 

Don’t forget to check out The Get More Smarter Show. You can also Get More Smarter by liking Colorado Pols on Facebook!