Guest Opinion: Trouble in River City

To many hard-core Colorado Democrats, November 2026 can’t come soon enough to test the theory that their losing messages and ineffectual elected Representatives are worth repeating. In fact, Colorado Democrats are still clinging to the same old plans in media, laws and virtue signaling. It doesn’t matter whether it is at federal, state or local levels.

Locally, opinion writers’ rail against the Donald Trump administration policies working to turn back obscene spending that is bankrupting America. Predictions that the sky is falling as social policies are reversing to what the Dems would call “common sense” programs. Predicting the future with fairy dust is always a go-to Democrat plan to solve societal issues.

At the state level, Park County Representative Julie McCluskie is overseeing her continued plan to maintain secrecy on the General Assembly activities which she oversees. Imagine, SB25-003, passed by the senate, saw the addition of 36 amendments during late night sessions without appropriate bi-partisan nor public commentary. Hearings were scheduled on 1-2 day notice to avoid embarrassing testimony from concerned (unpaid) citizens. Now passed and going to the governor, it will plunge Colorado into a protracted and expensive court battle that will very likely get it overturned. The Democrat led Legislature killed bills aimed at repeat child sex offenders and firearm thieves. They voted to decrease criminal “Extreme Indifference” penalties in HB25-1206. The example was if a shooter blasted an elementary school but didn’t kill anyone, it is a lesser crime. Huh? The Legislature is wrestling with a $1.3B budget shortfall that needs to be Constitutionally resolved. State Sen Jeff Bridges (D) said “ the problem isn’t spending, it’s …TABOR… which caps …spending”. No, TABOR restricts new taxes, the Legislature controls spending. Besides stepping over TABOR, they are planning cuts to the state Medicare system. Imagining all the areas to cut, why not cut medical benefits to the neediest? How about the $20M in a cash reserve to re-decorate Capitol offices? McCluskie offered $4M. Yea.

At the Federal level, Colorado senators John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet joined with all the Democrat Representatives in a verbal war against the Trump administration over policies that voters approved. Bennet and Hickenlooper sent a letter to a cabinet member over immigration issues. That’s powerful. Hickenlooper voted against a trans-athlete prohibition against males in female sports but personally supported the concept if females object to males in their sport. Huh? Pettersen took her months old child on a dangerous trip to DC in order to vote “no” which would have forced a government shutdown then lied about her reasoning in her newsletter. Hickenlooper and Bennet, representatives Jason Crow, Joe Neguse and Pettersen signed an empathetic letter to re-instate about 90 Colorado Forest Service employees. Another strong move. Any thought to the many thousands of closed oil patch and electric generation facilities workers who lost their jobs in Colorado due to “climate change” the last several years? Bennet admitted Democrats are “with educated elites and no longer the working people” (Meet the Press).

Thankfully their blathering to news media, Congressional hearings and personal newsletters has pretty much stopped. Perhaps they had already embarrassed themselves enough in supporting illegal migration by voting “no” to the Laken Riley Act. An Act which is instrumental in removing many of the most dangerous individuals within our midst. Just last week, Colorado was designated as U.S. headquarters to the criminal Tren De Agua gangs that Polis and Denver Mayor Michael Johnston lied about.

Despite the very concerning evidence that the Colorado Democrat delegation is proving to be anti-American in their “resistance” other news should be of greater concern, Avowed Socialist Bernie Sanders joined up with Rep Alecandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) in national rallies. While AOC hasn’t declared her communist/socialist affiliation, she definitely shows her leanings. Two weeks ago, an estimated 44,000 showed up at their Denver and Greeley rallies. The savior of democracy, candidate Kamala Harris couldn’t draw those numbers.

What’s concerning is that for a party that claimed a Trump presidency would defeat democracy, why are they embracing a clearly non-Democratic agenda of overturning a duly elected administration? They’re supporting judicial activism, government shutdowns, violence, illegal immigration and voting, wasteful spending, and many more acts of “resistance”. Their theme is to “stop the oligarchy” but the underlying message is to draw in Democrats supporting socialism and/or communism nationally. They certainly aren’t promoting democracy. The Trump victory was achieved at a critical crossroads in American politics. Attacking run-away debt and government spending, criminal migrants, soft on crime, illegal voting, weakness abroad, drug smuggling etc is the lifeboat we need. The coalition of Sanders and AOC is a brewing storm with intents to upset the lifeboat and drown America as a whole. This is a cause that both Democrats and Republicans can agree to defeat. Thankfully, they can’t stop President Trump.