Thousands of Coloradans endured freezing temperatures and snow flurries to demonstrate against the Trump administration today. Roughly 2,500 protestors rallied at the state Capitol and marched through downtown Denver, part of a coordinated national event that was organized by the 50501 Movement.
Happy Valentine’s Day to all our readers out there. For this week’s round-up of extremism, we are looking at some anti-trans activism, another Project 2025 author joining the Trump Administration, and a convicted felon being elected chair of the Jefferson County GOP. We are featuring two articles from James O’Rourke who looked into anti-trans activists’ plans for the coming years and Trump’s appointment of Kathleen Sgamma, an oil and gas lobbyist, to lead the Bureau of Land Management. Owen Swallow gives an update on the Colorado GOP’s ongoing feud with a Durango school district and the divide that is beginning to form between La Plata County Republicans and State GOP leaders. Finally, we are featuring reporting from Westword’s Hannah Metzger, who covered Rich Wyatt’s ascension to lead the Jefferson County GOP. Wyatt, a convicted felon and election denier, first made a name for himself on a shortlived reality TV show that featured his Wheat Ridge gun shop, which he would later be convicted of running without a license.
A virtual meeting between Colorado GOP leaders and their La Plata County colleagues became contentious last week as party officials debated the next steps in a proposed legal battle with a Durango school district.
A lot has happened in the past seven days. Trump’s promised “Operation Aurora” kicked off in Colorado as ICE and other federal agencies carried out raids at apartment buildings in the Denver Metro area. According to The Colorado Sun’s Jennifer Brown, the agency has yet to reveal how many people were detained and if they had connections to the gang ICE was targeting, but residents and activists described masked agents using smoke grenades and breaking in doors.
January has come and gone and we here at the Colorado Times Recorder are restarting our weekly roundup of articles relating to political extremism in Colorado. Since it has been a while since our last rewind, we will be looking back at some published work from earlier in the month. Starting off, we have Heidi Beedle’s coverage of anti-abortion advocates celebrating the Trump presidency and the pardoning of individuals who vandalized and intimidated people at pregnancy resource centers. We also have an article by Washington DC correspondent for CTR Maria Tedesco documenting the Colorado GOP celebration of Trump’s inauguration where a January 6th rioter was lauded, Erik Maulbetsch’s recent article on Colorado GOP Chair Dave Williams derailing a recent Republican meeting with another attempted power grab and a column from Logan Davis on how policies from the now-infamous Project 2025 are being put in place at a national scale. Finally, we would like to draw attention to one of the first bills put forth by the Colorado GOP that targets trans people and gender-affirming care, reporting by James O’Rourke.
On Monday, a bipartisan group of lawmakers voted to kill one of the first bills put forward by Rep. Ryan Gonzalez (R-Greeley), a repeal of Colorado’s cage-free egg law that he worked on with the Libertarian Party of Colorado (LPCO). The measure failed to advance beyond committee as lawmakers argued whether the repeal would have any impact on the cost of eggs.
Multiple economic advocacy groups in Colorado held a press conference Tuesday where they rejected President Trump’s and conservatives’ proposed tax agenda.
One Colorado, a leading LGBTQ+ advocacy group in the state, recently announced two programs to bolster transgender rights across the state.
Last week, Republicans in the U.S. Senate, along with support from some Democratic Senators, voted to advance the Laken Riley Act to a full debate in the Senate.
With the threat by the Colorado GOP to sue a Durango school district over a resolution that would allow teachers to display a version of the LGBTQ+ pride and Black Lives Matter flag as protected government speech, they are continuing their campaign of using transgender identities as a political tactic.
