Ross Kaminsky Show, Cory Gardner, February 26, 2020
Station: KHOW, 630 am
Show: Ross Kaminsky Show
Guests: Gardner, Cory
Date: February 26, 2020
Topics: Greg Brophy, Northern Colorado Secession, NISP, Accomplishments, Donald Trump Rally in Colorado Springs, Bernie Sanders, Capitalism, Socialism, Secretary of the Interior, BLM, Arakansas Valley Conduit, Anvil Points, Tax Cuts, Space Command & Space Force,
CLIP-CGardnerKAMINSKY022620.mp3
HOST ROSS KAMINSKY [00:00:10] All right. Good morning, everybody! Happy Wednesday. I’m Ross. Let’s not waste any time [and go] right to our VIP line, [and speak with] my friend and our senator from right here in Colorado, Cory Gardner. Good morning, Cory. Thanks for being here.
U.S. SENATOR FROM COLORADO, CORY GARDNER [00:00:24] ‘Morning, Ross. Thanks for having me.
KAMINSKY [00:00:25] So, I want to start off with what obviously [is] the news of the past week, two weeks, or whatever: coronavirus. What do you see the federal government doing right now? And what, if anything, do you think the federal government should be doing right now?
GARDNER [00:00:41] Absolutely. So at the very front end of this coronavirus, the U.S. took the appropriate steps in both quarantine and stopping flights to China where this was happening. That is sort of an unprecedented step, especially early on in the virus as we’re trying to find out where it was moving, how it was working, and what was going on with it. So, that kind of response needs to be the one that continues. If there are other hotspots around the globe where we need to take this action, then we have to take that action. You know, the screenings at the airports, those kinds of things need to ramp up. Whether it’s China, Wuhan, Hubei Province or whether it’s Italy or South Korea, that kind of screening and guidance needs to be in place. And so, you know, one of the first things I did — it was actually back during the middle of the impeachment trial, actually — where I saw how concerning this was and demanded a CDC briefing. And so right in the middle of impeachment — in fact, I think it was on the closing day of arguments for the House — we had an all-Senate briefing from CDC and the Health and Human Services about coronavirus.
KAMINSKY [00:01:45] Wow. President Trump has requested two and a half billion dollars of funding for– I’m not sure what yet, but — to deal with coronavirus. And Chucky came out and complained about it — Chucky Schumer came out and complained about it and said, “No, we need $3.1 billion! Now, dude, how stupid is that? I mean, for all practical purposes — two and a half billion and 3.1 billion — for all practical purposes, they’re the same number. What the hell is he complaining about?
GARDNER [00:02:18] Well, I think what you’re seeing Chuck Schumer do is try to scare the American people and he’s trying to use partisan politics for his own political gain. And that’s irresponsible. But we have to do the right thing. And that’s why if 2.5 billion is not enough, then we should have more. But I’m confident that the Senate appropriators, who I’ve already reached out to, written letters to, and spoken to directly, will provide additional funding for for the coronavirus response — testing, screening as appropriate.
KAMINSKY [00:02:44] Before I get to asking about the Trump rally — you were there and I was there — a listener has a question for you. Listener, if you would.
FORMER CO STATE SENATOR, GREG BROPHY [00:02:51] Good morning, Cory.
GARDNER [00:02:52] Good morning. [recognizing the “listener’s” voice] Hey! You let people from Wray on the radio? .
KAMINSKY [00:02:57] [laughing] He recognized his voice pretty quickly. For those of you just joining the show, its former state senator, Greg Brophy, in studio with me, actually.
BROPHY [00:03:04] So, Cory, I want to talk –.
GARDNER [00:03:05] I’m glad Yuma — Yuma County is well— Yuma County is well-represented today! That’s great.
BROPHY [00:03:11] [laughing] We own the air, here on KHOW this morning, Cory. And speaking of Yuma County, I mean, the things that are so important to rural Colorado typically revolve around water. You and I, back in the day — back in the legislative days — were big supporters of the Northern Integrated Supply Plan — NISP. Your most likely opponent [in this year’s general election for US Senate] was opposed to helping provide water for rural Colorado. I want to juxtapose that against what you managed to pull off for southeast Colorado, something that hasn’t been done in longer than you’ve been alive.
GARDNER [00:03:42] Well, you know, this is incredible. And thank you. And you’ve worked on this as long as I have — for decades. President Kennedy in Pueblo, Colorado, announced the construction of a pipeline, the Arkansas Valley conduit that would go from Pueblo, Colorado, out to Lamar –100-plus miles — in 1962 to provide 50,000 people with clean drinking water. That was never funded. It was never built. And just a couple of weeks ago, we were able to get the funding for construction of this pipeline to begin construction. I’m excited about it. This is something that’s been over six — you know, nearly six decades in the making. And, you know, we were finally able to get this done. Fifty thousand people in Colorado will have access to clean drinking water, now.
BROPHY [00:04:20] Accomplishments.
GARDNER [00:04:22] That’s exactly right. I mean, this is accomplishments. It’s results. And if you think about what we’ve been able to do for all parts of Colorado — you know, the Bureau of Land Management is now headquartered in Grand Junction, Colorado; Space Command and Space Force operating out of Colorado Springs; a pipeline from Pueblo to Lamar is now going to be built. We have successes in all four corners of our state and they’re going to continue because of the work we’ve done. Nearly 20 percent of Colorado tried to secede when John Hickenlooper was governor.
BROPHY [00:04:51] I voted to secede, by the way.
GARDNER [00:04:52] [laughs].
KAMINSKY [00:04:52] [laughing] And I wish you had [seceded]. So, Cory, you and I — and actually Brophy [too] — we were all at the Trump rally, although you had a speaking role and we didn’t. What was that like for you — it’s not really a political question. It’s more of a personal question — for you to be in that room like that and feel that vibe. What was that like for you?
GARDNER [00:05:18] Well, for somebody who can’t sing, who can’t dance, who has no musical skill whatsoever, it is the closest I’ll ever be to a rock concert, in the rock concert. But, you know, the energy was just incredible. And to hear the president talk to the state about our accomplishments — and that’s important because while the Democrats want to oppose everything, you know, the president has returned millions of dollars in energy money to Colorado. He has worked with us on these issues like moving the Bureau of Land Management headquarters to Colorado. He’s moved USGS Geological Service jobs to Colorado. And nobody is talking about that. And so these things happened because he’s willing to do work for Colorado that nobody else, including secretaries of interior from Colorado, including senators from Colorado, were able to accomplish. And that’s — that’s an important step for the state.
KAMINSKY [00:06:04] You know, I’d say a year ago, 18 months ago, my thought process would have been, “It’s probably a difficult call for Cory to know how close to be to Trump because he’s such a double edged sword, and his lover– you know, his supporters love him, and his haters hate him.” But I think over the past year-ish, the economic accomplishments and other things like you’ve just talked about have made it a lot easier and a lot safer and a lot more reasonable for you to be at — you were actually, I think, the only person who spoke twice at that Trump rally. And it makes sense to me, because the accomplishments you’re talking about are real.
GARDNER [00:06:44] Well, look, I’m 100% opposed to socialism — 100% opposed to socialism! — and that is exactly what 100% of his opponents and my opponents are representing. And that’s the danger that we face in 2020. The danger is Medicare for all — a public option for health care, where they destroy rural hospitals and take away millions of Americans’ insurance from their employer, where they take away and undo our tax cuts, where they destroy and –. My opponents — all of them — have said they want to make oil and gas obsolete. Can you imagine a world where people run for office saying, “Vote for me! I’ll kill your job!?” But that’s exactly what they’re doing.
KAMINSKY [00:07:21] Yeah, it absolutely is. We had a guest on the show earlier, the president of the Western Energy Alliance. You might have seen their full-page ad that they took out pushing back against this — these anti energy radicals. It really is an incredible thing that we’re seeing. Now, you are no longer — and I’m sure this is kind of early for you — but you are no longer responsible for getting other Republican senators around the country elected. But I want to ask you this question anyway. The conventional wisdom, which I normally hesitate to embrace but in this case I do embrace, is that Bernie Sanders, if he were the presidential candidate for Democrats, would massively increase Republican chances of winning races around the country — not just your Senate race, but everything all the way down-ballot, as far down as you want to go. Do you think that’s right?
GARDNER [00:08:12] You know, I think the difference between — you know, it’s easy to misunderstand how President Trump won in 2016 if you’re a Democrat. They don’t understand how the attacks on President Trump actually made him stronger. And in many cases, that’s what we’re seeing with Bernie Sanders. But the clear difference between Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump: Donald Trump believes in America. Bernie Sanders does not. I’m not even sure Bernie Sanders likes America. He’s embarrassed by America. I don’t think the people who voted for the Democrat candidate four years ago are going to look at Bernie Sanders and say, “You know, I don’t like what he says, but I like what he does.” They don’t like what he says or what he does. And so, while he very well may be the Democrat nominee, this will be the first time in a very — well, I can’t think of any other candidate who didn’t like America and is running for president.
KAMINSKY [00:09:05] It’s funny, I used to harbor suspicions like that about Barack Obama, but compared to Bernie Sanders [clearing his throat] pardon me — you just can’t compare them. And the way that Bernie keeps, for example, defending Cuba is a remarkable thing.
GARDNER [00:09:19] Well, he said that this is a racist country, that capitalism is bad. That — I mean, name one thing that — you know, this is — this is –. I — you know, Bernie Sanders represents somebody who wants to fundamentally change this country, who we are. And, you know, whether the model is Venezuela or Cuba or Russia, it’s not America.
KAMINSKY [00:09:41] Um, and you didn’t exactly answer my question, so I’m going to reword it in a very succinct way.
GARDNER [00:09:45] Oh, sure! I’m sorry! Yeah.
KAMINSKY [00:09:45] No, that’s all right. Your answer was fine, it just wasn’t–. So, if you could pick the Democratic candidate that as a Republican, you would most like to lead the Democratic ticket because you want to win as a Republican of the current field, would you pick Bernie Sanders?
GARDNER [00:10:03] Well, you know, certainly, I would say absolutely, Bernie Sanders. But the problem is, what if Bernie Sanders wins?
KAMINSKY [00:10:07] Yeah.
GARDNER [00:10:07] And that’s a big risk, right? And so — my gosh! But all of them have chosen these horrible ideas. I used to think that Berni — that Joe Biden would be the biggest threat for Republicans if he were the presidential nominee in Colorado. But after his performance, I don’t think you can say that. I think all of them are weak. All of them have embraced elements of Bernie Sanders’ socialism. That’s the dangerous part of 2016: he normalized socialism to where his ideas became the floor, that they all have to start with these bad ideas and then see how they can out-crazy each other. And so, I think that an Elizabeth Warren or a Bernie Sanders or, you know, these radicals who have 25, 30 trillion dollars worth of spending plans — and you know, those the moderates as well. The so-called moderates now want to spend $30 trillion taking over our economy and our health care system. You know, really, I don’t — I’m not scared of any of them at the top of the ticket.
BROPHY [00:11:04] He also [unintelligible] other Senate races. I mean, you probably follow this closer than most people in Colorado, but talk about the chance of the Republicans picking up New Mexico with Bernie Sanders and his anti-fracking ban at the top of the ticket.
GARDNER [00:11:17] Well, that’s right. You think about places like New Mexico where it could very much be in play, where their heart and soul of their economy is now energy. And you have thousands and thousands of energy workers who would be put out of work if Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth — Heck! if all of them, because they’ve all said they want to end oil and gas. I mean, that’s the thing that people don’t realize is you’re not electing the lesser of two evils. When it comes to these ideas that are bad, you’re actually electing the very idea that is bad, no matter who it is. It’s just — you know, you get one guy who talks of his hands a little bit more if you vote for Bernie Sanders. And so, so, I think people in New Mexico, people in Michigan are looking at John James and saying, “How are we going to stand up for what we believe in — these manufacturing jobs that we fight so hard for each and every day to keep in Michigan — they go away if we destroy our energy economy! They go away if we destroy our sort of blue collar fabric of our nation. And that’s what they want to do. Look, they don’t want to export American products. They want to import socialism. And that’s a bad idea.
KAMINSKY [00:12:16] Senator Cory Gardner, we got to leave it there. As always, I’m grateful for your time and look forward to having you back on the show soon.
GARDNER [00:12:23] Hey, thanks for having me, Take care. Thanks.
KAMINSKY [00:12:26] All right, that was a fantastic conversation. We actually got some real interesting, substantive answers out of Cory, there.
BROPHY [00:12:32] Yeah, we did.
KAMINSKY [00:12:33] I liked it.
BROPHY [00:12:33] I liked that guy a lot.
KAMINSKY [00:12:34] I like that guy a lot, too. We have got to reelect him here in Colorado. We’ll be right back.
