Station:    KNUS, 710 am

Show:       Peter Boyles Show

Guests:    Athanasopoulos, George

Link:       https://peterboyles.podbean.com/e/where-is-the-colorado-gop-jun-10-2019-hr-2/

Date:       June 10, 2019

Topics:    Donald Trump Supporter, Cory Gardner, Colorado Republican Party, Air Force Academy, Cadets, Tom Sullivan, House District 37 (HD-37), Red Flag Bill, 2nd Amendment, Hancock, Hickenlooper, Webb, Ritter, David Duke, Jared Polis, Jamie Giellis, Jack Phillips, Religious Freedom,

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BOYLES [00:00:00] How long do you think those people knew [about Trump’s Air Force Academy commencement address] on the president’s calendar? I’m going to guess 18 months, they knew he was coming here to speak. At least a year, they knew he was coming. And if you’re in a dogfight that we’re told Cory Gardner — great supporter of Donald Trump —  is, you would move things aside to appear [with Donald Trump during his visit to Colorado Springs]  And the same thing is true with all these elected officials, including Ken Buck. So, it’s a jump ball question and there you go. It’s yours.

ATHANASOPOULOS [00:00:31] So it is very clear that the Colorado Republican Party — specifically, Senator Cory Gardner — do not want to be associated with Donald Trump. […] But the Colorado Republican Party, because they commission polls that kind of tell them what they want to hear, they have this perception that Donald Trump is toxic for Colorado and therefore they want nothing to do with him. He wasn’t invited to any political events while in the state. I mean the man stopped and shook hands with just about everybody he could in route to the Air Force Academy and then on his way out.  He had time to shake the hands of every Graduating Cadet. […] I mean, he shook hands with every single one of them. And yet he doesn’t have time to do any political event in the state of Colorado. So the idea that we wanted him, or we invited him to do something., and he said ‘no’ is ridiculous on its face.  It is purposeful. And if if he were to allow me to speculate, I would say between now and November 20 we don’t see him [Trump] again. […] I went to the Trump event when he went down to the National Western structural complex and he packed the place out. He has an ability to motivate Republicans on a scale far greater than any surrogate he could possibly send here to Colorado. And yet, we don’t want him here. And anybody who says, “Oh, no, no! We stand with the president! We support the president,” then why is he not getting an invite?

BOYLES [00:02:28] Or people that go on radio shows or television shows or editorials and come up with these stories [that] he promised his daughter, or these other things. That’s–.

ATHANASOPOULOS [00:02:37] That’s a load of crap.

BOYLES [00:02:41] Of course it is. Well said.

ATHANASOPOULOS [00:02:43] Let’s just call it what it is.

BOYLES [00:02:44] Of course it is.

 [00:03:11] […].

ATHANASOPOULOS [00:03:12] If you look at the recall that is underway against State Representative Tom Sullivan who represents House District 37, he is one of the leading advocates for red flag and drug control. Now, who are the biggest opponents of this recall? It’s not the Democrats. It’s other Republicans. And that ties to the third point, which is: Cory Gardner in seeking re-election has an apparent strategy where he wants a political playing field that’s as flat as possible. There is no controversy There is no Donald Trump. There is no issue that would paint him into a corner. So he does not support the recall of Representative Tom Sullivan because he doesn’t want this to be an issue. It is if you look at the people who are opposing the recall — who are opposing the red flag bill — there is almost 100 percent crossover to supporters of Senator Cory Gardner. My question is, what is the senator’s position on this recall? Does he support it.? If he does, then why are all the people who support him opposing it?  they’re talking about spending huge sums of money in imposing this recall. This is a gentleman — Tom Sullivan — who came out and is a leading advocate of the government being able to come into your house without a warrant confiscate your weapon and then you have the burden of proof shifts to you as a lawful gun owner to say, “No, I am not a threat. I deserve to have my Second Amendment protections. I deserve to own these weapons,” which is completely unconstitutional. The sheriffs are absolutely right in standing up against it. But why are we in this position now? It’s because Cory Gardner, in his re-election strategy, doesn’t want any controversy. He wants the ability to paint himself any way he wants because he’s going to go where the wind and the polls take him. If those polls and his staff say, “Hey, you need to be like Coffman, standing up against the president,” then that’s what he’s going to do. If they say the opposite, that’s what he’s going to do. He wants the political manueverability to be whatever he thinks is going to win. And that is shameful!  Like, if you don’t stand for something, you stand for nothing.

 [00:06:02] […].

BOYLES [00:06:02] Hancock, Hickenlooper, Webb, Ritter, everyone pf them [is] a philanderer.  Everyone [of them] has played the money game with the power and celebrating that they bitch slapped this young woman running for mayor by turning her into David Duke.  And they celebrated it. So, it’s the same game again. But there’s no critique — there’s no media critique. They got away with what they got away with. Here’s a curveball. Why wasn’t Jared Polis at the [Hancock victory] celebration?  No, I’m serious. I’m writing about it. He didn’t even so much as send a representative, or send a message.  He didn’t tweet it or “twoot” it or anything!  He didn’t send over the lieutenant governor, nothing. He never said a word. Why did Jared Polis not join in the giant gang bang when they did the job on Jamie? Why didn’t you see Jared Polis there?

 [00:07:03] […].

ATHANASOPOULOS [00:07:03] Republicans support Jack. They understand the First Amendment.  They understand freedom. Now let me turn the question: If they are after Jack yet again, why doesn’t Cory go down there and do the same thing that you propose that Walker do?

BOYLES [00:07:21] Because Cory Gardner is going to get his ass kicked by fill-in-the-blank Democratic hopeful. I suspect it might be John Hickenlooper. But then again, so    –. They’re going to hand Cory Gardner his hat as he walks out the door. He’s not going to help Jack, anymore than he’s going to stand next to Donald Trump at the Air Force Academy.

ATHANASOPOULOS [00:07:40] The Democrats have already said that they overestimated the Republicans’ ability. They didn’t want to win by the margins they did in 2018.  In 2020, they are all set to run up the score against Cory. If you were to ask me to give you an over-under right now I think he loses by 12 points. That’s not what I want. But that’s the campaign that they are currently mounting. And again, if you don’t stand for something, you stand for nothing. Go down, appear with the President. Who was the last Republican, running statewide, nationally, to win Pueblo? It was Donald.

BOYLES [00:08:21] Absolutely! We were down there!

ATHANASOPOULOS [00:08:22] Who can really mobilize Republicans in Mesa County, out on the Western Slope? It’s not Cory. It’s Donald Trump.

 [00:08:34] […].

BOYLES [00:08:34] George, let’s put this back together. The Republican Party is out of power and will remain out of power in Colorado. Everybody used to say, “Well, Cory Gardner is our one Republican.” Well, he’s toast. So, predict for me — what happens?

ATHANASOPOULOS [00:08:52] As of right now — and mind you, this is not because I want this to happen. It is because all the numbers tell me this is gonna happen. I think Cory gets blown out of the water. If you ask me the over-under, I think it’s about 12 points.  And it’s because he’s running a campaign that is not only terrible but detached from reality. He is going to avoid all controversy. He’s going to make sure Donald Trump does not set foot in the state of Colorado. He’s going to have noncontroversial national surrogates come.  They’re gonna talk about how much he supports Donald Trump to Republican audiences. And then they’re gonna talk about anything else and everybody else.

BOYLES [00:09:37] George, I watched this sitting on the stage in Glendale, guys in the radio business saying, “Oh, no!  He — that Cory, he’ll [support Trump].”  And I’m looking at these people like they have a second head. Of course, he doesn’t. And it isn’t Cory Gardner that doesn’t want Trump here. It’s the money that doesn’t want Trump here. Forget about it.

 [00:09:53] […]

ATHANASOPOULOS [00:09:53] You know, the one Republican in leadership who is supporting the Republican platform?  Patrick Neville, the House Minority Leader!

BOYLES [00:10:00] Oh yeah!  I’m a huge Pat Neville fan! He’s on the radio show with us all the time.

ATHANASOPOULOS [00:10:05] Yeah, but he’s the only Republican who’s standing up for the Republican platform.

BOYLES [00:10:08] That is my point. That is my point.