Home state paper demands GOP senator resign over his continued loyalty to Trump

A local newspaper is demanding Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO) resign immediately for his continuing support of Donald Trump and for disappointing constituents.

“Only a few times in history has the United States faced an internal threat as profound as the one posed by the lawless President Trump, and all Americans who want to preserve the nation’s institutions are obliged to act,” the editorial board of Boulder’s Daily Camera wrote on Saturday. “In Colorado, this means they should insist that Trump enabler Sen. Cory Gardner vacate his office immediately.”

The board called Gardner’s support of Trump “a betrayal of public trust” saying his “disgraceful behavior in office makes him complicit in the corruption that’s polluting the channels of government, the dishonesty that’s destroying national institutions, the criminality that’s mocking the rule of law, and the perfidy that’s neutralizing the Constitution.”

“Far from defending the nation’s founding charter Gardner has aligned himself with its enemies,” the editors wrote, adding that his constituents should “do what is in their legal power to shorten his term to whatever extent possible.”

The House of Representatives last month formally launched an impeachment inquiry into Trump’s actions with regard to Ukraine, specifically his efforts to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate his 2020 political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden. Trump and many Republicans have either defended that call, claiming the pressure campaign was all above aboard or, like Gardner, declined to say whether or not it was appropriate.

According to the Daily Camera’s editorial board, Gardner’s decision to avoid criticizing Trump was a failure of his most basic duties as a member of Congress.

“In his cowardly refusal to denounce Trump’s criminality,” the editors wrote, “Gardner failed his Colorado constituents, he failed the country, and he failed his most basic Article I duties. … If Trump is able to destroy the republic, it will only have been made possible by Republican enablers like Gardner.”

The editorial board also slammed Gardner for more than just his unwavering fealty to Trump.

“Gardner’s unworthiness for public service goes beyond political disappointments,” the editorial stated. “His dismal record on the environment, health care, guns and other issues does render him a poor fit for Colorado.”

Colorado backed Hillary Clinton in 2016, and Democrats won every statewide office in 2018, flipping the state Senate from red to blue. Gardner’s pro-Trump voting record appears out of touch with residents of the state, then, where Trump has a just a 41% approval rating.

Gardner is regularly listed as one of the most vulnerable Republican senators facing reelection in 2020. Past elections show Colorado is trending more liberal at the same time Gardner is aligning himself with Trump.

Gardner’s performance in fact has been such a disappointment in the eyes of the Denver Post editorial board that the newspaper rescinded its 2014 endorsement of the senator, calling it “a mistake.”

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.