Colo. Republicans cry crocodile tears over graffiti
Donald J. Trump’s gaudy, gauche, un-elegant taste in pretty much everything in life is well documented. Goldplated toilets, expensive steaks burnt to a crisp and served with ketchup, cheap vodka in fancy bottles sold at premium prices, whatever that thing on his head is that he insists is “hair” — the list goes on. The president is obsessed with superficial appearances, and he never acknowledges that what’s beneath the gilded surface rarely matches the embellished exterior.
Likewise, self-proclaimed “conservatives” in Colorado are focusing on the superficial effects of Trump’s botched response to the pandemic, the ensuing economic crisis exacerbating homelessness and poverty, and deep structural racism, instead of the underlying reasons why there is so much misery in our society right now.
They care more about making things look good than making things good.
Republican members of the Colorado House of Representatives, who will remain nameless because they crave attention and I’m not in the business of giving them what they want, have whined to no end about the graffiti at the state Capitol. They have written preposterous letters to Donald Trump begging for intervention from federal riot police, yet have not once named a single solution to the inequality that is driving the current unrest.
These same politicians call a government “tyrannical” for mandating face masks to stop the spread of a pandemic that is resurging precisely because of their willful ignorance and resistance to public health policies. These politicians encourage the public to stockpile weapons and ammunition, oppose background checks for purchases of firearms — and yet see absolutely no irony in calling in the federal troops on people committing vandalism.
It’s unfortunate that the Capitol has been trashed. It’s a beautiful building that I spent eight years of my life working in, and it’s a symbol of so many things that make Colorado great. But instead of being upset that the building has been vandalized, we must ask why it has been vandalized.
Those who are complaining about spray paint have nothing to say about: historic unemployment, a pandemic killing over 160,000 Americans (including a disproportionate number of people of color), systemic racism, unemployment insurance (expiring with not-a-word from Sen.
Cory Gardner), homelessness on the rise (with no plan but to move people along while destroying what little they have to begin with), no federal plan for opening schools and keeping teachers, kids and families (especially those in multigenerational households) safe, and federal agents kidnapping people in unmarked vehicles.
Their crocodile tears for the superficial effects of this disaster expose an obsession with aesthetics instead of justice.
This is, of course, all part of the national Republican narrative of division that someone deep in the nerve center of Trumpland or the RNC has decided is the only way to stem the losses the GOP will experience this November. President Trump has dispensed with the dog whistles, outright telling his supporters, “I am happy to inform all of the people living their Suburban Lifestyle Dream that you will no longer be bothered or financially hurt by having low-income housing built in your neighborhood.”
This is racist, embarrassing language from the leader of our country and the leader of a major political party, and I haven’t heard a peep about it from the Colorado Republicans getting all worked up over graffiti.
Those who would focus on broken windows instead of a broken system want you to think that whatever it costs to clean up the Capitol would have been better spent helping people get through the pandemic.
The problem is that those same conservatives are currently pushing a misguided $150 million tax cut that would disproportionately benefit the wealthy and leave nothing for families suffering from the pandemic’s economic crisis. There is no reason to believe them when they claim that this money would have been better spent helping people because they simply do not believe in spending money to help people.
They’d prefer it stayed stuffed in the pockets of their wealthy donors and billionaire benefactors while they distract you with superficial scare tactics in an attempt to artificially gild their chances of snatching victory from the jaws of defeat as Trump, Gardner, and the entire GOP continue their death spiral in the polls and march toward a devastating and richly deserved defeat in November.
Ian Silverii is the executive director of Progressnow Colorado, the state’s largest progressive advocacy group.