The Get More Smarter Podcast - A Weekly Show About Colorado Politics

Send us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, the Second Regular Session of the 74th Colorado General Assembly is about halfway over: Democrats are taking big swings at big bills and Republicans are making utter fools of themselves. In other words, it’s a day that ends with “y.” Not-billionaire and not president and not gonna be president former host of NBC’s "The Apprentice" is broke as shit and can’t pay $464 million dollars he owes to the people of NY State for being a criminal fraudster. Who could have seen that coming?  And with the U.S. Senate Majority in the balance, it’s looking like Republicans could blow their chances at a majority once again. But first Congressman Jason Crow from Colorado’s 6th congressional district stops by to talk about the Space Force National Guard; the VA in Aurora; Ukraine; gun violence prevention; and saving democracy. 

Send us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast...we have a special interview-only episode with the man who was the first guest on the original show way back in May 2016. You know him as Denver's Mayor, Colorado's Governor, and now a United States Senator: John Hickenlooper is back on the pod! You don't want to miss this interview... 

Send us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast...Christy Powell is back on the podcast, and we’ve got a whole Christy-only special on the halfway point of the Colorado legislative session as a bonus episode! Our unofficial third cohost drops by again to give us an update on what’s going on under the gold dome and to confound us once more with her legislative game "What the F*** are They Talking About?" 

Send us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, Super Tuesday came and went and left us with the same situation we had beforehand; that’s right, it’s a Biden-Trump rematch, and no, there’s nothing you can do about it. But Dark Brandon is back: President Biden absolutely overcame incredibly low expectations for his State of the Union speech, and (formerly) rising Republican star Dark Katie Britt from Alabama vastly underperformed her basically average expectations.Later, the Colorado House Republicans catch “nopeachment fever” from their colleagues in Washington DC; this time, they’re going after a friend of the pod, and most likely a Fox News hit! They also tried and failed to make abortion and maybe also IVF illegal in Colorado right after even ALABAMA realized the error of their ways and carved out an exception for IVF in their heinous anti abortion law. Next, Colorado Democrats’ favorite Republican Copy Machine Masochist is back! What genre of office equipment will Ron Hanks exact his revenge on in his latest electoral endeavor? And finally, we did it yall: Democrats are finally killing off Colorado’s oil and gas industry -- for the fifth time -- once and for all. Or whatever. 

Send us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, the United States Supreme Court voted unanimously to let Donald Trump appear on the Colorado ballot in 2024; Democrats and Republicans alike weep and rejoice in equal measure. Kevin McCarthy may have been the shortest-termed speaker in modern history, but MAGA Mike Johnson may go down as the least capable person to ever hold the job as he kicks the can down the road and forces the federal government to live paycheck to paycheck. Next, Real President Joe Biden and Pretend President Donald Trump both visited the Texas Border this week, but only one of them wants to do anything to solve the problem. With the Colorado legislature well underway, one powerful legislator is picking fights with the media about objectively accurate reporting -- where have we seen this before? And our 8th favorite member of congress from Colorado is having a tougher and tougher time these days. May we politely suggest suspending your campaign and spending more time with your family? Finally, the fallout from the overturning of Roe v. Wade continues as Republicans recognize the effects of their own policies; maybe they should stop trying to interfere in private medical decisions altogether so this kind of stuff isn’t a problem anymore? And the most corrupt, contemptible, and batshit crazy chair of the Colorado GOP in modern memory -- if not all of history -- is using Nikki Haley’s money to go after Phil Anschutz, Jeff Crank, and Nikki Haley, all while trying to bolster his own campaign for Congress. Is there any line this guy won’t cross to promote himself?

This podcast discusses the failed impeachment attempt against Biden, distinctions between life forms, a southern Colorado Republican under federal investigation, and Cory Gardner's re-entry into Colorado politics. It also covers debunked impeachment allegations, controversies, political endorsements, low viewership events, property tax debates, debunking conspiracies, legal rulings, and absurd political tactics.

This podcast discusses Democrats winning and Republicans losing, impeachment of the Secretary of Homeland Security, GOP state lawmakers aiming for higher office, debunking migrant scare rumors in Lakewood, highlighting the importance of fact-checking in journalism, analyzing journalistic responsibility in combating extremism, and exploring political dynamics in recent Democratic victories.

Send us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, Republicans have managed to break both chambers of Congress as they refuse to not only accomplish their most basic constitutional obligations, but fail to accomplish even their real bad political objectives. Then, Gabe-ish Evans -- the half-term state representative running for the GOP nomination to lose to Congresswoman Yadira Caraveo in November -- gets Speaker Mike Johnson’s endorsement; no word on whether or not he also got Denver Mayor Mike Johnston’s endorsement, but we’re betting against it personally. Next, we come closer to home with some good old fashioned chaos at the State Capitol, and the disgraced convicted felon who wrote the worst law in Colorado may be running for Congress now that a criminal record is apparently something to be proud of when running for the nomination of the party of law and order. BUT FIRST semi-returning podcast champion Andrew Baumann, Partner at the legendary Democratic Polling Firm Global Strategy Group joins us to review the latest edition of the ProgressNow/GSG quarterly-ish survey, "The Rocky Mountaineer"...

Send us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, we learn that all persons are persons from our coverage of the ClusterBuck in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District...which continues with the results of a debate, a straw poll, and some partial campaign finance reports that are coming in as we record. While nobody’s really breaking fundraising records here, this race may be breaking the record for “most candidates with arrest records in a primary election in Colorado History.” There was also a GOP debate in the 8th congressional district which is a must-win if Colorado Republicans want to crawl out of their cavern of irrelevance and if national Republicans want to keep their now-one-seat-majority. But the candidates there are...not the best. And we check in on the second regular session of the 74th General Assembly where GOP leadership has transitioned from worse to bad -- and a brand new kind of microminority infighting has just begun.

Send us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, there was so much news between the last time we recorded and today that we had to throw out a whole episode and start over! First, the ClusterBuck in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District gets more cluster-er as the Colorado House Minority Leader cops to a DUI and one of his caucus members/leading opponents for the nomination admits to paying for an abortion for his college girlfriend during a speech he made opposing the recognition of Roe v. Wade. Our 8th favorite member of congress from Colorado -- who is soon to be our first favorite former member of Congress from Colorado -- lays low as she finishes unpacking after moving into what she hopes is her new district, but it won’t be, really. The economy is rolling, and Americans have finally noticed! And the "Fat Lady" is warming up, because Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee for President after Ron DeSanctimonius dropped out and Nikki Haley got her clock cleaned in New Hampshire.