This just in: We have a new leader in the highly influential Littwin rankings for most objectionable Colorado politician.
Stunningly, Lauren Boebert, the longtime frontrunner, has slipped into second place. It’s not for lack of effort, of course. She just made a headline-grabbing appearance at Donald Trump’s porn-star-hush-money-book-fixing trial even as she skipped her son Tyler’s most recent court date.
In what might be best described as a paean to hypocrisy, the carpetbagging canoodler went to New York in support of Trump, who was prevented by a gag order from mentioning Judge Juan Merchan’s daughter. So, Boebert stepped up to do the slandering for him.
What made it all so essentially Boebertian — which isn’t yet a word, but someday might be — was that she was attacking the judge’s daughter despite her pleading with the media to respect her troubled family’s privacy.
This was an example of Boebert’s own kind of special MAGA sauce — Make America Grovel Again.
And yet.
And yet.
Somehow, GOP state party chair Dave Williams has managed to jump — actually, looking more like a belly-flop — into first place with his special brand of “God-Hates-Flags” homophobia, which he ordered up to note the beginning of Pride Month.
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With “God Hates Flags,” Williams was, of course, making a rhyming reference to the hate-filled, gay-bashing rhetoric made infamous by Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church. And if that doesn’t make you ill, then you must be a Williams supporter.
In an email from the state party, signed by Williams, he wrote, “The month of June has arrived and, once again, the godless groomers in our society want to attack what is decent, holy, and righteous so they can ultimately harm our children.”
It gets worse. In replying to those critics who suggested that gays, in general, are neither groomers nor child harmers nor, for that matter, godless, the party — meaning Williams — tweeted that the decent and righteous and godly people should “burn all the Pride flags this month.”
Yes, he did.
I’m sure Williams is right in line with Sam Alito’s wife and the other right wingers who believe in flying the American flag upside down in protest. But is flag burning — even Pride flag burning — the next step?
The would-be flag burner, as you must know, is not just the state party chair. He is also running for Congress in the 5th CD GOP primary while using — by which I mean abusing — party funds to help his primary bid against Jeff Crank, who is backed by what’s left of the state’s GOP establishment.
As we know, garden-variety homophobia — and attacks on all things LGBTQ — is not necessarily disqualifying in the Republican Party. You may have noticed the GOP’s all-out assault on transgender rights, not to mention library-friendly drag queens. I mean, since the right lost the war — at least for now — on same-sex marriage, it has been all bathrooms and pronouns and fights with Disney on don’t-say-gay legislation.
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But Williams’ shocking display of the most ugly brand of homophobia is so vile that some in GOP quarters have called for him to resign. Others have turned down the state party’s endorsement.
Meanwhile, Jeffco GOP chair Nancy Pallozzi is collecting signatures to convene a special meeting of the party’s central committee to take up the matter of kicking Williams out of his job.
Pallozzi’s move is a risky proposition because it’s not altogether clear that her party would fire Williams. These are the same people, after all, who hired him in the first place and were well aware, at the time, of Williams’ petty corruption, his outrageous political stances and, most of all, his desire to turn Colorado into a MAGA satellite state.
A decision to not fire Williams — who once tried to run for office as Dave “Let’s Go Brandon” Williams — would be one more embarrassment for the ever-shrinking state GOP.
I mean, Williams was actually impeached over a gay-rights issue when he was student body president at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. Under Williams’ direction, the state party actually called for parents to pull students out of public schools, saying Democrats want to turn kids “trans.”
You might be able to spot a trend. There’s nothing really new here, except that everyone is finally noticing.
But how much will that matter?
Williams has been endorsed by Trump for Congress, because why wouldn’t he be? And is there anything more dangerous, or more rare, in this political season than a Republican willing to defy Trump?
As I write this, it’s not clear if Pallozzi has enough signatures to demand a meeting. And it’s not clear that she has support from the 60% of committee members necessary to unseat Williams.
But maybe the most worrying part of Williams’ latest round of gay bashing is not whether the GOP leaders, such as they are, end up sticking with him. No, what’s worrying is the reason why Williams has gone out of his way to be just so objectionable.
He must think it’s good politics. He must think this ugliness will help him in his primary race against Crank.
He must think the GOP-heavy 5th CD wants to send a raving bigot to Washington.
What we should be afraid of is that he might be right.
In a recent debate, Crank criticized the offending email, saying it was an inappropriate fundraising ploy. But he also said this: “I am gonna fight the woke nonsense that goes on in our schools. I’m gonna fight all this gender-affirming stuff. There are two genders, male and female…When it comes to a flag, there’s one flag that belongs in a school. That’s the American flag.”
For his part, Williams has said, “Sadly, we now have weak establishment Republicans who want to join radical Democrats and the press in defending this child-harming Pride Month agenda. They are preparing to wage civil war within the Republican Party to defend transgender procedures for minors.”
It’s not as simple as that. Williams, who has broken all precedent and party bylaws in having his party endorse Williams-favored candidates in primary battles — including an endorsement of Williams himself — has made many an enemy in this election cycle.
A long list of Republican candidates have called for Williams to resign, including five of the six candidates in the crowded 4th CD primary field. And then there’s the sixth candidate, Boebert, who, of course, received the party endorsement.
As far as I can tell, she has been silent on the subject on her rarely silent Twitter — which I refuse to call X — feed. I guess she’s too busy with Hunter Biden, who, as you’ve no doubt heard, was convicted Tuesday for buying a gun while being a drug addict. Does the Second Amendment cover drug addicts? I haven’t heard Boebert on that topic either.
What we have heard and seen from both Williams and Boebert is their ability to constantly embarrass the rest of Colorado. On June 25th, primary Election Day, we’ll see whether Republicans in the 4th and 5th CDs choose one or both of them to represent their party in the November election.
They’re already running first and second in the Littwin most-objectionable state rankings.
Now, imagine them, if you dare, in Congress — as the undisputed mud-wrestling championship tag team from hell.
Mike Littwin has been a columnist for too many years to count. He has covered Dr. J, four presidential inaugurations, six national conventions and countless brain-numbing speeches in the New Hampshire and Iowa snow. Sign up for Mike’s newsletter.
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