Trump's Trials - Trump takes aim at Colorado, a state that didn't vote for him

Episode Date: February 10, 2026

Colorado's Democratic leaders say President Trump is on a political retribution campaign against their state and the fallout will be rural communities on everything from water to planning for disasters.Support NPR and hear every episode of Trump's Terms sponsor-free with NPR+. Sign up at plus.npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

I'm Scott Detrow, and this is Trump's terms from NPR. We're under invasion from within. If you're not going to protect your citizens, President Trump will. We all serve at the pleasure of the president. The golden age of America is upon us. We are in the golden age. Every episode, we bring you one of NPR's latest stories about the 47th president and how he is trying to remake the federal government.

Today's story starts right after this. I'm Michelle Martin. The Trump administration says it is reviewing billions of dollars in federal funding for 14 states for everything from social services to environmental programs. And each one of these states has something in common. They did not vote for President Trump. In Colorado, the administration is doubling down on plans to dismantle the country's largest federal climate research lab. NPR's Kirk Sigler reports from Boulder. Just before Christmas, wind gusts of 100 miles an hour led forecasters to issue.

you a rare extreme wildfire warning in the neighborhoods beneath boulder's flat iron rock formations. There's that air falling off the Rocky Mountains. Here where the Rockies crash into the Great Plains is one of the best places on the continent to study extreme weather. So climate scientist Daniel Swain says it felt surreal when just hours after that warning, the White House announced in a tweet it was planning to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research or Encar. I think it was an irony that was not lost on the hundreds of atmospheric scientists to live in these neighborhoods here near Encar in Boulder. Swain's standing on a hiking trail beneath its sprawling campus. He's with the University of California and does research with Encar.

He's not employed there, so he feels freer to speak out. He says the ironies that day kept coming. And in fact, the electrical utility, Excel had shut off the electricity to N-car preemptively. to reduce the risk of a wildfire ignition. It's N-KAR's research that informs power companies to shut down the lines during extreme weather. The memory here is fresh of a wind-driven wildfire in the winter of 2021 that destroyed a thousand homes.

The weather and climate science that's been done in NKAR has saved countless lives. The Trump administration says the center's forecasting arm will be folded into other federal agencies, but they're putting an end to its climate change research. In response to a request for comment, the White House called the center a, quote, premier research stronghold for left-wing climate lunacy. Here's Energy Secretary Chris Wright speaking at the National Renewable Energy Lab nearby,

which has been rebranded the National Lab of the Rockies. It's a real physical phenomenon. It's worth understanding a little bit. But to call it a crisis and point to disasters and say that that's climate change, that's to say I'm not going to do my homework. The targeting of N-Car comes as the administration is, also trying to force a coal plan here to stay open against the wishes of its owners. Trump is moving to block Colorado's wolf reintroduction

and the administration cut off federal aid funds used for child care. Democrats say the president is on a vengeance campaign against states that didn't vote for him, and it's often personal. Here he is in December pressuring Governor Jared Polis to commute the sentence of a former county clerk and election denier that Trump tried to pardon. The governor of Colorado is a weak, and a pathetic man who was run by Trend de Aragua, the criminals from Venezuela took over sections of Colorado. Local police have denied any truth to the story. The Colorado leaders are more worried about an

economic fallout from federal research being cut. Renewable energy is big business here. The industry says it's seeing a bump in demand for solar and batteries partly due to the recent power shutoffs to avoid starting wildfires during high winds. Retribution campaign or not, retired federal scientists like Chuck Cuchar say Trump's attempt to turn back the clock toward fossil fuels will have ramifications far beyond Colorado. Yeah, the energy transition will continue. The concern that I have is we're falling further and further behind China. Cucher worked for 40 years at the National Renewable Energy Lab in Golden.

The very first climate science conference held in the world was in Boulder in 1965, and it was there because of Encar. Boulder today feels on a. Edge. Hundreds of federal jobs are in limbo at labs like N-Car, Noah, and the federal partnerships with the University of Colorado. Mayor Aaron Brockett says the political battle over N-Car started as Boulder was preparing for a possible wildfire during this one of the driest winters on record. The timing was terrible because we actually were preparing for the high wind event at the moment that that information dropped. So the whole city is preparing from a public safety perspective to

protect our residents. And meanwhile, we're having to scramble to think about what does this mean for NKAR. It was cruel, Mayor Brockett says. The federal government was dismantling the very institution that helps protect cities like his from extreme weather. Kirk Sigler, NPR News, Boulder, Colorado. Before we wrap up a reminder, you can find more coverage of the Trump administration on the NPR Politics Podcast, where you can hear NPR's political reporters break down the day's biggest political news with new episodes every weekday afternoon. And thanks, as always, to our NPR Plus supporters who hear every episode of the show without sponsor messages. You can learn more at plus.npr.org.

I'm Scott Detrow. Thanks for listening to Trump's terms from NPR.