In an unhinged video this summer, Danielle Jurinsky, a former Aurora City Council member, blamed the Democratic Party for the firebomb attack on peaceful demonstrators in Boulder who called for the release of hostages in Gaza. Through tears, she angrily singled out Jewish leaders in the state, such as Gov. Jared Polis and Attorney General Phil Weiser, and said that as Democrats they were not really Jewish but part of a “demonic cult.”
The shocking performance was just one example of Jurinsky’s cuckoo style of public service, which strictly adhered to the MAGA themes of leadership: outrage, grievance and, above all, attention.
She achieved more attention for herself last year than even she could have imagined when she became the primary spreader of the lie that Venezuelan gangs had “taken over” whole parts of Aurora, Colorado. This falsehood brought undeserved disrepute to the city, but it also prompted a visit by a virulently anti-immigrant presidential candidate. Donald Trump soon led a campaign rally in Aurora, where he repeated lies about immigrants in the city and gave Jurinsky a turn at the mic.
She was clearly thrilled to be in the MAGA limelight. But it’s reasonable to say her constituents were less enthusiastic.
Last month, Aurora voters sent this Trump acolyte packing. Moreover, progressive city council candidates swept the races and flipped a longtime conservative majority. Conservative Steve Sundberg, known for making racist ads for his sports bar, was also booted from office.
Dave Perry, longtime editor of the Aurora Sentinel, in a column after the election captured how toxic city hall had become while Jurinsky and Sundberg were in the majority.
“In more than 30 years of covering Aurora politics, and almost 40 years as a journalist, I’ve seen some stuff. But I’ve never seen anything as dangerously weird as what Jurinsky and Sundberg inflicted on the state’s third-largest city,” Perry wrote.
He added this hopeful note: “The Aurora City Council has a chance now to evolve and ensure that no matter how difficult city politics become, it’s never permitted to devolve into an organization that becomes a bigger threat to the community than the challenges they’re elected to solve.”
That process began this week. On Monday, the new Council members were sworn in, and the body immediately began to “undo harm caused by the previous council,” as one of the members put it. This included reversing restrictions on the ability of members of the public to address the council.
Recovery from Trumpist madness in Aurora exemplifies a pivot that appears to have nationwide force. On Tuesday, a self-described “MAGA warrior” won a special congressional election in Tennessee, but the Democrat lost by just nine percentage points in a district that historically favored Republicans by more than 20 and Trump won last year by 22.
Democratic candidates throughout the country triumphed so consistently on Election Day last month that even Trump acknowledged it was a drubbing for the GOP.
The spread between Trump’s average approval and disapproval ratings in recent weeks has never been so wide — 39 percent approve of the president’s job performance, and 59 percent disapprove.
These figures coincide with increasing consumer prices, inhumane and lawless immigration enforcement, fallout from the recent federal government shutdown, allegations that top military officials have committed war crimes, impending health care cost spikes, signs that Trump is physically unfit to carry out presidential duties, brazen acts of corruption, and other national developments that create a sense of dystopia.
Aurora offers some hope.
During her speech at the Trump rally last year, Jurinsky made a brash declaration.
“Make no mistake of it, folks,” she said. “They can threaten me, they can try to silence me, they can lie about me, they can do whatever they want. I’m not going anywhere.”
But residents of Aurora showed that they could make a destructive figure like Jurinsky go away. They are a model for the country.
- Quentin Young is the editor of Colorado Newsline, part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
