{"id":12899,"date":"2026-03-11T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/our-view-trump-breaks-with-hurd\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T19:30:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T19:30:21","slug":"our-view-trump-breaks-with-hurd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/our-view-trump-breaks-with-hurd\/","title":{"rendered":"Our view: Trump breaks with Hurd"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Jeff Hurd, the Republican from Grand Junction representing Colorado\u2019s 3rd Congressional District, has fallen out of favor with President Donald Trump. In mid-February, Trump rescinded the reelection endorsement he had given Hurd in the fall of 2025 (Journal<\/em><\/a>, Feb. 26).<\/p>\n

The break came after Hurd joined a handful of House Republicans opposing the president\u2019s use of a \u201cnational emergency\u201d declaration to impose a 25% tariff on much of Canada\u2019s imports into the United States. The declaration was justified by the administration as a response to Canada\u2019s alleged failure to adequately curb the flow of fentanyl into the U.S., an argument some lawmakers viewed as a stretch of emergency authority.<\/p>\n

Hurd said Canada\u2019s alleged failure to adequately prevent fentanyl from entering the U.S. was not sufficient justification for such a declaration. More broadly, he questioned whether sweeping emergency powers should be used to make major trade policy decisions that affect industries and consumers across the country.<\/p>\n

Trump is now backing Hurd\u2019s Republican primary challenger, Hope Scheppelman of Bayfield, a strong MAGA supporter and former vice chair of the Colorado Republican Party. Party primaries are scheduled for the end of June. Presidential endorsements can carry significant weight in Republican primaries, particularly in districts such as the 3rd, where Trump has enjoyed strong support among voters.<\/p>\n

Responding to the loss of Trump\u2019s support, Hurd said he favors domestic industry and fair trade but does not agree with the way tariffs have been imposed. In this case, he said, \u201cIf I wouldn\u2019t want a future Democratic president using broad emergency powers this way, I shouldn\u2019t support it now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hurd has also said his decision reflected concerns raised by constituents across the district. Farmers, ranchers, manufacturers and other business owners warned that sudden changes in tariff policy can disrupt markets and create uncertainty for businesses that depend on cross-border trade. Western Colorado\u2019s economy relies heavily on agriculture, energy and manufacturing \u2014 sectors that can be particularly sensitive to trade disputes and retaliatory tariffs.<\/p>\n

Tariffs were also an issue earlier in the president\u2019s term when policy frequently shifted. Hurd gave the president some room at the time, saying tariffs could initially be imposed by the president but should be affirmed by Congress after a period of time. The Constitution, of course, assigns the authority to set tariffs to Congress, not the nation\u2019s chief executive. Over time Congress has ceded considerable discretion to presidents on trade policy, but the principle of legislative oversight remains an important part of the constitutional balance of powers.<\/p>\n

Hurd has also criticized pardons for Jan. 6 offenders and joined Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper in advocating for certain public lands protections. With those positions, his independence was likely already approaching the president\u2019s tolerance threshold. The Canada tariff dispute pushed him past it.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s hoping Hurd can continue, at least occasionally, to push back against the ideological lockstep demanded by Donald Trump and largely unchallenged by most Republicans. Doing so means supporting what makes sense for Americans and what the Constitution requires.<\/p>\n

Such independence cannot be routine without risking standing with the party\u2019s House leadership. But moments like this matter. History will remember those who did not always follow Donald Trump when the Constitution and common sense pointed another way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

costs Hurd Trump’s support<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[125],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-12899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-newsletter-opinion"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12899"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12899\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14922,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12899\/revisions\/14922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12899"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=12899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}