On the eve of the midterms, President Trump won't stop talking about voter fraud.
asserted
Trump → stop → fraud
Yet he has gone to extraordinary lengths for an election official convicted of helping breach the very voting system she swore to protect.
asserted
she → go → system
Tina Peters – once Mesa County, Colorado's top election official – used her office to pursue the president's claim, never backed by evidence, that rigged voting machines cost him the 2020 election.
uncertain
machines → use → election
A Colorado jury convicted her.
asserted
jury → convict → her
Mr. Trump wanted her freed.
asserted
her → want → ?
How he went about it, critics say, reveals how far he'll go to advance his agenda and punish those who stand in his way.
asserted
who → go → way
In Colorado, the cost of that punishment came into focus with a fire in August of 2025.
asserted
cost → come → 2025
It was
, scorching nearly 138,000 acres.
asserted
It → scorch → acres
It left almost all of Kathleen Kelly's 2,000 acre ranch in ashes.
asserted
It → leave → ashes
Did you see it moving toward you?
asserted
it → see → you
What goes through your head?
asserted
What → go → head
It's like watching a monster crawl across the earth.
asserted
monster → watch → earth
This tells you about the fire right here.
asserted
This → tell → fire
So it came right up to your house?
asserted
it → come → house
Kelly, a retired schoolteacher, says the Lee fire tore through the ranch her father built in 1949, leaving behind an apocalyptic wasteland.
asserted
father → say → wasteland
You said it was like hell opening up.
asserted
hell → say → ?
There are people whose whole livelihoods depend upon the buildings, the structures, the things that they built over years, who lost everything.
asserted
who → be → everything
It absolutely met the requirements for a federal disaster declaration.
asserted
It → meet → declaration
Even so, the Trump administration denied Democratic Gov. Jared Polis' plea for federal aid.
asserted
administration → deny → aid
These are disasters that are larger than any particular state can pay for and handle at one time.
asserted
state → pay → time
We had not been turned down for one.
asserted
We → turn → one
I think it's been decades since-- that's occurred.
asserted
that → think → ?
Well, you know obviously I'm not the one to ask, right?
asserted
I → know → ?
The person to ask is the White House and-- and-- and the president.
asserted
person → ask → ?
What was different this time, critics say, was President Trump's fixation on Tina Peters, who has long championed his false claims about rigged voting machines.
uncertain
who → say → machines
Colorado's Democratic Attorney General Phil Weiser's office helped convict and imprison Tina Peters in connection with tampering with voting machines.
asserted
General → help → machines
President Trump has said he doesn't like that Tina Peters was sentenced and serving this nine year sentence.
asserted
Peters → say → sentence
So he said, "I'm gonna punish Colorado."
asserted
I → say → Colorado
Last year, as the Lee fire raged across northwest Colorado, the president warned on social media: "If she is not released, I'm going to take harsh measures."
Phil Weiser:
asserted
I → rag → measures
That was the statement the president made.
asserted
president → make → ?
And then the consequences started to follow.
asserted
consequences → start → ?
"If Colorado doesn't wanna lose these benefits, it might consider treating the Tina Peters case differently."
uncertain
it → lose → case
The White House insists denying wildfire aid had nothing to do with Peters.
asserted
denying → insist → Peters
Spokesperson Lauren Bis said "There is no politicization to the president's decisions on disaster relief."
asserted
Bis → say → relief
The Trump administration threatened to withhold food aid from the state's neediest families, canceled $109 million in transportation funding, and moved to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder - actions the administration described as a series of independent agency decisions.
asserted
administration → threaten → decisions
The threats were not hidden, they were not subtle, they were out in the open, and we're fighting back.
asserted
we → hide → open
So you are suing the president.
asserted
you → sue → president
The president using bullying, using threats to take away our sovereignty…
asserted
president → use → sovereignty
President doesn't get to tell us what to do.
asserted
President → get → what
That's for us to decide.
asserted
us → decide → ?
…and 94 more, not listed.
The Aporia
