The New York Times
A Republican lawmaker for whom the spectacle is the point
WASHINGTON – When lawmakers entered the Capitol Wednesday for one of the most solemn events in the U.S. government, the accusation of a president, Rep. Lauren Boebert, caused a spectacle before he even entered the room. She was pushed through by newly installed metal detectors and police officers who asked her to stop so they could check her with a magic wand. It was a distance from the previous evening when Boebert, a first Republican from Colorado, refused to show guards what was in her handbag when she entered the building. In both cases, she was eventually granted access, but not before she made a moment for Twitter that delighted the far right. After Boebert joined her colleagues on Wednesday, he went to the House floor to deny the vote on the charge, which passed a few hours later. Sign up for The Morning Newsletter of the New York Times “Where is the responsibility for leftists to encourage and normalize violence?” Boebert asked out loud, arguing that the Democrats tolerated excessive violence during the unrest over racial justice last summer. “I call bullcrap when I hear the Democrats demand unity.” The standoff at the metal detectors was a distinctive stunt by Boebert. She’s only ten days into her term yet, but has already arranged several episodes that showcase her mark of far-right defiance as a conspiracy theorist who is proud to carry her Glock pistol to Washington. She’s only one of 435 members of the House, but Boebert, 34, represents an incoming faction of the party for whom violating the rules – and gaining notoriety for doing so – is exactly the point. In the same way that Republican leaders had to adapt to the Tea Party more than a decade ago, House leaders must now grapple with a narrow but increasingly noisy element of the party that not only President Donald Trump’s does not carry anti-establishment message, but also joins the voters who are so loyal to him – and so important for future elections. In the process, Boebert and her group outraged other lawmakers and Republicans. “There’s a tendency in both parties that members are more interested in watching on social media and appearing on friendly cable networks than in doing the legislation,” said Michael Steel, a Republican strategist and former press secretary of the House, said. Speaker John Boehner. “They seem to see the public service more performing arts as a struggle with policy ideas.” Boebert and a group of other first-year Republicans, including QAnon-dedicated Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina, a 25-year-old freshman who claimed to have been armed during the Capitol riots, few days questioned or straight wrong guidelines intended to protect legislators from violence, intruders or the spread of the coronavirus. Their fluency in social media, access to conservative television and talk radio platforms, and fighting with reporters on live television have made them untraditional. “There used to be some gatekeeping that continued with the way members developed a profile when they came to Washington,” said Kevin Madden, a strategist, who served as senior adviser during his 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns. served for Mitt Romney, said. ‘Usually you had to work for it and earn the notoriety. Now it’s given to you with one YouTube video. In an introductory video she released last week, Boebert is shown against a Washington background with a gun to her waist. “I refuse to give up my rights, especially my second amendment rights,” she told the camera. In her short time in office, Boebert had been battling with a Republican colleague last week over security lapses at the Capitol and was interested in bringing her gun to work. Her Twitter account was temporarily suspended after she spread the lie that the presidential election was fraudulent. She also received criticism, and some are demanding that she resign, because she tweeted information about some lawmakers’ places last week by a violent crowd. The behavior shown by Boebert and some of her fellow freshmen Republicans prompted Timothy Blodgett, the acting weapons sergeant, to send a memorandum to lawmakers Tuesday informing them that security checks are needed for members who have access to the want room and that lawmakers who refused to wear masks will be removed from the house floor. Several Republicans responded by shouting that their rights were being violated as they moved through the metal detectors, behaviors that angered Democrats. “I do not know what the consequences are going to be for people who have the power and never want to be held accountable,” Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, told NPR on Wednesday about lawmakers circumventing the security measures in the Capitol. He added that defiance by lawmakers was a sign of how unpleasant things had become for some of these people who supported Donald Trump. The rules do not apply to them. Boebert officially launched her congress for the Congress in Denver in September 2019, and Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke announced that he would not take one of the strongest symbols of rural autonomy: her guns. “I was one of those Americans who had weapons that you heard talking about. ‘Hell, I’m going to take your AR-15s and AK-47s,’ Boebert told O’Rourke at the time. “Well, I’m here to say hell no, you’re not.” She expressed support for the QAnon conspiracy group, although she tried to temper it by saying she was not a follower. Boebert ran a restaurant in the state of Colorado – where she encouraged the servers to openly carry guns – when she stunned the Republican state-owned enterprise by defeating a five-term incumbent in the by-election and then winning the general election. win. “She was so inexperienced,” said Dick Wadhams, the former head of the Colorado Republican Party. ‘I do not think she even knew she had no chance, which was a good thing for her. She surprised everyone. So far, she has had the same effect on Washington. Capitol police and Boebert’s office on Wednesday declined to comment on requests as to whether she actually carried a gun, even though she was having trouble getting into the room. Boebert said she had a concealed carry permit, issued by the District of Columbia, for her, claiming on Twitter that she has the right to move freely within the Capitol complex, which is not true. On Wednesday, a spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police Department in the District of Columbia did not respond to a question about whether Washington police chief Robert J. Contee III met with Boebert to explain the district’s gun laws to her, he said. has that he would do last. week. Boebert regularly defended her behavior as one of the reasons why she was elected. Just as Trump did with his base, she tells her followers that she is fighting for them. As for her right to carry a gun, she wrote on Twitter: “Self-defense is the most basic human right.” In Colorado, Boebert’s district covers much of the western part of Colorado, a vast, politically diverse landscape of mesas and winding mountains that includes liberal enclaves such as Aspen and Telluride, as well as towns that are often overlooked. where livestock farming, mining and natural gas drilling. behaved moderately focused on the local economy and natural resources. Colorado was once a reliable red state with the Barack Obama election in 2008, and Republicans struggled to regain ground. Democrats now occupy both the Senate seats, the State House and the governor. Republicans who want to maintain viability in the state consider Boebert’s behavior considerate. “I think most Republicans are still behind her,” Wadhams said. “But she can not just take a picture. k veg in Washington. She must also pay attention to the problems in her district: water, natural resources, mining. If she does not, she’s really in trouble. ‘This article originally appeared in The New York Times. © 2021 The New York Times Company