Lauren Boebert

About

Lauren Boebert is an American politician and businesswoman acting as the U.S. representative for Colorado's 3rd congressional district within the United States House of Representatives. She falls under Republican or conservative affiliation and is often discussed in conjunction with Donald Trump, QAnon, open-carry laws, Let's Go Brandon and the alt-right. She has gone viral online for her controversial statements made in Congress and on Twitter, as well as for her public disagreements with Democrat figures like President Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi and Alexandria-Ocasio Cortez. She was elected in 2020 and took office in early 2021, holding her position over the next four years.

Background

Lauren Boebert was born in Altamonte Springs, Florida in 1986, making her 35 years old as of March 2022.^[1] She moved to Colorado when she was 12 with her family and has lived there ever since. She states that she grew up in a Democratic household according to an interview with her from CPR News.^[2] She also worked at a McDonald's when she was younger, later dropping out of high school in her senior year because she was pregnant and needed to have her child. She later got a job at a natural gas drilling company working on a pipeline where she met her husband, Jayson Boebert.

In 2013, the two opened a restaurant called the Shooters Grill in Rifle, Colorado. The restaurant became notorious among Democrat and Republican circles alike for its insistence on an open-carry policy. The restaurant encouraged its patrons and staff to open carry after Boebert witnessed a man beaten to death outside her restaurant early on in its opening. However, in 2021, Boebert's story was reported as false by the Washington Post.^[3]

Political History

According to The Guardian,^[4] Boebert first made a name for herself in 2019 when she loudly protested against the Democratic Colorado state governor Jared Polis's orders to close businesses to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. However, her most notable spike in notoriety occurred after she publicly confronted Texas representative Beto O'Rourke in September 2019 at a town hall meeting in Aurora, Colorado. The disagreement was over a law that would ban assault-style rifles like AR-15s.

On December 8th, 2019, Boebert announced her campaign for the 3rd Congressional District of Colorado, going head-to-head with the Republican front-runner Scott Tipton. She posted multiple tweets (one shown below) announcing her campaign. She later went on to criticize Tipton for not being "Trump enough" even though he received the endorsement from Donald Trump in December.^[5] On June 30th, 2020, she won the election against Tipton in what Politico called a "stunning upset." ^[6]

Join our movement! Take action with us at https://t.co/ui6k2YidYq https://t.co/ISwnKNlYfS

— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) December 9, 2019

Support of QAnon

In May 2020, Boebert appeared in an interview on the SteelTruth web-show: a show dedicated to supporting QAnon conspiracy theories. ^[4] She stated that she was "very familiar with" the conspiracy theory, further remarking, "Everything I've heard of Q, I hope that this is real because it only means America is getting stronger and better."

On August 17th, 2020, Boebert was in the news again regarding her beliefs on QAnon after she tweeted about Tom Hanks's Greek citizenship, referencing the American actor who does have dual citizenship in Greece. Many conspiracy theorists believe that Hanks has Greek citizenship to avoid child predator laws. Her tweet (shown below) received roughly 4,100 likes over the course of two years.

Victory in 2020 Primaries

On November 3rd, 2020, Boebert won the election for Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, beating Democratic incumbent Diane Mitsch Bush. She won by a 51 percent to 46 percent margin.^[7] On November 4th, Boebert tweeted^[8] about the victory, receiving roughly 14,900 likes over the course of a year and a half (shown below).

Related Memes

Comparisons to a "Karen"

On November 10th, 2020, Boebert tweeted a reply^[9] to former President Donald Trump writing, "How many times has President Trump proven the experts wrong?," earning roughly 16,200 likes over the course of a year and a half. On the same day, the now-deactivated Twitter user eugenegu replied to her saying, "Never, Karen," earning an unknown amount of likes. However, the thread was screenshotted and reposted to /r/facepalm^[10] on the 10th by Redditor gamersblog who earned roughly 6,900 upvotes over the course of one year (shown below).

"Let's Go Brandon" Dress

On November 4th, 2021, Boebert tweeted a photo of her and former President Donald Trump in which she was wearing a parody of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's 'Tax the Rich' Dress, which she wore at the 2021 Met Gala. Boebert's dress was instead red with white lettering on its back reading "Let's Go Brandon," in reference to the Let's Go Brandon catchphrase and meme that's been used as an alternative to saying, "Fuck Joe Biden." The photograph (shown below) received roughly 66,900 likes over the course of three months via the tweet.^[11]

2022 State of the Union Heckling of Joe Biden

On March 1st, 2022, President Joe Biden held the State of the Union address where Boebert was in attendance. During a moment in Biden's speech, Boebert shouted out, "You put them in, 13 of them," in regards to the withdrawal of American troops in Afghanistan over the summer: a withdrawal that subsequently led to the Taliban Offensive and the killing of 13 U.S. soldiers in a suicide bomb attack. Multiple members of the assembly from both sides of the aisle booed Boebert in response. The video was posted to YouTube on the 2nd by the channel of News 19 WLTX, where in less than 24 hours it received roughly 30,100 views (shown below, left).

Additionally, during an applause break at the Address, Boebert and fellow House Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene chanted, "Build the wall," in reference to Donald Trump's wall. A video of this was posted to YouTube by Forbes Breaking News, earning roughly 29,000 views in one day (shown below, right).

Multiple meme creators then exploited a photograph of Boebert and Greene chanting at the Address. For instance, Twitter^[12] user SethFromThe716 posted a meme on March 2nd, 2022, that likened the two to a "Karen sandwich," earning over 400 likes in one day (shown below, left). On the same day, Twitter^[13] user sureshtrumpet likened them to the Woman Yelling at a Cat template, earning roughly 4,500 likes for the meme in one day (shown below, right).

Search Interest

External References