Well, we’re here again.
Yet another Republican lawmaker has made reprehensible remarks involving Jewish people. And to be sure, as I just wrote three days ago, you can likely wager that Republican leadership in the House of Representatives will do absolutely nothing to rectify this in a real or meaningful way.
BuzzFeed reported on Thursday that a group of Orthodox Jewish visitors to the Capitol this morning were left “bewildered” after an interaction with Boebert on an elevator.
The group, whose members donned traditional yarmulkes—one person leading the group sported a long beard—was meeting with Rep. Tom Suozzi. A witness and several legislators were waiting for the elevator doors to open and when they did, out popped Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado.
Looking at the group “from head to toe,” BuzzFeed reported, Boebert asked them if they were in the Capitol Thursday to conduct “reconnaissance.”
Boebert, like many of the lawmakers before her who have defended antisemitic speech or rhetoric, said the remark to the group on Thursday was made in jest.
“I saw a large group and made a joke,” Boebert said before making herself the victim. “Sadly when Democrats see the same they demonize my family for a year straight.”
And in her undeniably vapid style, Boebert added: “I’m too short to see anyone’s yarmulkes.”
To put Boebert’s inanities in context, in the wake of the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, several Democratic lawmakers raised concerns about what they had seen in the building before the insurrection.
Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon of Pennsylvania noted there were “unauthorized tours” of the Capitol before Jan. 6 and it was a group of roughly eight people wearing masks improperly.
The tour stuck out to Scanlon, she told the Philly Voice, because the Covid-19 pandemic had stopped tours of the building leaving it open just to staff, lawmakers, the press corps and other official employees.
Rep. Mikie Sherril of New Jersey backed Scanlon up, saying she too saw a group being given an authorized tour by a member.
Rep. Suozzi released a statement after the incident Thursday morning saying that members of Congress “have to be very, very thoughtful in the language they use.”
“Because when you’re a member of Congress, you have an important role to play in society. You can’t be cavalier in the comments you make especially if they could be perceived as antisemitic or discriminatory,” Suozzi said.
Boebert’s conduct, yet again, is a stain on Congress. Her time in the House of Representatives thus far has been pockmarked with inflammatory comments and bigoted rhetoric. Just a few months ago, Boebert from the floor of the house, hurled racist anti-Muslim remarks at Rep. Ilhan Omar. Boebert called Omar a member of the “Jihad Squad.” She also, in the same speech, outlandishly accused the Minnesota Democrat of marrying her brother and suggested Omar illicitly funneled campaign funds to her husband. The remark about Omar’s brother is rooted in racist conspiracy theory about the Democrat’s immigration process.
And according to the neophyte politician’s own account, a U.S. Capitol Police officer who approached her “with fret” last year after she shared an elevator with Omar led her to remark to the cop: “Well, she doesn’t have a backpack. We should be fine.”
GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy, a Republican from California who is hellbent on retaking the House next year and is angling to become Speaker, made just a single statement about the abuse Boebert hurled at Omar. McCarthy has otherwise been feckless in upholding—at the very least—decorum on his side of the aisle.
Boebert, incidentally, was also named on Thursday as the House Freedom Caucus communications chair, making her the official mouthpiece for an extreme wing of Republicans in the House.
Boebert was a vocal defender of former President Donald Trump’s lies about election fraud in 2020 and she voted to overturn the 2020 election results. On Jan. 6, memorably, Boebert’s first tweet of the day began: “Today is 1776.”
She then tweeted updates from the House as lawmakers were scrambling for safety and rioters were just within reach.
“We were locked in the House Chambers,” Boebert wrote on the afternoon of Jan. 6 as the chaos was ratcheting up. “The Speaker has been removed from the chambers.”
McCarthy’s office did not respond to request for comment Thursday.