Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) asked a Jewish group touring the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, January 20, 2022, if they were there to do “reconnaissance,” Huffington Post reported (read story here), an apparent allusion to rightwing militia groups who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, whom she has supports.
Boebert, one of the most extreme Republicans in Congress, “has a history of propping up conspiracy theories and instigating religious attacks,” Huffington Post noted. She has previously made a splash with her bigoted anti-Muslim remarks.
A rabbi with the group told BuzzFeed News he was “very confused” by Boebert’s remark, and didn’t know whether to be offended by it. The term is used to refer to advance scouting by military forces, terrorists, or criminals planning an attack, which gives it a hostile connotation.
Boebert later claimed she was “joking,” then joked, “I’m too short to see anyone’s yarmulkes,” seeming to deny she knew they were Jews. “Some of whom were wearing yarmulkes and had traditional Orthodox beards,” Buzzfeed News said, so it would’ve been hard for her not to know that.
The western Colorado small-town restaurant owner, whose personal brand includes openly carrying a handgun wherever she goes (photo at left), has drawn a Republican primary opponent in 2022 who calls her an embarrassment to her district and community (see that story here).