Republican Representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado just held a virtual town hall event where she fielded questions from her constituents.
It was the freshman Congresswoman's first foray into one of the key elements of democratic representation—hearing the concerns of the people she represents. Though it took her nearly a month to begin that dialogue, it appeared the gears of democracy were grinding along.
The event, however, was an absolute calamity for Boebert.
Question after question from constituents put Boebert on her heels. It didn't take long for the roughly 45-minute meeting to get ugly, Raw Story reported.
That's because for Boebert, upholding the core tenets of democracy is a total about face from her behavior surrounding the Capitol insurrection on January 6. She voted to overturn Joe Biden's presidential election victory and even tweeted information about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's location on the day of the riot, Associated Press reported.
Boebert, who owns a gun-themed restaurant in a town that's actually called Rifle, Colorado also grabbed headlines a few weeks ago when she filmed herself stating she carries a handgun around Washington, D.C.--which would violate the district's gun laws--and even pushed for representatives to bring guns into the House chamber.
So her constituents arrived to the event stocked with plenty of fodder.
Things went off the rails with the very first question of the day. A woman asked why Boebert seemed to spend more time tweeting than working to alleviate the impacts of the pandemic.
"Thank you so much, I'm so excited to speak with you Congresswoman."
"Just a couple things, first: your incendiary tweets have not addressed the 53,000 cases of COVID in District 3, nor have they addressed the 900 deaths in our district—it's disgraceful."
"You have also condoned [Rep.] Marjorie Taylor Greene's incendiary tweets that promoted anti-semitism and racist comments."
Boebert cut off the woman before she could finish asking the question.
The Colorado Congresswoman discussed vaccines briefly, and did not address her support of Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.
Greene, a fellow Republican Representative, has dominated media coverage due to her public affinity for QAnon and other conspiracy theories. A recent vote in the House stripped Greene of her assignments on two committees in the House of Representatives.
Later, someone asked a question about Boebert's conduct around the insurrection:
"When you are tried for treason, which prison do you want to do your time in?"
Boebert immediately moved on and decided not to answer.
You can see the town hall here:
Critics of Beobert across social media were delighted by the tough questions.
Rikard Harward Pearson/Facebook
Debbie Durham/Facebook
Patty Barton/Facebook
Melba Browning/Facebook
Kay Rouse/Facebook
As that last comment indicated, there should be more Boebert town halls to come in the future. There's truly no knowing what further calamities await.
Members of Congress enamored with the spotlight may enjoy grandstanding on camera and on social media, but the voters who sent them to Washington will always remind them what they're priorities are supposed to be.
