Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) accused President Joe Biden of being a child molester.
“The Boys & Girls Club was a big part of last night’s Congressional Baseball Game,” she tweeted. “So of course Joe Biden showed up.”
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The Boys & Girls Club was a big part of last night’s Congressional Baseball Game.
So of course Joe Biden showed up.
— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) September 30, 2021
There are no credible accusations of child molestation against Biden. Boebert, who married a man who pled guilty to exposing himself to women at a bowling alley, was either making a distasteful joke or referring to QAnon conspiracy theories, where the idea that Democrats are running a secret international sex trafficking cabal is taken for granted.
She is one of the only GOP elected officials to accuse Biden of child molestation for political points, but Donald Trump Jr. made a similar “joke” last year. He posted a meme to Instagram that showed Biden saying “See you later, alligator!” and an alligator responding, “In a while, pedophile!”
Trump Jr. later said that he was “joking around” on Twitter, but in that very same tweet made the same insinuation by showing pictures of Biden touching children at public events in non-sexual ways.
Politifact noted at the time that “there have never been any credible accusations of Biden engaging in inappropriate conduct with children.”
Unsubstantiated accusations of pedophilia and child molestation have long been a part of conservatives’ arsenal against LGBTQ people. One of the first anti-LGBTQ campaigns – Anita Bryant’s “Save Our Children” – was created to stop an anti-discrimination ordinance and claimed that if schools can’t fire gay people, then gay teachers will molest children.
Since then, it has been one of Christian conservatives’ favorite attacks on LGBTQ people, getting traction in the last several years as conservatives argue that transgender women who want to use the women’s restroom are actually child molesters.
People on Twitter called Boebert out for using a serious topic for a cheap joke.
I don't care what side of the political spectrum you're on, if you think a tweet like this is appropriate and acceptable, you're garbage just like the person who wrote it.
— Ann (Nesseralla) Blumenschine (@RSox102175) September 30, 2021
Insurrectionist and embezzler of campaign funds says what? Oh, just another baseless QAnon conspiracy theory.
— A Worried Citizen (@ThePubliusUSA) September 30, 2021
so your husband wasn't allowed to attend?
"Jayson Boebert pled guilty to "public indecency and lewd exposure" after that incident, according to The New York Post, and was sentenced to four days in jail with a subsequent two years on probation."https://t.co/9C7BEJrlJ6
— ⚓️ Suburban Grouse 🛰 (@suburbangrouse) September 30, 2021
Busy during your final term huh?
— Make America Safer Today (@MAST_Cyber) September 30, 2021
This is a Member of Congress pushing the QAnon conspiracy this morning that the President of the United States is a pedophile. pic.twitter.com/dhuVVsSsXi
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) September 30, 2021
The nation and your district needs serious leadership, not performative juvenilism.
— Steve Metz (@steven_metz) September 30, 2021