September 12, 2025 12:19 PM UTC

Lauren Boebert Hopes for End to Harmful Rhetoric...then Uses Harmful Rhetoric

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• by: Colorado Pols

In the wake of the shooting death of right-wing media figure Charlie Kirk, there was a wave of comments by politicians on both sides of the aisle calling for an end to divisive political rhetoric. Some of those comments were less believable than others — such as President Trump bemoaning the “demonizing” of political opponents — and some were surprisingly refreshing (like Republican firebrand Rep. Thomas Massie calling on Trump to “lower his own rhetoric.”)

And then there’s Colorado’s own Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Windsor).

As Colorado Public Radio reported on Thursday, Sept. 11, Boebert says she is very concerned about dangerous political rhetoric:

“I’m just sick of this stuff,” Boebert told CPR News Thursday. “That’s not why we come here. We come here to serve and make a difference and deliver on the promises that we made, not to hate people and certainly (not) go through assassination attempts and successful ones. It’s just disgusting.”

Boebert called Kirk’s death a turning point, a reference to the name of the organization he founded, “and I hope it turns in the right direction.”…

…Boebert said there should have been a change in rhetoric already, following the assassination attempts on Trump last year.

“We said, ‘Knock it off. Stop this evil rhetoric.’ [Pols emphasis] And I mean, right away, you hear, unfortunately, on left-wing media, the same talking points. And they’re saying how divisive Charlie is and that he speaks hate, just because they don’t agree with him. Charlie gave folks who disagreed with him a platform … welcomed the dialogue at every turn.”

That sounds nice, but on the exact same day that Boebert made those comments to Colorado Public Radio, she posted the following message on ‘X’ calling on Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar to “go back to” her home country of Somalia.

Do Boebert’s words actually mean anything? [don’t answer that].

The reason that we are seeing and hearing so much divisive political rhetoric in this country is often because many of our elected leaders — such as Boebert — benefit too much from deploying divisive political rhetoric. Yelling about Democrats is literally how Boebert got elected to Congress in the first place. On Thursday, Boebert couldn’t even restrain herself from attacking another Democrat for more than a few hours.

Most politicians are guilty of using inflammatory rhetoric at some point, but voters and journalists need to be more focused on calling out those who use divisive language as their regular means of communication. Boebert isn’t really interested in dialing back dangerous rhetoric, and she should receive no credit for pretending otherwise. 

For comparison, check out this Op-Ed in The Denver Post today from Rep. Brittany Pettersen (D-Lakewood) that focuses on looking for solutions to our violent culture:

While Colorado has a history of making national headlines for gun violence, we’re certainly not unique. Gun violence is the leading cause of death for children in this country. Not cars. Not cancer. But gun violence. It’s worth repeating – guns are the number one killer of our kids. And the most outrageous part about all of this is that it’s completely preventable. How many lives do we need to lose before we are willing to say enough?

Just weeks ago, we saw kids in Minnesota killed at school. And earlier this summer, lawmakers murdered outside their homes. Now a conservative activist. Now once again, high school students in Evergreen. Who’s going to be next? It feels like we’ve reached a breaking point. This is untenable.

We are living through a dark moment in our country’s history – one that will be remembered for whether we confronted the radicalization and violence tearing at our communities or allowed it to break us apart. As a society, we are being forced to answer a fundamental question: is this who we want to be as a country? This is a policy choice. Not a political one. [Pols emphasis]

Congressman Jason Crow (D-Aurora), for another example, did not follow Boebert’s example and stray from the correct message. Here’s what he told Colorado Public Radio:

Crow said that political violence is “unacceptable and needs to be condemned by everybody, regardless of the form it takes and who’s targeted.”

And when asked how to lower the rhetoric, he said, “What you need is you need leaders in this country who are not going to use terrible tragedies to try to cast blame and attack other people.”

And here’s what Crow said today:

We can find a way in this country to reduce dangerous political rhetoric and the violent actions that follow, but not if we pretend that everyone shares equal blame for the vulgarity.

Politicians such as Lauren Boebert and President Trump are absolutely more to blame in this regard than most others. That’s not rhetoric — it’s reality. And it’s vitally important to be clear about the distinction.