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Thursday, February 29, 2024

Conflicting Parental Messages in Highly Publicized Arrest of Congresswoman's Son

Westword: Details Emerge in Arrest of Lauren Boebert's Son, Tyler

Controversial Colorado Congresswoman Lauren Boebert's son Tyler was recently arrested for allegations related to multiple crimes in the area around where he and his family lives, near the town of Rifle, Colorado.  He's eighteen, and has been charged with both felonies and misdemeanors.  His arrest has gathered a lot of media attention, not only because his mother is a member of Congress, but because she is a right wing extremist who campaigns while also touting her Evangelical Christian faith, at least, in the way she understands it, in its white, Christian nationalist form.  

As much as I despise her political perspective, and her hero worship of the MAGA cult leader instead of being a patriotic American, I think leaving her son and his troubles out of the scope of politics is the best course of action to pursue.  Her ignorance and inability to function as a productive Congresswoman is one thing, open to criticism and the target of a movement to get her ousted through the ballot box.  But dragging her son, and her family problems into the mix is a different matter.  For his sake, this needs to be left alone for them to handle as they see fit, and as they are capable of doing. 

According to the article in Westword, the Congresswoman appears to be holding her son accountable for his actions while supporting him because he is her son.  Asserting that he "should be held accountable for poor decisions as should any other citizen," she stated, sounds like she's not expecting that he would get any special treatment because he is her son.  

It would be tempting to ask her if this same attitude applies to Trump, in her mind, given the crimes for which he has been indicted.  But, at least publicly, she's not asking for special favors for her son.  Whether law enforcement in their hometown takes that same attitude may warrant keeping an eye on this situation.  But using this as a campaign wedge is as far out of bounds as it is for Republicans to try to get to the President through making allegations about his son.  At the very least, I hope she gets this, and backs down from her position regarding the President's son.  At least, this may make her think twice, or we can always hope that it does.  

His father seems to be another story.  

He chose to blame all of this bad behavior, from the sexual relationship that led to his grandson's birth out of wedlock, to his son's felonious crime spree, on the COVID shut down, and all of the other "social shut downs" associated with it.  That's ridiculous and unfounded.  Yes, his son is in the media spotlight, because of his mother's election to Congress, and more specifically, because of her extremism and her skewed Christian nationalism. But look at the example he's been given to follow. His father also had some highly publicized misdeeds exposed because of the media attention given to his mother.  He doesn't have any standing to blame anyone else for his son's behavior.  

Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, who has been a very vocal critic of Boebert and her politics, justifiably and rightly so, has said that the media needs to back off of this problem, which they must resolve on their own.  He's right.  The media attention isn't something her son chose for himself, and it shouldn't be something that alters what would be the natural course of events if he weren't the son of a highly visible, controversial extremist congresswoman.  

Boebert has plenty of strikes against her when it comes to her re-election.  Her son is off limits.  

So is Hunter Biden.   


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