Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) recently said she wanted to “take the temperature down a notch” now that Republicans control the House ― but she still reserves choice words for her fellow far-right congresswoman, Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.).
“I have been asked to explain MTG’s beliefs on Jewish space lasers, on why she showed up to a white supremacist conference. ... I’m just not going to go there,” Boebert told The Associated Press in an interview during the House speaker election, referring to one of Greene’s most widely ridiculed conspiracy theories. “She wants to say all these things and seem unhinged on Twitter, so be it.”
Boebert and Greene, though on the same fringe of the political spectrum, apparently do not share a warm relationship at the moment. The two have been publicly feuding in recent weeks over Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s bid for the House speakership, which Greene fervently backed ― breaking from a bloc of far-right Republican colleagues.
Last month, Boebert lashed out at Greene at a conservative conference in Phoenix, criticizing her for believing in absurd conspiracy theories and for supporting McCarthy for speaker. Greene returned fire on Twitter, accusing Boebert of “high school drama” and noting that the Colorado Republican won her reelection by a hair.
Boebert was among the highest profile holdouts against McCarthy’s House leadership bid. However, on the 14th and 15th rounds of voting, she switched from supporting other candidates to voting “present,” helping to clear the path for McCarthy to finally take the gavel.
In an interview last month with CBS Colorado, Boebert said she planned to tone down her heated rhetoric now that Republicans lead the House, per feedback from her constituents, who reelected her in November by an unexpectedly slim margin.
“I think the big takeaway from what I’ve seen and from what I’ve heard from constituents is I’m right on the policies, but everyone is ready for Washington, D.C., to kind of take the temperature down a notch,” she said. “And I’m very excited and optimistic that we have the opportunity to do that now.”
In the same Associated Press interview in which she slammed Greene, Boebert noted that her narrow reelection “opened my eyes to another chance to do everything that I’ve been promising to do.”
According to Boebert, that includes focusing on delivering the policies she ran on rather than “owning the left,” and working to reduce the conflict and “bring unity.”
In her first term, Boebert built a national profile of extremism, fiercely embracing unfettered gun rights, religious rhetoric and sycophantic support for former President Donald Trump. Though she ridicules Greene for believing in so-called “Jewish space lasers,” Boebert, too, has flirted with conspiracy nonsense, having expressed support for the QAnon movement, which holds that a vast network of pedophiles is controlled by top Democratic Party leaders and donors.