After the deadly riot last week at the U.S. Capitol that is connected to at least five deaths, Ben Goldey — the communications director for first-term Congresswoman Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) — has resigned. Boebert is one of the most vocally far-right members of the U.S. House to the point that she has touted her plans to carry a gun with her while on duty at the Capitol. Boebert has, among other travesties, also publicly complained about supposed “fraudulent” votes for Biden despite the total lack of meaningful evidence for any systematic fraud underlying Biden’s victory, and these claims provided the rhetorical cover for the Capitol violence.
The mob stormed the Capitol while Congress was gathered inside and working on formally confirming President-elect Joe Biden’s electoral college victory. Goldey — whose past work includes stints working for the Interior Department and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) — commented as follows, discussing his resignation from Boebert’s team:
‘Following the events of January 6th, I’ve decided to part ways with the office. I wish her and the people of Colorado’s Third District the best.’
In a similar move, Lauren Blair Bianchi recently resigned from her role as communications director for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who helped lead the fight against the certified election outcome in the Senate. Like Boebert, Cruz voted against the certification of some of Biden’s electoral votes, but beyond that point, he helped lead the effort among certain Republican Senators to block this certification, demanding a so-called audit of the election results. Pretending like the security of the recent presidential election is in any way an open question is ridiculous — results across the country underwent rounds and rounds of strict, comprehensive scrutiny. No court anywhere in the country has at any point accepted the president’s systematic fraud claims.
The recent Georgia Senate elections that handed imminent control of the U.S. Senate to Democrats unfolded amidst the Trump-led conspiracy theories about the November presidential election, and acceptance of these lies about the security of the election process on the part of Trump’s base could have helped keep turnout lower. Of course, on the other hand, there’s also a nationwide surge of opposition against Trumpism.
