U.S. Representative Lauren Boebert won a squeaker of a re-election bid in 2022.
The close vote went to a recount in which the Colorado Conservative won by 546 votes.
Now a left-wing YouTube newscast has accused Boebert of saying, “God told me I would be re-elected.”
Is that what she really said in an interview at a Conservative Christian conference?
Not even close.
Boebert was invoking a biblical story that God will intervene with believers and nonbelievers to show that he is in charge at all times.
Boebert implied that God stepped in, allowing her to win because she had faced a difficult trial and kept her faith in the Almighty throughout the election cycle and during the recount.
Who Is Involved In This?
Let me provide some context around this interview because it is the result of a spiderweb of leftwing and rightwing media outlets and organizations.
The following groups brought this interview with Boebert to the masses: The TYT Network, The Young Turks, PatriotTakes, Turning Point USA, and TPUSAFaith.
This is confusing, but I will walk you through it.
It shows how the left and right are using digital media from a constellation of sources to duke it out incessantly.
This context is important for you to see how progressives and conservatives whip up their supporters with daily outrage on YouTube.
TYT Comes from the Left
First, allow me to examine TYT. The TYT Network is a leftist online news outlet that has 5.3 million subscribers on YouTube.
It bills itself as “America’s largest online progressive news show,” with 500 million views a month. TYT has a show called “The Young Turks” which is hosted by Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian.
The Young Turks claim it has 100 million monthly views, that it is “award-winning,” and that it is the flagship show of TYT. This program aired the Boebert interview on January 24.
Another Leftwing Group Grabbed the Interview
Are you with me so far?
Let’s dig deeper.
TYT did not originate the interview; they grabbed it from another source.
It came from a Twitter handle called PatriotTakes. PatriotTakes says it is made up of “Dedicated researchers monitoring and exposing right-wing extremism and other threats to democracy.”
But It All Started on the Right
So, who was Lauren Boebert actually talking to?
Boebert appeared at an event hosted by Turning Point USA, which is a right-wing group of college-aged and twenty-something activists who are attempting to enact conservative change on college campuses and elsewhere. It is led by a charismatic figure named Charlie Kirk.
Who Else Is Involved?
The spider web gets more tangled.
Turning Point USA (TPUSA) has an underlying group called TPUSA Faith which focuses on Conservative Christian values. They have various events where they invite faith leaders and Christian politicians to speak about the gospel. Boebert told her biblical tale to one of TPUSAFaith’s hosts.
What’s the Point?
What did Lauren Boebert say?
Nothing controversial if you are a Christian.
Lauren Boebert simply related the biblical story of Elijah. Not to get too carried away by theology, but Boebert summarized this tale by stating that Elijah believed that the “True God will answer with fire.” Elijah stayed loyal to God through various trials and tribulations and asked God to prove he was sovereign. The point is that God had a plan for Elijah, and he was rewarded for his undying faith. Boebert never said that God was talking to her as The Young Turks claimed.
Lauren Boebert Becomes a Punching Bag
Naturally, the progressives on the program made fun of Boebert and claimed that if God were really helping her, she would have won by a much larger margin – a humorous point if you are a nonbeliever.
But you could say that the close election was a difficult trial that Boebert passed, and she was awarded by the Almighty for her faith.
Fire Up the YouTube Spin Cycle
Leaving the Bible aside, the larger political lesson here is that the left and the right take quotes and bend them to their will and blast them out on social media through a complex network of spin doctors and soundbites. This often plays out on YouTube by organizations you have never heard of.
Lauren Boebert Politics in the 21st Century
As politicians of faith speak to their flocks, you will see more misinterpretations by left-wing media personalities who do not understand the Bible or Christianity in general. By the same token, the right will also spin up the outrage machine through their own organizations and underground media programs.
That is politics in 2023, and it is important to understand how it works so you can make more informed decisions about who you support and who you vote for. There is often a web of organizations behind media interviews that are difficult to sort out without some investigation into their origins.
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Author Expertise and Experience: Serving as 19FortyFive’s Defense and National Security Editor, Dr. Brent M. Eastwood is the author of Humans, Machines, and Data: Future Trends in Warfare. He is an Emerging Threats expert and former U.S. Army Infantry officer. You can follow him on Twitter @BMEastwood. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science and Foreign Policy/ International Relations.
