“These are just black-hearted, evil women.”

That’s how Lauren Boebert — the Trumpist from Colorado who was elected to Congress last fall — has described Representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, who are both Muslim.

Boebert has also referred to Omar and Tlaib as the “Jihad Squad.”

And Boebert recently “joked” about feeling safe in the U.S. Capitol as long as Omar doesn’t have a backpack — as if every Muslim is a potential suicide bomber.

Meanwhile, Boebert has implied that she carries a handgun to work at the Capitol. And she tried to evade metal detectors installed outside the House chamber after the January 6 insurrection.

All of this follows a disgusting incident earlier this month where Congressman Paul Gosar — a Trumpist zealot who has exalted the January 6 insurrectionists and appeared at a fundraiser for a white supremacist group — proudly posted an animated video in which he is depicted killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and attacking President Joe Biden.

It’s tempting to just ignore hateful and ignorant remarks like Boebert’s.

But we need to see them for what they are.

• What’s unfolding before our eyes is an effort — conscious or otherwise — by public figures to normalize hate and violence.

• Time and again, extremist Republicans say outlandish things. Then purportedly non-extremist Republicans, like Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, refuse to condemn the comments or to take disciplinary action (even as they act to punish fellow Republicans for supporting overwhelmingly popular measures like infrastructure spending).

• And the definition of what’s considered “beyond the pale” — in words or deeds — slides in an ever more ominous direction.

Tell every member of the U.S. House of Representatives:

Rep. Lauren Boebert must face consequences for repeated anti-Muslim attacks against her colleagues. Religious bigotry must not be tolerated in the halls of Congress.

Add your name now.

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For justice,

- Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen
 
 
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