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Roberts, Donovan blast Boebert, Trump on QAnon as House weighs resolution

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August 31, 2020, 9:09 am

The two Democratic state lawmakers from the Vail area are blasting Republican Colorado congressional candidate Lauren Boebert for legitimizing the debunked QAnon conspiracy theory that the FBI has designated a domestic terror threat since 2019.

State Rep. Dylan Roberts, D-Eagle
Dylan Roberts

In an interview last week with RealVail.com, state Rep. Dylan Roberts, an Avon Democrat who represents Eagle and Routt counties, said the amalgamation of conspiracy theories known as QAnon “should be denounced publicly and vociferously by elected leaders and candidates on both sides of the aisle.”

Sen. Kerry Donovan, D-Vail, who represents Eagle, Chaffee, Delta, Gunnison, Hinsdale, Lake and Pitkin counties, posted a string of tweets last week critical of anyone who fails to disavow QAnon, which falsely holds that luminaries such as the actor Tom Hanks and the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalia Lama are pedophiles.

“QAnon origin theory also proposed that these same people eat children to gain their life force. This absolutely off the rails theory is now a policy position of candidates such as @laurenboebert and @realdonaldtrump,” Donovan tweeted. “We should be concerned about the level of legitimacy this group has received. These myths are anti-Semitic, encourage violence, and no part of them are tied to fact.”

Kerry Donovan

Boebert’s campaign maintains the Republican candidate for the 3rd Congressional District, which encompasses most of the Western Slope of Colorado – including two-thirds of Eagle County — is not a QAnon follower and that she spoke approvingly of it in the past when not fully informed.

But Boebert recently tweeted a QAnon attack on Hanks and in May told QAnon believer Ann Vandersteel on her show SteelTruth that she was “very familiar” with the conspiracy theory.

“Everything that I’ve heard of Q, I hope that this is real, because it only means America is getting stronger and better, and people are returning to conservative values, and that’s what I am for,” Boebert said. “And so everything that I have heard of this movement is only motivating and encouraging and bringing people together stronger, and if this is real, then it could be really great for our country.”

Lauren Boebert

President Donald Trump recently refused to reject the conspiracy and its followers – instead saying he’s heard they “love our country” and “supposedly like me.” Trump over the weekend tweeted his support for violent right-wing militias that back him and oppose protestors rallying to end racial injustice.

Roberts, who succeeded Boebert’s Democratic congressional opponent, Diane Mitsch Bush, in state House District 26, says it’s dangerous for Trump and Boebert to play with QAnon fire.

“The fact the president of the United States, the leader of the free world and the most powerful person on our planet, seems to gauge acceptance of [QAnon followers] based off of whether they like him or not is a baffling,” Roberts said. “And to have congressional candidates across the country pick up that mantle and either share sympathy or empathy with their cause or openly embrace their cause is a real sign of the partisan times that we’re living in right now. It’s scary.”

Roberts pointed to a growing amount of bipartisan condemnation of QAnon, which started in 2017 with posts from the anonymous “Q” claiming a deep-state cabal of Satan-worshiping, cannibalistic, pedophiliac Democrats are out to get Trump.

State Rep. Diane Mitsch Bush, D-Steamboat Springs.
Diane Mitsch Bush

“It’s dangerous, and I think, to some extent, it’s hard to tell if people actually believe that stuff or if they’re just embracing it to win elections,” Roberts said. “Both options are very terrible and scary for our country.”

A growing number of top Republicans have condemned QAnon, from House Leader Kevin McCarthy to of California to Minority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana to Liz Cheney of Wyoming. But other GOP candidates are embracing QAnon, and Q supporter Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia is expected to win in her heavily Republican district in November.

Mitsch Bush has used Boebert’s statements on QAnon in campaign emails like this one: “Boebert cozying up to what Republican Liz Cheney called ‘dangerous lunacy’ should disqualify her from serving in Congress. Unfortunately, it’s up to us to stop that from happening.”

Last week a bipartisan resolution condemning QAnon was introduced in the House and sent to the House Judiciary Committee for consideration. The resolution is sponsored by Denver Riggleman, a Republican from Virginia, and Tom Malinowski, a Democrat from New Jersey.

A Boebert campaign spokeswoman did not return an email requesting comment on whether Boebert would back the resolution condemning QAnon.

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David O. Williams

Managing Editor at RealVail
David O. Williams is the editor and co-founder of RealVail.com and has had his awarding-winning work (see About Us) published in more than 75 newspapers and magazines around the world, including 5280 Magazine, American Way Magazine (American Airlines), the Anchorage Daily News (Alaska), the Anchorage Daily Press (Alaska), Aspen Daily News, Aspen Journalism, the Aspen Times, Beaver Creek Magazine, the Boulder Daily Camera, the Casper Star Tribune (Wyoming), the Chicago Tribune, Colorado Central Magazine, the Colorado Independent (formerly Colorado Confidential), Colorado Newsline, Colorado Politics (formerly the Colorado Statesman), Colorado Public News, the Colorado Springs Gazette, the Colorado Springs Independent, the Colorado Statesman (now Colorado Politics), the Colorado Times Recorder, the Cortez Journal, the Craig Daily Press, the Curry Coastal Pilot (Oregon), the Daily Trail (Vail), the Del Norte Triplicate (California), the Denver Daily News, the Denver Gazette, the Denver Post, the Durango Herald, the Eagle Valley Enterprise, the Eastside Journal (Bellevue, Washington), ESPN.com, Explore Big Sky (Mont.), the Fort Morgan Times (Colorado), the Glenwood Springs Post-Independent, the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, the Greeley Tribune, the Huffington Post, the King County Journal (Seattle, Washington), the Kingman Daily Miner (Arizona), KUNC.org (northern Colorado), LA Weekly, the Las Vegas Sun, the Leadville Herald-Democrat, the London Daily Mirror, the Moab Times Independent (Utah), the Montgomery Journal (Maryland), the Montrose Daily Press, The New York Times, the Parent’s Handbook, Peaks Magazine (now Epic Life), People Magazine, Powder Magazine, the Pueblo Chieftain, PT Magazine, the Rio Blanco Herald Times (Colorado), Rocky Mountain Golf Magazine, the Rocky Mountain News, RouteFifty.com (formerly Government Executive State and Local), the Salt Lake Tribune, SKI Magazine, Ski Area Management, SKIING Magazine, the Sky-Hi News, the Steamboat Pilot & Today, the Sterling Journal Advocate (Colorado), the Summit Daily News, United Hemispheres (United Airlines), Vail/Beaver Creek Magazine, Vail en Español, Vail Health Magazine, Vail Valley Magazine, the Vail Daily, the Vail Trail, Westword (Denver), Writers on the Range and the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. Williams is also the founder, publisher and editor of RealVail.com and RockyMountainPost.com.