Lauren Boebert has been in rare form lately. The Colorado representative, whose antics can be easily confused with that of bestie Marjorie Taylor Greene, is hot off of publicly showing how little she knows about Russia. Then there’s last week’s State of the Union, in which both she and Greene were total nuisances but only Boebert heckled President Joe Biden as he was ahout to talk about his dead son Beau. Her timing is terrible, as further evidenced by her attempt at a Biden diss involving a mysterious “Prince John.”
As per Mediaite, Boebert was one Fox News’ newish hit show Jesse Watters Primetime, where she was talking about high gas prices again. Specifically, they discussed how leaders of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates both reportedly refused to speak with Biden about exporting more oil. They suggested Biden isn’t respected, with Boebert getting into some convoluted joke about him selling oil to foreign powers, then buying it back, or something.
“I’m just worried if we are going to call on Alaska to start producing this, is Biden going to want to sell it to the Saudis or Venezuela, and think that’s the only way that he will be able to buy oil and gas from Alaska?” Boebert tried to joke. “But, in all seriousness, here’s Biden’s energy policy: anyone but America. OPEC, Venezuela, you name it, if it’s not American energy, Joe doesn’t want it.”
She then badly fumbled another joke. “And I don’t know who is running the federal government these days, Joe Biden or Prince John from, uhh — Prince John,” she said, visibly realized she forgot the punchline, if there ever was one. “But they are taxing us into poverty.”
Boebert: I don’t know who is running the federal government these days, Joe Biden or Prince John uhh from uhhh uhh Prince John pic.twitter.com/MJ1ujbLoYk
— Acyn (@Acyn) March 9, 2022
There are a number of Prince Johns throughout British history, but perhaps she was referring to the prince regent who ascended to the throne in 1199, reigning over the following 17 years. Historians take a complicated view of his tenure, but his negative qualities inspired many villainous depictions in fiction, amongst them in the legend of Robin Hood. Prince John doesn’t always play a big part in modern day Robin Hood retellings; he’s not in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (nor the Taron Egerton one you may have already forgotten), and he plays only a smallish role in the one with Russell Crowe. But he’s a memorably louche baddie in Disney’s 1973 animated take, in which he’s a sleepy lion voiced by Peter Ustinov.
Did Boebert’s brain stop on a Disney movie she probably watched as a kid then break down mid-joke? Is even that giving her too much credit? Whatever the case, when the clip hit social media, people tried to figure what on earth she was talking about.
Is there a ‘Prince John’ in the house? The last Prince John I am aware of became king of England in 1199. He was so terrible no English king ever gave his heir that name again. https://t.co/emDFUPxlpr
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) March 9, 2022
I see Prince John is trending, I also see a lot of people never watched Robin Hood as a kid. pic.twitter.com/9FTPZWJYbN
— Brandon Bukas ⬆️ (@BrandonBukas) March 9, 2022
Oh THAT Prince John. https://t.co/OWPIYOeiV4
— Steve Dennis (@StevenPDennis) March 9, 2022
Some just made jokes.
fun fact "prince john" is what Prince called all his bathrooms. send tweet. https://t.co/6wKhZXsUfV
— shauna (@goldengateblond) March 9, 2022
Do you approve or disapprove of the way Prince John is handling his job as prince?
— Philip Bump (@pbump) March 9, 2022
Prince John led the Gazpacho police to ram ramparts with space lasers at the Revolutionary War airport.
— BrooklynDad_Defiant!☮️ (@mmpadellan) March 9, 2022
https://twitter.com/WebberOldHippy/status/1501368201254428675
Has anyone dispatched the Gazpacho Police to locate Prince John? 🤔
— Jo (@JoJoFromJerz) March 9, 2022
Prince John from Prince John 🤣 https://t.co/k9MDECX1ZX
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) March 9, 2022
Or maybe she was telling the truth, but only about herself.
Lauren Boebert said "I don't know who is running the federal government these days, Joe Biden or Prince John."
A lot of people are mocking her since there is no Prince John, but I believe that Lauren Boebert is being honest that she does not know who runs the federal government.
— Steve Hofstetter (@SteveHofstetter) March 9, 2022
In the meantime, Boebert has a challenger to her congressional seat, and he recently released an ad featuring lots of literal s*it.
(Via Mediaite)