Lauren Boebert rarely gets the kind of press her fellow far-right new fish Marjorie Taylor Greene does, though the two were the only ones in the House who voted against a bill aimed at helping patients with leukemia. But every now and then she says or does something so inane that it lights up social media. On Saturday, the Colorado representative had what she thought was a terse, devastating takedown of Marxism, but it only succeeded in making people question whether she even knew what it was.
Marxism is the greatest ponzi scheme ever devised.
— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) April 17, 2021
“Marxism is the greatest ponzi scheme ever devised,” Boebert wrote. It’s a favorite move among Trump loyalists; Jim Jordan loves writing short, meaning-impaired tweets that receive a good social media pile-on. Boebert — who was perhaps inspired by the recent passing of noted grifter Bernie Madoff — let her words speak for themselves, not explaining what she meant. But that only made it seem like she doesn’t know what either Marxism or Ponzi schemes are.
Many, many questioned her intelligence.
https://twitter.com/MollyJongFast/status/1383822470709354498
Congresswoman, could you please define "Marxism" without looking it up? https://t.co/uCC2q3gCKb
— Mkay (@JoyAnnReid) April 18, 2021
You clearly don’t know what a Ponzi Scheme is.
Or Marxism.
Or Capitalism for that matter. https://t.co/scaOQRlJoe
— Chris Hahn (@ChristopherHahn) April 18, 2021
https://twitter.com/RKJ65/status/1383823878854647809
https://twitter.com/MollyJongFast/status/1383822548656263168
people who say shit like this are the people who fall for actual ponzi schemes https://t.co/nSBksEuDMZ
— trixie (problematically gendered) (@Trillian42069) April 18, 2021
This is a lot of ignorance in just 8 words. It’s impressive. https://t.co/TOR4RWtayY
— Fred Wellman (@FPWellman) April 18, 2021
Me: Boebert says Marxism is the greatest Ponzi scheme ever.@AVindman: Does she know what either of those things are? Ponzi schemes are inherently capitalist.
Me: I think you've already put more thought into this than she did. https://t.co/QrJY0k9K24— Rachel Vindman 🌻 (@natsechobbyist) April 18, 2021
Others pointed out that Boebert’s attempt to stick it to Marxism — which, just to clarify, is far broader term than she let on, or perhaps even knew — may have backfired.
This is the best endorsement of Marxism that Marxists could’ve ever hoped for. https://t.co/KH0GIBgtBz
— jenforcongress2024 (@JenChangeFL) April 17, 2021
https://twitter.com/TheeAlexLawson/status/1383830916187836436
And there were jokes.
That stupid trunt Lauren Boebert thinks Richard Marx invented Marxism.
— The USA Singers (@TheUSASingers) April 18, 2021
https://twitter.com/viet_t_nguyen/status/1383890820109979650
Eventually enough people ridiculed Boebert that she actually tried to explain herself.
Alright y’all….
A ponzi scheme promises success for everyone, but defrauds everyone involved.
The only ones who come out on top are the criminals in charge.
That is Marxism. https://t.co/UsrYZAMhyN
— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) April 18, 2021
Alright y’all…. A ponzi scheme promises success for everyone, but defrauds everyone involved. The only ones who come out on top are the criminals in charge. That is Marxism.
But people thought that just sounded like Trumpism.
https://twitter.com/AdoptSeniorDogs/status/1383898669343117315
Sounds more like Trumpism to me. 🤷♂️ https://t.co/zycy4DXNQ1
— 𝕏 Derrick 𝕏♎ 🟧 🟦#BLM 🇺🇦 🏳️🌈 (@Spawn_03) April 18, 2021
Actually, that’s Trumpism https://t.co/r1MRbwwoiJ
— Mike (what’s for dinner) Z (@mzicknj) April 18, 2021
Or, again, capitalism.
“This is Marxism” she says, describing capitalism. https://t.co/v9PnwbWrNH
— Patrick (@PillowcaseSSB) April 18, 2021
But it was clear people who know what Marxism is were not Boebert’s target audience. It was people who don’t. Like, it seems, her.