Lauren Boebert panned on social media again after equating headaches to contagious viruses
Days after being ridiculed for misspelling “impeach” in her call for President Biden’s impeachment, Colorado congresswoman Lauren Boebert is having her understanding of modern medicine mocked as well.
“I woke up with a headache this morning. I took some Tylenol,” the gun-crazed freshman congresswoman tweeted Monday. “Now if everyone else could take some Tylenol too so mine would start working, that would be great.”
I woke up with a headache this morning. I took some Tylenol. Now if everyone else could take some Tylenol too so mine would start working, that would be great. pic.twitter.com/LaaNHhaokn
— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) September 27, 2021
Boebert appeared to suggest that people who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 shouldn’t worry about others who opt against receiving inoculations. Her posting included a clip of the 1999 film “Office Space,” where a character in a managerial position gives his subordinates instructions in a similar tone.
It was quickly pointed out to the 34-year-old politician — who according to fact-checking site Snopes.com got her GED shortly before taking office in 2020 — that unlike viruses, headaches aren’t wildly contagious and don’t mutate into deadly variants. A headache also can’t be passed on to children or other vulnerable people who are ineligible for vaccinations.
“Maybe your headache was from trying to understand a basic concept,” tweeted comedian Steve Hofstetter.
Headaches also aren’t at the root of a pandemic that has killed nearly 700,000 Americans since early 2020, including 7,800 people in Boebert’s own state. The word “Tylenol” quickly began trending on Twitter Monday.
“Wait you took a TYLENOL?!? Do you even know what’s in that?” asked another joker on social media. “How can you trust Johnson and Johnson?!?”
Johnson & Johnson, which produces Tylenol, is also one of the drug makers responsible for one of the COVID vaccines on the U.S. market.
That same commenter also sarcastically suggested that Boebert try Meloxidyl, a pain reliever for dogs, to cure her headache. In recent months, the FDA has warned of people falling ill after taking the livestock dewormer ivermectin to treat COVID. Medical officials worry misinformed people are seeking such remedies as an alternative to clinically tested vaccines.
One Twitter user congratulated Boebert for at least trusting modern science enough that she took Tylenol in her seemingly hypothetical suggestion. Boebert said during a speech in July that she didn’t want government health officials knocking on her door with the “Fauci Ouchie,” which is a reference to vaccines being promoted by NIAID director Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Boebert found herself the butt of jokes Friday after giving notice on her website that she was calling for the president to be impeached. Alas, her press materials read “Imeach Biden.” The domain name imeachbiden.com was quickly secured. It leads readers to a website mocking Boebert.
‘Imeach Biden’ demands gun-toting, spelling-challenged Rep. Lauren Boebert
While Boebert’s level of education is frequently targeted by critics, the congresswoman claims she was a good student who left school after becoming pregnant.
“I didn’t go through the typical education course,” she told the Durango Herald in 2020. “I was a great student. I had great grades. I loved being there, but I was starting my family and had different priorities.”
She credits working at McDonald’s as a teenager in part for helping her develop a sound work ethic that helped her open her own eatery in Rifle, Colo., Shooters Grill, where staffers carry sidearms.
