During an appearance Tuesday on Fox News, Republican Colorado congressperson Lauren Boebert flubbed an attempt to diss President Joe Biden, making a weird reference to “Prince John” that, alas, didn’t really land.
“I don’ know who’s running the federal government these days, uh Joe Biden or Prince John, uh, from, uh uh, uh, uh, Prince John, but they’re taxing us into poverty,” Boebert said while speaking to Fox News’ Jesse Watters. Well, OK then!
Watch the clip below:
So, our best guess is that she was attempting to refer to the Robin Hood stock character, Prince John. In real life, John was the younger brother of Richard I (AKA “Lionheart”) who, shortly after becoming king of England in 1189 left to participate in the third Crusade. John stayed behind, scheming to get himself recognized as Richard’s successor.
Centuries later, Victorian writers added Prince John to the Robin Hood tales as one of the setting’s primary villains, and he remains as such today. Generally, he’s portrayed as a venal schemer taking advantage of Richard’s absence to brutally oppress the people of England via cruel minions like the Sherriff of Nottingham, who of course tax the common folk into poverty. And he is of course is opposed by Robin Hood and his merry men.
The point of all that babble is this: Boebert seems to be suggesting that Joe Biden is Prince John, the illegitimate pretender controlling the land while the rightful king is away. Presumably this means Republicans are Robin Hood. As for the rightful king? Best not to think too hard about it this close to dinner time.
Suffice to say, while it’s a reach, the diss might have landed if she hadn’t, apparently, forgotten what she was trying to say. At least it didn’t flop as badly as her attempt to heckle the State of the Union speech.