Lauren Boebert tried to ride a fresh anti–mail-in voting wave, and the internet promptly reminded her that receipts never sleep.
On August 16, 2025, the Colorado congresswoman reposted a Fox News clip of President Donald Trump telling Sean Hannity that Russian President Vladimir Putin assured him the 2020 race was “rigged” because of mail ballots. Trump claimed Putin said “no country has mail-in voting,” and declared it’s “impossible to have mail-in voting and have honest elections.” Boebert added two words of her own: “End it!” a tidy rallying cry aimed squarely at scrapping mail ballots nationwide.
Within hours, the response was brutal. Users dredged up Boebert’s own 2020 election-season selfie, proudly posted to Instagram, showing her dropping off a mail ballot with a cheery caption urging others to do the same. Cue the chorus of “This you?” and side-by-side comparisons blasting across timelines. The contradiction was so on-the-nose that even neutral observers had to admit the optics were, at best, not ideal.
This you? https://t.co/P8eviatddG pic.twitter.com/lxjHc7GIPi
— PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes) August 20, 2025
Boebert’s bad day didn’t happen in a vacuum. Trump has been escalating attacks on absentee and universal mail voting, renewing the claim that the practice is uniquely vulnerable to fraud and insisting the United States should drastically restrict it. Election researchers and veteran administrators have repeatedly pushed back, noting that a wide range of democracies allow voting by mail with safeguards like signature verification and ID checks, and that documented cases of fraud remain exceedingly rare. For added irony, critics pointed out that Trump himself has used mail voting in the past.
The Colorado context made the pile-on even louder. The state mails a ballot to every registered voter and has done so for years, pairing that convenience with strict verification and secure drop-box systems. Most Coloradans cast ballots by mail or drop box as a matter of routine, and the state regularly earns praise for both turnout and security. In other words, railing against mail voting while representing a state built around it is a tough sell, especially when your own old selfie is doing the talking.
BREAKING:
This is illegal. Trump can NOT unilaterally ban mail-in voting or require voter ID.
HE’s LYING pic.twitter.com/rboYQgKiMh
— Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) August 31, 2025
Then there was the eyebrow-raising Putin name-drop. Trump’s claim that the Russian leader backed his anti-mail-ballot crusade during their recent sit-down poured fuel on a discourse that was already sizzling. Experts quickly noted that the “no country uses mail voting” line is just not true, and that in the United States, election rules are set largely by states and localities. Translation: sweeping federal bans would be legally dicey, politically thorny, and practically complicated.
🚨 BREAKING NEWS: President Trump will sign an executive order to eliminate mail-in ballots and voting machines ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
Do you support this decision? pic.twitter.com/C5RMr2H0ZL
— TRUMPDIVA (@TRUMPDIVA) August 30, 2025
For Boebert, the damage was instant and classic internet: a two-word dunk intended to score points turned into a boomerang. The resurfaced selfie undercut the message, the memes wrote themselves, and the story morphed from a rallying cry into a reminder that the archives never forget. When your own past post contradicts your present posture, the ratio tends to write itself.
By day’s end, the conversation wasn’t about ending mail ballots. It was about a congresswoman’s digital paper trail doing more to inform voters than any press release could. Boebert’s allies tried to reframe the moment as a principled stand against what they view as lax rules; detractors saw textbook hypocrisy. Either way, the viral verdict was swift: if you’re going to call to “End it!” online, make sure the receipts in your camera roll don’t say otherwise.
