Republican Counter to Biden SOTU Address

 Republican Counter to Biden's State Of The Union Address

Alabama’s Katie Britt countered Biden’s State of the Union address with a counter of her own, a kitchen counter. Trying to emulate a combination of Martha Stewart (in the kitchen), June Cleaver (explaining to Beaver), and Shari Lewis (with Lambchop), by talking down to the American public as if they were schoolchildren, Mrs. Britt gave an overly dramatic performance.

 

Her first point of contention was “the crisis at our southern border.” She claimed that “President Biden inherited the most secure border of all-time.” This statement wouldn’t even be true if the term “all-time” only covered her 42 years of life. She was born in 1982 when the Immigration Reform and Control Act was passed. From 2005 to 2009, illegal entries declined from an average of 850,000 to only 300,000 in 2009.

 By 2019, during Trump’s time in office, crossings again peaked at 852,000. Aided by the Title 42 pandemic-related immigration policy, Trump was able to shut down much of the border and implement his zero-tolerance policy where he (illegally) separated over 5,000 children from their parents with no tracking or record keeping. Mrs. Britt is correct that Biden took office during a period of low illegal immigration. The pandemic ended and with it Title 42 expired, illegal family separation was ended, and illegal immigration went back to its previous rising trend.

What Mrs. Britt failed to mention was that Democrats and Republicans jointly drafted the toughest immigration bill, certainly in her lifetime, and Trump-influenced Republicans killed it for political advantage.

Mrs. Britt went on to tell a horror story about a young girl who was a victim of cartel sex traffickers. This story was mixed with fentanyl poisonings and murders like Laken Riley in Georgia. She blamed all of these things on the President’s border policies. I would ask Mrs. Britt to read the paragraph immediately above and then tell me how it is not more Trump’s current interference than the will of President Biden that is exacerbating the problem.

Mrs. Britt didn't mention the name of the young girl in her story, but she heard that tale told by the victim in 2023 during a trip to Texas. The girl's name is Karla Jacinto Romero, a Mexican citizen. The event she described took place in the years between 2004 and 2008. While Mrs. Britt blamed Biden's border policies, it was George W. Bush who was the Republican president during this period. Ms. Romero was never trafficked across the border and none of that story had anything to do with Biden's border policy. It served only as inflammatory rhetoric being used for political gain. Mrs. Britt's insinuation that this was somehow President Biden's fault is just typical Republican political theatre. Neither Bush nor Biden had anything to do with a crime committed in another country.

Her next proclamation was that inflation was worse than it had been in 40 years. Given that inflation is currently at 3.09%, I rate that statement, “Pants on Fire.” Even with her 1984 to 2024 timeframe, I would remind her that inflation in 1984 was 4.3%, in 1990 it was 5.4%. If we go back to the 1981 Ronald Reagan period it was 10.3% and 4.83% when he left office in 1989.

In another statement, “For years, the left has coddled criminals and defunded the police — all while letting repeat offenders walk free.” I would remind her that the Laken Riley murder by an illegal immigrant happened in Georgia where that suspect had been arrested multiple times and released. Georgia has a Republican governor. As for defunding the police and not supporting the police, I would remind her of Donald Trump’s actions where he allowed the January 6th rioters (insurrectionists) to beat, club, mace, and cause the deaths of the police protecting our Capitol Building. The GOP also has bragged about cutting the budget (aka defunding) of the nation's police department, the FBI. Their celebrated 6% cut to the FBI budget was largely money for construction at the bureau’s campus at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. The funding was placed into the budget years ago by Senator Richard C. Shelby of Alabama, the legendary pork-barreling veteran who retired in 2022 at the age of 88. Mrs. Britt doesn't even have to leave her own state of Alabama to see a GOP example of cuts to a police budget.

She stated, “We’ve become a nation in retreat. And the enemies of freedom see an opportunity. Putin’s brutal aggression in Europe has put our allies on the brink.” Might I remind her that her champion wants to abandon NATO, has continually praised Vladimir Putin, and her Republican friends have withheld financial and military support for Ukraine because they want to use it as a bargaining chip for other things. President Putin has no greater allies than Donald Trump and the Republican Party.

Mrs. Britt threw down the hypocrite flag when Biden banned TikTok for government employees but has an account for his campaign. Donald Trump signaled his opposition to legislation that would ban TikTok in the US despite his previous support for a ban. His was more of a personal gripe than one regarding national security. It seems that a ban on TikTok would benefit Facebook (Meta) and Mark Zuckerberg both of whom are on the Trump enemies list.

She asks, “…are you better off than you were three years ago?” Well, three years ago we were just emerging from the throes of a global pandemic and the resulting threat to our economy. Since then, jobs, paychecks, spending, wealth, and financial security have made big gains which help mitigate the burden of inflation. Of course, many of the recent gains have made life better for the wealthy a bit more than the rest of us. For that, you can thank decades of Republicans prioritizing big business and the wealthy at the expense of the lower classes who are still waiting for Reagan’s promised trickle to reach them.

Further along in her emotional speech, she said, “We want to give you and your children the opportunities to thrive — and we want families to grow. It’s why we strongly support continued nationwide access to invitro fertilization.” Perhaps she forgot that we had all seen her name and the tagline below her picture that identified her as a Senator from Alabama. Yes, the same state who recklessly passed such restrictive abortion laws that its Supreme Court ruled in February that frozen embryos were to be considered children under state law.”

The Alabama Legislature had to scramble two days ago to undo the damage so they could protect IVF. Alabama, the “whoops we went too far state.” This new legislation doesn’t address the frozen embryo personhood issue. You may still be allowed to travel in the carpool lane in Alabama with a cooler of dry ice and a few frozen embryos.

I just know that Saturday Night Live is nearing completion of its Britt's family kitchen set and is putting the finishing touches on the script for the parody.