Senator Katie Britt stood in the kitchen of her home in Montgomery, Alabama, to deliver the Republican response Thursday night to President Biden’s State of the Union. She has been widely panned, not just by the usual suspects— Democrats— but by some of her fellow Republicans too.
First, she was panned for the setting. Right after her rebuttal ended, right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, posted on X, “Joe Biden just declared war on the American right and Katie Britt is talking like she's hosting a cooking show whispering about how Democrats ‘dont (sic) get it’.”
The morning after, Republican pollster Christine Matthews posted, “Not sure whose genius idea it was to put a U.S. Senator in the kitchen to deliver the response to the State of the Union.” You can just about bet the farm, given the stakes, it was the idea of a whole clutch of consultants from the cult that has become the party of Trump.
The irony is, in the last minute of her talk, Britt told her audience, “Our history has been written with the grit of men and women who got knocked down. But we know their stories because they did not stay down. We are here because they stood back up.” Yet she stood in the kind of kitchen to which women for time immemorial have been consigned, and in which, if Republican policies on issues like abortion are to prevail, many women will stay stuck. As Slate put it, “The senator appeared to be a promoting a 'cult of domesticity'."
Second, she was panned for her performance. Although he is no conservative, Daily Beast columnist Matt Lewis is worth quoting: “If you were having a conversation with someone who was careening from joy to sadness to anger like this, your instinct would be: ‘I need to get the hell out of here. I’m going to slowly back out of this room’.”
Conservative TV host Megyn Kelly said on her podcast, “I don’t know what the eff I saw. I agree with the people saying she looked like she was auditioning for a show on Lifetime. The drama, the fake affectation, the over the top portrayal of emotions I did not believe she was feeling at all, her inauthenticity, it was totally ‘cringe’ as the kids would say. Sorry!”
On her conservative Christian podcast, host Allie Beth Stuckey said, “The delivery was parody-level terrible.”
Of course Donald Trump, in a textbook example of the pot calling the kettle black, praised Britt on his Truth Social website: “Katie Britt was a GREAT contrast to an Angry, and obviously very Disturbed, ‘President.”
But even Trump’s loyal ally Roger Stone was among the cynics, writing on X: “I guess Katie Britt just failed her vice presidential audition. Godawful.”
Third, she was panned for her deceit. Remember, this is one of those senators who worked with the bipartisan team that negotiated a deal for the southern border, but then at Donald Trump’s insistence, ended up voting against it.
This time, in her kitchen rebuttal, she told a totally misleading story. Highlighting the disarray at the border, Britt began a portion of her speech this way: “We know that President Biden didn’t just create this border crisis. He invited it with 94 executive actions in his first 100 days.” And with that, she segued into a personal story: “When I first took office, I did something different. I traveled to the Del Rio sector of Texas, where I spoke to a woman who shared her story with me. She had been sex trafficked by the cartels starting at age 12. She told me not just that she was raped every day, but how many times a day she was raped.” Then she wrapped it up with her specious conclusion: "President Biden’s border crisis is a disgrace. It’s despicable. And it’s almost entirely preventable.”
But here’s the truth: although Britt tried to pass the story off as a blatant example of Biden’s bad border policies, aggressive reporting by journalist Jonathan Katz, backed up by proof on TikTok, revealed otherwise, namely, that this story had nothing to do with Biden. The whole sex-trafficking incident took place a dozen years before Biden became president. And it didn’t happen in the United States, it happened in Mexico.
And here’s the most disgraceful part: in Senator Britt’s state and many others where the GOP holds sway— in Alabama in fact, the legislature has banned abortions even in the case of rape— sex trafficking victims like the woman Britt met in Texas, even if they’re sex trafficked and raped, would have to bear their babies. Somehow, this rising GOP star managed to leave that part out.
As a side note, back in December Britt endorsed a convicted sexual abuser named Donald Trump for president.
Finally, I’ll pan Katie Britt for one more thing: the cross. The silver cross she wore around her neck during her talk.
To be fair, I searched the internet for photos of Britt and while she doesn’t have it on in every picture I found, she wears it a lot. It’s pretty clear, she has strong Christian bearing. But I’m sorry, this was an address to the nation. Not just to its Christians, but to all its people: its Muslims, its Jews, its Sikhs, its Buddhists, its atheists. There is no doubt that Katie Britt had Republican consultants advising her on every aspect of her speech: the setting, the tone, the words, and yes, the jewelry. If they wanted to send a message of inclusion, they could have. But they didn’t. She didn’t. Given the party’s targeted appeal to white Christian Americans, I think there’s a message in that.
If this is the best the Republican party can come up with, I’m not so concerned about November.
Over more than five decades Greg Dobbs has been a correspondent for two television networks including ABC News, a political columnist for The Denver Post and syndicated columnist for Scripps newspapers, a moderator on Rocky Mountain PBS, and author of two books, including one about the life of a foreign correspondent called “Life in the Wrong Lane.” He also co-authored a book about the seminal year for baby boomers, called “1969: Are You Still Listening?” He has covered presidencies, politics, and the U.S. space program at home, and wars, natural disasters, and other crises around the globe, from Afghanistan to South Africa, from Iran to Egypt, from the Soviet Union to Saudi Arabia, from Nicaragua to Namibia, from Vietnam to Venezuela, from Libya to Liberia, from Panama to Poland. Dobbs has won three Emmys, the Distinguished Service Award from the Society of Professional Journalists, and as a 37-year resident of Colorado, a place in the Denver Press Club Hall of Fame.
Thanks Greg. I doubt these rebuttals sway no one… but this was scary and funny simultaneously. If you haven’t seen it— watch Scarlett Johanson’s parody of Britt from SNL 3/9/24.
My grandmother who was a serious Bible Student, used this quotation from Matthew chapter 21 when referring to those who justify their actions by professing that they are Christians. These words always come to mind when people make a point of saying that they are Christians and ostensively wear a cross to prove it:
22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.