Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL) had one job: Deliver a strong and inspiring rebuttal to President Joe Biden‘s hateful, bitter, angry, and divisive State of the Union speech Thursday.
Instead, she used her moment in the spotlight to speak in halting tones that fluctuated between emotions in a bizarre fashion. It was a performance that had more in common with an actress trying to play the part of a mother alternating between soothing and chastising her child than a politician offering a response to the hate-filled speech of her political adversary.
That being said, Britt should not be pilloried too much for her performance. Giving the response to the State of the Union is a tough task for any politician. And, as Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) knows, can be a source of infamy more than break-out moments. Still, as a first-term senator, Britt will recover and should enjoy a long career in politics.
But Britt was the wrong choice to give the State of the Union response in 2024. By tapping her for the speech, the Republican leadership missed a golden opportunity to remind people of the stakes of the 2024 election.
Unlike most presidential election years, at this point in the cycle, the Republican Party, despite being out of power, already has its candidate for the November election.
Former President Donald Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee and will (barring a political earthquake) face off against Biden in the 2024 presidential election that features the same two candidates who ran in 2020. It was he who should have delivered the Republican Party’s rebuttal to Biden’s loathsome rant.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
As difficult as the format of the State of the Union rebuttal is, Trump’s charisma and demeanor are uniquely suited to make the best of it. There are few people more comfortable in front of a camera than Trump, and he would have been able to make a compelling and likely entertaining response to Biden’s angry and divisive speech.
Biden made the State of the Union a campaign speech; Republicans should have done the same with their rebuttal and ceded the stage to their party’s presidential nominee.
