Patty Satalia

State College

The response to President Biden’s State of the Union again showed that Republicans just don’t get it.

It was delivered by Katie Britt, a young Alabama Senator reported to be a potential VP candidate. Unfortunately, she didn’t help herself or her party.

Speaking from her kitchen, Britt downplayed her professional accomplishments, instead highlighting her domestic roles of mother and wife. She played into all the stereotypes about women–speaking in a “little girl” voice, overemoting and smiling broadly while discussing serious matters–reassuring conservatives that successful women aren’t threatening.

Britt spent much of her speech blaming Biden for inaction at the border. She never mentioned that she voted against the bipartisan border security bill that she helped negotiate. The reason: Trump doesn’t want the problem solved; he’s running on it.

Most troubling, Britt created a false narrative to make her point. She recounted her meetings in south Texas with a woman who’d been trafficked as a child–a victim of Biden’s policies, Britt claimed. In truth, the abuse happened decades ago in Mexico, NOT the United States. Britt knew that.

Despite subsequent fact-checking she continues to lie.

It’s too bad Britt’s attempts to court women are not matched by real policy proposals. Concerns of both women and men extend beyond the kitchen. Britt said nothing about pay equity, childcare, health care, education, jobs or reproductive justice.

In the end, Republicans showed disregard for American women, and may have destroyed the career of one of their own.