The Problem With The Republican SOTU Response Wasn’t Katie Britt, It Was The Republican Party

The performance may have been better with a different speaker but the content would have been the same.

We’ve had a lot of fun this past week making fun of Katie Britt’s overwrought response to the State Of The Union address. You might think she is an outlier. That a lot of other Republicans could have given a better, more face-based response.

But that was never going to happen.

The reason Britt had to be so melodramatic while telling lies is because that is all Republicans have to run on. Bad acting aside, the content of her response was going to be very similar to any other Republican who gave the SOTU response.

Especially after Donald Trump made the party give away their best political opportunity.

Republicans could have voted for their border bill. The one negotiated by conservative Senator James Lankford. Then they could have taken a victory lap. They could have taken credit for winning the debate and moving enough Democrats to their side. And then they could have campaigned on their victory.

That’s what a functioning political party would do. Try to win policy debates. Then take credit…