State of the Union observations

No question, Biden is a spin doctor and a tool of the woke set, but Republicans did themselves a disservice last night

There is no question Joe Biden is a feeble, weak president, and maybe borderline senile, whose State of the Union Speech on Feb. 7 avoided any discussion of the unacceptable Mexican border problem, the failure of high interest rates to do anything constructive about inflation and borrowing, and the communist Chinese invading our airspace and capturing private data (including TikTok).

And, he exaggerated job growth, ignored discussing the main source of the illegal fentanyl crisis (ineffective border control), and the jobs situation and other issues.

I could go on and on about Biden’s failures in his speech.  His call for higher taxes on corporations is hopefully going to move more corporations to our side – but their internal culture has been overtaken by social justice activists and they want to keep them happy.

For example, his “Buy American” requirement for infrastructure is not going to work unless there is something “American” to buy, because unfortunately, our manufacturing base for materials has been dwindling since the late 1970s, and both GOP and Democrat administrations did little about it until Donald Trump’s election in 2016.  Biden came in, being ethically compromised by China, as we know, and lifted most of Trump’s trade restrictions on China, which manufactures 30% of the world’s goods.

“Buy American,” unfortunately, raises costs for infrastructure because Asian nations can produce things cheaper due to high costs in the U.S. due to unions, labor costs and regulatory requirements that don’t exist overseas.   

Just this week, the CATO institute did a report on how protectionism can raise infrastructure costs  and it’s worth reading.

But Republicans, unfortunately, did themselves a grave disservice with the disrespect shown by Marjorie Taylor Greene and other House conservatives by booing and interrupting his speech – just as Democrats heckled President Trump;  two wrongs don’t make a right.

In addition, the very well scripted and delivered GOP response by Sarah Huckabee Sanders, former press secretary to Trump and now Arkansas governor, appealed to the GOP base (I loved it) but probably made little impact on the rest of the nation (did the liberal media even cover it?).

Please allow me to explain myself:

1. Civility matters –the ONE  thing that turns off swing voters, and even a number of Republican voters is the perception that Republicans are uncivil and a mob, and the sight of MTG and others heckling the president is unbearable for these folks.  Yes, it appeals to the conservative base and helps MTG and others of her ilk get campaign contributions, but they do so at the risk of hurting other GOP candidates.  Sorry, but how the mainstream media spins this does impact our candidates, and we all know the media is stacked against us (except conservative TV networks and a few newspapers).
2. Ageism in Sanders’ speech – A number of networks are showing the soundbite from Gov. Sanders speech where she says she and Joe Biden “don’t have much in common,” and she points to age differences, noting he is the “oldest president.”  Indeed, the purpose of Republicans having her deliver the GOP response as the youngest governor in the nation was to contrast the Old generation and the New.  And, she made a big deal about “her generation” coming of age.  Unfortunately, the Old generation votes and don’t take kindly to being told they are “too old.” 
3. Passing the torch  Sarah Sanders copied John F. Kennedy’s “born in this century” line from his 1961 inaugural address almost verbatim.  This, I am sure, is going to give the liberal media a field day.  Again, she is popular with the conservative base and was a fantastic press secretary for Trump, and will be a great governor, but I am not so sure the contrast between Biden’s generation and hers (I guess she is Generation X) is going to go over well for Republicans.
4. Avoiding Trump – It was interesting during Sanders’ speech that she recounted a visit to troops overseas she took in 2018 with “the President,” never once mentioning Trump’s name.  Sanders is tied to Trump, and Trump is what has doomed us in recent elections.  The more Trump exerts himself to be “relevant” and get media attention, the more it reminds swing voters and anti-Trump voters that we are “the Party of Trump.” 

All in all, our respective Left and Right camps are going to hear and see what they want to hear and see and draw their own conclusions.  I guess we’ll see if Biden’s numbers in the polls go up – if we can believe polls – and he may very well announce he will run for re-election in 2024.

But little was accomplished on our end, except entertaining the conservative base, especially with Sanders’ lines about “crazy” vs. “normal.”   I am of the mind that unless and until we can improve the “GOP brand,” and have the right candidates to tout our issues, we’re not going to bridge that partisan divide and bring more independents and “Soft Ds” to our side while keeping the Trump base in tow.  

That begins with a better tone and appeal to emotion and our Better Angels.

Branding is SO important.  It’s what motivates voters to vote one way or the other and going into the 2023 elections in Virginia, I am quite concerned about how national media, Trump, and GOP division is going to impact Republicans in November.