The Trump - Biden election cycle mach 2 officially kicked off last night with the 2024 State of the Union address in Washington. The typical pomp and pageantry was in its proper form, from the introduction of the Supreme Court, to the electric MAGA outfit of Congresswoman MTG, to the now commonplace heckling of the president mid-speech. Side note: I watched this clip back from '09 and it seems like ancient history at this point - absolutely WILD to see how appalled and offput Nancy and Joe seemed in this clip, now it's expected:
But with that first clap from the democrats in the House and Senate when Joe started talking about World War 2 and history watching and all that 'not in normal times' rhetoric, it was pretty clear this was more of a campaign rally than a normal SOTU address.
Joe quickly got into the issues the democrats believe are winning issues for them come November - Ukraine, Jan. 6th assault on democracy, reproductive freedom... that's the platform for 2024. The telling part seemed less about what he did focus on, and more so what he did not touch. To be fair, almost no politician at the macro level (at least for this election cycle) wants much to do with cybersecurity threats, trade relations with China (OK I lied, Trump invented this issue), labor disruption and unease based on new technology, pressure on the U.S. Dollar from BRICS, but credit to him, those issues are too messy anyway at least in the political realm. Most see those as unidentifiable boogeymen that we can't/don't really want to conceptualize, so we'd rather just push 'em aside and talk kitchen table issues - leave those weird ones to the podcasters and folks with more time on their hands.
Climate, progress in modern race relations, the border (save the recent bill that was thrown out by Republicans) ain't winners for the left, so he intelligently steered clear of those - he undoubtedly embodied the 'angry old man' vibe, perhaps he watched legendary late night talk show host Bill Maher's op-ed last week and took his advice to embrace that old man energy.
Ol' Joe actually made it the full 90 minutes without slurring his words too badly or getting thrown off course, and that was even with a few heckles and off the cuff moments. Indeed we saw a better performance than I was expecting, but the follow on act was the one that truly stole the show... the next star of the Republican Party indeed, Alabama's junior senator Katie Britt.
*Insert heart eye emojis*
First thing we notice about Katie: babe city. Perhaps it's just a recent proclivity of mine to immediately fall in love with pretty girls named Katie from states that begin with 'A', hence the title of this blog, but Katie had my attention from the start - wifey vibes for days.
Katie looks like the type of woman you'd write a letter to in a fox hole in world war II. Katie looks like the type of woman that brings out the world's tastiest lemonade after you've been working on building her a barn with your bare hands to hold her family's remaining livestock you inherited on a Saturday afternoon in the summertime. Katie looks like the type of woman you'd build a homemade swing on a tree overlooking the lake for, and give her a gentle push at sunset with the kids running around after supper.
Katie came in there talking about kitchen table issues right at her own kitchen table, and hit the cornerstones conservative message: god, families, kids are a positive and overpopulation isn't going to ruin the entire world, Trump might be old but we as a party are not out of touch, Biden is bad and we need to reverse his terrible immigration policies but not give him any political wins in the near term so we're undoubtedly threading a needle there that's tough to navigate in real time - and Katie is right out of central casting for the suburban mom demo that message needs to hit come November if Republicans plan to get the Donald re-elected.
She was succinct, on script, a little feel-goodey tuck you in to bed vibe, and I think she nailed the balance of appeasement and saying that 'voters need a little more support from their government these days.' She's been getting a lot of hate from the libs on CNN for some of the histrionics, the whispering, the perceived pandering, but to all the folks hating on Katie, I say one thing: all you'll ever be is mean! Katie is a current and future star of the political realm! And compared to some other recent prominent Alabama Republicans (cough cough Roy Moore), that great state is moving on up in the ranks. Only person I could potentially see taking her job in the future would be Nick Saban, but perhaps one former college football coach senator is enough.
And not to mention, for the critics, the rebuttal is a next to impossible ask for anyone after the SOTU - in modern history (or at least since I've been watching it since 2010 or so) who has ever done well? Joni Ernst on her farm in Iowa? Joe Kennedy at some public school in Dartmouth, MA? Marco Rubio with his water bottle back in 2013? You've got everything working against you - no audience, no excitement, much less time, the commentators are already done on the national news when they throw it to you after the commercials, you don't know exactly what the president is going to say, so the messaging may not be perfect as it's pre-written, you're typically an up and comer in the party so not a lot of folks have brand recognition with you, folks are tired of watching after a 90+ minute speech - you're inherently battling uphill no matter who you are and what your message may be.
Could my judgment be blinded by another Katie that I couldn't help but turn to mush over with that southern smile and charm? Perhaps... but I stand with Senator Britt and say it was a pretty damn good speech. I may just have to go down to Alabama come fall and do some election investigative journalism with Producer Reese. The campaign of who America is going to begrudgingly re-elect has officially begun, and I for one am putting in my vote for Ms. Katie (salute emoji). Would much rather see her than these two faces asking me for $25 on every youtube video ad for the next 8 months.
P.S. Kind of crazy how a few hundred thousand voters in Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, Georgia, and Michigan are the key to the election of the most powerful office in the history of the world - doubt those folks buy into the 'voting doesn't matter' narrative, and credit to them for that. Only in America!
Social Media
