WASHINGTON ― Sen. Katie Britt (R-Alabama) called President Joe Biden president “diminished” and claimed that he is “not in command” of the country in the official rebuttal to his State of the Union address on Tuesday.
The 42-year-old freshman Republican senator spoke live from her home kitchen in Alabama after Biden delivered his annual address in front of a joint session of Congress in the nation’s capital.
“Right now, our commander in chief is not in command,” Britt said in the 20-minute speech, which sounded forced at times. “The free world deserves better than a dithering and diminished leader. America deserves leaders who recognize that secure borders, stable prices, safe streets and a strong defense are actually the cornerstones of a great nation.”
She called Biden “out of touch,” adding that she wished he “understood what real families are facing around kitchen tables just like this one.”
Britt, a former Senate aide who was elected in 2022 after GOP Sen. Richard Shelby retired, was tapped by Republican leaders to portray a youthful contrast with the 82-year-old Biden — something her party believes will help oust him from office. Polls have found that most voters have concerns about Biden’s age, including many who helped make him president in 2020.
Biden’s speech on Thursday was hardly ‘dithering.’ The president stumbled over words and coughed occasionally, but he was energetic and feisty, engaging directly with hecklers and calling out Republican lawmakers in the room. And he exhorted the importance of supporting democracy at home and abroad, protecting reproductive rights, expanding health care access, cutting student debt and raising taxes on the wealthy, to name just a few priorities Democrats hope will lead them to victory in November.
He also addressed questions about his age head-on.
“In my career, I’ve been told I’m too young and I’m too old,” Biden said. “Whether young or old, I’ve always known what…
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