Washington, D.C. – Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) came to the defense of Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) following her poorly received State of the Union response speech, pointing out her lack of experience in delivering speeches in the Senate.
Roy criticized GOP leadership in a social media thread for setting Britt up for failure by assigning her the rebuttal without having previously given a Senate speech. He described the decision as throwing a “freshman Senator to the wolves.”
Britt’s speech received significant criticism for being awkward, stilted, and lacking authenticity. It even became the focus of a Saturday Night Live cold open, with Scarlett Johansson portraying the Senator.
The Senator faced backlash for using a decades-old story of sexual violence in Mexico to criticize President Biden’s border policies. Despite defending the story as emblematic of ongoing issues with the border policy, Roy attributed the misstep to a lack of preparation and fact-checking by Britt’s party handlers.
Roy emphasized that Britt’s speech detracted from the policy issues the GOP wanted to address and called on Republican voters to reject current leadership in favor of change through primaries.
In response to Britt’s speech, the White House criticized her for spreading “debunked lies,” particularly in reference to the human trafficking anecdote. Deputy press secretary Andrew Bates emphasized the importance of prioritizing national security and bipartisan border legislation over false narratives.
Overall, Roy’s defense of Britt sheds light on the challenges faced by inexperienced politicians when tasked with delivering key speeches, emphasizing the need for thorough preparation and fact-checking to avoid distractions and detractors. The incident serves as a reminder of the importance of effective communication in shaping public perception and advancing political agendas.