President Joe Biden’s State of the Union Address on Tuesday night was plagued by Republican hecklers and skeptical fact-checkers but the Republican response given by Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the newly-elected Arkansas governor, earned high praise from House Speaker Kevin McCarthy who called it a “must-watch” given by “a servant-leader of true determination and conviction.”
While Biden’s SOU focused on the economy, Huckabee Sanders focused on social issues.
“Being a mom to three young children taught me not to believe every story I hear,” she began. “So forgive me for not believing much of anything I heard tonight from President Biden. From out-of-control inflation and violent crime to the dangerous border crisis and threat from China, Biden and the Democrats have failed you,” Sanders said.
Sanders is far more than a simple mom. She also served as the embattled press secretary for President Trump during the Mueller investigation. She is the daughter of Mike Huckabee, the 44th governor of Arkansas, who was a pastor and an ardent supporter of Israel.
“It’s time for a change,” she continued in her address. “Tonight, let us reaffirm our commitment to a timeless American idea: that government exists not to rule the people, but to serve the people. Democrats want to rule us with more government control, but that is not who we are.”
“Most Americans simply want to live their lives in freedom and peace, but we are under attack in a left-wing culture war we didn’t start and never wanted to fight,” Sanders said. “In the radical left’s America, Washington taxes you and lights your hard-earned money on fire, but you get crushed with high gas prices, empty grocery shelves, and our children are taught to hate one another on account of their race, but not to love one another or our great country.”
She described the president as the “first man to surrender his presidency to a woke mob that can’t even tell you what a woman is.”
“That’s not normal. It’s crazy, and it’s wrong,” she said.
“Every day, we are told that we must partake in their rituals, salute their flags and worship their false idols – all while big government colludes with Big Tech to strip away the most American thing there is: your freedom of speech,” she said. “Republicans believe in an America where strong families thrive in safe communities; where jobs are abundant and paychecks are rising; where the freedom our veterans shed their blood to defend is the birthright of every man, woman and child.”
She criticized the administration for the fentanyl crisis fueled by a border crisis.
“The dividing line in America is no longer between right or left,” Sanders said. “The choice is between normal or crazy.”
“America is the greatest country the world has ever known because we are the freest country the world has ever known, with a people who are strong and resilient,” she said.
Sanders told an anecdote of traveling to Iraq with then-President Trump on the day after Christmas in 2018.
“One of the young soldiers yelled from the back, ‘Mr. President, I re-enlisted in the military because of you.’ The President said, ‘and son, I am here because of you,’” Sanders recalled.
“At 40, I’m the youngest governor in the country. At 80, he’s the oldest president in American history,” Sanders said in Biden’s rebuttal.
She stated that there is a “new generation” of Republican leaders that is “stepping up” to be “changemakers for the American people.”
“It’s time for a new generation to lead. This is our moment. This is our opportunity,” she said. “A new generation of Republican leaders is stepping up, not to be caretakers of the status quo, but to be change-makers for the American people.”
“We know not what the future holds, but we know who holds the future in His hands,” Sanders concluded. “And with God as our witness, we will show the world that America is still the place where freedom reigns and liberty will never die.”
