Bryan Zepp Jamieson<\/p>\n
March 9th<\/sup> 2024<\/p>\n www.zeppscommentaries.online<\/p>\n After last year\u2019s State of the Union address, you might think the Republicans would have dusted the Biden boot marks off their collective asses and learned a lesson. Don\u2019t try to heckle Biden. He\u2019ll eat you for lunch. Did they learn?<\/p>\n Nope.<\/p>\n Empty \u201cArmpits\u201d Greene (R-Trash) once again led the Charge of the Dim Brigade, \u201cHalf a brain, half a brain, half a brain downward!\u201d. She showed up in full MAGA regalia, including the tacky red gimme cap. Someday I hope to figure out how acting like a n<\/i>e<\/i>kulturny<\/i> imbecile \u201cowns the libs.\u201d It doesn\u2019t hold up well in my experience. The fastest way to wipe the shit eating grin off a MAGAt\u2019s face is to point out that looking and acting like a fool doesn\u2019t own me.<\/p>\n She stuffed a button in Biden\u2019s hand that read, “Say her name, Laken Riley.” This referred to a 22 year old woman murdered by a Venezuelan national in the US without documents. Biden referred to \u201cLincoln Riley\u201d in his speech, committing the gaffe of calling her accused murderer \u201can illegal,\u201d a term much beloved by bigots and hatemongers. But Greene\u2019s crusade was gaffy in and of itself: the presence of the Venezuelan wasn\u2019t because of any Biden policy; the assailant was in the country as a result of a last-day-in-office move by Trump. Per Politico ( https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2021\/01\/19\/trump-venezuela-temporary-legal-status-460524<\/a> ) \u201cPresident Donald Trump on Tuesday announced he will offer Venezuelan exiles protection from deportation, a move he has considered for years but refused to do until his last full day in office. Trump is using the little-known Deferred Enforced Departure program, or DED, to offer temporary legal status to Venezuelans fleeing the humanitarian crisis brought on by Nicol\u00e1s Maduro\u2019s regime. DED, similar to Temporary Protected Status or TPS, protects recipients from deportation and allows them to get work permits. However, it is granted directly by the president instead of the Department of Homeland Security.\u201d<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t the only time during the speech where the right exploited a grieving parent to blame Biden for something Trump did. Florida Rep. Brian Mast hit on the bright idea of inviting Steven K. Nikoui, the Gold Star father of Marine Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui, who was killed in August of 2021 by a suicide bomb during the chaotic evacuation of Americans from Kabul Airport. However, it was Trump who agreed to withdraw all troops by May 1st<\/sup> 2021 (he originally wanted to do it in just two weeks, by March 2020, but backed off over vociferous Pentagon objections). By the time Biden took office, 5,000 Talibani prisoners were released, and US presence reduced from 13,000 to 2,500, who were supposed to oversee the removal of all US equipment somehow. The government of Afghanistan was given no say in any of this, of course. Biden was able to get an additional three months, but it was going to be a mess anyway.<\/p>\n The Republicans even managed to duplicate one of last years\u2019 missteps, booing loudly when Biden described their tax policy as \u201cgiving trillions to the rich.\u201d Biden leaned on one elbow, grinned, and asked, \u201cYou\u2019re saying you don\u2019t want to do that now?\u201d<\/p>\n Speaker Mike Johnson, sitting behind Biden alongside Vice President Kamela Harris, was a silent comedy show all to himself with a variety of strained smirks, purse-lipped headshakes, eye-rolls and open indecision over whether he should approve or disapprove of something Biden said. You could almost see a giant translucent Trump head, glaring orange at him, daring him to disobey any transitory whim Trump felt during the speech. Johnson looked like a bible literalist forced to audit a scientific convention on evolution. In case he felt even a moment of comfort, the clown show caucus was there to embarrass him.<\/p>\n How honest was Biden\u2019s speech itself? By SOTU standards, which always involves a lot of presidential congratulatory self-back-slapping, it was really good. He shaded the truth some in some areas, but unlike his predecessor, didn\u2019t say any flat-out lies. You can read the Politifact review here. https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/news\/politifact\/2024\/03\/08\/fact-checking-joe-bidens-2024-state-of-the-union-address\/<\/p>\n Oh, and George Santos showed up. There\u2019s a loophole in Congressional rules that allows expelled and disgraced members of Congress to get seats at the SOTU. No, really. He was there. Maybe he wanted a MAGA franchise for Trump\u2019s $400 gold sneaks. He was a good addition to GOP gravitas.<\/p>\n But the fun didn\u2019t end when Biden finished the speech. He made a classic Biden open-mike gaffe on the way out, telling Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado “I told Bibi (Netanyahu), don’t repeat this, you and I are going to have a ‘come to Jesus’ meeting.” Even that gaffe couldn\u2019t help the GOP, since Biden said exactly what a large and increasing number of Americans, upset by the ongoing slaughter in Gaza, have wanted to hear him say.<\/p>\n Then there was the Response from the kitchen of Alabama Senator Katie Britt. By the time she was done, a lot of people were expecting to hear a sudden voice over: \u201cFrom New York, it\u2019s Saturday Night Live!\u201d I won\u2019t go into how weird and bad the speech was\u2014thousands of others have already done that, and the video is around. Watch it. Really. It\u2019s a comedy gem. But she misplayed the same \u201cblame Biden\u201d game. She spoke of a 12 year old girl who was made a sexual prisoner and gang-raped for months on end. She said, \u201cWe wouldn\u2019t be OK with this in some third world country. This is the United States of America.\u201d She blamed Biden border policies, of course.<\/p>\n Except it didn\u2019t happen in America. It happened in Mexico. And Biden wasn\u2019t president during any of that; Trump was.<\/p>\n Well, at least she knows what country she\u2019s in. Maybe?<\/p>\n CORRECTION:\u00a0 The Washington Post has this to say about the rape allegations by Katie Britt:<\/em><\/p>\n If you were watching Britt\u2019s speech on Thursday night, you likely would have thought she was talking about a recent victim of sex trafficking who was abused in the United States and <\/b>suffered because of President Biden\u2019s policies.<\/em><\/p>\n If you did, you would have been wrong. Sean Ross, Britt\u2019s communications director, confirmed that she was talking about Karla Jacinto Romero \u2014 who has testified before Congress about being forced to work in Mexican brothels from 2004 to 2008. (A viral TikTok by journalist Jonathan Katz<\/a> first revealed that Britt was speaking about Romero.) In a phone conversation and a statement, Ross disputed that Britt\u2019s language was misleading.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Trump himself had a Truth Social meltdown. He suggested that Biden was using performance-enhancing drugs to come across as not-senile, a curious suggestion from a man often suspected to taking Adderall, especially in light of the mushrooming Trump White House drug scandal under \u201cDoctor\u201d Ronnie Jackson, which gave the impression of Animal House with Doonesbury\u2019s \u201cUncle Duke\u201d running the show.<\/p>\n Trump didn\u2019t like Biden\u2019s stridency, writing, \u201cTHIS IS LIKE A SHOUTING MATCH, EVERY LINE IS BEING SHOUTED.\u201d Yes, he was complaining about someone shouting in all caps. Only Trump, am I right?<\/p>\n But Trump got some good news: Someone put up the $92 million surety certain to be lost when Trump makes his doomed appeal of the defamation case he lost (twice, now) to E. Jean Carroll.<\/p>\n Trump’s bond was guaranteed by the Federal Insurance Company \u2014 a New York-based subsidiary of the company Chubb Group LLC, which is headquartered in Switzerland. According to Elana Sulakshana at RainForest Action Network, \u201cChubb insures fossil fuel infrastructure in Russia that is bankrolling Putin\u2019s war on Ukraine, oil and gas extraction off the coast of Brazil, exploratory drilling in the Arctic, and other fossil fuel projects globally.\u201d CEO Evan Greenberg likes to talk a good environmental stance, but it\u2019s greenwashing. He underwrites some of the filthiest fuel projects for some of the filthiest regimes. And now, apparently, he\u2019s underwriting Trump. At least he\u2019s only taking a small step down, right?<\/p>\n GOP, have faith in George Santos. You are all part of his plan. Or maybe you\u2019re part of Putin\u2019s Plan.<\/p>\n Either way, you\u2019re screwed.<\/p>\n