Sarah Huckabee Sanders concluded the Republican response to President Biden’s State of the Union speech with the statement, “The dividing line is no longer between right or left. The choice is between normal or crazy.”
Smitten by Sanders inflammatory oratory, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a prince of partisanship, declared that, ”A star is born could be the title of Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders absolutely remarkable speech responding to and drawing a sharp contrast with President Biden’s fantasy wish list state of the union. It was Reaganesque.”
Sorry, Newt, but “grotesque” is better than Reaganesque to describe Sanders divisive screed. Describing today’s MAGA-infected Republican Party as “normal” is, well, crazy. Let me count the ways.
First, consider the source. Sanders two-year stint as Press Secretary for Trump was anything but normal. She said Trump’s policy of separating children from their parents at the border and locking them in detention facilities was “very biblical.” She admitted to lying during a press conference about former FBI director James Comey when she claimed “countless” FBI agents told her they were happy Trump fired him. She mocked Joe Biden for stuttering, a speech impediment he’s dealt with throughout his life. She once claimed that “God wanted Trump to become president.” She falsely claimed that Trump’s border wall had stopped nearly 4,000 known or suspected terrorists at the U.S.-Mexico border in 2018. In fact, the wall had only stopped six people on the No-Fly List.
Was it normal for a president to lead an insurrection on the Capitol in order to overturn an election? Was it normal for a president to try to bully an election official into falsifying election returns? And that was only one of Trump’s many slippery moves that led him to be impeached twice and, later, to hurt the GOP’s performance in the 2022 mid-term election. Let’s hope the courts give Trump his long overdue comeuppance.
Was it normal for members of Congress to refuse to testify when subpoenaed by the January 6 Committee? Why on earth did they think they were above the law? Oh wait, they were merely following the example of their leader, Trump.
Was it normal for white evangelical “Christians” to support Trump, the least Christian President — and person — imaginable? Ever the opportunist and one who claims to represent “Christian” values, Sanders maintains her close ties with Trump, the charlatan who somehow convinced evangelical Christians that he was one of their own.
Oh, is it normal for a man (George Santos) who lied repeatedly lied to get elected to be able to keep his seat in the House of Representatives? Would any equally mendacious applicant for any responsible position anywhere in the United States have been able to keep his/her job?
Is it normal (or crazy) to oppose sound gun legislation if one lives in a country which has experienced 71 mass shooting in the first 46 days of this year (as of the time this article was written)?
Was it normal for Kevin McCarthy who wanted to be House Majority Leader so desperately that he ceded all of the power inherent in the position in order to appease the right-wing faction (crazies)?
In my view, the Republicans made a major strategic mistake selecting someone like Sarah Huckabee Sanders to give the GOP response to Biden’s speech. While she might have pleased her right-wing Christian base and her like-minded colleagues on Fox News, she sure didn’t inspire Americans who yearn for a more unified nation. In fact, fifty-nine percent of the people who watched both Biden’s speech and Sanders’ response believe her speech was divisive. If they wanted to pick a woman, they should have asked someone like Nikki Haley, a much more reasonable and less divisive person.
We need to begin to come together as a nation. Members of Congress must work in tandem to solve common problems. We must acknowledge that we are not a Christian nation or a white nation or any other (name your adjective) nation. Diversity does in fact, remain one of our strengths. We must maintain our democratic (small “d”) ideals at all costs. We must move towards normal and away from crazy. Are we up to the challenge?
David Treadwell, a Brunswick writer, welcomes commentary and suggestions for future “Just a Little Old” columns. dtreadw575@aol.com.
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