(March 1, 2024) MOBILE, Alabama — Republican leaders have made an excellent choice in tapping Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL) to give their party’s response to the March 7 presidential State of the Union address. If Britt is at her best, other Republicans can learn from her on style and substance.
As I described when she first entered the race for Senate in 2021, when she was polling at a measly 2% against then-Rep. Mo Brooks’s 60%, Britt is extraordinarily adept, in a way former President Ronald Reagan was, at “seamlessly explaining how national politics affect [local] citizens.” Too many politicians act as if talking at a “kitchen counter” level requires dumbing down issues into slogans, but Britt doesn’t do that. Instead, she deftly draws quick, logical links.
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
As in: Yes, the open Mexican border affects Alabama. One in every five illegal immigrants captured in Texas is headed to Florida. A migrant can’t get from Texas to Florida without traversing Alabama. Many of them going to Florida are trafficking fentanyl. Alabama’s fentanyl use is depressingly high, ruining otherwise good families.
There. In just 50 words, or about 20 seconds, Britt has tied border policy to daily lives in local communities.
As she draws connections, Britt can exude toughness and resolve. One video of her went “viral” when she joined a press conference urging the seizure of Iranian funds after Iran’s Hamas clients butchered peaceful Israelis last October. In less than three minutes, Britt described the horrors of what Israeli women and children endured, expressed solidarity with Israel and Jewish people worldwide, and explained why and how Iran, as much as Palestinian terrorists, should be held accountable.
She did the same thing while again bringing the problems to a personal level in less than four minutes after a trip to the border, where female illegal immigrants are mistreated, abused, and subject to daily rapes, and where small children drown while crossing the Rio Grande. “It changes the way you think about what’s happening.” And it’s all “because Joe Biden has made it more and more enticing to come here.”
Britt’s secret is that she “keeps it real.”… [The full column is at this link.]
