SOTU TURNED CAMPAIGN SPEECH
President Joe Biden delivered his third State of the Union address to Congress last night, an address that was criticized by some as partisan and too heavily focused on his rival, former President Donald Trump.
Biden opened the speech with remarks about Ukraine, insisting on the importance of continuing to stand with the Eastern European nation.
President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address during a joint meeting of Congress in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol on March 07, 2024. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Biden attacked his predecessor and now election opponent over many major issues covered in the speech.
On Ukraine and foreign policy, he said, “My predecessor, a former Republican President, tells Putin, ‘Do whatever the hell you want,’” said Biden. “A former American president actually said that, bowing down to a Russian leader. It’s outrageous. It’s dangerous. It’s unacceptable.”
He blamed Trump for the overturning of Roe v. Wade, saying Trump “came to office determined to see Roe v. Wade overturned. He’s the reason it was overturned. In fact, he brags about it.”
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He suggested, as he has on the campaign trail, that Trump and his supporters are a danger to democracy.
Biden referenced his predecessor’s rhetoric and actions on immigration.
“I will not demonize immigrants saying they ‘poison the blood of our country’ as he said in his own words,” he said. “I will not separate families.”
During the immigration segment of his speech, Biden sparred with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) about the death of University of Georgia student Laken Riley, who was allegedly killed by a Venezuelan illegal immigrant.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) shouts at President Joe Biden as he delivers the State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress in the House chamber at the Capital building on March 7, 2024. Shawn Thew-Pool/Getty Images
Greene, sporting a badge reading “Say Her Name: Laken Riley,” shouted for the president to acknowledge the slaughtered nursing student.
But when he repeated the name, he got it wrong, referring to her as “Lincoln Riley.”
“Lincoln Riley, an innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal, that’s right. But how many thousands of people are being killed by illegals?” Biden said.
That comment frightened progressives, with even former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) saying afterward that she would have preferred he had used the term “undocumented.”
Biden blamed Trump for the failure of a border bill blasted by Republicans as ineffective—a reference that caused jeers and boos from Republicans in the crowd.
He got into a heated exchange with Republicans over the bill.
“Oh, you don’t like that?” the president responded to the interruption. “The conservatives got together and said it was a good bill. I’ll be darned. That’s amazing.”
The speech was marked throughout with some slurring and stumbling over words and phrases, despite an overall energetic and emphatic tone from a president whose age has become a central part of the 2024 election.
Democrats said his performance shows he’s still able to be an effective leader.
Asked whether Biden had “convinced the public that he has more gas in the tank left,” Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.)—an erstwhile Biden critic—replied, “Yes.”
Republicans, for their part, weren’t pleased with the speech.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) blamed the “very emotional” heckling and sparring with the president by House Republicans on the “overly partisan” nature of the address.
“People got very emotional tonight because it was an overly partisan speech and it was filled full of information that is just objectively not true,” he said. The speaker had earlier asked his conference to exercise decorum during the speech.
Others agreed.
“I came to hear the State of the Union,” Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas) told reporters afterwards. “And I didn’t hear anything, but a rah rah campaign speech, blaming Republicans for things that he actually had caused.”
The Republican rebuttal to Biden was delivered by Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.), who focused on the border and argued that Biden’s immigration policies had contributed to the crisis at the southern border.
“We know that President Biden didn’t just create this border crisis. He invited it with 94 executive actions in his first 100 days. … President Biden’s border crisis is a disgrace. It’s despicable. And it’s almost entirely preventable,” the senator said in a video shot from her kitchen in Alabama.
—Joseph Lord
The TikTok logo is displayed outside a TikTok office in Culver City, Calif., on Aug. 27, 2020. Mario Tama/Getty Images
TIKTOK BILL ADVANCES
The House Committee on Energy and Commerce yesterday unanimously approved a bill to compel social media giant TikTok to split from its Chinese ownership.
The committee’s 50-0 decision will allow the bills to move forward to a vote in the House. If passed, the president would be given authority to compel the divestiture of social media companies deemed to be under the influence of foreign adversaries.
TikTok would be given the choice of divesting from its Chinese parent company ByteDance, or be effectively banned from hosting in the United States.
Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) said the effort was essential to ending the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) efforts to “target, surveil, and manipulate Americans.”
“We have given TikTok a clear choice. Divest from your parent company … or side with the Chinese Communist Party and face a ban.”
The U.S. government is currently investigating ByteDance for using TikTok geolocation data to stalk and harass American journalists who uncovered the CCP’s guiding role in the company.
Lawmakers have also expressed concern about TikTok’s history of promoting and suppressing content at the request of the CCP.
TikTok began targeting its users prior to the vote, giving them the contact information of committee members and urging them to demand a “no” vote.
“I think it’s just further reason why we need to ban TikTok,” said Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.). “This company is clearly politically motivated.”
“We’ve got to get completely separated from China as best we can. And the process starts by not letting them infiltrate the minds of young people and adults.”
—Andrew Thornebrooke
WHAT’S HAPPENING
- Biden goes to Philadelphia for a campaign event.
- The RNC is expected to elect a new Trump-endorsed leadership panel, including Michael Whatley and Lara Trump as chair and co-chair, respectively.
- The Senate is expected to pass a spending package to avert a partial government shutdown.
- No Labels delegates will decide whether to approve a Unity ticket for the presidential election.
BOOKMARKS
The House has passed a bill that requires the Department of Homeland Security to detain illegal border crossers accused of breaking the law, reports The Epoch Times’ Jacob Burg and Joseph Lord. The bill is named after University of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, who was murdered on Feb. 22, allegedly by an illegal immigrant. All Republicans voted in favor of it, while all but 37 Democrats opposed it.
A U.S. Army intelligence analyst has been charged with selling secrets to a Chinese agent, reports The Epoch Times’ Chase Smith. Korbein Schultz allegedly got $42,000 for giving away secrets.
Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said he has enough support to become the second-highest member of the Senate GOP, reports The Epoch Times’ Jackson Richman. He would succeed Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.)—who is running for Senate GOP leader to replace Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)—as Senate GOP Whip.
Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wisc.), the chairman of the House select committee to investigate the Chinese Communist Party, said that China is creating a global DNA database for weapons and surveillance development, reports The Epoch Times’ Andrew Thornebrooke. Gallagher made this claim during a hearing on March 7.
Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) said that Chinese triads are using massage salons for human trafficking, reports The Epoch Times’ Frank Fang. Marshall made this revelation to NTD’s Steve Lance.
