OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
House Speaker Mike Johnson’s office has released a damning video aimed at undermining President Joe Biden ahead of his State of the Union Address on Thursday.
The campaign-style video contains footage and news snippets of the chaotic border, high inflation under Biden, rising crime, and a host of other problems that have gotten bad or worse under the president and are of major concern to most Americans this election year.
In addition, the Louisiana Republican took a verbal shot at Biden in a statement to Fox News Digital after the video was released Thursday morning.
“The State of the Union address will offer the American people an opportunity to hear directly from the president – a rare occurrence during his tenure in office,” Johnson said.
“In just three years, President Biden’s policies have rapidly accelerated American decline on every issue from the economy to national security and foreign policy. The American people don’t need empty words on a page for a reset. We need better policies and a real leader,” he added.
The sound-bite-laden video begins with Biden declaring that “the State of the Union is strong.”
Fox adds:
It then flits through anchors and pundits describing the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border, both with the swell of asylum seekers straining state and local resources and the flow of illegal fentanyl that’s killing Americans daily.
The video also covers Biden’s championing of “Bidenomics” despite the previous two years’ high inflation rates and rising prices at the grocery store, as well as China’s increased aggression against Taiwan and on the world stage.
It’s part of Republicans’ counterprogramming efforts against Biden’s big Thursday night speech before a joint session of Congress at 9 p.m. ET.
@SpeakerJohnson drops amazing 'real state of the union under Biden' video ahead of the president's speech.
Trump can be gruff, rude, and rough around the edges, no doubt. BUT – America wasn't like this under his watch. We can't do another 4 yrs of Biden. pic.twitter.com/GZ3cFvbxBM
— USA Features Media (@UsaFeatures) March 7, 2024
On Wednesday, Johnson also announced that Rep. Monica De La Cruz (R-Texas) would deliver the Spanish-language rebuttal to Biden’s address. This comes as Republicans and former President Donald Trump make big inroads with Hispanic and Latino voters.
“As the first Latina and first Republican to represent her district, Congresswoman De La Cruz’s journey to Congress is nothing short of inspirational and encapsulates the very essence of what it means to live the American dream. Sadly, that dream is slipping away after three years of an open border, runaway inflation and a nation inviting aggression and projecting weakness on the world stage,” Johnson said.
Freshman Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) will give the Republicans’ former rebuttal.
Biden will deliver his second State of the Union address on Thursday. In it, he will likely highlight his administration’s achievements and lay out his plans for the future in front of one of the most politically divided Congresses in modern history.
Biden is presenting his case to the Republican-controlled House, which is actively looking into him for potential impeachable offenses, and the Democratic-dominated Senate, which has generally followed his lead on significant legislation.
Fox News noted that the speech’s March 7 delivery date is the latest for a State of the Union address in history.
This is only the second occasion in history that the president has chosen not to speak in person to a joint session of Congress in January or February. On March 1, 2022, Biden made his first speech to Congress.
A survey published last month found that illegal immigration and border security have become the No. 1 issue of concern for a majority of Americans.
“Significantly more Americans name immigration as the most important problem facing the U.S. (28%) than did a month ago (20%). Immigration has now passed the government as the most often cited problem, after the two issues tied for the top position for the past two months. The government ranked first each month from January through November 2023,” the Gallup polling firm noted in a report published this week.
“In the latest poll, 20% of Americans name the government as the most important problem, followed by the economy (12%) and inflation (11%). Immigration is the only issue that has shown meaningful change in the past month,” Gallup noted further.
