Alyssa Farah Griffin, a former White House communications director in Donald Trump’s administration, on Thursday described the staging of the official GOP rebuttal to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address as “very, very bizarre.”
Sen. Katie Britt (Ala.), the youngest Republican woman ever elected to serve in the U.S. Senate, delivered the speech from her kitchen in Alabama.
While Farah Griffin said Republicans made “smart choice” in choosing Britt, the former Trump aide said the same wasn’t true about the staging of her remarks.
“She’s somebody who’s an incredibly impressive person,” Farah Griffin told CNN. “She ran a smart race in Alabama, but I’ve got to say the staging of this was bizarre to me. Women can be both wives and mothers and also stateswomen. So to put her in a kitchen, not in front of a podium or in the Senate chamber, where she was elected after running a hard-fought race I think fell very flat and was confusing to some women watching it.”
During her remarks, Britt blasted Biden, calling him “diminished,” in an effort to seize on voters’ apparent concern with the president’s age, and also criticized his administration’s record on immigration and the economy.
“I just wish he understood what real families are facing around kitchen tables just like this one,” Britt said.
Farah Griffin said while the substance of Britt’s remarks was effective in promoting the priorities of the Republican Party, the moment ended up being a “missed opportunity” for the GOP.
Britt, a freshman senator, was elected in November 2022 to succeed retiring Rep. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.). Britt has also reportedly previously been floated as a potential running mate for Trump, who is soon expected to officially become the GOP nominee.