Sarah Huckabee Sanders will deliver the Republican refutation of President Joe Biden’s State of the Union next week, the Congressional GOP leadership announced Thursday.
The Arkansas governor and Trump-era White House press secretary has already cemented her place as an arsonist by cracking down on the term “Latinx” and vowing to enact policies some see as far-right.
That includes sticking with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and banning Critical Race Theory classes and drag shows.
Sanders vowed that her State of the Union (SOTU) response “would contrast the GOP’s optimistic vision for the future with the failures of President Joe Biden and the Democrats.”
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced Thursday that Sanders has been selected to deliver the Republican rebuttal on the evening of February 7th.
Arkansas Governor and Trump-era White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has been chosen to deliver the Republican rebuttal to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address next week
Biden will deliver his second State of the Union address on Tuesday, February 7, before a joint session of Congress. This year, he will have the new House Speaker Kevin McCarthy behind him in place of Nancy Pelosi
McCarthy urged Biden to heed her comments rebuking the president’s own annual address to a joint session of Congress.
He also furthered Sanders’ comments, praising her resume as the youngest US governor, the first woman governor of Arkansas, and the first instance of a father and daughter becoming governors of the same state.
Each year, the party not in power in the White House has a representative deliver a refuting SOTU speech on the same day that the President addresses Congress, and their remarks are broadcast to the public.
Sanders, whose father is former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, was Trump’s second-in-command White House press secretary and served as president for two years from July 2017 to July 2019.
At her last press conference and at a rally with the then-president, she gave a tearful goodbye, claiming she was leaving to spend more time with her family and focus on her own career.
About two years after joining Fox as an associate in 2019, Sanders launched her nomination for governor of Arkansas in January 2021. She broke the state’s fundraising record by raising more than $9 million for her campaign.
She was a staunch anti-mask and anti-vaccination mandate candidate.
As one of the most conservative leaders in the country, Sanders plans to pass a series of legislation that would attack so-called “wake” agendas.
In a statement announcing the comments, Sanders vowed that her response would “contrast the GOP’s optimistic vision for the future with the failures of President Joe Biden and the Democrats.”
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy furthered Sanders’ comments and claimed Biden should step in.
Sanders could sign legislation later this week imposing restrictions on drag shows.
A Sanders spokeswoman, Alexa Henning, told the Washington Post that the proposal should not be seen as a ban, but as a way to protect children from explicit content in such performances.
“Only in the woke dystopia of the radical left is it not appropriate to protect children,” Henning added of the proposal to ban “sexually explicit drag shows.”
LGBTQ activists have claimed that the bill could have detrimental effects on the community.
On her first day in office, Jan. 10, Sanders signed an executive order banning the use of the term “Latinx” in the Arkansas state government after comments from Hispanic leaders that the term was not as coveted or inclusive , as the left has touted .
Sanders said voters called the term “ethnically insensitive” and “pejorative.”
Sanders served as White House press secretary for former President Donald Trump for two years from July 2017 to July 2019
Arizona Rep. Ruben Gallego, who is running for the Senate, tweeted in 2021 that his office would also not be allowed to use the term in official communications.
“When Latino politicians use the term, it’s mainly to placate rich white people who think that’s the term we’re using. It’s a vicious cycle of confirmation bias,” Gallego tweeted at the time.
Many left-wing advocates say that “Latinx” should be used instead of the term Latino or Latina to include all Hispanic people of both sexes and all gender identities.
A separate executive order signed by Sanders directs the state to review education rules and policies to examine whether critical race theory (CRT) or other issues that “indoctrinate students with ideologies” are encouraged in schools across Arkansas.