Despite the widespread mockery GOP Sen. Katie Britt’s “completely weird” State of the Union response has received, the hosts of Fox & Friends sure seemed to love it, gushing to the Alabama lawmaker about her “natural” delivery on Friday morning.
“Great job,” co-host Brian Kilmeade exclaimed during an “exclusive” interview with Sen. Britt the morning after she delivered an over-the-top, fiery rebuttal to President Joe Biden’s address from a kitchen—a setting that left many Republican figures scratching their heads.
“I do not understand the decision to put her in a KITCHEN for one of the most important speeches she’s ever given,” former Trump White House communications director Alyssa Farah Griffin reacted on Thursday night.
ADVERTISEMENT
The senator’s delivery, featuring awkward histrionics straight out of a high-school theater troupe, also caused a freakout within MAGA circles, with some calling the speech “awful” and “parody-level terrible.” As one Republican strategist told The Daily Beast: “Everyone’s fucking losing it. It’s one of our biggest disasters ever.”
Altogether ignoring the brutal reviews, Fox & Friends—which often serves as a narrative tone-setter for the rest of the conservative cable giant—did their level best on Friday morning to prop up Britt’s performance.
“Great job in your delivery,” co-host Brian Kilmeade said to the Alabama Republican, further lauding “the structure of the speech, especially because you had to adjust at the last minute to what the president would say along with the changing dynamics in the chamber.”
Britt claimed her speech centered around “things that we talk about around this kitchen table every single day,” and it presented a tonal shift to Biden’s “divisive” and “angry” address. “I thought the anger and bitterness, what seemed to be some type of rage, was unbecoming of the president of the United States,” she declared. “And then, unfortunately, he used none of his time to bring America together. He used divisive language and put every party in their corner.”
The rest of the flagship morning show’s hosts took turns tossing softballs for Britt.
Lawrence Jones, for instance, lauded Britt’s use of “bless his heart” to mock the president for loading his economic policies. “As a man from Texas, we all know what that means in the South,” Jones chuckled.
“You talked a lot about the economy. I wish we had seen more focus on that last night. You talked about working at your dad’s hardware store and your mom’s dance studio,” co-host Ainsley Earhardt added as Britt smiled. “Sixty percent of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. And he talked about Snickers bars before he even talked about the border.”
The interview wrapped up with Jones offering Britt a hearty “congratulations” while the rest of the crew continued to fawn over her one more time.
“You had no idea the pressure that was on her shoulders,” Kilmeade said. “She was like, ‘Oh, I’m in the kitchen now. The kids are in bed. I have a speech to give to the country!’ It all seemed so natural.”
