Arkansas Gov. Sanders slams Biden for ‘awakened fantasies’

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) – Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, once White House press secretary for President Donald Trump, returns to the national stage Tuesday night with a rebuttal to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address in which he was accused previous President of the focus on “awakened fantasies”.

Sanders, 40, delivered Tuesday night’s speech less than a month after she was sworn in as Arkansas’ first woman governor. The daughter of former Gov. Mike Huckabee, she is also the first Arkansanian to provide the answer to a President’s State of the Union statement since Bill Clinton took over as Governor in 1985.

Sanders uses the speech to meddle heavily in Conservative struggles over culture war issues, including racial education in public schools.

“In far-left America, Washington taxes you and burns your hard-earned cash, but you are crushed by high gas prices and empty grocery shelves, and our children are taught to hate each other for their race but not to love each other or our great country ‘ Sanders said in excerpts of remarks prepared for Tuesday night’s delivery.

Sanders’ speech stands in stark contrast to Biden’s speech, which is expected to offer a reassuring assessment of the state of the nation.

“And while you’re reaping the consequences of your failures, the Biden administration seems more interested in awakened fantasies than the harsh reality Americans face every day,” Sanders planned to say. “Most Americans just want to live their lives in freedom and peace, but we’re being attacked in a left-wing culture war that we didn’t start and we never wanted to fight.”

Sanders also welcomes criticism of tech companies, which has become a rallying cry for Republicans after Trump was banned from social media sites following the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot. Trump has since been reinstated on Twitter and Meta said last month that the former president’s Facebook and Instagram accounts are being restored.

In her speech, Sanders complains that “a big government is working with big tech to take away the most American thing there is — your freedom of speech.”

“That’s not normal. It’s crazy and wrong,” she says.

With their speech, GOP leaders are giving a figure closely associated with Trump a platform that remains influential within the party, even as Republicans question how much of an impediment his quest for a return to the White House has become . The star turnaround for Sanders also puts the spotlight on the nation’s youngest governor, at a time when recent polls suggest even many Democrats see 80-year-old Biden’s age as a liability.

“I look forward to the nation hearing from Governor Sanders on Tuesday and witnessing a sharp contrast with this weary and failing administration,” Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement announcing Sanders’ selection last week.

Republicans also tapped newly-elected Rep. Juan Ciscomani, R-Ariz., to provide a Spanish-language rebuttal of the President’s speech. And the progressive Working Families of Party will have another newcomer, Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., to provide his answer in both English and Spanish.

Biden is expected to use his speech before Congress to highlight his efforts to create jobs, fight inflation and improve the country’s infrastructure. The president, who is expected to announce his re-election in the next few months, faces a difficult political environment and a divided Congress. Polls released this week by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research showed just 37% of Democrats say they want him to seek a second term.

Sanders, who served as White House press secretary for about two years, focused heavily on her criticism of Biden during her successful run for governor last year. She frequently railed against the Democratic president’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, immigration policies, and other stances.

But since the election, Sanders has largely avoided incriminating Trump, who supported her candidacy for governor and was mentioned in her campaign materials. Sanders did not say if she plans to endorse Trump’s third bid for president, and she did not mention the former president during her victory speech on election night.

Sanders has turned her attention to some of the former president’s pet targets, signing several executive orders hailed by conservatives within hours of taking office. These included an order banning critical race theory classes in public schools and another banning TikTok from state devices.

Sanders said her priority is getting her state’s Republican-majority legislature to approve education legislation, which she says will include teacher increases and some form of school choice that will allow public money to be used to fund private schools. She also calls for the phasing out of state income taxes.

The speech is a reintroduction for Sanders, already known from her days as press secretary and one of Trump’s closest associates. During her tenure as Trump’s main spokesperson, she scaled back daily television briefings after repeatedly confronting reporters who aggressively questioned her.

She was regularly ridiculed by late-night anchors and Saturday Night Live, who portrayed her as a dishonest loyalist to Trump in an exaggerated Southern accent. But Sanders also built a fiercely loyal following among Republicans, with frequent appearances on Fox News and other conservative media outlets.

Sanders is delivering the speech at a time when her predecessor, former Gov. Asa Hutchinson, is considering running for the Republican presidential nomination. Hutchinson has been an outspoken critic of Trump, saying Trump as the GOP’s nominee would be the “worst case scenario” for the party.

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Follow AP’s coverage of the State of the Union address at: https://apnews.com/hub/state-of-the-union-address

Andrew Demillo, The Associated Press

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