Katie Britt's "car wreck" of a Republican SOTU response actually causes MAGA crowd to revolt when Trump makes the mistake of praising Britt's speech

I wrote a post here at Legal Schnauzer on Friday morning about the previous evening's State of the Union address.At the time, I thought I might be one of the first bloggers or Web publishers to compare Joe Biden's scorching, passionate address with the still-dead oratory of Katie Britt's GOP response. I, of course, had no way of knowing if I was among the first to write such an appraisal, but being first (or near first) matters in journalism -- almost as much as accuracy -- so I was hoping to be somewhere near the front of the line on the Biden vs. Britt narrative.Little did I know that the Britt speech would blow up into a national phenomenon unlike anything I've experienced in 30-plus years of professional journalism. In fact, Britt's speech proved to be so bad that MAGA devotees actually turned on Donald Trump, their idol, when he made the mistake of praising Britt's handiwork. Who could have seen that coming?

In the interest of full disclosure, I must acknowledge that I did not watch the Britt speech as ii came on live. Why? For one, I was still jacked up about Biden's speech, which might have saved his campaign and provided hope that he will be able to stave off Donald Trump's efforts to turn the U.S. democracy into an authoritarian state. Two, after living for 30-plus years in Alabama, I felt pretty sure I knew what was coming from Britt -- that it would essentially be leftover gravy from her mentor, Richard Shelby, whose seat she took over after his retirement. But, guess what: Mrs. Schnauzer (my wife, Carol) is a native Alabamian, and she felt compelled to see what Katie Britt was all about. Carol's response to Britt's GOP response was somewhere between bemused, puzzled, and horrified, and soon she had Facebook friends from around the country, and the world, sending her missives, essentially trying to grasp what they had just watched on live TV

I've never been a fan of Richard Shelby for several reason: (1) He used the Democratic Party to launch his political brand, and when he saw an opportunity -- and realized he no longer could win as a moderate Dem amid the racism that hangs like a cloud over Alabama politics -- he became a Repug. To me, you have to  be pretty low to conduct business that way, to show zero appreciation for the people who helped you get started; (2) Shelby has played a central role in appointing or approving federal judges around the country, with particular influence in the Deep South. I've watched three or four federal judges in Alabama up close, and I cannot think of a single ruling they made that was in line with the facts or relevant law. In fact, they might even be worse that the state judges I first witnessed in Shelby Country, south of Birmingham, and that is a very low bar, indeed; (3) I still remember having lunch one day with a long-ago work colleague at UAB when the subject of Richard Shelby somehow came up. At the time, I was what you might call a centrist, and Shelby still was a Democrat, so I didn't think he was all that bad. But my lunch companion was an avowed liberal, who later moved to Oregon (where he probably is quite happy), and who upon hearing Shelby's name, immediately referred to the Congressman as a "reptile." I still laugh about that because I went back to the office to check on a picture of Shelby and thought, "My God, he does look like a reptile."

As for Katie Britt, I had low expectation's for her mainly because of her ties to Richard Shelby, who I have come to detest -- mainly because he reminds me of a Gila monster every time I look at him. Carol, however, hardly took her eyes off the screen during Britt's speech. Carol kept describing it as a "car wreck you couldn't keep from watching."

That is what prompted me to write my Friday post that compared the Biden and Britt speeches, which seems unfair in retrospect. How big has the Britt story become? It was parodied on the cold open of Saturday Night Live last night. Memes related to it have filled Facebook feeds.

But the most important repercussion might be this: The speech actually caused a rift between Donald Trump and his ardent MAGA followers. Here is how Raw Story put it, under the headline "MAGA fans revolt after Trump praises Katie Britt's 'breathlessly weird' SOTU response":

Donald Trump praised the State of the Union Republican Party response given by Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL) and he may be alone in his opinion that she was "GREAT," with his fans on Truth Social pitching a fit about a kitchen talk that one GOP operative admitted was "...one of our biggest disasters ever.”

While X was flooded with comments, many comparing her "deeply weird" speech to a Saturday Night Live skit, the former president seemed to be impressed.

On Truth Social, he wrote, "Katie Britt was a GREAT contrast to an Angry, and obviously very Disturbed, 'President.' She was compassionate and caring, especially concerning Women and Women’s Issues. Her conversation on Migrant Crime was powerful and insightful. Great job Katie!"

MAGA followers wasted little time in letting Trump know they did not share his opinion: From Raw Story:

Supporters of the former president who responded to his post, could not have disagreed more with one writing, "Totally disagree. Didn’t need a bedtime story. We should have called out the lyes (sic), explained the bs bills, and hit hard that the border could have been closed by an executive order. Republican rebuttal sucked."

"It was actually pretty embarrassing. Her speech was okay. But her delivery was terrible," another added.

Truth Social commenter Maddy Fox fired back at Trump, writing, "I thought she was horrible. The affect was terrible. She sounded phony and insincere. Didn’t know whether she was laughing or crying about inflation, the border. It was a ridiculous response The Republicans will never learn."

"Gimme a break! She belongs reading books to children in a daycare! She was a terrible choice! Yawn," a user named "Grifter Spy" wrote.

Jake Roxen added, "She was the opposite of why people like and support you. She wasn’t authentic, and she talked in a manner as if she thought it would tug at our heart strings. Putting too much emphasis on trying to emotionally manipulate the viewers rather than just speaking off the cuff facts. My wife and I already don’t trust her, and this was many people’s first impression of her."

"She seemed a bit psycho, she SMILED the whole time talking about horrible things. That's crazy," Bill DaWall commented to which Cathy Meehan agreed and added, "Exactly! I kept telling my husband.. wtf is she smiling? Quit acting.. she was not a good choice. It was like a Miss America contest...fake af!"

Another added, "With respect Sir, she was breathlessly weird. I felt her over-the-top dramatic presentation was spectacularly off-putting."