Joe Biden’s State of the Union address tonight took an unexpected turn when Republicans — most notably U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia — taunted the president about the murder of Athens nursing student Laken Riley.
Greene, a Rome Republican, handed out Laken Riley pins before Biden’s speech.
While Biden was urging Republicans to pass a bipartisan immigration bill that former president and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump urged them to kill so he could use the border as a campaign issue, Green shouted at Biden to “say her name.”
Biden picked up one of Greene’s pins.
“Laken Riley, an innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal. That’s right,” Biden said, according to The Hill. “But how many thousands of people being killed by illegals? To her parents I say, my heart goes out to you having lost children myself.”
Biden appeared to pronounce Riley’s first name as “Lincoln,” which is the name of the football coach at the University of Southern California. One local Democrat was willing to give him a pass, considering that UGA law enforcement officials made a similar mistake.
But Biden using the word “illegal” as a noun is bound not to sit well with voters on the left — even journalists’ AP Stylebook, which is often well behind progressive nomenclature, advises writers against it.
The right has made Riley into a political symbol due to the fact that her accused murderer, Jose Ibarra, is a Venezuelan who crossed the border illegally and sought asylum in the U.S.
U.S. Rep. Mike Collins, a Republican from Jackson who represents Athens, invited Riley’s parents to the State of the Union as his guests. They declined, citing a desire to grieve for their daughter outside the public eye.
That hasn’t stopped Collins from capitalizing on Riley’s murder in an effort to unseat Biden, though.
Alabama state Sen. Katie Britt, tapped to give the GOP’s official response to Biden’s speech, also invoked Riley’s name.
“Tonight, President Biden finally said her name. But he refused to take responsibility for his own actions,” Britt said. “Mr. President, enough is enough. innocent Americans are dying and you only have yourself to blame. Fulfill your oath of office. Reverse your policies and this crisis and stop the suffering.”
Like what you just read? Support Flagpole by making a donation today. Every dollar you give helps fund our ongoing mission to provide Athens with quality, independent journalism.
