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Who was that man delivering the State of the Union address last night? The words being said sure didn’t line up with actions taken over the past year, that’s for sure. It was a surreal speech, heavy on gaslighting his audience. Biden spoke as though he is a border hawk and serious about immigration reform, which was one of the most surprising parts of his address.

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds said during her excellent rebuttal of Biden’s State of the Union address, “We can’t project strength abroad if we are weak at home.” Biden has turned a blind eye to protecting our country’s southern border and it’s a deliberate move. While he thinks it shows compassion to allow anyone who makes it to the border to remain and be allowed to travel as they wish, it is not. It is the opposite. Biden’s border crisis has created a humanitarian crisis, as well as a public health crisis during a pandemic.

Biden attempted to land a punch at the border wall by including it in a reference to the United States supplying “the world” with COVID-19 vaccines. It landed with a thud because he stumbled over the words. Shocker.

Fourth, we’ll continue vaccinating the world.

We’ve sent 475 million vaccine doses to 112 countries, more than any nation on earth.

We won’t stop. Because you can’t build a wall high enough to keep out a vaccine — the vaccine can stop the spread of these diseases.

When Biden moved to border control later in the speech, well, it was a shock. Fifty-two minutes into his speech, Biden brought up securing our border.

This is a man who has ignored the southern border since he came into office. The only thing he has done is reverse and/or stop agreements and policies used by the previous administration since his first day in office. He has been using executive orders to make border policy. The Biden border crisis is entirely of Biden’s own making. He chose to blow past the part where he brought on the historically high numbers of illegal migrants crossing the southern border with his bone-headed decisions and instead pretend he’s all for border security.

Folks, if we are to advance liberty and justice, we need to secure our border and fix the immigration system.

And as you might guess, I think we can do both. At our border, we’ve installed new technology like cutting-edge scanners to better detect drug smuggling.

We’ve set up joint patrols with Mexico and Guatemala to catch more human traffickers.

We’re putting in place dedicated immigration judges in significant larger number so families fleeing persecution and violence can have their cases heard faster and those who don’t legitimately here can be sent back.

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We’re screening, we’re securing commitments and supporting partners in South and Central America to host more refugees and secure their own borders.

We can do all this while keeping lit the torch of liberty that has led the generation of immigrants to this land — my forebears and many of yours.

Provide a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, those on temporary status, farm workers, essential workers.

Revise our laws so businesses have workers they need and families don’t wait decades to reunite.

It’s not only the right thing to do — it’s economically smart thing to do.

That’s why immigration reform is supported by everyone from labor unions to religious leaders to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Let’s get it done once and for all.

First, I’ll point out that he rushed through his words as if he really didn’t want to be including the subject in his speech. His words were slurred and he stumbled through the delivery. He clearly isn’t comfortable with the topic.

This was Biden’s opportunity to at least pretend like he is serious about national security and protecting the sovereign border of the United States yet he simply repeated what presidents before him, not named Trump, have offered during their own addresses. We are a nation of immigrants, everyone understands that. Our country is unique in that an immigrant can come here and make a new life, achieve the American dream of upward mobility. However, those who wish to jump the line and feel entitled to come into the country illegally, take advantage of our generosity. We are a nation of laws. The act of illegally entering the United States shouldn’t be rewarded.

Technology installed at the border is fine but only as long as there is enough personnel monitoring it and being able to act. Biden talks about hiring more immigration judges – necessary because of the high volume of illegal migrants – but there was no mention of hiring more Border Patrol agents. The morale of law enforcement officers on the southern border is very low, as you might imagine. They are short-handed and overwhelmed. They are not able to do the screening Biden says they do because their isn’t enough personnel to do it. The Biden administration’s way to handle the overcrowding brought about by hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants is to fly them under the cover of night further into the country. They are put on buses and moved to other states. Migrants are told to show up at the nearest ICE office when they reach their destination. Some are given ankle monitors or cell phones with an app to monitor their whereabouts. This is no way to run immigration policy.

There are hundreds of thousands of “gotaways”, the term used for migrants who run after crossing the border. They are not caught by law enforcement and simply blend into communities. The worst part of trying to talk about numbers of illegal migrants is that DHS has failed to produce reports in a timely fashion, though the agency is legally required to do so. Remember Biden saying his administration would be the most transparent ever? Yeah, not so much.

Each year the president presents a State of the Union address. This year was different because for the first time since the days of Jimmy Carter, it feels like the state of our union is not strong. The malaise of the Carter years has roared back. Americans are optimistic by nature but it sure is hard to feel good about the future right now, at least the near future. Biden missed so many opportunities to reset and reassure Americans that his administration can handle the moment. He pretended to be someone else – a president who was all about unifying the country, for example. Biden came into office promising to unify a very divided country and has only further divided us. He uses words like domestic terrorist and Jim Crow when referring to his political opponents. His behavior is shameful.

It is hard to listen to important addresses like the State of the Union while Biden speaks to the nation as the leader of the free world without thinking of quotes from people who have worked with him in the past. Former Secretary of Defense Bob Gates said Biden has “been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades.” Barack Obama said to never “underestimate his ability to “f**k things up”. Biden’s poll numbers are in the tank all across the board. Instead of regrouping and announcing how he will pivot, he doubled down on failing policies as though they are working. He lost opportunities to reassure us that he can rise to the occasion, be the leader we need. Instead, he went all Jimmy Carter on us. Next we’ll be tossing on sweaters and adjusting the thermostat. Tough times are ahead.

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