Abigail Spanberger's SOTU Rebuttal Was Just Plain Weird

Having just watched Democrats beclown themselves at the State of the Union address, a clearly-nervous and fidgety Abigail Spanberger – the new governor of Virginia – had the unenviable task of trying to put a positive spin on her party's dire and decidedly unpatriotic behavior. Like all Democrats, when faced with espousing how her party's policies help everyday Americans, she merely resorted to attacking President Trump. The whole thing was pretty weird.

 Spanberger had a few reasons to be nervous. She was the follow-up act to Trump's barnburner of a speech that saw the president celebrate the best of America while also calling out Democrats for their skewed priorities, particularly when it comes to prioritizing illegal immigration over the safety of American citizens. 

Secondly, she was under fire from the left for choosing to deliver the official Democrat response from Colonial Williamsburg ... because slavery? She knows who put her in the Governor's Mansion, so she may have been feeling the beady eyes of the radical left on her as she spoke from the House of Burgesses. 

As expected, the central theme of Spanberger's speech was to hammer the president on "affordability." The woman who is currently opening a floodgate of new taxes on Virginians – including taxes on Uber rides, mattress recycling, and DoorDash deliveries – said, "The President's reckless policies are making life more expensive for American families. Yet Republicans in Congress remain unwilling to stand up to him. The American people deserve better."

So do Virginians.

(It should also be noted that large corporations, possibly sensing a looming affordability crisis in Democrat-controlled Virginia, are already hightailing it out of the commonwealth.)

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SEE ALSO: It Begins: Major Defense Contractor Bails on Virginia Just One Month Into Spanberger's Term

Hot Takes: SOTU Features Democrat Sourpusses and Temper Tantrums As Trump Levels Them With Facts

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Spanberger also had words of praise for the "brave people of Minnesota" for foolishly endangering lives in order to stop federal immigration officials from removing violent illegals from their communities. This was not surprising in the least since her first act in office was to nuke Virginia's cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The White House had some thoughts on this.

Abigail Spanberger can spare us the sanctimonious bullshit.

For Spanberger, criminal illegals > Americans.

FACT: Weeks after becoming Governor, she swiftly terminated Virginia’s agreement with ICE, halting state law enforcement cooperation with federal immigration enforcement — giving criminal illegal alien killers, rapists, and gangbangers a pass.

FACT: During her time in Congress, she repeatedly undermined border security by voting against the Secure the Border Act, supporting a pathway to citizenship for more than two million illegal aliens, co-sponsoring an amnesty bill for millions of illegals, and twice voting to terminate President Trump’s national emergency declaration at the southern border.

Overall, the thing that was most noticeable about Spanberger's response was just how weird the whole thing was, especially the stilted applause from the crowd. It was as if every moment was scripted down to the second in order to keep her on track.

As RedState has previously reported, the choice of Spanberger to deliver the State of the Union rebuttal was intended to introduce her to a national audience. Democrats see her as a rising star who will have a big impact on the 2026 and 2028 elections – possibly as a candidate in the latter. 

Cue the awkward applause.