Most of the media coverage of President Biden’s recent State of the Union speech focused on his prepared speech. Little attention was given to what was said in those rare moments when he went off-script. However, these moments provide insight into his true character. They are not written in advance and read from a teleprompter.

Consider Biden’s response when challenged about Laken Riley. His initial response to this tragic murder was not one of sorrow, compassion or understanding. Instead, it was a casual “yeah but” defense of his immigration policy: “An innocent young woman was killed. That’s right. But how many thousands of people have been killed by legals.”

Let that sink in a moment.

Here is our commander-in-chief, the man who’s supposed to feel our pain, the great uniter. When given a chance to show some compassion or sympathy, or maybe some responsibility and leadership (“I need to make sure we do a better job vetting the migrants”), his initial response was, “hey, thousands of people are killed, what’s one more?”

This was not the first time he has exhibited such shameless behavior. Remember his response to George Stephanopoulos in an ABC interview about the chaotic Afghan withdrawal? When asked about the people clinging to and falling from planes, he cynically replied, “That was four days ago, five days ago.”

We deserve better leadership than this.

Daniel A. Hosko

Green Tree

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