Franklin Graham, Conservatives Send Stern Message to President Biden After ‘Positive’ State of the Union Address

One year after taking office, in his first State of the Union address in 2022, President Joe Biden said Tuesday night, “We are stronger today than we were a year ago. And we will be stronger a year from now than we are today.”

With the current skyrocketing rate of inflation and the numerous domestic and international crises unfolding during his 14 months in office, including the debacle in Afghanistan and the current Russian invasion of Ukraine, some beg to disagree, including evangelist Franklin Graham and other conservatives.

Tuesday night, Graham tweeted his disagreement with Biden’s message proclaiming his gains as president:

I’m no expert, but I can tell you that the state of our union is a mess. Inflation is at a 40-yr high. Food & gas prices are soaring, crippling families. Under the previous administration, the US had the strongest economy in 70+ yrs—& we were energy independent.

— Franklin Graham (@Franklin_Graham) March 2, 2022

The latter is especially an albatross for Biden, with Americans spending “roughly $144 million more in gas per day under President Joe Biden than they were under former President Donald Trump,” Newsweek reported in September, with prices significantly higher now.

“Energy independence is a national security issue, Mr. President. Please finish the Keystone Pipeline,” Graham tweeted. “@GovDunleavy of AK has said they are ready to provide oil for this country, if your administration will allow it. Why is your administration holding America back?”

Democrats, of course, gave Biden many standing ovations during the address, including, not surprisingly, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. But many conservatives are simply not buying it.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, tweeted his interview with Fox News, calling Biden’s speech “really disappointing and completely out of touch”:

Joe Biden’s State of the Union speech was really disappointing and completely out of touch. #SOTU pic.twitter.com/qwzhYKgMMJ

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) March 2, 2022

And Donald Trump Jr. seems to agree. He tweeted, “Joe Biden’s State of the Union is denial.”

In a separate tweet, Trump Jr. addressed what conservatives saw as a surprising turn in support of the police:

So the guy whose entire party wanted to defund the police for the last few years and went after them aggressively while wanting to employ social workers/social justice warriors in their stead now wants to support the police… Totally get it. #SOTU #SOTU2022

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) March 2, 2022

Biden said in his speech, “Economists call it ‘increasing the productive capacity of our economy.’ I call it building a better America. My plan to fight inflation will lower your costs and lower the deficit.”

Conservatives simply don’t trust Biden’s words, which many believe to be hollow.

“The Biden administration has prioritized everything and everyone ahead of the American people,” said Dr. Alveda King, chairperson for the America First Policy Institute of the Center for the American Dream. “By putting American people last and failing to perform his duty to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, President Biden is eroding the American Dream.

“Human dignity is on the line whether it’s Ukraine, Afghanistan, America or anywhere on this planet. President Biden is simply out of touch with reality and the human condition,” she added.

Pastor Sam Rodriguez, President of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, told Charisma News Wednesday: “State of the Union addresses serve as the conduit by which the President of the United States attempts to inspire, inform and impart. Last night, President Biden unfortunately failed in accomplishing any of the aforementioned deliverables.”

Author and founder of Touch Heaven Ministries Frank Amedia also told Charisma News Wednesday that Biden’s speech, from beginning to end, was “delusional and tainted with hypocrisy.”

“The tactic by President Biden’s speech writers to play on emotions with spirited praise of the Ukrainian President and Ukrainians for fighting to the death, while attempting to be courageous in the face of Putin in a manner that Putin himself scoffs at; was both expected and distasteful,” Amedia says. “… The horric images of women, children, men and youth dying and suffering in the Ukraine overshadowed the theatrical posturing of the stages actors in the Capitol auditorium.

“The fact is that President Biden and the NATO leaders cowered under the ‘goliath-like’ tauning of a ruthless and calculated dictator and elected to sacrifice Ukraine on the altar of geo-political economics, literally fueled by oil and gas. Mr. Biden has been and is leading from behind. The list of mishaps and misguided decisions continues to mount. It is evident by shear empirical facts that he and his administration are inept at handling a myriad of serious problems.”

Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Lankford was pleased with Biden’s remarks about Ukraine, but then said the speech “went downhill from there.” He also spoke about the American energy crisis in a sharp rebuke captured in a Facebook live video that has since been deleted.

“What we really need to do is to put pressure on Russia by increasing American oil and gas production to be able to send to Europe,” Lankford said. “To be able to really hurt Russia long term, you have to be able to cut off their customers. But his focus was really on doing a short-term patch for three days in America. His whole focus skipped over the fact that the United States is still buying oil from Russia right now. We need to cut off purchasing from Russia. We need to actually replace Russia’s customers around the world so that we can prevent Putin from having the money to be able to murder his neighbors.”

“Instead of moving America forward, it feels like President Biden and his party have sent us back in time to the late ’70s and early ’80s: When runaway inflation was hammering families, a violent crime wave was crashing our cities, and the Soviet army was trying to redraw the world map,” Iowa GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds said in prepared remarks for the conservative response to the State of the Union address. {eoa}

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