Doubt

 I am going to try and give Katie Britt the benefit of doubt. Specifically I doubt that it was her intent to go on national television and create a ready-to-air parody of the Republican Response to the State of the Union Address. I doubt that she expected to spend days after her appearance on everyone's social media being roundly criticized and laughed at for her earnest and we assume well-meaning attempt to disagree with the other party's leader. I doubt that she would have imagined that this opportunity would put her team in defense mode, rather than being the ace in the hole she was anticipated to be. 

A little background: Ms. Porter is the first woman to be elected to the U.S. Senate from Alabama and the youngest Republican woman ever elected to the Senate. These accomplishments should neither be denied or ridiculed. Furthermore it bears noting that California, that liberal bastion, is about to slip back into that realm of states without a woman senator after more than thirty years. Alabama has one. Once again I doubt that it was her state's or her party's intent to have her become a laughingstock. 

How could this have happened? 

I blame the patriarchy. For all the victories women have had over the course of our history, they continue to fight their fight in a rigged game. Who makes the rules? Men. Who calls the shots in the Republican Party? Men. Who said, "Katie, I think we should shoot your response in the kitchen. Not in your office. And if you wouldn't mind delivering all of your lines in a hushed whisper, that would be great." That advice came from a man. I know this because I have spent a lot of time hanging out with men and I know that so much of what they say about "fairness" is predicated by the scraps they are willing to toss around after they have finished gorging themselves on what they can force down their power mad gullets. 

Katie Britt was there as a counterpoint to the women who have been horrified by the man who sexually abused E. Jean Carroll and then defamed her to the tune of eighty-four million dollars in defamation penalties. The man who proudly boasts that it was he who overturned Roe v. Wade. The man who cheated on his pregnant wife with a porn star. The man who bragged about walking around backstage at the beauty pageants he owned, leering at naked women. 

Does it surprise me that Katie Britt was set up for failure by the party that has chosen to go all-in on this monster? Not a bit. But unfortunately I doubt that she is fully aware of how badly she was played.