Poor Katie Britt, the Republican senator from Alabama. She was set up by her party’s operatives to do the GOP’s televised response to Joe Biden’s State-of-the-Union speech.

Sadly, her moment in the national limelight was widely panned, even by Republicans, for her presentation was overwrought and – well, cringey. But the visuals pale to insignificance when you consider that her partisan presentation was based on an intentional, abject lie – exacerbated by her shameful exploitation of a woman who had been brutally raped.

Britt told about a 12-year-old Mexican girl who was the victim of multiple rapes, implying the girl’s horror was caused by “Biden’s border crisis.” Unfortunately for the senator, an alert investigative reporter blew the whistle on her political lie. Yes, the grotesque rapes happened – but 20 years ago, not on Biden’s watch. Indeed, Republican George W. Bush was president! Also, her nightmare occurred in Central Mexico, far from the US border, and it had nothing to do with migrants.

Britt knew she was lying as she dramatically concluded that Biden’s Latino “invasion” (as Republicans demagogically brand desperate refugees) is “almost entirely preventable.” Yes, but guess who helped negotiate a bipartisan bill to end the border crush – then cynically voted to kill the bill because Donald Trump told her to? Katie Britt.

And what about that Mexican woman whose trauma Britt cruelly exploited? She’s now working in Mexico for a non-profit trying to stop human trafficking. Yet, Britt and the GOP didn’t even have the grace to tell her they were going to pervert her story for partisan politics. “I thought it was very strange,” she said when later informed of Britt’s crude re-exploitation of her – adding pointedly that, “The work I do is not a game.”

Do something!

To get involved in the fight against actual human trafficking, and to support survivors, check out organizations like GEMS and the United Way.

Be extremely careful when getting involved with organizations claiming to work on human trafficking; many are fronts for right-wing conspiracy theorists and exploit their communities themselves.

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