President Biden’s State of the Union address on Tuesday was the newest example of political division in our government. With bipartisan applause for better veteran services to boos and cries of “bullshit” over Fentanyl overdoses, it’s clear that tension in the halls of Congress only continue to grow. While I could spend my time lamenting the importance of increased pay for teachers or better infrastructure throughout the states, both topics Biden himself addressed I want to touch on for a less discussed but still very important topic: the Republicans.

For those unaware, the House of Representatives currently has a slim Republican majority, meaning that it’s largely up to the Republicans over what does and doesn’t get passed. While this is most likely retreading old water for most, this is a key fact both in Biden’s address and the responses he got, in real time and after.

Key figures amongst the Republican party on Tuesday were House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who looked rather unhappy with the whole event; Marjorie Taylor Greene, who shouted both “liar” and “bullshit” at the president; as well as George Santos, a new Representative from New York whose only claim to fame is that he lied about most of his life on his résumé and remains in office. These three largely represent the different sections of the party amongst Congress: McCarthy is an old school conservative who told his party to act like adults before the address, Greene is a far-right extremist who believes Jewish space lasers cause California wildfires and Santos doesn’t really believe anything besides what the party thinks.

But why focus on these three, and why is the Republican party in the House even that important? Well, for a few reasons, one of which I’ve already mentioned is their ability to block legislation they disapprove of and pass what they like. Second is something you may have guessed based on Greene’s beliefs, but the extreme elements of the GOP continue to work their way up to the top. In the Republican response to the SOTU, newly elected Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, R-Ark. claiming that the “left wing culture war” was destroying the country, as well as going on to say that “he’s the first man to surrender his presidency to a woke mob,” whatever that is supposed to mean.

While many of her points and topics were either downright false or extremely exaggerated, the message is as clear as ever, the right is not entertaining left wing politics and policy to any degree. She also included a remark about a new conservative education plan for her state, one that would increase pay for teachers and allow for students to transition from in-person to online classes via a voucher. On the surface this may sound good, but we shouldn’t forget that only a couple weeks ago Florida Governor Ron DeSantis tried to ban AP African American Studies because it supposedly “significantly lacks education value.”

All of this to say, Republicans are likely to mess with any program, legislation or idea they don’t expressly agree with. Besides, this SOTU address only comes a week after the House denounced the “horrors of socialism,” claiming the US would never adopt socialist ideals, like universal health care or free college tuition. 

While I wouldn’t bet on many things changing, I’m willing to bet we’ll continue to see a rise in expressly conservative policy and ideology. Those submerged in the wants of a few people who are so disconnected from reality think that Latinx is a “derogatory term.” God bless America!