GOP Reps offered default ‘F’ on Biden’s SOTU hours before his speech

They’d pleaded for unity earlier this year

Representatives Elise Stefanik (R-NY21) and Ashley Hinson (R-IA1) suggested an “F” grade for President Biden’s State of the Union hours before it was to be delivered. Both of the Republicans had made high-profile appeals earlier this year for unity.

Their flunking grade was the default option in a “survey” seeking public ratings of Biden’s performance:

“What grade does President Biden deserve for his first Address to Congress?” the survey asked earlier on the day of Biden’s speech. The grade is already suggested: “F” is filled in as a default.

Both Hinson and Stefanik garnered attention earlier this year in their calls for unity, as Biden was entering office.

“The partisan divide between Democrats and Republicans does not serve a single American,” Hinson wrote to Biden in a heavily-promoted letter signed by 17 Republican freshmen.

“Americans are tired of the partisan gridlock,” the letter continued. “We hope that we can rise above the partisan fray.”

Stefanik also issued calls for unity, tweeting in reaction to Biden’s inauguration: “We must work together to unify as a nation.”

Stefanik went as far as to chastise the freshly-inaugurated Biden for not adhering to her goal of unity.

And Stefanik had wagged her finger at Biden about unity several weeks before his inauguration. “This damaging rhetoric is NOT the way to build unity,” Stefanik admonished, in response to an incoming Biden aide’s tart description of GOP leaders on the Hill.