Three days ago on February 28, 2023 a woman by the name of Rebecca Kiessling testified at a House Hearing on Immigration and Border Policy on Capitol Hill. Kiessling gave emotional testimony stating that in 2020 her two sons died after taking painkillers they didn't know were laced with fentanyl.
At 12:31 pm the same day House Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (Republican-Georgia) tweeted:
Listen to this mother [Rebecca Kiessling], who lost two children to fentanyl poisoning, tell the truth about both of her son's murders because of the Biden administrations refusal to secure our border and stop the Cartel's from murdering Americans everyday by Chinese fentanyl.
The next day on March 1, speaking to a group of Democrats at an annual retreat in Baltimore, Maryland, Biden brought up Greene's tweet saying:
Isn't she amazing?
She was very specific — I shouldn't digress, probably — I read, she was very specific recently saying that a mom, a poor mother who lost two kids to fentanyl, that I killed her sons. Well, the interesting thing is, that fentanyl they took came during the last administration.
Watch/listen to what Biden said here (timestamp 1:35).
In a video posted March 1 Kiessling said:
I'm shocked to see the video today, as President Biden talked about a congresswoman who misspoke when she said that my children's deaths are the cause of President Biden's policy failures.
As President Biden was speaking about this mother who lost her two sons, he starts to laugh… This is how you speak about the death of my sons? Because a congresswoman misspoke? You mock the loss of my sons? How dare you. What is the matter with you?
Almost every Democrat on the committee offered condolences. They at least had the decency to do that. You can't even do that? You have to mock my pain?
Yesterday, March 2, the Fox News morning show "Fox & Friends" aired a segment regarding Kiessling, Greene, and Biden. During the segment headlines at the bottom of the screen read:
BIDEN LAUGHS AT CLAIM OVER FENTANYL OVERDOSES
BIDEN SLAMMED OVER RESPONSE TO EMOTIONAL HEARING
MOM BLASTS BIDEN: "PRESIDENT NEEDS TO APOLOGIZE"
During the segment a video clip was played of Kiessling speaking at the February 28 House Hearing where she says:
You're welcoming drug dealers across our border.
Also, during the "Fox & Friends" show a video clip was shown of Kiessling speaking with Harris Faulkner on her Fox News "Faulkner Focus" show (watch full episode here) where an emotional Kiessling says:
How can he sit there and joke about it?
You know, he thought he was with a room full of Democrats, and you know, he's amongst friends, and they can all yuck it up.
Note that a February 28, 2023 article in The Detroit News entitled "'You're not protecting our children': Rochester Hills mom testifies about 2 sons' fentanyl deaths" states that Kiessling herself said that the deaths of her two sons occurred on July 29, 2020, prior to Biden's presidency.
An Opinion article written by the Editorial Board of the conservative New York Post entitled "Biden's laugh at fentanyl deaths for cheap political points exposes the real Joe" stated:
Just remember, America: If your kids overdose on fentanyl, President Biden will laugh about it to score cheap political points.
"How dare you," responded Rebecca [Kiessling]. And rightly so — that sociopathic little chuckle exposes the real Joe: utterly heartless (despite his "friendly old uncle" act), focused solely on politics no matter the human cost, and bluntly indifferent to a true tragedy.
Commentary:
For starters let's get one thing straight. This entire incident is about the fact that Marjorie Taylor Greene lied in her tweet by blaming Biden for deaths that occurred before he took office as president in January, 2021. This fact was stated by Kiessling herself. Biden's momentary chuckle was about how crazy Greene is ("Isn't she amazing?") and how she spreads misinformation, NOT about the fact that two young Americans died because of fentanyl.
I said "momentary chuckle" because that's what it was, not a laugh.
Biden wasn't mocking, laughing, or joking about the loss of Kiessling's sons and he wasn't he yucking it up "amongst friends" about their deaths.
Any sane, reasonable person with half a brain and a lick of common sense understands this. Of course, in our hyper-polarized political environment, true to form, conservatives take a situation "ripe" in their eyes for political exploitation and spin a narrative that flies in the face of reality.
To say that Greene "misspoke" is BS. Everyone, even Republicans, know that Greene has a reputation for spewing out political misinformation, embracing conspiracy theories, and vilifying Democrats at the "drop of a hat."
Is it a tragedy that Kiessling's sons died due to fentanyl? Of course it is. But what's happening here is just another conservative "con-job" by people like Greene, Kiessling, Fox News, the New York Post and others like them.
Republicans continue to "hammer" Biden on his lack of security at the southern border. Kiessling's testimony is further evidence of that. For clarity on the border issue I suggest you read an article that appeared on The Hill website on February 14, 2023 entitled "Myth vs. Truth: Dissecting the Republican narrative about the border " and do further research on what the Biden administration has been doing to address border issues so you understand all the facts.