Tuesday following the State of the Union address, Fox News Channel’s Brit Hume gave high marks to President Donald Trump for the speech.
Hume called it striking, noting the unifying moments, but suggested Trump need to follow up the speech with results.
“Bret, to me, it was quite a striking speech,” Hume said. “I’ve never been of the view that the State of the Union address is last in the public consciousness for very long, but people may remember this one. I think it was the most effective use of the guests in the gallery that I have ever seen, especially toward the end when it became so emotional. And was kind of a unifying moment because these were things that were being cheered and applauded that really no one could be against. I also thought the president did a good job of laying out his accomplishments. When you hear them lined up, as he did, and recited that way, they are rather impressive, I think.”
“The speech looked to me as if it were designed to make it as difficult as possible, even for his opponents not to applaud him,” he continued. “In some instances, they did, and as you all noted earlier, when he said, there will never be a socialist country, even Pelosi and Schumer had to jeer that, which must have been bad news for the Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezes and the Bernie Sanderses of the world. The president had a pretty good night. He needs to follow it up with achievements, the China trade deal and the deal on immigration and the wall. But I think you did himself as much good as he could with a speech.”
The veteran Fox News contributor underscored the unifying aspects of the address.
“It is a big moment because it is such a big stage,” Hume added. “And it is a vast audience, and the coverage starts before the speech, and lasts for quite a while afterward. So it is a real opportunity. I just can’t think of too many cases where I thought looking back over 43 of these, I think I’ve covered, and one way or another, I can only think of certainly fewer than ten moments from 43 speeches. This one, however, may leave an impression. It always seems like a big deal on the night it happens. We’ll see how it plays out. I think his speechwriters did a good job of making a speech that was nonpartisan. It had a unifying theme to it, and certainly had unifying limits within it. All that does the president a little credit. He has not been a unifying figure as president but he reached for a unifying message tonight, and to a great extent, he had one.”
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
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