The people who watched last night's State of the Union speech by the President liked what they heard. According to a poll of viewers, 75% approved of the speech. When asked if the policies outlined by the President would help, hurt or not affect them, the same viewers split 54% - help; 14% - hurt and 32% - unaffected. Those are staggeringly good numbers. There were slightly more Republican viewers than their share of the electorate and a slightly lower share of Democrat viewers, but that might have improved the numbers in the President's favor by 4 or 5% only. Even with the viewership skewing Republican, the results show that the nation like what it heard.
Given the strong support for the speech, I was wondering how the media would cover it. There were the usual slams of everything Trump, but the most surprising thing is the rather consistent attack on the President for "applauding for himself". Trump did clap often during the speech, and because of the microphones, his clapping came through loud and clear. For the most part, however, he was clapping as the he honored some rather extraordinary people sitting in the gallery with the First Lady. He also clapped for things like the destruction of ISIS, the lowest minority unemployment ever recorded, the benefits to the nation from the tax cuts, and the like. It seemed to me that he was cheering for the accomplishments of the country, not of himself. Last week in Davos, Trump likened himself to a cheerleader for the nation; that's what I thought was on display last night. The media disagreed, however, and tried to make it all just conceit by the President.
I like to think that the people who watched understand just how dishonest this media coverage is. We will soon see if that is true.
Given the strong support for the speech, I was wondering how the media would cover it. There were the usual slams of everything Trump, but the most surprising thing is the rather consistent attack on the President for "applauding for himself". Trump did clap often during the speech, and because of the microphones, his clapping came through loud and clear. For the most part, however, he was clapping as the he honored some rather extraordinary people sitting in the gallery with the First Lady. He also clapped for things like the destruction of ISIS, the lowest minority unemployment ever recorded, the benefits to the nation from the tax cuts, and the like. It seemed to me that he was cheering for the accomplishments of the country, not of himself. Last week in Davos, Trump likened himself to a cheerleader for the nation; that's what I thought was on display last night. The media disagreed, however, and tried to make it all just conceit by the President.
I like to think that the people who watched understand just how dishonest this media coverage is. We will soon see if that is true.
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