CBS News’ Tony Dokoupil praised President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday night, calling it an “extraordinary speech.”
“It was an extraordinary speech,” Dokoupil told viewers Tuesday night. “The longest joint session in history, the longest State of the Union address in history. In some ways, vintage Trump: combative, populist, historic for other reasons as well.”
The president’s address to the nation came amid his sinking approval ratings and was the longest in history. In it, he presented false claims of falling prices, his efforts to end multiple wars, and the success of tariffs.
Democrats who opted out of the alternative “People’s State of the Union” rally and instead attended Trump’s speech were met with some attacks from the president.
Dokoupil referenced the “wall of negative” opinions Americans are holding about the economy, stating that, despite that, Trump “touts” it in the first part of his speech.
Allison Shelley/CBS News via Getty Images
“And then, really, all the energy of the speech, the heart of the speech, on culture issues through the middle. Immigration, gender, voter ID, and a line that wasn’t in the script but he ad-libbed, ‘The first duty of elected officials is to protect Americans, not illegal aliens,’” Dokoupil said.
He told viewers that the president “seemed at times to be goading Democrats into reacting, and at times they took that bait.”
Chief Washington Correspondent Major Garrett addressed that apparently “ad-libbed” portion of Trump’s speech later in the segment, saying it “was meant to create a visual moment of perpetual contrast.”
“It oversimplifies the issue dramatically. But if anyone has learned how to master that art — some call it a dark art — in American presidential politics, it’s Donald Trump. That was on full display tonight,” Garrett said.
Dokoupil’s praise of Trump follows a CBS News staff overhaul and rightward shift under Bari Weiss, which has received major backlash. Under Weiss’ leadership, the network cut down its 38-page handbook of principles to five values, one stating, “We love America. And we make no apologies for saying so.”
