As Twitchy reported, a CNN poll showed that 69 percent of viewers had a “very positive” or “somewhat positive” reaction to President Donald Trump’s address before a joint session of Congress Tuesday night. CBS News had it at 76 percent favorable.
But that’s how the American people felt. How about the journalists? We’re glad you asked, because Drew Holden has put together another fantastic thread showing how they viewed the speech.
🧵Thread🧵
If you missed Trump’s address to Congress last night, I wouldn’t rely on media stories to explain it.
Rather than report on a speech viewers found “inspiring,” the corporate press played PR for Democrats.
Wanna know why trust in the press is underwater? Look. ⤵️
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) March 5, 2025
A @CBSNews poll of viewers found “A large majority of viewers approve” of Trump’s message, overwhelmingly describing it as “inspiring,” rather than “divisive.”
The speech was certainly partisan – and viewers skewed right.
But the press’s own view appears to slant their takes. pic.twitter.com/NP9Bq4JBaf
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) March 5, 2025
What leads me to claim that? Well, just look at how @CBSNews decided to report on the speech.
They tweeted out that “there was a horribly tense feeling,” and it was “filled with drama.”
Why focus on how their reporter felt, rather than viewers? pic.twitter.com/Wn7YSgFf7v
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) March 5, 2025
CBS News justice correspondent Scott MacFarlane, whose usual beat is January 6 prosecutions, said there “was a horribly tense feeling in this chamber.” We found it pretty joyous and hopeful. How about when they made that little 13-year-old an honorary Secret Service agent? If there were any tension in the chamber, it came from the Democrats who couldn’t even applaud that.
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It wasn’t just CBS. @nytimes talked about how Trump’s speech at various points “sent something of a chill through the chamber.”
Again, who cares? The leader of the free world is sharing his agenda and your key takeaway is that the room was quiet at some points? pic.twitter.com/PLEe5nffJV
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) March 5, 2025
Trump’s speech was “rowdy.”
The focus on how elected Democrats received this speech — rather than the American people watching at home — was everywhere.@NBCNews had maybe my favorite. They wrote a whole piece lamenting how one loud protestor “overshadowed” “Democrats’ silent protests.”
Again, who cares? pic.twitter.com/dCjqUl1Ozs
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) March 5, 2025
A poll showed that 80 percent of viewers believe Rep. Al Green’s behavior was inappropriate.
And lest it be lost on anyone, a member of Congress protesting an address by the president used to be the worst example of classlessness — at least when it was a Republican. Remember Joe Wilson? And Rep. Boebert?
Then it was “a new low.” @CNN said. Plus @BusinessInsider & @ABC pic.twitter.com/MipvkSyCEf
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) March 5, 2025
Do you remember when protesting a presidential address to Congress reflected our “slide to disunity”? I do. @washingtonpost pic.twitter.com/0VOmg6OlLr
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) March 5, 2025
@guardian is even worse.
Look at how they lionize the “Resist” protestors. pic.twitter.com/ctvjQl69AW
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) March 5, 2025
The Guardian really liked the “RESIST” T-shirts worn by Democrats as they walked out of the speech.
But no. Now @washingtonpost was claiming that, of all the Democrats’ outbursts during Trump’s address, “laughter was the best medicine.”
It was one of the paper’s “7 takeaways” from the speech.
I wish I were making it up. pic.twitter.com/gzhdl5s2rN
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) March 5, 2025
For @TIME, the Democrats’ protestors were the defining moment of the speech.
Go figure. pic.twitter.com/r4zqVp3NmE
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) March 5, 2025
The Democrats’ protests were the defining moment for the Democrats — it was a childish tantrum.
In another @nytimes piece the focus is once again on Trump’s poor rivals “taunted” during the speech, and included the protest in the subhead.
What we learned was that this speech, allegedly, “exposed the deep divisions in Congress and the country.” pic.twitter.com/ReWvc6t2Nb
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) March 5, 2025
The Times should’ve left it at “divisions in Congress.”
Again, the polling from actual viewers explicitly found that they thought it was more unifying than divisive.
Shouldn’t that count for something? pic.twitter.com/Hbm2fNrUOl
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) March 5, 2025
For the rest of the press, the answer was apparently that the views of ordinary Americans mattered not. @CNN and Democrats thought it was divisive. Ergo, the speech was divisive. pic.twitter.com/VWREo27Ec4
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) March 5, 2025
Or this one from @StCollinson at @CNN, blaming Trump for deepening “America’s bitter internal schisms.”
Where in the schism? Just because CNN feels bleak about Trump doesn’t mean the nation is in mourning. pic.twitter.com/TBMuVGegUS
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) March 5, 2025
@AP (below the headline, this is why you gotta read the pieces) said Trump “set a tone of division.”
Again, how? And how is his agenda — which the American people voted for! — more divisive than the heckling from Dems, exactly? pic.twitter.com/H6uqGMQMs9
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) March 5, 2025
@ABC talked to Democratic minority leader Jeffries about the speech.
You’ll never believe it. He thought it was divisive. His quote served as the headline.
This is not real journalism. pic.twitter.com/7wZvTwzjyn
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) March 5, 2025
It’s not about the speech, it’s about how Democrats reacted to the speech.
An unsurprisingly, @MSNBC covered itself in glory. “A dark comedy” and “partisan warfare” were two that caught my eye. pic.twitter.com/g1k0VAJRaV
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) March 5, 2025
But the real jaw droppers from @MSNBC came from @maddow (h/t @EndWokeness) and @NicolleDWallace (h/t @SteveKrak).
Attacking Trump is one thing. But demeaning a kid diagnosed with cancer?
Really heinous stuff. pic.twitter.com/KjDoICRqKK
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) March 5, 2025
Trump saying things that anger Democrats is not divisive.
Trump saying things that anger CNN is not divisive.
Trump saying things that scare WaPo is not divisive.
The media has an instinctive reaction to treat every word from Trump as a five-alarm fire. It only reveals how out…
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) March 5, 2025
… how out of touch they are with the American people.
It’s 2016 all over again.
And I say that as a Massachusetts-raised softie. I get it. I’ve got the pleasant affect too.
But journalism requires putting those elitist misgivings aside. Despite years to get this right, they refuse.
It’s destroying the institution of the American media.
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) March 5, 2025
The biggest difference this editor noticed between Trump’s “divisive” speech and Joe Biden’s State of the Union address is that Trump brought up Laken Riley as part of his remarks, while Biden had to be angrily shamed into saying the name “Lincoln” Riley by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
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