Tuesday following President Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress on the Fox News Channel, “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace reacted to the speech, generally praising the remarks.
Wallace, however, also said the speech validated Trump as president of the United States and that his opponent were going to have “accept that fact.”
“Thirty-six years ago, Ronald Reagan reinvented the speech to the joint session of Congress address,” Wallace said. “He was the one who introduced the idea of having people in the gallery and creating not just a programmatic message but a deeply emotional message. I think Donald Trump reinvented it again tonight, 36 years later. I thought it was by far the best speech I’ve ever heard Donald Trump give. It was one of the best speeches in that setting that I’ve heard any president give. He certainly kept faith with his base. There were two extraordinary moments. One was when he said we are going to repeal and replace Obamacare and you just felt a guttural roar from the Republican side of the aisle. They’ve been waiting seven years and for the first time tonight, a president said that to a session of Congress.”
“On the other hand, he reached out … he talked about radical Islamic terrorism,” he continued. “That’s the first time any president has ever said that in the well of the House. He reached out to Democrats. I thought it was a grace note to begin his speech, talking about that this is black history month, condemning the attacks on Jewish community centers and cemeteries and the hate killing in Kansas. He also talked about immigration reform. He was reaching out to Democrats. You pointed out the extraordinary moment with the widow, but also the student data has been terribly disabled or the young girl who had failed school twice. I want to say this right, but I feel like tonight, Donald Trump became the president of the United States. That is yes, of course, he got it 35, 38, 40 days ago when he was sworn in, but so many Democrats did not recognize it. Whether they disagree or agree with him, he became the president of the United States and everybody is going to have to accept that fact.”
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
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