Reporters Stunned by State of the Union’s Appeal to Both Sides

Several veteran White House reporters noted — to their surprise — that President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday evening won applause from Democrats as well as Republicans.

John Roberts, the chief White House correspondent for Fox News, who is often skeptical of the president, was stunned at the reaction Trump evoked from Democrats despite the confrontational mood in Washington:

Jonathan Karl, chief White House correspondent for ABC News, remarked on lines pitched to the nation as a whole, and moments of bipartisan applause:

Trump even managed to win a series of standing ovations from Democrat women wearing white in protest.

Though arguably he gave little ground on policy, Trump honored national heroes, and pitched his speech to national themes and priorities shared in common by most Americans — including the opposition.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.