too. to policies that are quite divisive. and i think he s gotten a little more adept at doing this. and we see that in this speech. but i think the question that people will have is, what s going to happen tomorrow? who is donald trump going to be? and my producer, brian rokus came up with this, which is that after the president gave his joint address on february 28th last year, which a lot of people thought was great, on march 4th, he tweeted about obama wiretapping him in trump tower and lost all of that goodwill very quickly. so we ll have to see how this, how this plays out. but there s a lot in there that particularly on immigration, it didn t seem to me like he was extending much of an olive branch to democrats. david? i agree with what s been said. i thought there was a lot of
nationalism, populism, whatever you want to call it, room for democrats to work with him. he talked about changing trade deals. he talked about lowering the cost of prescription drugs, spending money on infrastructure, paid family leave, prison reform, a path to citizenship for dreamers. there is that there. but by the same token, i think president trump doesn t quite necessarily understand just how offensive many democrats in that chamber are going to find some of the things he proposed and some of the things he said in terms of there are americans who were dreamers too, et cetera, some of the things he said about immigration that are going to turn off a lot of people in that chamber. and this really is the mystery of donald trump, the riddle of donald trump, the enigma that he will leave here thinking that he gave a very unifying speech in which there was a lot of middle ground. and he s not wrong, but by the same token, there are going to be a lot of democrats who were
jake, we re about to hear the official democratic party response from congressman joe kennedy iii, clearly a rising star. a rising star. he is the grand nephew of john f. kennedy, the grandson of bobby kennedy. his father was a congressman. he was a former prosecutor, elected in 2012, and he became something of a viral sensation with a late-night speech about health care when the republicans were trying to repeal and replace obamacare. and he doesn t just have liberal chops because of his name and because of his legacy, he also is somebody who is very close with elizabeth warren. she was his professor in college and in law school and where he met his wife. so let s listen to the 37-year-old lawmaker. thank you. [ applause ] thank you. thank you. thank you. thank you, thank you, thank you. thank you.
one that everyone in the country can unite behind, honoring veterans, honoring sacrifice. but he used that story as way of taking a shot at nfl players who ta a knee to protest police brutality dur the natiol anthem. so again, you have simultaneously something that everyone can get behind and also a framing that is going to alienate some people. anderson, president making his way out of the house chamber. he s been congratulated by a lot of republicans there who are standing him and giving him strong ovations. you saw a lot of democrats simply sitting. and there s going to be a democratic response once the president leaves the chamber. several minutes later, there ll be a democratic response from congressman joe kingly iii. we ll bring that to you live. let s get some quick takes from our analysts and reporters. gloria borger? i want to echo something jake said. on the one hand, the speech could be kind of sunny and moving when you talked about some of the anecdotes and the peopl
frilly embroidery around some very familiar themes. the thing that was the most memorable about that speech will be his language around immigration, a focus on ms-13, as if that characterizes the entire immigrant community. that s only going to inflame the debate. i thought he did a lot of good work, as dana said, on the economy. a little bit of the rooster taking credit for the dawn, but also, every president would do that in his position. i don t deny him that. and then the absence of russia, he said, as we strengthen friendships around the world, we are also restoring clarity about our adversaries. what kind of clarity does it send when you don t mention russia in the speech the day after you announce that you re not going to enforce the sanctions that the congress unanimously or nearly unanimously approved? so, you know, i think it was fine for his purposes. i don t think it changed a lot. nia? yeah, i think it was a perfectly adequate speech. he seemed to be a little low key a