The most reliable indicator of the positive impact of President Donald Trump’s 2025 address before a Joint Session of Congress is the paucity of subsequent coverage it drew- 3 minutes and 17 seconds across all three network newscasts, versus a staggering 11 minutes and 26 seconds for then-President Joe Biden’s final State of the Union address. Stated plainly, Joe Biden’s final State of the Union drew a little over twice as much more airtime than did President Trump’s return address.
The time disparity stems from the fact that Trump’s address did not draw top billing on any of the network evening newscasts, in contrast to Biden, whose address drew top billing across the dial. Only NBC devoted a full story to Trump’s joint address, whereas on ABC and CBS there were small quotes pulled out of Trump’s address for use within stories not exclusively about the speech but no stories about the speech itself.
ABC, for example, ran a Rachel Scott item on tariffs, and used the “a little disturbance” line from Trump’s speech:
RACHEL SCOTT: The president acknowledging his tariffs might cause inflation.
DONALD TRUMP: There'll be a little disturbance, but we're okay with that. It won't be much.
There was also a passing mention of Trump’s remarks on Ukraine and Greenland, but no quote. In total, a little over a minute.
Over at the beleaguered CBS Evening News, anchor Maurice DuBois noted that Trump did not mention veterans during his address. This was a tease to later items about staffing reductions at the Veterans Administration. However, their top story was also about tariffs. Weijia Jiang’s video package pulled a Trump quote about tariff reciprocity.
WEIJIA JIANG: In public, presidential tough talk is fueling the trade war.
DONALD TRUMP: Whatever they tariff us, other countries, we will tariff them.
For those keeping score at home, that’s 18 seconds for the CBS Evening News. The only network that did anything resembling a proper roundup was the NBC Nightly News. NBC, however, also led off with tariffs:
LESTER HOLT: In his address to Congress last night, President Trump mostly holding firm on the new tariffs imposed on America's three biggest trading partners, and he made it clear there are more to come. Retailers now warning of higher prices on everyday grocery items, from avocados to fish. Senior Business Correspondent Christine Romans starts us off tonight with the deep impact so many are expecting just days from now.
CHRISTINE ROMANS: A new protectionist era in America. The president acknowledging Americans will feel it in their pocketbook.
DONALD TRUMP: Tariffs are about making America rich again and making America great again. And it's happening, and it will happen rather quickly. There'll be a little disturbance, but we're okay with that. It won't be much.
Note the use, again, of “a little disturbance”, and of Lester Holt’s evocation of a 1998 film about a comet strike on Planet Earth as he discusses the potential impact of tariffs. Subsequent to that, a full recap of Trump’s address to a Joint Session of Congress lasting 3 minutes and 21 seconds. Total network time: 5 minutes and 7 seconds.
Now compare that to the coverage accorded to President Biden’s final State of the Union, which was the obligatory top story on each of the legacy newscasts. Most emblematic of the broader coverage: NBC Nightly News, with anchor Lester Holt’s lengthy point-by-point introduction to Peter Alexander’s roundup:
LESTER HOLT: This has been a consequential week in American politics: from the super Tuesday primary landslide setting the stage for November, to the State of the Union speech last night in which President Biden found the voice Democrats had hoped for and forcefully framed the fight ahead. The president touted the economic recovery or as he called it, “the greatest story never told.” On reproductive rights, he vowed to restore Roe v. Wade as the law of the land, and he blamed Republicans for not grabbing an opportunity to secure the border. But there was no mistaking that it was also a speech about Donald Trump. Time after time last night, Mr. Biden drawing a sharp contrast between himself and the former president. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson today blasting the speech as hyper partisan.
That full report clocked in at 4 minutes, 19 seconds- 84% of the total network time given to Trump’s 2025 address. CBS’s Norah O’Donnell, while not as lengthy as Holt in her introduction, was equally driven to be helpful to Biden:
NORAH O’DONNELL: Tonight, President Biden is hitting the road to sell his vision for the next four years, fresh off his fiery State of the Union address and more good news on the economy. The Labor Department says 275,000 jobs were added last month, far exceeding expectations.
That jobs report would later get revised down to 143,000. CBS’s full report clocked in at 3 minutes and 16 seconds, versus 18 seconds for Trump's 2025 address.
ABC’s David Muir, normally guilty of the most overwrought anchor introductions, focused instead on hyping Mary Bruce’s very Mary Brucey interview with Vice President Kamala Harris.
DAVID MUIR: Now to the race for president tonight, the Biden/Trump rematch now fully underway. And fresh off his State of the Union address last night, President Biden today on the campaign trail. Heading to his home state first, the must-win battleground of Pennsylvania. Tonight here, his answer when asked today: will he debate Donald Trump? And Vice President Harris tonight asked about so much attention on her, given the president's age and what she said to that.
ABC’s full report clocked in at 3 minutes and 51 seconds, versus a minute and 6 seconds for Trump’s 2025 address.
In total, the legacy networks devoted 11 minutes and 26 seconds of top story time to Biden’s 2024 State of the Union, versus 5 minutes and 7 seconds of buried and bifurcated coverage of Trump’s joint address.
When compared to their gushing and sycophantic coverage of Biden’s final State of the Union (coverage of which was brilliantly lampooned by Matt Orfalea), the legacy media’s sparse coverage of Trump’s joint address indicates that they didn’t really want to talk about it or, NBC aside, even mention it beyond tariffs. That seems to be the most potent indicator of the resonance and success of Trump’s speech.
