Following up his statement blasting the liberal media’s reaction to the State of the Union, MRC President Brent Bozell told the Fox Business Network’s Liz MacDonald on Thursday night that President Trump “hit three home runs” talking about America in the mold of Ronald Reagan while Democrats and the media condemned it because “they hate” and “despise him.”
“Well, I think that the State of the Union was single best night of President Trump's career. Now I say this because he didn’t hit a home run. He hit three home runs simultaneously,” Bozell stated on Risk and Reward after a montage of ABC journalists and MSNBC’s Chris Matthews condemning the address.
Bozell ruled that the first was “an extraordinary speech” and a tone that he “should have been doing for a year,” but shook off “this silly narcissism and went Ronald Reagan” by talking about the country as “we” instead of “I” like Barack Obama and Bill Clinton did.
After his second point about the dour mood of Democrats on Tuesday, his third point was the media’s reaction that “could have echoed public sentiment” that widely approved of the speech but instead “chose to echo Democratic position of those people who were sitting on their thumbs.”
When MacDonald wondered why “some of the media are still incapable of acknowledging what the President is trying to do in fixing the country,” Bozell responded: “[T]hey hate him, they despise him, it’s just — it’s personal with the press. It’s personal with the Democrats.”
Bozell concluded that, while the left and their media allies hated Trump, his speech, and it’s content, the American people felt differently:
The American people watching it. They were feeling very good. You showed it with your numbers. They were feeling very good about this. They were liking the commander in chief, they were liking the executive in the White House. They like the fact that he was talking to them and he was using first person plural. He was making a joint American thing. Look how many times he talked about America and then the best line of them all, saying we are dreamers too. It was beautiful.
Here’s the relevant transcript from FBN’s Risk and Reward on February 1:
FBN’s Risk and Reward
February 1, 2018
5:45 p.m. Eastern[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Risk Alert; Media Bias on SOTU Address]
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: One thing is pretty clear, Jon. He did not unify that chamber tonight.
JONATHAN KARL: George, I've never seen anything like it. Right now, the Democrats have basically run for the exits.
CHRIS MATTHEWS: It almost got ugly. Very tough about saying immigrants are basically killers.
MARTHA RADDATZ: It was also just a particularly gloomy speech. I mean, he didn't mention the word carnage, but he talked a lot about carnage. It was a sad speech there at the end and did not unify.
ELIZABETH MACDONALD: Well, is the media seeing what it wants to see? Did you watch the speech? Was it gloomy? Or was it upbeat? You can see the media criticism there of President Trump’s State of the Union address. It’s a speech they’re labeling as also divisive. However, look at this. A CBS poll, 75 percent of viewers approve of the President's speech. 65 percent said, made them feel proud. Let’s bring in Media Research Center President Brent Bozell What’s going on with this disconnect here?
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Risk Alert; Trump Speech Media Bias]
BRENT BOZELL: Well, I think that the State of the Union was single best night of President Trump's career. Now I say this because he didn’t hit a home run, he hit three home runs simultaneously. The first home run, an extraordinary speech. He did what Donald Trump should have been doing for a year. He got off this silly narcissism and went Ronald Reagan. Talking about we, we, we, over a 100 times in juxtaposition to Barack Obama, who could only talk about himself. Bill Clinton who could only talk about himself. It was a warm, unifying, positive speech extolling great American values and the public loved it, home run number one. Home run number two, the public then saw the Democrats, sitting on their thumbs, clearly nervous, clearly disoriented, clearly not knowing what to do because they were not expecting this knowing that cameras were on them, but they could not move and they looked — they were exposed for what they were. That was home run number two. Home run number three, it became the media reaction to this. The media could have said, could have echoed public sentiment. 43 percent of Democrats supported it as well. When is last you heard that one? They could have reflected public sentiment by saying what a great speech it was, which is what they said after every Obama speech, after every Clinton speech, but they chose to echo Democratic position of those people who were sitting on their thumbs. So the media gave the absolutely validation to Donald Trump about how much they are vested with liberal Democrats. Three home runs in one night.
MACDONALD: You know, Brent, that was really terrific how just you broke that down for us. You know, the President — he even sounded — took Democrat ideas, family leave, taxing, you know, what the Democrats like to talk about, family leave, tax credits, infrastructure. Why? I don't get it, why are some of the media are still incapable of acknowledging what the President is trying to do in fixing the country?
BOZELL: You know — they hate him, they despise him, it’s just — it’s personal with the press. It’s personal with the Democrats. Look what he was talking about. He was saying we should stand for national anthem, Republicans cheered, Democrats sat. He said we should give money to our friends not our enemies, Republicans cheered, Democrats sat. He talked about black unemployment in record lows and same thing for Hispanic unemployment. Republicans cheered, Democrats sat. Do you know who else was cheering watching it? The American people watching it. They were feeling very good. You showed it with your numbers. They were feeling very good about this. They were liking the commander in chief, they were liking the executive in the White House. They like the fact that he was talking to them and he was using first person plural. He was making a joint American thing. Look how many times he talked about America and then the best line of them all, saying we are dreamers too. It was beautiful.
MACDONALD: Brent Bozell of the Media Research Center. Thank you so much for coming on. We really appreciate it.
BOZELL: Thanks so much.
