You know Tuesday night’s address to the Joint Session of Congress was a good night for President Trump because the liberal media didn’t have much in terms of rage-fueled declarations against it. In fact, Republican Scott Jennings managed to get his CNN colleague and former Obama advisor David Axelrod to admit that his fellow Democrats were the ones who looked bad at the end of the night.
Following the rebuttal from Michigan Senator Elissa Slotkin (D), host Erin Burnett tried to get Jennings to say glowing things about it. “Yeah. I mean look I'm sure she's a very nice person. None of this will be remembered,” he told the hard truth, “because this was a horrific night for the opposition party, regardless of how well she just spoke.”
He then spelled out the bad and off-putting behavior of the Democrats who refused to stand for anything, including a kid who’s beating cancer, and the Texas representative who had to be escorted out:
It started out with Al Green getting thrown off the House floor because he couldn't keep his emotions under control. Then they had the ridiculous paddles, which now social media is roasting.
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And then finally – And finally and maybe most terribly, the Democrats who couldn't find it in their heart to stand for objectively good things, including the 95-year-old mother of Marc Fogel, who got rescued from a Russian prison. And they couldn't even stand up for that.
“I thought Democrats came into this speech lost and defeated by Donald Trump. And today it looks to me like they're even more lost and even more defeated than when the speech started,” he declared.
In an attempt to find an issue with Trump’s speech, Axelrod decried the “dozen” mentions of Biden, by his calculation. Despite only being office for five weeks, Axelrod huffed: “At some point you got to stop blaming Joe Biden and you're going to be accountable.”
“I mean, Ax, I love you. You guys were blaming George W. Bush in year eight of the Obama presidency,” Jennings quipped. “You know something, Scott? We learned something from that. We learned something from that,” Axelrod shot back, before Jennings defused it with: “He's been in office for 40-something days.”
Jennings went on to argue that Trump was on the winning side of many of the “80/20” social issues, and particularly on immigration. “The line of the night was: ‘They kept saying we need new legislation to secure the border, but it turns out all we really needed was a new president,’” he noted.
A few minutes later, when Axelrod was whining that the speech wasn’t uniting enough, Jennings pressed Axelrod on Democratic behavior. “Would it have been healing to stand for Marc Fogel?...D.J. Johnson?” Jennings asked.
Axelrod then admitted the truth:
I will do what you will not. I will say, I thought Democrats I thought that was – I think there were times when they should have risen. I think what Al Green did was despicable. I liked Elissa Slotkin speech. I think that's where Democrats should go.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
CNN Presidential Address to Congress and Democratic Response: Post Address Analysis
March 4, 2025
11:21:33 p.m. Eastern(…)
ERIN BURNETT: Yeah. I mean, she was – and that was very watchable.
SCOTT JENNINGS: Yeah. I mean look I'm sure she's a very nice person. None of this will be remembered because this was a horrific night for the opposition party, regardless of how well she just spoke.
It started out with Al Green getting thrown off the House floor because he couldn't keep his emotions under control. Then they had the ridiculous paddles, which now social media is roasting.
BURNETT: That you said “false” on one side.
JENNINGS: Ridiculous.
BURNETT: And Elon on the other.
JENNINGS: And then finally – And finally and maybe most terribly, the Democrats who couldn't find it in their heart to stand for objectively good things, including the 95 year old mother of Marc Fogel, who got rescued from a Russian prison. And they couldn't even stand up for that.
I thought Democrats came into this speech lost and defeated by Donald Trump. And today it looks to me like they're even more lost and even more defeated than when the speech started.
(…)
11:29:37 p.m. Eastern
DAVID AXELROD: At some point you got to stop blaming Joe Biden and you're going to be accountable. And, you know, he must have mentioned by Biden a dozen times in his speech.
JENNINGS: I mean, Ax, I love you. You guys were blaming George W. Bush in year eight of the Obama presidency.
AXELROD: You know something, Scott? We learned something from that. We learned something from that.
JENNINGS: He's been in office for 40 something days.
I am hearing a lot of cope. These social issues. You know why he talks about them? Because they work! They're like 80, 20 issues and he's on the right side of them. And Democrats are on the wrong side of them. It worked in the campaign and nobody – “Oh, he's not talking about the right things.” It worked in the inaugural. It's working in the executive orders. It's why he put it in the speech tonight.
And on immigration, you're exactly right. It's his number one achievement so far. The border is effectively closed. The line of the night was: “They kept saying we need new legislation to secure the border, but it turns out all we really needed was a new president.” Without question, in my mind, top scoring line.
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11:34:06 p.m. Eastern
AXELROD: So, it's one thing to mine our differences. It's another thing to try and heal our differences. And that is, you know, that that's the difference between real leadership and political expediency.
JENNINGS: Would it have been healing to stand for Marc Fogel? Might have been.
AXELROD: No, I agree. Look, you know, you are absolutely right.
JENNINGS: D.J. Johnson.
AXELROD: I will do what you will not. I will say, I thought Democrats I thought that was – I think there were times when they should have risen. I think what Al Green did was despicable. I liked Elissa Slotkin speech. I think that's where Democrats should go.
That doesn't obviate the fact that you shouldn't exploit our differences. You should try and solve problems and heal our differences. I don't see that inclination on the part of this president.
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