CBS’s Tony Dokoupil Calls Trump’s Speech ‘Extraordinary’ and ‘Vintage Trump’

CBS News’s Tony Dokoupil raved about President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday night, calling it “extraordinary.”

“The first State of the Union address of Donald J. Trump’s second term is in the books,” Dokoupil began.

“It was an extraordinary speech — the longest to a joint session in history, the longest State of the Union in history. In some ways, vintage Trump: combative, populist. Historic for other reasons, as well.”

Dokoupil continued:

The first part of the speech, all about the economy, an issue we know a lot of Americans want to hear about. He touts it but he does it against a wall of negative opinion that we see in our polls. And then, really, all the energy of the speech, the heart of the speech, on culture issues through the middle. Immigration, gender, voter I.D., and a line that wasn’t in the script but he ad-libbed, “The first duty of elected officials is to protect Americans, not illegal aliens.” He seemed at times to be goading Democrats into reacting, and at times they took that bait.

Chief Washington Correspondent Major Garrett later jumped in, saying, “That line that you mentioned that he added, whether it was ad-libbed or not — the first obligation, American citizens versus illegal aliens — was meant to create a visual moment of perpetual contrast. It over simplifies the issue dramatically. But if anyone has learned how to master that art — some call it a dark art — in American presidential politics, it’s Donald Trump. That was on full display tonight.

Chief Washington Analyst Robert Costa said the speech was “entirely who President Trump is, not just now but going back to his first presidential campaign in 2016. Totally defiant, blunt force politically on all of these issues, not so much making a speech but a presentation, and a recharacterization of the political reality. Trying to put it in his fingerprints ahead of the midterms.”

Watch the clip above via CBS News.

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