CNN presenter Chris Wallace reportedly chastised Republicans for disrupting President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, telling viewers that the Republicans actually played into his hands.
Tuesday night, Biden delivered his first State of the Union speech under the new Republican House majority.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) jumped up to cry “liar” as Republicans mocked President Biden for suggesting during his State of the Union address on Tuesday night that some Republicans want to “sunset” Social Security and Medicare.
The words were received with yells and jeers from the Republicans in the audience, with several yelling “no” and others yelling “liar.”
Later in the night the moment was brought up by CNN anchor Jake Tapper during a special segment dedicated to covering the yearly speech.
Tapper and his CNN colleague Chris Wallace both agreed that the unscripted moment played right into Biden’s hands.
“…And Chris Wallace, the point that you and Abby Phillip were making earlier, I just keep thinking about the idea that not only did the House Republicans, and again, it was a minority of them, it was not most of them, but the ones who were unruly and yelling and heckling the president, not only did they make themselves look bad, I think really (inaudible) an opportunity to look vigorous.” Tapper said
“Oh, absolutely. I mean, they literally played into his hands. You know, I don’t know if the people of the White House as they were drafting it at Camp David this weekend envisioned that happening the way it did, but it played out perfectly. And you know, I’m looking back at the end of that whole sequence where he was engaging back and forth with the Republicans, he said, so tonight, let’s all agree to stand up for seniors.” Wallace responded.
“And of course, one of the things that you notice in the speeches is half the House, the Democratic side for Democratic presidents stands up, the other side sit on their hands. When he said let’s, all stand up for seniors, there was no politician who was not going to stand up for seniors. And so, they were standing up while he said, let’s all agree not to cut social security, let’s all agree not to cut Medicare.” he continued.
“And when they were all standing up, he said, well, apparently, it’s not going to be a problem. It was a brilliant moment that, you know, it like took something that had been prepared by the speech writers and he made it his own and he made it magic. It was really quite a piece of political showmanship.” Wallace concluded.
[READ MORE: Pentagon to Soon Crackdown on Working With Hollywood Businesses that are on Friendly Terms With China]
