Tonight’s the State of the Union address
You can discuss it here.
Afterwards:
As expected, Trump’s speech was the usual recitation of accomplishments during his tenure, which are many. Also as expected (by the right, anyway), he didn’t mention impeachment. As usual, there were a bunch of special guests to touch the heartstrings.
Some of the thrust of his speech was towards black voters, which also is not surprising if you’ve been studying Trump lately. This is definitely part of his 2020 strategy, and it’s one that must strike fear into the hearts of the Democrats.
But a lot of the post-speech commentary has been about the Pelosi handshake declined by Trump at the outset (although he didn’t shake the hand of anyone who stood behind him, and it’s not even clear he saw Pelosi’s extended hand because he had already turned mostly away). Whether or not he meant to do it, it’s crystal clear that Pelosi’s dramatic ripping up of the papers of the speech when it was over was extremely deliberate. Afterwards (according to Fox’s coverage), Pelosi was asked why she had ripped up the speech, and she replied: “It was the courteous thing to do, considering the alternative.” Seems like she ripped it up rather than stomping on it, burning it, or pissing on it.
Lovely.
In fact, here’s a more complete quote from Pelosi:
Asked why she ripped up Trump’s speech, @SpeakerPelosi said because it was “a courteous thing to do considering the alternative. It was such a dirty speech.”
— Mary Bruce (@marykbruce) February 5, 2020
A dirty speech? That’s just a bizarre accusation. But her fans loved her gesture. Here’s a typical response:
The speech will only be remembered by history for her having torn it up. She literally trumped him for all time. NO ONE will be talking about anything else in connection to The Penguins Speech in front of Gotham tonight.
— stephendare (@stephendare) February 5, 2020
The White House wasn’t wasting any time responding:
Speaker Pelosi just ripped up:
One of our last surviving Tuskegee Airmen.
The survival of a child born at 21 weeks.
The mourning families of Rocky Jones and Kayla Mueller.
A service member's reunion with his family.
That's her legacy.
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) February 5, 2020
Dana Perino pointed out on Fox that Pelosi could have claimed the high road and said Trump didn’t shake her hand when she extended it at the outset, and left it at that. But by tearing the speech up she forfeited any high road she might have claimed.
I wonder whether Pelosi thinks her gesture will appeal to anyone other than those already in her corner. If that’s her idea, I’m fairly certain she’s incorrect. It reminded me of a kid sitting in back of someone and doing the bunny ears gesture, although that’s lighthearted and this was anything but.
Trump recites one accomplishment after another, best employment numbers for women, minorities, HS grads, blue collars…
and the whited sepulchres sit on their hands and scowl, following the hand signals of Botox Pelosi, whose home town streets are filled with filth.
Heh.
Thanks, Edward.
Can anyone imagine Bernie, Liz or Pete giving this speech?
Very moved by the tribute to maha-rusheee. Great honor to Rush, well earned.
Who is Nancy Pelosi talking to?! She doesn’t like viable but unborn babies, planting trees, praying in schools, or cancer victims.
Wow, Pelosi just ripped up the speech!! How much lower can these scum go?
physicsguy:
Well, she could have spit on it first.
I almost never watch political speeches but did so tonight in deference to my husband who watches them all. Pelosi tearing up that paper at the end was exemplary of the Democrat disrespect of the Republic for which we stand. As a Californian and a Catholic I find her a great challenge to living the law of love commanded by my faith. Prayers for this nation.
Physicsguy:
That really angered my wife. But she allowed as how Trump might have angered Pelosi by not shaking her hand at the beginning. Still, ripping the speech in half was extremely petty.
Just watching Michigan Governor Whitmer. She started by talking about bad streets in Michigan, and how people pitched in to do it themselves. She forgot to mention that the roads had gone to hell under Democrat governors.
Fantastic SOTU speech. At least a 9 out of a possible 10 on a zero to 10 scale, and I can see scoring it a 10+.
On the other hand, Speaker Pelosi did what I thought was impossible–scoring in negative numbers. Her face during much of the speech said, “This very same speech should be being given here by Hillary,” and other times was just plain ungracious. And, then, ripping up her copy of the speech while the President is standing in front of her????? Damn, Pelosi has one of the diseases of old age—the loss of filters.
Regarding the President’s not shaking the Speaker’s hand at the beginning, I believe the President did not shake the hand of either the Vice President or the Speaker.
Honoring a 100 year old Tuskegee airman and his 13 year old great grandson. Excellent.
Also like the medal of honor to Rush.
While Pelosi ripped up the SOTU copy, that might be seen as tit-for-tat, as Trump didn’t shake Pelosi’s hand before the speech. At this stage, there is bad blood between Pubs and Demos, so I can’t be surprised at the Trump-Pelosi interactions before and after the speech.
It appears that the speech was more about things that unite America, and not so much about conflicts between Demos and Pubs.Can the aftermath of this speech ratchet down the hostility at least a little bit?
I didn’t watch the SOTU address, but having read enough about it, I am going to look for it on YouTube.
Pelosi was asked why she ripped up the speech, and she replied: “It was the courteous thing to do, considering the alternative.” Seems like she ripped it up rather than stomping on it, burning it, or pissing on it.
Lovely.
Dana Perino points out on Fox that Pelosi could have claimed the high road and said Trump didn’t shake her hand when she extended it at the outset (although it’s not clear whether he even saw her do it). But by tearing the speech up she looked awful, and forfeited any high road she might have claimed.
Many have commented on President Trump refusing to shake Pelosi’s hand.
It also looked to me like he did not shake Pence’s hand when he handed him his copy – so it may not have been a Pelosi only ‘snub’.
Even if it were, Pelosi’s behavior towards Trump, and her disgraceful impeachment farce, are surely ample grounds for what used to be called a ‘cut direct’.
One might say Trump should not cut a lady, but Pelosi is a politician and no lady.
Neo: Trump didn’t shake her hand when she extended it at the outset (although it’s not clear whether he even saw her do it).
BBC made a big deal out of this during their live blogging. They pontificated about how this was going to be the focus of all reporting tomorrow and it was going to overshadow everything else in the speech. Ripping up the speech took care of all that so they switched to “how did Trump provoke Pelosi” angle.
I lean toward the explanation that Trump snubbed her after seeing the video. Yes he didn’t shake Pence’s hand either but he doesn’t seem to offer it. This was their first meeting after she stated in the WH meeting that “all roads lead to Putin” before she left or got thrown out. I wouldn’t put it beyond Trump to refuse the handshake.
As some of you may know, Venezuela is an issue we follow and care deeply about. We were bowled over by the inclusion of the issue and Guaidó in the speech. There were many questioning Trump’s commitment on this. That theory is now dispelled.
In general, I think Trump did very well. He looked and sounded presidential.
I saw that a lot of his special guests were black. That and his Superbowl ad tell me that in the coming election he is going court the black and minority vote heavily. He already has the voters that got him his first term. If he wrests the black vote from the Democrats, it will be a landslide victory.
And, the Democrats looked small and petty.
Andy wrote,
Yes. And it’s also their first meeting since Pelosi gleefully signed the articles of impeachment and handed out celebratory pens. Pelosi is disgusting.
On the other hand, as Andrew Breitbart, of blessed memory, noted, politics is downstream from culture. If mainstream media applauds Pelosi, she might win this war over a purported snub.
It was a top notch SOTU. Hit the right level of trying to lower the temperature in D.C., IMO.
Outstanding presentation of guests. Worth watching just to see Rush, the Tuskegee airman (What a guy!), the young girl who got a scholarship, and the homecoming of the Staff Sergeant. (What a beautiful thing.)
Trump can be Presidential when he wants to and he wanted to tonight. I think he didn’t shake Pelosi’s hand because you don’t shake hands with someone who has just tried to ruin you. I wouldn’t, and I expect he feels the same.
The Dems know they are in trouble and it infuriates them. Too bad, so sad.
Roy Nathanson: As some of you may know, Venezuela is an issue we follow and care deeply about.
Why? Please enlighten us. The only two relevant facts that I know which would lead one to elevate the importance of Venezuela are, one, the large oil reserves although that relevance is negated now that US has oil independence, or far more importantly that disproportionately large number of Miss World and Miss Universe pageant winners have been Venezuelan.
Andy–Both those factors remain very important.
Do you think he did this?
https://static.pjmedia.com/instapundit/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/dearnancy.jpg
🙂
Ira and Andy – see this video about Cuba. Venezuela is already that bad or worse, and got there 10 or 20 times as fast.
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/02/bernies-socialist-paradise.php
J.J.—Brilliant! Thanks.
Pelosi and the papers: “I’ll get you, my pretty!” with the appropriate cackle.
And…
https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/357188/
AesopFan, I am very familiar with the degeneration in that country. I am old enough to remember that one of the stops for Concorde was Caracas. They had regular flights so that Venezuelans could shop in Paris. I am not sure the last time the flagship Hermes shop, which by the way is beautiful, was visited by a native Venezuelan.
Mollie Hemingway on the award to Rush Limbaugh.
(What marvelous timing on that, by the way.)
https://static.pjmedia.com/instapundit/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Screen-Shot-2020-02-04-at-22.14.17.png
Instapundit is replete with rousing reports, way too many to link individually.
AesopFan: Mollie Hemingway on the award to Rush Limbaugh. (What marvelous timing on that, by the way.)
Initially the SOTU was simply forwarded to the Congress. It would be great to revert back to that as we could do without all the theatrics. But then this kind of thing is catnip to the base of the two parties, albeit not simultaneously.
Okay, one more, it’s funny.
https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/357137/
Other pundits are saying very much the same thing.
But some think she has just fired up her base after their impeachment debacle.
We’ll see.
https://pjmedia.com/trending/pelosi-just-told-trump-exactly-what-she-thinks-of-america-after-his-state-of-the-union-address/
When you shoot at the king…
And they’ve missed so many times all Nancy’s got left is bad theatrics and worse geriatrics. Just another day in the Office for POTUS.
But wait for the Trump 2020 campaign to really get rolling…the ads write themselves.
Harvested from CTH comments.
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2020/02/04/white-house-announces-special-guests-for-state-of-the-union-address/#comment-7816900
https://i.imgflip.com/3o6kfw.jpg
https://i.imgflip.com/3nu72b.jpg
Finally, it looks like the President didn’t want to risk waiting.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/trump-invites-rush-limbaugh-to-state-of-the-union-address-following-cancer-diagnosis
https://www.theblaze.com/news/president-trump-to-award-rush-limbaugh-the-medal-of-freedom-reports
I saw video of Rush talking to the press coming into the building and he knew that the President had decided to award him the Medal of Freedom, but, judging from his reaction later, I don’t think he expected it to happen right then, as it was only decided on Tuesday, and varied reports had it happening: sometime in the next few months, next week, or on Wednesday.
When Mr. Trump started talking about the serviceman separated from his family on his 4th deployment to Afghanistan IIRC: did anyone else recognize the trademark lead-in from “This Is Your Life,” where the host brings on the guests’ long-lost relatives and surprises them to the audience’s great delight?
Brilliant showmanship, as well as authentic generosity.
“the Democrats looked small and petty.”
Well they *are* small and petty.
Read and savor the gusto again.
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2020/02/04/transcript-of-president-trump-state-of-the-union-address/
I noticed that the section about Sergeant Williams does NOT announce his arrival – a really well kept secret!
https://heavy.com/news/2020/02/trump-reunites-amy-williams-townsend-williams-sotu-video/
There’s always a critic, though.
Well, duh!
I guess they have already forgotten about Obama being interviewed by, among other gimmicky stunt-makers, the lady who bathes in her breakfast.
https://jezebel.com/watch-the-woman-who-ate-cereal-out-of-a-bathtub-intervi-1681195179
I chose this post because the writer was so tickled that Obama’s antics infuriated the Old Guard.
They can dish it out, from bathtubs or not, but they can’t take it.
Pelosi looks small to the Right, but looms large on the Left.
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2020/02/04/speaker-nancy-pelosi-tears-up-president-trump-speech-transcript-following-state-of-the-union/comment-page-4/#com
ment-7819524
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2020/02/04/speaker-nancy-pelosi-tears-up-president-trump-speech-transcript-following-state-of-the-union/comment-page-4/#comment-7819687
Kos Kids loved Pelosi, but other Democrats are no longer so fond of her side of the aisle.
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2020/02/04/speaker-nancy-pelosi-tears-up-president-trump-speech-transcript-following-state-of-the-union/comment-page-4/#comment-7819812
I can’t find the original of the video, but it shows a journalist & view of Capitol, with audio of a woman caller who declared that she was a Democrat but would never vote for them again. Powerful if legitimate; another convert for the #WalkAway bunch.
President Trump mentioned himself uncharacteristically often (he doesn’t use I and me nearly to the extent Obama did), but he had good cause. Here is a good article on his accomplishments from last month. Gordon closes a long list with this:
https://www.commentarymagazine.com/politics-ideas/promises-promises-trump/
That was the official copy the President is required to turn over to the Speaker. Wouldn’t it be amusing if she were now charged with destruction of government property?
A bravura performance by Trump. For the rest, There Will be Blood. We don’t know when or what will set it off, but it’s inevitable.
A dirty speech? That’s just a bizarre accusation.
Sundown Joe isn’t the only one suffering through ‘mild cognitive decline’.
For the rest, There Will be Blood
We’ll see in nine months if they have any milkshake left.
Great speech. Trump 2020.
80% probability, not 99%, based on the likelihood of some bad October Surprise or recession which the Dems will jump on and hugely publicize.
Dems who hate Trump will like that Pelosi stunt of tearing up Trump’s SotU America is Great speech. Most independents who think about it will like the speech, and like Trump’s results. More will vote Trump this time than 2016.
More will vote Trump this time than 2016.
More will vote for Trump – speech a success.
From the White House website the address text as delivered, annotated with audience responses: State of the Union Remarks (9:06 PM EST – 10:24 PM EST)
Trump might have angered Pelosi by not shaking her hand at the beginning
I have seen this elsewhere. The usual script for those occasions is for the Speaker to say, “It is my distinct honor and pleasure to introduce…” She just said his title. That was why he ignored her hand,if indeed he saw it.
A kind of political masterpiece, this speech.
Seems to me the undercurrent of this powerful, dead serious speech is this: I’m going to destroy the Democrat Party with your help loyal Americans — and with yours too, loyal Resistance Democrats. Thanks to you all.
That was why he ignored her hand, if indeed he saw it.
My impression was different to this, Mike. He saw her hand. She put him through an unjust impeachment proceeding for the last two months now (disregarding the truthful aspect that the Democrats intended to impeach him since his election). There was no way he would offer her any courtesy beyond the absolutely necessary, and shaking her hand is not necessary. Mere acknowledgement is quite enough. Feelings must be known and understood here. So, the showing out.
Two months understates the length of the torment, sorry. House Res. 660 passed Oct. 31st, and the farcical HPSCI investigation had been lawlessly underway for weeks already at that time. So, worse then.
Compare and Contrast:
Democrats call those who didn’t vote for them names … bitter clingers … deplorables … racists … worse than Nazi’s
Republicans appeal to those who didn’t vote for us …
honored at SOTU … reforming the Justice system that D’s like Sen Harris used to jail them … created more and better jobs for those who didn’t vote for us
Quite a hissy fit.
Trump rocked the house while Nancy marinated in her own bile.
Tuvea, excellent comment. Trump took the high road during the SOTU address, such as honoring the Tuskegee airman. SanFran Nan took the low road by tearing up her paper copy of Trump’s speech.
One point about the rhetoric from both sides is our side calling Bernie a Commie. Bernie and friends probably consider this a slur. After all, nowadays Bernie calls himself a Democratic Socialist who considers Scandinavia his model. Ironically, many Scandinavians consider it a slur to call their system Socialist or Democratic Socialist, as it is based on a highly taxed free enterprise system, not the government ownership of Socialism. Bear in mind that over the decades, Bernie has made repeated pleas for more government ownership of the economy- for more Socialism NOT like the economies in Scandinavia. In August 2019, Bernie called for public ownership of utilities.
But nowadays Bernie is reluctant to call Maduro a dictator. Seems to me that holding a rigged election in May 2018 where Maduro’s main opponents aren’t permitted to run is just what dictators do. Why is Bernie reluctant to call dictator Maduro a dictator? Nowadays Bernie had the same reaction to the impeachment of Brazilian President Dilma Rouseff that Maduro did- that the impeachment was a “coup.” Though Bernie hedged this by stating that a lot of people considered it a coup.
Bernie’s praise of Fidel has nothing to do with “Democratic Socialism.” No Democratic Socialist would believe that the Cubans have an “almost religious affection” for Fearless Leader Fidel when Fearless Leader Fidel refuses to test that “almost religious affection” with elections. After all, Democratic Socialists believe that countries should hold elections.
Yet Bernie believed that the Cuban people had an “almost religious affection” for Fearless Leader Fidel because that is what his translators told him. Is Bernie fool enough to believe that Cubans would give a candid opinion of Fearless Leader Fidel to a translator- a translator whom most Cubans would assume was government supplied?
Bunny ears? i always thought they were donkey ears.
I posted this comment on another site (LegalIns)…
About that handshake, I found a video of the 2019 SOTU speech and looked at the start of it.
Trump handed the speech copy to the VP, without shaking hands and then to Pelosi. She did extend her hand and they shook hands and Trump said some words to her. He then shook hands with Pence.
Going back to the 2018 SOTU, Trump hands the speech copies to Ryan, then Pence and did not shake hands with either one.
Way back to the 2016 SOTU, Obama probably kissed every woman while going down the aisle and even got a big hug from RBG. He gave Biden and Ryan the copies of the speech and did not appear to shake hands but turned around to start the speech.
So, there is no tradition of shaking hands.
The ripping of the speech was very tacky. Most Ds will enjoy the drama, the Rs will dislike it and the opinion of the middle crowd will be all the place. I suspect that people who respect the “Office of the President” will not look favorably on the stunt. Unfortunately, the discussion of the handshake and the ripping will probably overshadow what was said in the speech.
An additional thought – the Ds will move onto another talking point, but these actions by Pelosi will remain in the minds of many people and will just increase their participation in November. It will be interesting to see the fundraising amounts after the speech.
Ol’ Nancy seems to be moving them around and sucking on her dentures more and more these days, plus darting her eyes around like a bird, and her tearing up her official copy of the SOTU speech–containing a long litany of President Trump’s accomplishments–was just spiteful and petty; she’s “lost it,” in more ways than one.
Even in light of “normal” SF politician behavior, Pelosi was bizarre. Mainly, didnt she realize the impact of the visual?
Imagine the gop ad: slow-mo of her tearing the speech, with voiceover of Trump talking about record low minority unemployment.
Tds has killed off her last asset, which was a kind of low political cunning.
Tds has killed off her last asset, which was a kind of low political cunning.
I think you’ve got her nailed. She had five children, which takes skill in the domestic sphere. It’s difficult to ascertain outside that sphere anything of her own other than the ability to navigate the politics of a collection of Democratic politicians. She’s not had much experience with competitive elections (her last difficult contest was in 1987), nor has she held any office other than member of Congress. She landed in Congress because she was a protege of Phillip and Sala Burton, who employed her, then sponsored her for Democratic State chairman in California, then for the seat in Congress that had been held first by Phillip and then by Sala. Look at her legislative record. She has sponsored a mess of minor constituent-service measures. She has no policy chops at all.
There is no way, unless you have a raging, irrational hatred for Trump, that this does not look bizarre and immature. You start to understand that if Trump rescued a puppy from a flooded river, or a child from a burning building, the “lost-it” wing of the far left would respond the same way.
If this sort of display doesn’t make any remaining normals in the nominal D ranks really squirm I’m not sure what it will take. They have to realize that they are on the wrong side.
Art Deco, that’s the second belly laugh you’ve given me this week. Milkshake indeed. (It’s a reference to a pivotal scene in There Will Be Blood.) As to the original comment, let’s hope there are no attempted political assassinations coming.
Angry Nancy and her party of hate. How lovely.
I suspect that Trump had no intention of shaking her hand at the outset. Also, the Dems have a long tradition of being extremely duplicitous as to their on-camera versus behind closed doors behavior.
Bob Dole once remarked that Clinton was “an extremely good liar.” The context of that comment was that there had been a two party parley at the Clinton Whitehouse with many promises made and an agreement as to the off-the-record content. The Clintons immediately violated all of that as soon as the cameras were switched on.
I do think Nancy was livid from the handshake snub. Also, I thought I discerned something like winces on Nancy’s face, as she absorbed the political body blows that Trump delivered. He was hitting the Dems where they live. He’s adding millions of extra jobs and trillions to the economy, and Whitmer’s people are filling potholes with dirt. That will last about a week. And Bernie is ranting that the billionaires are still getting richer. Focus on the envy!
How about those opportunity zones? It’s an old idea, but I had not heard or read a scintilla of information about this. It’s one of the problems with massive pieces of legislation, but still. Nobody said anything that I saw. GOP, get your act together please.
h/t Mollie Hemingway
Elaine on Twitter thread: https://mobile.twitter.com/elbh/status/1225091873988964353
**A decorum observation, thread: you don’t have to like the President’s crassness and tone to understand why Nancy’s speech ripping is perceived as different than his twitter baiting. It’s also an absolute pillar of communication. Let me explain. [1]
President Trump, like it or not, has communicated one thing clearly and unequivocally. It started in the last election. Hillary was going around asking people to use the slogan “I’m with her.” Candidate Trump saw that, instinctively knew it was against the American grain and took [2] the opposite position. His message was “I’m with YOU!” He will attack other politicians, the press, entertainers. Bureaucrats. But he seems to be careful to never attack Americans themselves. Voters of any stripe are not called dumb or deplorable. Or racist or sexist. [3] He does call out bad behavior like he did regarding gangs. If you go back and actually listen to his words in most cases IN CONTEXT you will see it’s very careful to not to insult average PEOPLE, although in most situations he will call out bad behavior. [4] What he’s done is be inclusive, just as Van Jones alluded to last night. His basic premise is this: “You want me to stand up for you against the machine? ok, I’ll do that to. I’ll take the pain. Don’t care who you are. Come on.” This positions him as the stand in for CITIZENS. [5] Because of this, when Nancy rips up a speech & says there is no truth in it; or AOC doesn’t attend or listen; Or the Democrats sit on their hands and don’t applaud good things…they don’t realize how many more Americans are starting to see that as an attack on them. [6] The Democrats see it as an attack on the President. They are “resisting.” But the frame of reference for that resistance is not the man, but those he had agreed to stand up for. The regular folks. Any color, any sexuality, any religion, urban or rural. Trump doesn’t care. [7] Because it’s not about Him. It’s about those he represents. He knows how to bring people into the tent, not push them out. You may not be a fan of his style, but he’s incredibly effective. And it’s possible that this style is the only grenade that could have made it happen. [8] He’s not afraid to take on his own party when they want to be in control just like the left. Trump also knows you can be the greatest peace maker in the world but if you don’t get attention, it won’t matter. [9] Now. His policy effectiveness is, like ALL politicians a mixed bag. But if you can’t admit that things are going very well for many, and many who have been forgotten, you are blind. [10] Can Trump loose? Yes. An election can never be taken for granted. But from where I sit right now, this bullying people into being able to control them isn’t working well for the Democrats. And they continue to double down. [11] Trump is a trash-talking, crass, character-challenged man. But he does one thing extremely well and that is to communicate directly to the truly disenfranchised in our country.
We’d be well served to appreciate him for that. [12] **
Thanks, sdferr. Elaine added this:
Addendum: An example of his consistency: He doesn’t care about events like the Press Dinners and so forth. Those aren’t the people he wants to be associate with. He’s making a show of not saying one thing and doing another. He keeps fancy White House dinners to a minimum.
See, https://mobile.twitter.com/elbh/status/1225091873988964353
As has been mentioned above, Pelosi might have impressed the Leftists in her party, but lost a lot of others.
https://pjmedia.com/trending/backfire-i-will-never-vote-democrat-again-say-angry-dems-on-c-span-after-pelosis-tantrum/
Context.
https://pjmedia.com/trending/barack-obama-awarded-the-medal-of-freedom-to-a-sex-predator-but-liberals-are-triggered-about-rush-limbaughs/
https://thefederalist.com/2020/02/05/13-key-takeaways-from-president-trumps-epic-state-of-the-union-address/
Mollie Hemingway
AesopFan on February 5, 2020 at 1:48 am said:
…
When Mr. Trump started talking about the serviceman separated from his family on his 4th deployment to Afghanistan IIRC: did anyone else recognize the trademark lead-in from “This Is Your Life,” where the host brings on the guests’ long-lost relatives and surprises them to the audience’s great delight?
Brilliant showmanship, as well as authentic generosity.
* * *
Always nice to be in good company — old, but good.
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/02/chris-cuomo-praises-trumps-sotu-address.php