“That was vintage Donald Trump from the campaign trail,” said ABC’s Tom Llamas of Pres. Donald Trump‘s 16-minute inaugural speech.
NBC’s Chuck Todd called it “surprisingly divisive,” while CBS’s Bob Schieffer said Trump, “basically took the hide off everybody sitting on that platform.” CNN’s Jake Tapper called it “one of the most radical inaugural speeches we’ve ever heard.”
“We’re going to be unpacking this speech for — it will take us the rest of the day to get around to this,” said Schieffer. “I’m not quite sure I’ve ever heard any inauguration speech quite like this.”
“There was a point there,” said Todd to NBC’s Lester Holt, “where it felt as if he almost was insulting every living president that was sitting next to him in very personal ways.” “He was also insulting all of the republican congressmen and senators who were on stage,” added Tom Brokaw.
“That was the message that got him to the stage,” said Llamas on ABC. “He bucked tradition. He bucked history, and he even bucked sort of that tone of unity to give that speech here today, slamming those other politicians and really delivering a populist and nationalist message.”
“He painted this dark landscape of circumstance in this country now and then a promise to fix it all,” said Brit Hume on Fox News.
“He delivered the speech that got him elected president of the United States,” said CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. “It was very consistent to the Trump brand absolutely,” added Jake Tapper calling the speech “radically, purely populist.” “He did not forget who brought him to this dance,” said Dana Bash.
“I think, that after hearing this speech, we can conclude that Trump was a third-party candidate who won under the GOP banner,” says Charles Krauthammer on Fox News.
