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2 Minutes Showing How Drastically Mainstream Media Has Changed Tune on Trump After Last Night

March 1, 2017

President Donald Trump was bathed with praise from the same media outlets he regularly criticizes after his Tuesday night address to a joint session of Congress.

Pundits and journalists lauded Trump's more traditional, optimistic tone in contrast to his blustery style on the campaign trail, all while he outlined an ambitious and wide-reaching agenda for the country.

Figures across the dial, from Fox News host Chris Wallace to MSNBC's Mark Halperin to CNN's Anderson Cooper, called it the best speech of Trump's political career, with Wallace adding it was one of the best he'd ever seen given in that setting.

CNN's Wolf Blitzer intoned it was an "important, powerful speech," and CBS host Gayle King said it was "healing" and an example of Trump speaking from his heart. Face The Nation host John Dickerson noted Trump used "all the rhetorical and symbolic tools at his disposal."

MSNBC's Chris Matthews called Trump's economic nationalism a "winner, politically," and fellow liberal Rachel Maddow, a fierce critic of the Trump administration, acknowledged the address would be "very well-received."

Former Bush administration figures Matthew Dowd and Nicolle Wallace, consistent critics of Trump, also said it was one of Trump's best addresses.

Media figures also applauded a moving moment in which Trump spotlighted one of his guests in the gallery, Carryn Owens, the widow of Navy SEAL Ryan Owens, who died in an anti-terrorist raid last month in Yemen. She received a lengthy standing ovation, and Trump assured her that her husband's sacrifice would be "etched into eternity."

CNN commentator Van Jones, who worked in the Obama administration, solemnly said that Trump "became president of the United States in that moment, period."

Trump's Republican Party controls both houses of Congress, but his first month in office has been marked more by tumult than legislative achievements, and he has a historically low approval rating for a new president. The White House hopes this will mark a turning point.

Snap polls about Trump's address bear that optimism out. According to a CNN survey, 78 percent of those watching had a very positive or somewhat positive response to his remarks, and 69 percent believed the policies he laid out would move the United States in the right direction.