The State of the Union speech is an effective annual exercise to measure how journalists feel about a long speech on national TV by President Donald Trump. They hate it intensely, like most children hate broccoli. They would like to scrape that steaming plate into the garbage.
The New York Times published a front-page editorial by White House reporter Katie Rogers—lamely labeled as “News Analysis.” It came under the headline “Casting Democrats as Villains, Trump Produces a Spectacle.” You can sense their outrage. Nobody should darkly cast Democrats as villains, especially the people Democrats relentlessly suggest are authoritarians out to end our democracy, but only after they starve children and close hospitals.
Like a good Democrat, Rogers insisted Republicans find themselves in a “politically treacherous moment,” while Democrats are “seeing polling moving their way” and “remain confident about the midterm elections.” The usual midterm election trends should inspire confidence, as well as all the partisan “news” products.