Fox News’s Chris Wallace praises Biden speech

Fox News Sunday anchor Chris Wallace praised President Biden’s speech to Congress on Wednesday, predicting the programs and benefits Biden pitched would play well with the American public.

“You know, I think this is going to be a popular speech with the American public,” Wallace said. “He offered a lot of stuff. $4 trillion will buy a lot of stuff, from millions of jobs to child care to community health centers, all kinds of stuff, community colleges.”

The initiatives Biden proposed would mean a massive increase in government involvement and spending. However, Wallace said, with the speech, the Biden administration is betting that a post-pandemic American public has become less wary of the role of government.

“I think they’ve made a calculation that after COVID-19, people have come to have a different feeling about government,” Wallace explained. “They now feel more trusting and more the need of government and so where this might have turned a lot of people off, and probably still will, they believe the majority of people are going to say, the government is here, and they’re here to help you.”

However, Wallace also couched his praise, saying that Biden’s speech will win him middle- and lower-income fans mainly because the president said they will not be taxed to pay for them.

“And the other thing that’s pretty popular is he said, ‘You’re not going to have to pay for it,’” Wallace said. “’Big corporations are going to pay for it. People making more than $400,000 are going to pay for it.’ But the vast majority of people watching tonight aren’t, so offering a lot of stuff and saying you aren’t going to have to pay for it is pretty popular.”

This isn’t the first time Wallace has publicly praised Biden’s oratory or the president’s communication skills in general.

In mid-February, while appearing on “America’s Newsroom,” Wallace gave the president high marks for his communication skills and lack of verbal mistakes since taking office.

“I think [what’s] surprisingly good has been how disciplined he has been,” Wallace said. And after Biden took office, Wallace said the president’s inaugural address was the “best” he’s “ever heard.”

However, one of the other Fox commentators analyzing Biden’s speech Wednesday night said Wallace has been wrong about the president’s past speeches, and he’s wrong about this one as well.

“[I remember] talking at the same time as Chris Wallace about a Joe Biden speech. He waxed eloquent about how it was so powerful and unifying. I don’t think that turned out to be true at all.” said Ben Domenech, the publisher and co-founder of The Federalist. “It’s not something that led to any kind of bipartisanship and expect the same result from this speech.”

“It’s going to be a political blip, immediately forgotten,” Domenech added. “It’s not going to change the course of anything in Washington.”

Chris Wallace on Fox News says of Biden’s address: “I think this is gonna be a popular speech with the American people.” pic.twitter.com/4EAyKql66z

— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) April 29, 2021