The most reliable indicator of the positive impact of President Donald Trump’s 2025 address before a Joint Session of Congress is the paucity of subsequent coverage it drew- 3 minutes and 17 seconds across all three network newscasts, versus a staggering 11 minutes and 26 seconds for then-President Joe Biden’s final State of the Union address. Stated plainly, Joe Biden’s final State of the Union drew a little over twice as much more airtime than did President Trump’s return address.
The time disparity stems from the fact that Trump’s address did not draw top billing on any of the network evening newscasts, in contrast to Biden, whose address drew top billing across the dial. Only NBC devoted a full story to Trump’s joint address, whereas on ABC and CBS there were small quotes pulled out of Trump’s address for use within stories not exclusively…
