to a joint session of congress,
and by tradition, this speech is followed by a rebuttal
from the opposition party.
It was the first real chance for the Democrats to show
who they will be in the era of Trump.
I'm Steve Beshear.
I was governor of Kentucky from 2007 to 2015.
I'm a proud Democrat,
but first and foremost, I'm a proud Republican.
Nailed it!
(laughter)
(applause, cheering)
To be fair, to be fair, to be fair, becoming a Republican
is probably the Democrats' best hope
of ever winning another election, so I get it, I get it.
Now, obviously, that's not what the former governor of Kentucky
meant to say.
But don't worry, don't worry, people,
his recovery was flawless.
I'm a proud Democrat,
but first and foremost, I'm a proud Republican...
and Democrat, and mostly American.
(laughter)
(cheers and applause)
I'm a Democrat.
I'm a Republican.
That is so embarrassing for him.
On the bright side,
they've just announced that next year they're gonna get him
to announce best picture at the Oscars.
Yay!
(applause)
So, hard-core Democrats weren't feeling Trump's speech,
but a lot of other folks were,
with polls showing that people who watched it
overwhelmingly thought that Trump did a good job.
You know who must have so proud?
Putin.
I bet he's carrying around
a photo from the speech in his wallet like,
(Russian accent): My boy's so grown up.
Feels like yesterday I carry him to election win.
And after Trump performed his pivots,
a lot of former enemies of the people,
well, they made a pivot of their own.
A more presidential Trump.
It was noticeably different.
He sounded more presidential.
-He pivoted. -He knows when to pivot.
Even his critics admit he sounded more presidential.
TV REPORTER: This is a pivot to becoming a president.
Tonight, Donald Trump
became the President of the United States.
All trump did was read a speech off a teleprompter.
That's all he did.
-That's all he did. -(cheering and applause)
He read off the teleprompter
without flying off the rails.
You know how they say you're not supposed to shoot the messenger?
Well, maybe also don't suck the messenger's (bleep), either.
How about that?
Look, don't get me wrong, don't get me wrong.
If this was the first time that Trump dialed it down,
I'd the hype, I would get it completely.
But he's pulled this (bleep) over and over again,
and every time the media falls for it.
He's getting more presidential, if you will, he's using notes.
I think we've seen something of a Trump pivot.
Donald Trump, in the last three weeks
has been appearing more presidential.
It feels like Donald Trump is trying to be more presidential.
I feel like I'm in the movie Groundhog Day.
We keep talking about the Donald Trump pivot every week.
Yeah, so then why do you keep on saying it?
People in Groundhog Day don't know they're in Groundhog Day.
That's why they keep doing the same thing.
You don't have to be a genius to figure out
that Donald Trump is playing you.
You look at his record.
You can study his previous actions.
Or you know what else you could do?
You could just listen to him when he tells you
that he's gonna fake it.
I can act as presidential as anybody
that's ever been president.
Presidential is easy.
You know what presidential is?
I walk on... here.
(crowd exclaiming)
Ladies and gentlemen of Waterbury.
It's a great honor to be with you this morning.
Yeah.
Fake like you're presidential,
and people will believe you're presidential.
This was the plan all along.
And last night was clearly its big debut.
Presidential is easy.
You know what presidential is?
I walk on... here.
(crowd exclaiming)
(cheering and applause)
I'll-I'll give you this,
it's not Hamilton, but it's a pretty good act.