Democrats attending President Trump’s joint session speech Tuesday night are being warned against booing or heckling because it would make him appear sympathetic before what’s expected be the largest televised audience the Republican will ever have.
“Don’t do anything stupid,” said former President Obama’s chief speechwriter, Cody Keenan. “Don’t boo. Don’t hold up signs. Don’t wave things. Don’t heckle. Don’t give the president an opportunity to become sympathetic,” he advised.
During Obama’s first address, in 2009, he faced a GOP shout of “You Lie,” and it helped to make him a sympathetic figure.
Keenan, speaking Monday night at a forum on speechwriting at Georgetown University’s Institute of Politics and Public Service, said Democrats instead should provide polite applause and otherwise stay quit.
Thank you so much for Marc Thiessen and Cody Keenan for participating in our #GUSpeechWriters event! pic.twitter.com/a9i2B7ljsz
— Georgetown Politics (@GUPolitics) February 28, 2017
“Let him take the bait and come to you,” added the author of some of Obama’s most famous speeches.
Other speakers were Marc Thiessen, former President Bush’s speech writer, and Robert Schlesinger, the opinion editor at U.S. News & World Report and who wrote the authoritative book on speechwriting, White House Ghosts: Presidents and Their Speechwriter.
White House Ghosts traces the evolution of the presidential speechwriter’s job from Raymond Moley under FDR to the “Troika” of Michael Gerson, John McConnell, and Matthew Scully under George W. Bush.
Thiessen said that judging by the ratings of past first joint sessions, tonight’s audience will be the biggest of Trump’s presidency and he advised using it to explain his vision for the next four years.
“This is probably the most people that Donald Trump will be ever be speaking to in his presidency. And it’s an opportunity to reach not just — President Obama had 52.4 million for his first State of the Union, Donald Trump has 25 million Twitter followers. He should consider this as an hour long tweet where he can speak directly to the American people, over the heads of the fake news media,” said Thiessen.
He noted that Trump will have a chance to reach those who aren’t loyal supporters. “He’s got a chance to reach those people who are still deciding and where the clay is soft and he can make an impression.”
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]
