Good evening. Im abby phillip in new york. And tonight, how joe biden got his groove back and why youre about to hear what he said last night. More than a taylor swift single on the radio. 30 plus Million People tuned in last night to watch the president insist that the state of our union is strong, but also to see if biden could still look strong himself. Its something republicans told you over and over again that he simply could not do. President biden, on the other hand, im not even sure if he knows where he is. And i dont say that flippantly, neal. It actually hurts. He is our president , even if i disagree with him violently. But he clearly is not all there may be automatically that we laugh at it, because some of his ideas and all of his ideas are are laughable, arent they . But also, the longer we laugh, the less hell speak. Probably, or the longer hell have to be up there. Republicans. They bet on sleepy joe and a day later the spin is suddenly totally different. Biden wasnt sleepy at all. He was scary. Now, the difference between up joe tonight and his recent public appearances, filled with endless gaffes and stumbles and mumbling and bumbling, there was some mumbling and bumbling also, but the difference is so stark they so overcompensated. It is frightening. Well, it was a speech by an angry old man. Yeah, its like that episode of the simpsons where grandad gets out of the nursing home and starts yelling at the clouds out sleepy joe in up joe, but why might republicans say that . Well, because biden cleared the extraordinarily low bar that the gop set for him. The reviews. Well, they all picked their favorite f word to describe the speech last night. The Associated Press feisty. The Washington Post fiery axios feisty again the times inyourface punchbowl feisty reuters fiery semaphore fiery and the president came good with songwriting lyrics that he hopes americans will commit to memory. I came to office determined to get us through one of the toughest period in the nations history. We have it doesnt make new, but in news in a thousand cities and towns, the American People are writing the greatest comeback story. Never told. And, you know, the campaign liked it because, well, they immediately sewed it together into a new ad. The issue facing our nation isnt how old we are, its how old are our ideas. Hey, anger, revenge, retribution, or the oldest of ideas . I see a future for all americans. I see a country for all americans, and i will always be president for all americans. And you know, youll hear it over and over again on repeat, because you already did. Biden went like he does almost every big speech of his presidency back to pennsylvania, to the swing state backyard. He swapped his suit for a pullover. Let biden be biden, you could say. But close your eyes. And it sounds like the exact same record. Those bragging about Overturning Roe V Wade have no clue about the power of women, those bragging about Overturning Roe V Wade have no clue about the power of women in america. I know the american story again and again. Ive seen the contest between competing forces in the battle for the soul of our nation. I know the american story. Ive seen it again and again in contests between competing forces. The battle for the soul of this nation. I see a future where defending democracy , you dont diminish it. I see a future where we defend democracy , not diminish it. I see a future. For the middle class, as finally as a fair shot. And the wealthy have to pay their fair share in taxes. I see a future in the middle class, has a fair shot, and the wealthy pay their fair share. And joining me now is the former democratic senator from alabama, doug jones. Senator thanks for joining us tonight. You watched the speech last night. We all did. The president delivered a pretty forceful and sometimes it was even combative speech in that chamber. He was challenging republicans on democracy, on the economy and all these other issues. But i wondered, i mean, does this Signal A Pivot for joe biden from when he ran in 2020 as the candidate, you know, who would take the temperature down on partizan fighting . He believed then that republicans would come to their senses after trump today, he seems to have come to a different conclusion. Well, i think you have to you have to campaign and with the battle thats in front of you, not the one thats behind you. And he is recognizing whats happened since since he took office. And that is he has been demonized. Democrats have been demonized all with basically abby, nothing but falsehood and lies. And so when you do that, you become combative. And anybody who knows joe biden knows that when you go after him like that, hes going to come back and hes going to be forceful. And last night was not just a pivot. It was a demonstration to the American People about what hes done, what he will do, his vision for america, and importantly, that he is up to the task. I think he clearly demonstrated that last night. Do you think theres any risk here that he could alienate some voters, you know, voters in the middle, some republicans have been saying that biden was overly political last night. Well, you know, look, unfortunately, i think the State Of The Union has become a political showcase no matter who the president is. And i dont think he will alienate Republican Voters that are not going to vote for trump, that are looking for an alternative, looking for somebody who can work. Because at the end of the day, no matter what the rhetoric is. But joe biden has demonstrated in his entire career, including as president , that he can work with anybody. He got the infrastructure bill done, got the chips act done, got the pack act done. If republicans will meet him. Even part of the way joe biden has indicated that he would be there. And the most important example, i think recently is the work that they did on trying to get Border Security in the southern border with support for ukraine and others, which he talked about quite a long way at that point. He talked a lot about that last night. But but in addition to all of that, i mean, what would you say, though, is the democratic Policy Agenda for 2024 in just a sentence, whats the cliff notes version . I think the cliff notes version is democracy. Democracy is on the ballot like no other time in our history since the civil war. The president said that last night. You are looking at chaos with donald trump versus at least ability with joe biden, and democracy and respect for institutions. And while he was combative last night, he still respect folks. Look at what he said about Mitch Mcconnell when senator mcconnell announced his resignation the other day from leadership. I think that thats going to be the difference. Democracy is on the ballot, and thats what Everyone Needs to be focusing on in what is being said by donald trump and all of the folks are right now in the Republican Party. I really want to get your take on this because youre a lawyer. You served as a u. S. Attorney in alabama. You also played a pretty significant role in, you know, sherpa ing, one of joe bidens Supreme Court picks. You know, Ketanji Brown jackson. He called out the Supreme Court in a really pointed way last night on abortion, on that abortion decision. Were you comfortable with that . Yes, absolutely. I think the decision was wrong. I think the president was good in saying that it was that he felt like it was wrong. But more importantly, what he did was he turned the decision and red them back their own words and said, youre about to find out the power of women when it comes to the voting in this country. So i was absolutely comfortable with him doing that. I think that that has been a rallying cry for democrats, and it is, frankly, something that republicans still have not figured out how to run on. But it is, as weve said before, and i think its been said on your show, the dog caught the proverbial car and they dont know what to do with it. Joe biden knows what to do with it. Kamala harris does so today. No labels. Thats the group thats considering a third party challenge, says they are moving forward with that. If the result of a no labels challenge helps trump do you believe that they are essentially trying to end democracy . Well, im not going to say that theyre trying to end democracy, because i think theres a lot of wellmeaning people that are supporting no labels. I think that they are being misguided by the leadership of no labels, who is selling them a bill of goods to just try to raise money. And the and i think that if folks start looking at this and particularly any candidate that may be looking at running as a no labels candidate, they need to look and see what the stakes are in this election. And the choice is between donald trump and joe biden. And if theyre comfortable with donald trump being president of the United States, then fine. They they will run. I think that that is a huge mistake. And quite frankly, i think most of the people do not want to be a spoiler for donald trump. But thats where this will head. If they support any candidate, its the only thing they can do because they cannot. There is no way on gods green earth that they can win 270 electoral votes and win the presidency of the United States, and they really have not presented a credible plan for that. They havent even said who the potential challenger would be, who would be the candidate. I want you to listen to the groups Chief Strategist explaining to me why all the secrecy behind the people, behind no labels and who they are considering as a candidate. Listen they have said explicitly that they want to destroy the reputations and intimidate anybody affiliated with the no labels effort. And when you read the way theyre talking about it, it sounds like mafia wiretaps. The way theyre threatening anybody who would have the temerity to just challenge this ridiculously broken two party system, hes essentially saying that people like you who oppose what they are doing are acting like mobsters. Whats your response . Its pathetic. I mean, its really pathetic to hear somebody try to justify their existence by by criticizing others like that. That is just not the case. What we are trying to do and what we are been doing and having some success is showing that this is a fools errand that they cannot win, that they are doing this raising money off of this, that this is a political party, in fact, that is using secret donors, secret delegates, secret blue ribbon committees. That is not democracy at its best, abby. That is not democracy at all. Choice is one thing, but transparency is another. And they have not done that. The fact of the matter is, everyone one knows, and the reason theyre not getting any candidates because these candidates have run races before and they know when to hold them and they know when to fold them, and they are not going to be able to win the presidency under a no labels ticket. It is just not possible. All right. Well, we know, you know, well be following it. Former senator doug jones, thank you very much for staying up for us tonight. You got it. Thank you abby. Now State Of The Union nights are as much about theater as they are about substance, but they are also quite revealing. The event gives us a chance to eavesdrop a little bit on the president and congress. The mics are kept hot even after the speech, giving us a window into all the backslapping that goes on in private. And so heres what we learned last night. Well, first, members dished out plenty of compliments. You are the baptist preacher tonight. That was the sermon tonight. Good job. Great job getting texts from everybody watching the same. Wow jumping up and down, my mom jumping up and down saying phenomenal surprise. You brought the irish, the irish fire tonight we appreciate it. You did our homework i know i did. If she says you were on fire, it was amazing. You did a good job. You were right on. Yeah. Mr. President , great job. Thank you for standing up. Making me feel good. Right. Thank you for standing , i appreciate it. It made me feel good. I knew i was in your line of sight, so i was like, you really were, i was ready, i was quite some eyes. Can youre proud of your enemies as well . Exactly. Biden also had jokes for members over the issue of his age. Nobodys going to talk about Cognitive Impairment now. Yeah you were on fire. Kind of wish sometimes there was cognitive. And i need you to bring that energy with you that you just had tonight. I know a lot of energy. Thats my problem. There were also, of course, plenty of hallmark moments last night. What . Can you say hi to my niece. Whats your name . Marissa. Hey, marissa. How are you . How are you doing . Whos this guy . Hes wearing his irish shirt. You got your irish shirt on . Should we take a photo . Right here. Right here. There we go. Excellent looking good man. So are you. So are you. Looking good. You always look like. Yeah, i know, i wonder who your habits are. I told you, lets go shopping i like to, yeah. So this is lyndon, also team clyburn. Yeah how are you . Good to see you again. I work for jim to. Lena and lena. And if it wasnt clear that biden used the booing by republicans to bait them, he all but confirmed it. The interruptions thats just so new and different. I hope it wasnt a game they play. They did it last time and i said, oh, and i got them all together. So youre not going to Social Security anyone . I said, anybody going to cut Social Security, raise your hand. Biden also made a few candid revelations about foreign policy. Heres what im worried about in ukraine. If we pull away, the rest of us can say, i told him how many pieces . If you want to come here, just just. That was good. And finally, of course, bidens you dont have to go home, but you got to get the hell out of here moment. Most people cant leave until we leave. And we came here to go. This way. Well, there are democrats and republicans. We got vote up there. Im joking, im joking. Im sorry. You got to stay there. You just have to stay there. Oh, i got to go. This way. Always the last one to leave the floor. Coming up next. Even some republicans are mocking senator katy barretts response to President Biden. Ill speak with the republican pollster on what the voters saw. Plus, Donald Trumps guest of honor tonight at maralago is yet another autocrat. And why oscars Host Jimmy Kimmel says a second trump tum isnt worth the jokes. This is news night. Cnn news night with abby phillip is brought to you by so tyk2 find out if so, tyk2 is the treatment youve been looking for. Smile. You found it. The feeling of Finding Psoriasis cant filter out the real you, so go ahead. Live unfiltered with The One And Only so tyk2 a once daily pill for moderate to Severe Plaque Psoriasis and the chance at clear or almost clear skin. Its like the feeling of finding youre so ready for your close up or finding you dont have to hide your skin, just your background. Once daily. So tyk2 was proven better. Getting more people clearer skin than the leading pill. 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