Fox News host Chris Wallace, who has witnessed every presidential inauguration since 1961, said Wednesday that President Joe Biden’s inaugural address is the best he has ever heard.
Biden vowed to unite the country and be the president “for all Americans” shortly after taking the oath of office Wednesday. Wallace praised the 46th president for stating, “democracy prevailed” after the January 6th Capitol riot, adding the speech was “part sermon, part pep talk.”
“I thought it was a great speech. I’ve been listening to these inaugural addresses since 1961 — John F. Kennedy’s ‘ask not.’ I thought this was the best inaugural address I ever heard,” Wallace told Martha MacCallum. “Obviously, a lot of this event today, a lot of the president’s speech was colored by the emotion of the fact that exactly two weeks ago, 14 days ago, there was a mob of thugs, of insurrectionists, of domestic terrorists on the inaugural stand. Joe Biden was saying democracy prevailed.”
“I think it was less an inaugural address and more part sermon, part pep talk, talking directly to the American people, saying, ‘hear me out,'” Wallace added. “It was a call to our better angels, a call saying, ‘look, we’ve got tremendous challenges, Covid, the commish racial injustice, climate change, but there’s nothing we can’t do if we come together.'”
He then highlighted Biden’s comment that “that there is truth and there are lies,” noting it is important for members of the media to understand Americans should “hear each other out” and not resort to violence.
“Now he’s got to turn word, rhetoric, into reality and action. But I thought it was a great start,” Wallace concluded.
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Over 20,000 National Guardsmen protected the inauguration, closing off most of downtown Washington, D.C. (RELATED: ‘I Will Be A President For All Americans’: President Joe Biden Pledges Unity In Inaugural Address)
Former President Donald Trump left the White House earlier Wednesday morning to his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida. A bipartisan coalition in the House, led by Democrats, voted to impeach Trump last week on one charge of “incitement of insurrection.”