Members of the media operate cameras as U.S. President Donald Trump speaks and holds a poster of an alleged criminal taken off of Minnesota streets by ICE during a press briefing at the White House, on the one-year mark into his second term in office, in Washington, D.C., U.S., January 20, 2026. REUTERS/Nathan Howard
The panel on CNN's "The Arena" with Kasie Hunt gave President Donald Trump poor marks for his speech on Tuesday.
Trump spoke at the White House press briefing for about 80 minutes before taking questions from reporters, meandering through topics ranging from foreign policy to being allegedly snubbed for the Nobel Peace Prize. Trump appeared to use the time to spread his campaign messaging ahead of the midterm election, according to CNN analysts, but he delivered the speech in such a "low-energy" way that he seemed to resemble how he described his predecessor.
"It was, to use one of his favorite phrases, low energy," said Jamie Gangel, CNN special correspondent. "It did go on forever. It was Fidel Castro-like and several people texted me, 'One year down, three to go.'"
Gangel added that the speech raised questions about Trump's goals while he's in office.
"People talk about looking at his polls, which are going down, and the White House [losing] independence. You have to ask some questions: Does he care about his legacy? What is the goal?" she said.
Marc Short, the former chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, said voters are growing tired of hearing Trump's "whining."
"I think that thewhining gets kind of tiring fora lot of people to continue towhine about, 'I'm not gettingenough credit for these things,'" Short said. "They want to know, what are youdoing, actually, to lowereveryday prices today?"