BS Summary: This video contains 30 faulty reasoning types, including Negativity Bias, Appeal to Emotion, and Appeal to Authority, with Biased Writer Voice as the most egregious example at 28.2% saturation with 272 hits. Analysis detected 2,394 faulty-reasoning hits from 964 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 82.7% and a BS Rank of 89% (1,944 of 16,813 videos). This video is worse (more manipulative) than 88.40% of the video peer group.
All right, the other big story we're following right now, President Trump is delivering a prime time address to update the nation on the war with Iran tonight.
So, let's bring in CBS News senior White House and political correspondent Ed O'Keefe to talk more about this.
Ed, thank you so much for joining us.
All right, first things first, what do we expect the president to say about the war?
>> Well, we are expecting to get some kind of operational update, the White House says, on the progress of Operation Epic Fury.
You could expect the president, we're told, to reiterate that he anticipates at least two to three more weeks of military operations, which would go beyond his initial expectation that this was going to be a four to five week military operation.
uh and he's likely to reiterate what he has seen as the major objectives of this uh military operation to destroy Iran's deadly ballistic missiles and production of uh facilities to destroy their navy to ensure that terrorist proxies that Iran has helped stabilize for several decades in that region like Hezbollah or others down in Yemen uh can no longer operate uh and and that that network is in in essence destabilized and then guarantee that Iran is never able to obtain ain or develop a nuclear weapon.
Now, you'll recall that was the intent of the strikes on three different sites in Iran last summer.
And there have been questions about whether or not that didn't necessarily finish off the job.
And and there's been skepticism uh as to why that is such a key objective of this one if the president insisted back then that had been completely destroyed.
But we'll see to what extent he gets into those details.
We also expect him to be somewhat critical yet again of NATO allies who so far at least have not committed to helping try to secure and reopen the straight of Hormuz which of course is such a key oil choke point for the whole world.
>> Ed, what's behind the timing of the president's address tonight? Why tonight?
Yeah, you'd think on a night when Americans are blasting four astronauts into space and and so many other things going on and of course also it being April Fool's Day, why would you want to do it tonight?
The issue is politics, Jules.
Uh and and they're suffering for it at the White House these days.
The polling is getting increasingly poor for the president on the question of overall approval and perhaps most critically in a midterm election near his handling of the economy.
Fresh surveys out this morning suggest it's hovering at about 30% overall.
That is low for him, the lowest of his presidency depending on the surveys.
But all signs continue to be trending downward when it comes to public support for him overall for his stewardship of the economy and for American support and understanding of this war.
Our own polling at CBS has repeatedly shown a majority of the country doesn't believe he has thoroughly clearly explained why it is the United States needed to get involved with this military operation Iran.
Just as a majority said late last year, they didn't understand the justification for going into Venezuela to get Nicholas Maduro.
So when you take those two and the sustained criticism and skepticism and lack of understanding of why they're being done, the White House tonight trying to reset that, reexlain itself or perhaps explain itself better for the first time 5 weeks into this conflict.
>> So Ed, let's dive into the polling.
We have a CBS News poll on what Americans are thinking about gas prices, for example, and the economy.
So, in this particular poll, 67% of respondents said they don't think Americans ought to be willing to pay more for gas during the conflict with Iran.
And then when it comes to President Trump's overall approval rating, CBS polling, as you were saying, over 60% of respondents disapprove of how the president is handling the economy and in the inflation.
So, it seems the president has some convincing to do tonight.
Correct.
>> AB:
>> Absolutely.
And on that question of gas prices, I'll be curious to see if his discussion of that, if there is discussion, mirrors what he said when he was asked on Tuesday by a reporter about these rising gas prices.
Remember, they've now hit record highs for the first time since 2022, now averaging over $4 a gallon for a gallon of regular.
He immediately snapped back and said, "Well, it'll all come down when this war is over.
And also, if the trade-off is that you are now living in a world where Iran doesn't have an ability to build a nuclear weapon, isn't that worth it?"
This polling would suggest Americans don't think it is, and that they shouldn't have to be shouldering the price increase for a war that the president, in their view, started without explaining himself.
>> Another thing to talk about, birthright citizenship.
So today, President Trump became the first sitting US president to attend oral arguments at the US Supreme Court.
The case revolving around his push to end birthright citizenship.
So this would actually be the first major immigration case decided by the Supreme Court since Trump started his second term.
Your thoughts on that?
>> Well, it's not so much thoughts, it's just facts.
Look, this was an executive order that he signed on the first day back into office.
It would essentially lead to hundreds of thousands of people born in this country every year not obtaining citizenship.
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