Trump’s State of the Union

WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump on Tuesday night broke the record for the longest State of the Union address ever delivered to a joint session of Congress, clocking in at 108 minutes. The stem-winder largely focused on domestic issues, and the president invited several guests to showcase his administration’s policies as well as American accomplishments, starting with the U.S. men’s Olympic hockey team, who won gold at the Winter Olympics on Sunday. He also handed out two congressional Medals of Honor, two Purple Hearts, a Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the Legion of Merit.

To commemorate the nation’s 250th anniversary, Trump invited a veteran who will turn 100 on July 4 and another veteran who is 100. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., also brought along George Washington’s marble gavel—the first time it had been displayed in the House chamber during a State of the Union address.

While Trump’s speech roused repeated standing ovations from the Republican lawmakers present, most Democrats sat quietly throughout or booed. Although House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., had instructed his caucus to maintain decorum, several members heckled the president during his address. Reps. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., repeatedly yelled that the president was killing Americans. Tlaib also shouted at the president to release the Epstein files. Several Democratic women, wearing white suits, had invited Epstein survivors to the public gallery, but Trump did not discuss the issue during his speech. Instead, he claimed he has saved the country from failing Democratic policies. Dozens of seats in the chamber were empty as Democratic members either boycotted the event or left early.

Still, there were moments of bipartisan applause, including cheers for a girl recovering from a car crash involving an illegal immigrant, and applause for a Coast Guard member who rescued a girl during fatal floods in Texas last year. The president declared the country to be in a spiritual revival, which he credited to the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated at a college campus event last year. Kirk’s widow, Erika, was in the gallery as a guest of the White House. As the president said the country must end political violence, lawmakers on both sides of the room stood and applauded.

This year’s State of the Union address comes at a time when Trump’s approval rating has sunk to around 36%, according to a CNN poll released this week, down from around 50% roughly a year ago. Across most polls, the biggest declines have come from young voters and Hispanic voters. They show a partisan divide, though. In the CNN poll, 82% of Republicans approve of the president’s handling of the job so far, while 95% of Democrats disapprove. Only around 26% of Independents approve of Trump, down from 43% last February.

Here’s how the president’s speech addressed the major issues facing the country.

The Economy

The speech: Trump praised Republicans for supporting what he called the largest tax cuts in American history via the One Big Beautiful Bill signed into law last July. From the bill, he highlighted slashed taxes on tips, overtime pay, and Social Security benefits. He said more tax cuts are incoming. Trump touted declining core inflation, rising incomes, and new jobs created in the private sector as top economic achievements during his administration. Among the new jobs, Trump identified 70,000 new openings in the construction sector. He said the cost of many goods, including chicken, beef, butter, eggs, fruit, gasoline, and automobiles, had fallen during his administration.

The situation: Inflation has remained slightly above the target 2% during the first year of Trump’s second term, although it has cooled significantly since 2023. Certain key sectors, including electricity, natural gas, and medical care services, have seen prices rise far faster than core inflation. The White House in January counted an increase of 615,000 jobs since Trump took office, but Trump fired the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics last year, claiming she was doctoring reports to downplay job growth. According to the Center for American Progress, the manufacturing industry saw around 50,000 net job losses between January and September last year. Meanwhile, economists worry that programs intended to stabilize affordability and employment—including tax cuts, new prescription drug markets, and Trump Accounts with seed money for newborns—could apply inflationary pressure over the coming months.

Tariffs

The speech: Trump called tariffs one of the biggest catalysts for recent U.S. economic growth, crediting them for the Dow Jones Industrial Average breaking 50,000 for the first time earlier this month. Trump also claimed the tariffs have helped stop multiple wars—all without the runaway inflation experts predicted. He acknowledged but downplayed the recent Supreme Court decision that struck down many of his tariffs, calling the ruling disappointing and unfortunate. Trump did shake the hands of the four Supreme Court justices in attendance as he entered the room. In his speech, the president said that future tariffs will not require congressional action and will be paid for by other countries. He also claimed tariffs will be used to substantially replace the income tax system in the United States.

The situation: Last week, following the Supreme Court decision striking down Trump’s emergency tariffs, the president slapped a 10% global tariff (with a promise to raise it to 15%) on all imports under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. But the new tariffs aren’t a one-and-done—they’ll require congressional approval after 150 days. Assuming the process for approval is the same as regular legislation—a majority in the House and 60 votes in the Senate—Democrats could rally to block a tariff extension. Meanwhile, Republicans are looking for workarounds, such as relying on existing legislation to raise tariff rates even if Trump’s authority on the issue expires. This week, Democrats filed a bill that would force the administration to issue tariff refunds to small businesses.

Immigration

The speech: Trump said illegal immigrants from prisons and insane asylums in South and Central America flooded into the United States during the Biden administration. But Trump claimed “zero” illegal immigrants—and far less fentanyl than before—had been admitted to the United States in the past nine months. Trump claimed his administration was deporting record numbers of illegal immigrants, and at one point, he asked members of Congress to stand if they agreed that the first duty of the U.S. government was to protect U.S. citizens and not illegal aliens. Democrats remained seated. “You should be ashamed of yourself, not standing up,” Trump said. He accused Democrats of preventing the deportation of drug dealers, murderers, and other criminals on American streets. He urged Congress to pass new legislation he called the Dalilah Law, named after a child injured in a car accident involving an illegal immigrant who was driving a semi. The bill, Trump said, would ban states from granting CDL licenses to noncitizens.

The situation: According to tracking by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, nearly 70,000 immigrants were in U.S. detention centers as of Feb. 7. Although more than 73% do not have criminal convictions, according to TRAC, the Trump administration has disputed that picture, claiming that law enforcement personnel are arresting “the worst of the worst.” Meanwhile, opposition to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement strategy has grown among Americans, especially after federal agents killed two U.S. citizens—Renee Good and Alex Pretti—in Minneapolis last month. An AP-NORC poll this month showed 6 out of 10 Americans think the federal government had gone too far in deploying federal agents to American cities for immigration enforcement purposes.

Crime

The speech: Trump noted that the national murder rate had undergone a historic decrease, dropping to a 125-year low. He criticized cashless bail policies, which his administration has tried to quash across the country. Through cashless bail, Trump said, “Dangerous repeat offenders continue to be released by pro-crime politicians again and again.” He noted the attendance of the mother of Iryna Zaretska, a 23-year-old who was stabbed to death on a light rail train in Charlotte, N.C., last year by a man who had been released from jail without bail. Trump said crime was down in Washington, D.C., but he also referenced the death of West Virginia National Guard member Sarah Beckstrom, shot late last year by an Afghan who Trump said shouldn’t have been in the country. Beckstrom’s parents were in attendance during the speech, along with Andrew Wolfe, the National Guard member who was shot in the same attack but survived. Trump awarded Wolfe the Purple Heart. Trump also said his administration would start a “War on Fraud”—led by Vice President J.D. Vance—to address welfare fraud in Minnesota, California, and other states.

The situation: According to a January Council on Criminal Justice report, nearly every type of crime decreased in the past year. Reported homicides fell 21% compared with 2024, hitting a 125-year low. In August of last year, Trump mobilized the National Guard to Washington, D.C., to assist with law enforcement operations and generally clean up the city. But courts blocked similar deployments in cities like Portland and Los Angeles after local leaders argued Trump was violating state authority. In November, after an Afghan man traveled from Washington state to Washington, D.C., and opened fire on Beckstrom and Wolfe at a metro stop near the White House, Trump shut down all processing for Afghan refugee asylum claims.

Foreign policy

The speech: Trump touted his role in pressuring NATO countries to increase their military defense spending to 5%, up from 2%. He said ongoing talks with Iran have not yet resulted in a satisfactory deal and said Iranian officials must offer the “secret words”—a promise never to develop a nuclear weapon. He praised the military for its January operation to seize Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro. In a surprise appearance, the president welcomed Venezuelan opposition figure Enrique Márquez. Trump also gave a Medal of Honor to U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer Eric Slover for brave conduct during the January raid.

The situation: Over the past year, Trump has radically shifted the U.S. foreign policy position to be what he calls “America First.” This included reorienting the National Security Strategy to focus less on Europe and the Middle East and more on the Western Hemisphere. In June of last year, the United States bombed Iran in an attack that Trump said decimated the country’s nuclear capabilities. The Senate has now twice rejected war powers resolutions that would have blocked Trump from taking further foreign military action in Iran or Venezuela without consulting Congress. In the House, Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., plan to bring another war powers vote on Iran to the floor this week. But this week there has been another U.S. military buildup near Iran. On Tuesday afternoon, Secretary of State Marco Rubio met at the White House with the Gang of Eight, a group of bipartisan congressional leaders typically notified before the administration takes military action.

Wars

The speech: Tuesday marked four years since Russia invaded Ukraine, with still no end to the war in sight. But the president mentioned the Ukraine conflict only briefly, focusing instead on praising his Cabinet for working to end violence in Gaza, particularly singling out Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, an unofficial adviser. Trump said that he solved eight wars in his first 10 months, which prompted laughs from the Democratic side of the chamber. The president noted that since he has taken office, every living and deceased hostage captured by Hamas has been returned.

The situation: The president has complained of the difficulty of solving the Russia-Ukraine war and over the past year has variously accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin of simply perpetuating the war without an interest in peace. In the Middle East, plans are underway to launch an international security force in Gaza. In a ceremony last week, Trump launched a Board of Peace, part of a 20-point peace plan the president brokered to establish peace between Hamas and Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared that there will be no lasting peace until Hamas surrenders.

Congress

The speech: The president gave the legislative branch a hefty to-do list. He urged the Senate to pass the SAVE America Act, a bill that would add citizenship and photo ID requirements for voters in federal elections. He also asked Republican leaders Mike Johnson and John Thune to codify his executive actions on prescription drugs and most-favored-nation pricing. Trump also said that by next year he wants a new system to allow any American worker the same type of retirement plan offered to federal workers, with a government matching contribution of up to $1,000 per year. He called for a ban on congressional insider trading and specifically called out former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who is known for her large stock portfolio. Members on both sides of the aisle applauded the announcement. 

The situation: Over the past year, Republican majorities in the House and the Senate have remained largely in lockstep with the president, but little legislation has passed aside from the One Big Beautiful Bill. The SAVE America Act currently lacks the 60 votes of support in the Senate needed to overcome a filibuster. Tuesday also marked Day 11 of a partial government shutdown since Congress failed to pass a budget for the Department of Homeland Security. Democrats have demanded reforms to immigration enforcement before approving further spending for DHS.

—This report has been updated to correct the total length of President Trump’s speech, to reflect that he did speak about the war in Ukraine, and to clarify the president’s comments about most-favored-nation drug pricing.