the DON JONES INDEX…
	GAINS POSTED in GREEN LOSSES POSTED in RED 2/27/26… 15,627.56 2/20/26… 15,631.89 6/27/13... 15,000.00
(THE DOW JONES INDEX: 2/27/26... 49,499.20; 2/20/26... 49,395.16; 6/27/13… 15,000.00)

LESSON for FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27th, 2026 – “STATE of DISUNION!”

President Donald J. Trump voiced the nation’s 237th State of the Union on Tuesday night, applauding his own triumphs and denouncing evildoers... foreign and domestic... while Republicans on one side of the Capitol frequently stood up to applaud. Democrats on the other... not including those who had boy- (and girlcotted) the SoU usually sat stiffly, frowning or whispering to one another – the few exceptions being hostile shout-outs from far lefties like Squadsters AOC and Ilhan Omar and, in what appears to be becoming an annual ritual (at least for the next three years), the eviction of Texas Rep. Al Greene: this time for carrying and displaying a sign that denied the President’s (or “unknowing”) “Advisor’s” contention that Barak and Michelle Obama were monkeys.

Abba Dabba Doo!

LEADING UP...

Most Americans say the country is worse off than a year ago and that the state of the union is not strong, according to the latest NPR/PBS News/Marist poll. (2/23, ATTACHMENT ONE) The survey of 1,462 adults was conducted from Jan. 27-30 and had a margin of error of +/-2.9 percentage points, meaning results could be about 3 points higher or lower than the reported number.

By a 57%-to-43% margin, respondents said the state of the union is not strong, a 4-point increase from a year ago.

That includes 8 in 10 Democrats and about two-thirds of independents. Roughly three-quarters of Republicans, however, said they think it is strong.

The American partisan divide was evident in polling results attributed to education, age and gender (women 12 points more likely to say the union is not strong compared to men - 63% vs. 51%).

Republicans, white evangelical Christians, people who live in rural areas and parents with children under 18 were the most likely to say the state of the union is strong.

A majority of respondents (55%) also see the direction Trump is moving the country in as a "change for the worse," 53% of respondents said Trump's policies have had a mostly negative impact on them personally, a “whopping” 78% (91% of Democrats, 80% of independents and 61% of Republicans) said they see a serious threat to the future of American democracy, and 68% said the system of checks and balances dividing power between the president, Congress and the courts is not working well.

The CNN/SRSS poll concurred... just 32% of Americans now say that Trump has had the right priorities, while 68% say he hasn’t paid enough attention to the country’s most important problems. (ATTACHMENT TWO)

“When Trump addressed Congress last year for the first time since returning to the White House, his approval rating stood at a career-high 48% in CNN’s pre-speech polling,” recalled CNN’s Ariel Edwards-Levy and Jennifer Agiesta. Since then, he has lost ground across all major demographic groups, with Republicans, conservatives and White Americans without college degrees among the few groups to hold a net-positive view of Trump.

“Some of the steepest declines,” the polltakers said, included “a 19-point drop in approval among Latino Americans and an 18-point drop among Americans younger than 45. Among political independents, Trump’s approval rating has dropped 15 points over the past year to 26%, the lowest it’s been in either of his terms.”

Asked to choose the issue they’d most like Trump to address in his State of the Union speech, 57% picked the economy and cost of living, more than quadrupling the share who want to hear him focus on any other individual topic, including immigration, the state of democracy, health care policy, crime or foreign policy. Half of Democrats say they want Trump’s speech to touch on economic issues, rising to 56% among independents and 65% of Republicans.

“Part of the reason why I think people elected Trump was because they were hurting under Biden. … I think people were expecting Trump to provide a little bit of relief to their suffering,” wrote one poll respondent, a Republican from New Mexico. “Grocery prices are just through the roof. Everything is so expensive. … So I think he needs to talk about the economy, and he needs to talk about what kind of things he’s already done.”

More than 6 in 10 say Trump should focus on economic issues in his SoUaddress on Tuesday, Feb. 25th.

Several media outlets... left, right and center, chose to explain the history, issues and personalities among SoU’s – past, present and future.

USA Today, last week, did acknowledge his address to Congress in March, 2025, “but that speech wasn’t technically a State of the Union.” (ATTACHMENT THREE) “Presidents usually start with a joint address early in their first year, then move on to formal State of the Union speeches in the years that follow.”

As tradition holds, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La) invited the President to deliver this year’s address in January. In his letter. later shared on X, Johnson praised Trump’s leadership, saying the country “stands stronger, freer, and more prosperous.”

USA also said that they would livestream the address, which was also broadcast on all major television networks; the President’s near-hometown Palm Bech Post (Feb. 19^th, ATTACHMENT FOUR) recalling George Washington’s combined Inaugural Address and Annual Message in 1789 and “first regular Annual Message to a Joint Session of Congress in New York City on Jan. 8, 1790.” Successor John Adams followed but, in 1801, Thomas Jefferson abandoned the in-person speech for the written message, “perhaps because he wasn’t a great public speaker, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.”

After Jefferson, “it wasn't until 1913 that a State of the Union message was delivered again in person. President Wilson revived the practice of giving a speech.”

It was also during Wilson's time the address "became a platform for the president to rally support for his agenda," according to History, Art and Archives of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Since 1947, it has officially been known as the State of the Union Address.

WHAT STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS CALLED THIS AN 'HOUR OF NATIONAL PERIL'?

On Jan. 30, 1961, 10 days after taking the oath of office, President John F. Kennedy gave a State of the Union speech – cheering up Americans with dire findings on the economy, crime, affordability, the environment and, above all, the Cold War.

"That speech stands as the most alarming State of the Union address ever delivered," according to the Council on Foreign Relations... read it here.

The PBP also noted other notable SoU’s... the longest written (by Jimmy Carter) or spoken (by Joe Biden); the shortest (Washington’s 1790 Annual Message); the first broadcast on radio (by Coolidge), on television (Truman) and over the Internet (Clinton) and reporter Cheryl McCloud added that two Presidents (James Garfield and William Henry Harrison) died without ever deliving a SoU.

NewsNation (ATTACHMENT FIVE) reported that President Trump has delivered three SoU’s (2018, 2019, 2020) and two sets of remarks (2017 and 2025) and some incidents therein (including his award of the Presidential Medal of Freedom to conservative radio personality Rush Limbaugh in 2020, after which then-Speaker Pelosi ripped up her copy of the speech and, on a more positive note, the bipartisan applause after he “mentioned the record number of female lawmakers in 2019.”

PBS (ATTACHMENT SIX) reported that the 2026 SoU will occur only days after the Supreme Court “delivered a major setback to Trump's agenda when it struck down his sweeping tariffs.”

While Gov. Abigail Spanberger, Virginia's first woman governor and vocal Trump critic, will deliver the official Democratic response, counterprogramming events were also being planned by Democrats boycotting Trump's speech: a "People's State of the Union" rally on the National Mall, a "State of the Swamp," at the National Press Club and individual actions, as demonstrated for the second time by Rep. Al Greene.

A potential preview of the SoU occurred at Trump’s visit to Rome, Georgia last week after the departure of friend turned foe MTG with Liz Landers of PBS saying his speech was “focused on affordability” (ATTACHMENT SEVEN) and touting the stock market (then topping 50,000, if only briefly).

Aides and sources, speaking anonymously, complained that the dirty rabble did not appreciate Trump’s efforts to lower gas price and cut taxes (see polls above).

A complication was avoided when an armed gunslinger attempted to storm President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, in the early hours of Sunday morning, the Secret Service said. (Time, Feb. 22, ATTACHMENT EIGHT)

Austin Tucker Martin, a 21 year old with a shotgun and a “fuel can” was shot by agents and a Deputy from the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, a Secret Service statement said.

“He was ordered to drop those two pieces of equipment that he had with him, at which time he put down the gas can, raised the shotgun to a shooting position,” Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said. “At that point in time, the deputy and the two Secret Service agents fired their weapons and neutralized the threat.” The suspect was declared dead at the scene.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt praised the Secret Service, saying agents had “acted quickly and decisively to neutralize a crazy person.” She then criticized Democrats, whom she and President Trump have blamed for the current partial government shutdown.

“Federal law enforcement are working 24/7 to keep our country safe and protect all Americans,” Leavitt said. “It’s shameful and reckless that Democrats have chosen to shut down their Department.”

Another occurred after the White House invited the U.S. women’s hockey team to attend President Donald Trump's State of the Union on Tuesday, but the players said they were unable to attend.

A spokesperson for the team told NBC News' Monica Alba that the team, which won the gold medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy, was "sincerely grateful" for the recognition, but the players are unable to attend "due to the timing and previously scheduled academic and professional commitments." (Newsweek: Monday, 2/23, ATTACHMENT NINE)

Walking dead lateniter Steven Colbert later said he had had a tip that at least some of these “commitments” included a party thrown by rapper Flavor Flav.

Most of the men’s Olympians did attend on Tuesday, and goalie @ was awarded a Medal of @ Connor Hellebuyck, the goaltender for the gold-medal-winning U.S. men's Olympic hockey team, will be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom

Also on Monday, Olivier Knox, opinionator for U.S. News and World Report predicted that Trump would “defend his economic record and restate his position in the tense standoff with Iran,” but also that “there could be some surprises in the prime-time speech.” (ATTACHMENT TEN)

“I’ve written about these supernovas of presidential rhetoric for three decades – my first was President Bill Clinton’s State of the Union in 1998,” said bean counter Knox, adding thatL to put in perspective how much time has passed, “the federal budget ran a surplus of $69 billion that fiscal year. The fiscal 2025 deficit is projected to hit $1.9 trillion.”

Four questions Knox asked and, at least attempted to answer regarding the SoU were...

1) DOES IT STILL MATTER?

Politically, perhaps, but “this is probably the largest audience an American politician will get all year, even if recent ratings are down from their heyday.”

2) WHAT DOES HE NEED TO SAY?

With midterms coming up and control of Congress at stake, the man Knox called an “unpopular president” will be challenged to sell his economic record in a midterm election year.

3) WHAT WILL DEMOCRATS DO?

At least a dozen Democratic senators and representatives have already said they will boycott Trump’s speech, according to NBC. Some will attend a counter-programming rally, dubbed the “People’s State of the Union,” on the National Mall near the Capitol while Spanberger (above) will give the official ass (look) backwards.

4) WHAT’S A SKUTNIK?

That’s D.C. jargon for the special guests who sit in the gallery above the House floor, waiting to be invoked by the president (named after Reagan guest Lenny Skutnik who rescued survivers after an airliner crashed into the icy Potomac River).

Expected on Tuesday are, at least, some of the Gold Medal Hockey Team... and they showed.

As to issues, the Urban Institute (ATTACHMENT ELEVEN) predicted that a focus would be upon that word... “affordability...” citing the usual problems and predicting Trumpian solutions such as “banning large institutional investors from purchasing homes” (which at least some Democrats may support), “removing regulatory and land-use barriers, partnering with local developers, and enabling more factory-built housing, which is less costly and faster to build” (popular with remaining DOGE-ies).

On healthcare... with prescription drug prices one of the many drivers of these costs and millions “projected to lose Medicaid coverage because of new work requirements and other eligibility restrictions mandated by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” Trump is expected to unveil his Great Healthcare Plan calls to end kickbacks to pharmacy benefit managers and increase transparency of provider prices and insurance company practices, and create TrumpRx, “a federal government website intended to provide access to lower drug prices.”

Poor families who lose Medicare or Medicaid coverage would, on the other hand, be S.O.L.

And on equality – with wages for most not keeping up with inflation, the UI hopes Trump will cap credit card interest rates at 10 percent and carry out his Trump accounts, giving all children under four $1,000 from tariff revenues to use for home purchases, college expenses or to start small businesses.

Fox (ATTACHMENT TWELVE), opining that the economy has remained resilient “despite uncertainty caused by President Donald Trump’s economic policies, particularly his double-digit taxes on imports from almost every country on Earth,” that immigration, which has been down, is both a good and bad thing in that the dropoff has lessened the political value of the issue and that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet President Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday “in a visit expected to center on Iran.”

Partisan struggles, as noted by Reuters (ATTACHMENT THIRTEEN), are now viewed as: “a moment for presidents to wrest narrative from turmoil and craft the defining images of their time in power.”

To that end, the speech is expected to be long... perhaps longer than the 2025 address, which ran for
“1 hour, 39 minutes and 32 seconds, according to the American Presidency Project” (it did, below)... and, perhaps, historic (Reuters providing examples from out of the past).

U.S.A. Today waxed psychological on Saturday morning – asking which Trump would show up at the SoU... “the-economy-is-fixed Trump”, “I-feel-your-pain Trump”, the “America-First Trump” or “Nobel-Prize-peacemaker Trump?” (8:50 a.m. ATTACHMENT FOURTEEN)

Or perhaps all of them – as RFK Junior’s worms might contend...

Call it “a battle for Trump's brain”.

USAT posted their “four issues to watch”... these being...

1) The Economy (and a subsidiary...)

2) Inflation

3) Foreign policy (Trump still lusting after the Nobel Peace Prize), and...

4) Domestic policy (largely as relates to November’s midterm elections

In last year’s “address to a Joint Session of Congress” (first year Presidents not Constitutionally being entitle to a SoU), Trump ranged far and wide.

He praised fire fighters ("unbelievable people" who "voted for me in record numbers") while denouncing "wokeness" ("wokeness is trouble"), gave a “hat tip” to Secretary of State Marco Rubio but paired it with a warning: "Now we know who to blame if anything goes wrong," and blamed everything bad on Sad Old Joe.

About ninety minutes later, USAT (10:23 AM, ATTACHMENT FIFTEEN) opened up a can of poll-ass from the treacherous Dem asses at Quinnipiac and concluded that the President was “in retreat” as a result of the “hammer blow” delivered by SCOTUS the previous day “invalidating Trump's use of emergency powers to enact sweeping tariffs” and, thus, shattering “a pillar of his economic agenda.”

Noting other disasters from Minneapolis to Greenland, they dragged in Presidential historian Douglas Brinkley – who said the speech carried live on every television network and cable news channel is a “dream opportunity for presidents to up their game” and shore up their support.

“You own the floor,” he said.

But USAT then contended that the floor was “crumbling under his feet, with polls showing him at or near a second-term low amid cost-of-living concerns, intense backlash to his immigration agenda and skepticism of other administration policies,” (not to mention his Barry and Michelle monkey video).

"This SOTU could go from a circus environment to a coliseum atmosphere," GOP consultant Matthew Bartlett said.

Cheerleading from the Moonie Washington Times, the Editorial Board predicted that the clown car would be full of Democrats... carrying on “like spoiled toddlers Tuesday night because they have yet to demonstrate the ability to sit with dignity for more than a few minutes in the presence of Donald J. Trump.”

Dismissing anybody to the left of Stephen Miller (including more than a few traitorous Republicans), the WashTimes opined (2/23, ATTACHMENT SIXTEEN) that the President “will have to reinvigorate the coalition that returned him to the Oval Office a second time.”

Fortunately, real Americans despise “virtue-signaling” rambunctious House and Senate Democrats who “alienate ordinary voters with their crude antics,” and still want an agenda “that puts America first.”

The Times ticked off dirty tricks kicked off by Hillary Clinton and President Obama – but advised Trump to “prioritize his populist economic plan over foreign entanglements,” (apparently advice not taken).

Cynical Democrats are still celebrating... warned the Times... it’s “that nasty streak on the left that needs highlighting.” (And maybe a prison term or four.) “After four years of President Biden and his staggering inflation, falling real wages and migrant caravans, the nation is on the right track. It takes only a slight course correction to keep it firmly on the road to prosperity.”

On the pros and the cons of more tariffs, the IUK from over there in England quoted political strategist James Carville’s three decades old warning to Bill Clinton ("It's the economy, stupid!"), and added that the message “couldn't be more relevant.” (ATTACHMENT SEVENTEEN)

For better or worse, Britboy John Bowden advised, “that means talking about tariffs.”

At his rally in Rome, Georgia on Thursday... perhaps celebrating the retirement of MTG... Bowden reported that “the president was in clear campaign mode as he appeared alongside Republican candidates including Rep. Mike Collins, who is running for the Senate seat held by Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff.”

Set to spend the 2026 campaign season convincing Americans that “the projected negative effects of his volatile tariff levels are miniscule,” while the benefits of an "America First" trade policy are “simply being ignored by the growing number of Americans represented by his sagging approval ratings,” Trump (after being handed a note about SCOTUS during his breakfast with submissive and hostile governors) declared it’s a “disgrace,” and then walked out of the room, enraged. (Politico, ATTACHMENT EIGHTEEN)

Reiterating all the fails of 2026 to date... immigration and the shutdown thereupon, the economy, climate and, of course, Jeffrey... a frustrated Trump on Friday “fumed” to reporters about the Supreme Court’s rebuke, suggesting that some of the justices were influenced by an unnamed cabal of “foreign interests” that had bullied them into a “deeply disappointing” and “ridiculous” decision.

What could reverse the slide?

A foreign policy win... another Venezuela in, say, Cuba? Peace in Ukraine or Gaza? Or...

Well, Politico suggested, he’s “sending aircraft carriers, fighter jets and surveillance planes to the Middle East in preparation for possible military action in Iran.”

But no, Politico-ticians Megan Messerly and Daniel Desrochers rejected... another operation in Iran risks alienating isolationists in his MAGA base “and also distract from the White House’s efforts to sell its affordability initiatives to Americans, who do not want to see the U.S. embroiled in conflict abroad.”

Instead, the president “has multiple tools in his toolbox,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said at the Dallas Economic Club Friday afternoon, adding that other tariff authorities “will result in virtually unchanged tariff revenue in 2026.”

While Team Trump was polishing his speech and plotting to deal with those... other things... unhelpful Democrats were preparing to march around and shout slogans with a few sympathetic Congressthings at the National Mall. (NBC, ATTACHMENT NINETEEN)

The (old) progressive group MoveOn and (newbie) MeidasTouch announced Wednesday that they're hosting the “People’s State of the Union” rally at 8:30 p.m. ET near the Capitol. The event is billed as "counterprogramming" to "President Trump’s night full of lies and misplaced priorities for the American people." The groups said, "Democratic lawmakers will be joined on stage by the everyday Americans most impacted by Trump’s dangerous agenda."

“The lawmakers planning to skip the speech and attend the rally”, according to what organizers told NBC, “are Sens. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Tina Smith of Minnesota and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, as well as Reps. Yassamin Ansari of Arizona, Becca Balint of Vermont, Greg Casar of Texas, Veronica Escobar of Texas, Pramila Jayapal of Washington, Delia Ramirez of Illinois, and Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey.”

Next week, “Trump will deliver his State of the Union address. I won’t be there," Van Hollen wrote Wednesday on X. (That’ll scare him!) "Trump is marching America towards fascism, and I refuse to normalize his shredding of our Constitution & democracy.

Other Congressthings said other gloomy things and, in response, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson commented: "It’s not a surprise that they refuse to celebrate and honor the Americans who have benefitted from the commonsense policies Republicans have governed with," she said – previewing the accusations, below, that the problem was with spunkniks like the war heroes and first responders and hockey players whom the President introduced... and not the President himself.

“(I)n addition to delivering a formal response, Democrats have displayed their dissenting views in other ways,” the Peacock pronounced. “A number of Democratic lawmakers have either skipped the speech, walked out of the chamber mid-address or been thrown out of the chamber or have taken other action to make their disdain for his remarks clear.”

And they’d do it again.

Back during Trump 2.0 year 1.0’s “speech about” (not “state of”) the Union, Rep. Al Greene of Texas was removed from the House chamber by the sergeant-at-arms after he jeered at Trump. (He did it again), “(n)”umerous Democrats walked out in protest after Trump taunted Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and called her "Pocahontas" while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California tore up Trump’s “manifesto of mistruths,” and other Democrats who attended the speech “held up white signs” as Trump spoke that called him "king" and "liar" and others that said "Save Medicaid" and "Musk Steals."

This time around, none of the protesters cared about Musk anymore, and the most pertinent signs carried and raised declared that the Obamas “were not monkeys.”

A more measured, if not MAGAlicious interpretation of the SoU was provided by Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger – chosen by the DNCC to give the Democratic response to Trump’s SoU. (Guardian U. K. ATTACHMENT TWENTY)

“She stands in stark contrast to Donald Trump, who will lie, deflect and blame everyone but himself for his failed presidency on Tuesday evening,” House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries said in a statement announcing her selection. “As our nation marks its 250th anniversary this summer, Governor Spanberger embodies the best of America as a mother, community leader and dedicated public servant.”

In choosing Spanberger, 46, GUK reported that Democratic leaders “are handing the spotlight to a battleground-tested moderate with national security credentials and a reputation for message discipline, particularly on economic issues and highlighting the impact of federal policies on everyday Virginians. Her 15-point victory in a purple state last November, alongside Mikie Sherrill in the New Jersey’s governor’s race, provided a jolt of optimism for Democrats still searching for an effective response to counter a president who dominates the political national conservation.”

Last year, Democrats chose the Michigan senator Elissa Slotkin, “another centrist figure with an intelligence background who won her seat even as Trump claimed the battleground state in 2024. But unlike Slotkin, Spanberger is not seen as a potential 2028 contender.”

Democrats also chose Senator Alex Padilla, to deliver the party’s Spanish-language response.

In a statement to Politico, (ATTACHMENT TWENTY ONE) Spanberger said Americans expect and deserve “leaders who are working hard to deliver for them.”

“We are at a defining moment in our nation’s history,” she said. “Virginians and Americans across the country are contending with rising costs, chaos in their communities, and a real fear of what each day might bring.”

“We’re not going to Donald Trump’s house, he’s coming to our house,” Jeffries said. “It’s my view that you don’t let anyone ever run you off of your block.”

The Palm Beach Post (ATTACHMENT TWENTY TWO) identified ten “things to know” about the SoU... namely...

DATE AND TIME:

Tuesday, 2/24 at 9 PM EST.

HOW TO WATCH:

Broadcast and cable television, streaming on USA Today’s website and YouTube Channel, or, tho’ not mentioned, via raio.

WHAT IS A SOU?

A Constitutionally ordained explanation of same.

BY SPEECH OR BY WRITING?

George Washington and John Adams delivered the "Annual Message" to Congress in person.

President Thomas Jefferson opted to deliver his message in writing in 1801, a practice that continued until Woodrow Wilson in 1913.

FIRST SPOKEN DELIVERY

Washington combined his Inaugural Address with his Annual Message on April 30, 1789, and delivered his first regular Annual Message to a Joint Session of Congress in New York City on Jan. 8, 1790.

FIRST WRITTEN DELIVERY

Jefferson, Dec. 8^th, 1801 (the CFR alleges that he “wasn’t a great public speaker”.

WRITTEN DELIVERIES 1801 – 1913

Woodrow Wilson revived the speech, a practice followed by all since FDR.

NOMENCLATURE:

Called the “Annual Message” by Washington through Hoover; Roosevelt termed it in 1942, made official in 1947.

MOST ALARMING

JFK’a Jan. 30, 1961 cited “an hour of national peril” at the height of the Cold War.

That makes only nine – the Post added a grab bag of present concerns (7 in all) plus 13 more “trivia”... making twenty nine entries. (But who’s counting?)

LEADING ON… the SPEECH (Attachment “A” below) with timelines and takeaways from USA Today (Attachment “B” below) and the A.P. (Attachment “C” below)

LEADING OUT… the SPEECH displayed and dissected by partisans and others.

Referencing reaction to the SoU (as below)... USA Today reported that, with the first State of the Union address of President Donald Trump’s second term “now in the books”, opinionator Olivier Knox said that POTUS (ginning up his remarks) unloaded a barrage of “spunkniks” on the live and videographed Americans - awarding the team’s goalie, Connor Hellebuyck, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, then adding a “Legion of Merit medal for a Coast Guard rescue swimmer, the Congressional Medal of Honor for the chief warrant officer who led the raid that arrested former Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, the same for a U.S. pilot in the Korean War who shot down several Soviet fighters, the Purple Heart for a National Guardsman shot and grievously wounded in Washington, D.C., last year, the surprise appearance of a Venezuelan dissident recently released from a notorious prison. (ATTACHMENT TWENTY THREE) and pivoting left with a proposal to ban Congressthings from trading stocks.

In their shortened, paywalled entry (ATTACHMENT TWENTY FOUR) the New York Times began to list the “best and worst”: moments from the SOU according to its writers while Time’s Philip Ellott opined that the SoU... the longest ever... “strugg(ling) to Land its Points”.

:”At a whopping 108 minutes, Trump on Tuesday swung wildly between trying to reassure voters their gamble on his return to power was worth it and targeting the Democrats in the room with a series of sneers, taunts, and swipes. (ATTACHMENT TWENTY FIVE)

“The whole night seemed driven by gimmicks more than a clear or coherent message, and was devoid of any new policy ideas that would be obvious wins for GOP lawmakers.”

Elliott reported that the President boasted about military deployments domestically to Democratic cities like Washington, D.C., Memphis, and New Orleans. “They don’t like to hear that,” Trump said, scowling at the Democrats’ side of the House Chamber. 

“You should be ashamed of yourselves,” he snarled when Democrats sat in silence as Trump demanded they approve a spending package for the Department of Homeland Security.

And when he proposed a tough crime bill in response to the killing of a refugee in Charlotte, N.C., by an accused suspect with a long rap sheet and history of mental health challenges, he glared at the sea of sitting Democrats. “How do you not stand?”

Despite a year “in which Trump is resetting the world order, he barely touched on foreign policy until late in his address”... and, Elliott added, was “vague and circumspect” upon his Iranian problem.

And there were Presidential Whoppers on inflation, wars and the Fed. Before the speech ended, “Republicans were looking restless and more than a little tired—both because of the hour and because they know the march toward November will be a whole lot of this. 

The fact-checkers cited by Fox delivered a mixed verdict on the SoU – with PolitiFact, FactCheck.org, The New York Times and others “backing some immigration and crime claims while disputing others on voter fraud, Medicaid and foreign conflicts,” as may well have disappointed the faithful.

The fact-checkers confirmed his claim that the national murder rate is at a historic low but labeled his statements about "rampant" voter fraud, Medicaid and the number of wars he ended as misleading. (ATTACHMENT TWENTY SIX)

IMMIGRATION and CRIME

Illegal border crossings are still happening, but at a far lower pace.

"Encounters with people trying to illegally cross the U.S. southern border have dropped significantly during Trump’s second term," PolitiFact noted, adding that authorities encountered about 10,000 migrants in January compared to more than 60,000 in January 2025. 

NPR noted that Trump called Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska’s killer an immigrant despite local media have reported that the suspect, Decarlos Dejuan Brown Jr., was born in Charlotte, North Carolina. 

“When Trump said more broadly that the nation’s murder rate is the lowest it has been in 125 years,” however, “fact-checkers found that was true.”

WARS

“Trump gained widespread praise for brokering a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that led to a return of Israeli hostages, and the president has been credited with establishing a truce between Israel and Iran after carrying out damaging airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

The New York Times said that eight wars, though, was "exaggerated," and FactCheck.org called the figure "inflated" pointing to Trump’s disputed involvement in India’s ceasefire with Pakistan. Trump also "counts some international disagreements that weren’t wars," FactCheck.org said.

VOTER FRAUD

A top flashpoint for fact-checkers was Trump’s assertion that "cheating is rampant" in federal elections. State and federal prosecutions of noncitizen voting have been exceedingly rare, “but Trump and his base have contended that noncitizen voting is prevalent and simply going undetected,” and, while Fox was not the medium to say so, the 2020 race continues to obsess Djonald UnSettled – his bitterness now extending into its sixth year even tho’ David Becker, who runs the nonprofit Center for Election Innovation and Research, called the proportion of fraudsters “a surprisingly, shockingly small number," while New York Times said the number of noncitizens casting ballots is "infinitesimally small," noting a Trump DHS study that found up to 0.2% of registered voters could potentially be noncitizens.

JOBS

Fact-checkers labeled Trump’s assertion that more Americans were working than ever before as true, but they said the president’s claim about job growth was misleading.

MEDICAID

Fact-checkers swatted down Trump’s claim that he would "always" protect Medicaid, noting that the "big, beautiful bill," his signature tax and spending plan enacted in July 2025, cut nearly $1 trillion from the program by changing its eligibility requirements.

"With fewer people on Medicaid, the program costs less," FactCheck.org noted.

PBS fact checked the Democratic responders... official and unofficial alike... including some of the protest groups at the MoveOn and Defiance events (including “"State of the Swamp," and its frog-themed and frog costumed insurrectionists).

Official responder Gov. Abigail Spanberger discoursed upon immigration and affordability; the gumment funded liberals supporing her contention that Trump's policies 'have forced American families to pay more than $1,700 each in tariff costs' and accusation that 'Rural health clinics in Virginia and across the country are already closing their doors' because of Trump's signature One Big Beautiful Bill Act. 

The British libs at GUK called Trump’s SoU proclamation that his first year in office was a success, even as his presidency “is dogged by low public approval ratings before November’s midterm elections in which voters could hand control of Congress back to his Democratic opponents.” (Feb. 25^th, ATTACHMENT TWENTY EIGHT)

“Tonight, after just one year, we can say with dignity and pride that we have achieved a transformation like no one has ever seen before, and a turnaround for the ages,” Trump said.

“We will never go back to where we were just a very short time ago. We’re not going back.”

Recent surveys, unearthed by the GUKlies have shown that many voters disagree. “A Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll released this week found a mere 39% of voters view his presidency positively, and others have found him underwater on key issues such as the economy and immigration,” they said, adding that the SoU was “interspersed with falsehoods and exaggerations but light on new policy proposals.”

Hakeem Jeffries, the top House Democrat declaimed that the President had “spewed lies, propaganda and hatred,” in a statement. “Instead of presenting the nation with a positive vision for our future and the economy, the president blamed others for his failures.” Although he repeatedly urged his members in the run-up to the speech to maintain decorum, with lawmakers specifically instructed not to bring signs, Rep. Greene held up a sign reading "BLACK PEOPLE AREN'T APES!" (Attachment Six, above)

Spanberger simply called for Trump to focus on the needs of American families while also condemning the president for doing “what he always does: He lied, he scapegoated, and he distracted.”

But the outsiders, outsider were less polite. On the Mall, Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) called to impeach Attorney General Pam Bondi over the Epstein files, and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) accused Trump of “rigging” the midterms by pushing voting restrictions to “save his authoritarian control and turn the presidency into a kingship.” (Politico, ATTACHMENT THIRTY) Even Robert De Niro checked in, causing Matt Bennett, an executive with the center-left think tank Third Way to warn the hardlining soldiers that a “...uniform response is much better than a cacophony of responses.”

“These are not the times for an institutionalist to say, ‘Well, let’s just give him his moment, and if you want to protest, protest by sitting there silently.’ That’s bullshit,” said Miles Taylor, a co-founder of Defiance and former Trump administration official-turned-Trump critic. “And I think that Hakeem Jeffries knows that his caucus feels like that doesn’t meet the moment, which is why so many of them are literally just not showing up.”

Rep. Lee (above) railed against Trump’s “authoritarianism” and cast his speech as an “obituary for the country working people built” in her Working Families Party rebuttal, said Democrats are at a “crossroads” and won’t win control of Congress “by electing more of the same” — which she cast as those who “speak boldly but deliver cautiously or sometimes even vote with MAGA.”

Foreign media reactions have been cautious.

SecState Marco Rubio issued a perhaps presumptive communiqué to Iran, demanding that they “stop taking hostages and release all Americans unjustly detained” as yet another round of talks over Iran’s nuclear programs collapsed. (Reuters (Feb. 27 - ATTACHMENT THIRTY ONE)

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he was disappointed with the negotiations, warning, "sometimes you have to use force."

Another blurb from blighty... the BBC’s take on the SoU... concluded that Trump had offered “victorious - and sometimes combative - remarks, praising the work of fellow Republicans and outlining his future agenda.” (ATTACHMENT THIRTY TWO)

They offered six stately takes on the State with, as has been reported repeatedly, control of the Congress at stake.

1. Speech sets record for length - focusing on domestic issues and touching on Iran

Clocking in at a record one hour and 47 minutes, Trump's address beat the previous record-holder, by Bill Clinton, by nearly 20 minutes.

2. Trump comes face-to-face with justices who struck down his tariffs

All of the court's justices are invited to the president's state of the union address, but on Tuesday evening, only four of the nine were present: Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Elena Kagan and Brett Kavanaugh. As is customary, Trump shook the hand of Roberts but Barrett remained emotionless as Trump called the ruling "disappointing" and "unfortunate".

3. Democrat ejected from the room... again

It's become almost routine for the president's annual address to lead to protests from the opposing party... specifically Greene, protesting the Obama monkey video.

4. 'Stand up' moment highlights gulf with political rivals

Trump noted several times that Democrats did not cheer nor stand as he listed off his administration's actions and policy wins. "You should be ashamed of yourself, not standing up," he said.

He also said at one point: "These people are crazy. I'm telling you. They're crazy."

5. Victorious hockey stars introduced to chants of 'U-S-A, U-S-A'

Trump applauded the team's victory as they looked on the chamber, gold medals in hand, and announced that Connor Hellebuyck, goalie of the team, would receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom - America's highest civilian honour.

6. More honours for National Guards shot in Washington, and Venezuela raid pilot

Among the others decorated during a night of showmanship and special guests were two young National Guard members who were shot while patrolling in Washington DC late last year.

Andrew Wolfe, 24, who was injured, and the family of Sarah Beckstrom, 20, who was killed, were given Purple Heart military decorations.

Al Jazeera (Feb. 25, ATTACHMENT THIRTY THREE) called the SoU “combative” and, as reported above, “the longest in modern history.”

“Trump boasted that inflation is plummeting and gas prices are lower. He also defended his immigration efforts, which have caused turmoil in Democratic-run cities and resulted in the deaths of two US citizens shot by immigration agents.”

The Jazzy fact checks included…

Economy

“Inflation has eased somewhat during Trump’s second term, but “plummeting” is an exaggeration.”

Wages on Trump’s watch have so far risen faster than inflation.

Trump claimed gasoline is ‘now below $2.30 a gallon in most states’. But if the war with Iran goes on longer, look for this to change.

Immigration

“In the past nine months, zero illegal aliens have been admitted to the United States,” Trump declared, referring to undocumented immigrants.

Encounters with people trying to illegally cross the US southern border have dropped significantly during Trump’s second term.

Crime

“Last year, the murder rate saw its single largest decline in recorded history. This is the biggest decline, think of it, in recorded history, the lowest number in over 125 years,” Trump said in his long speech.

He’s right about the largest decline, but whether it’s the lowest in 125 years is less certain.

SNAP benefits

“In one year, we have lifted 2.4 million Americans, a record, off of food stamps,” Trump said.

Other say: replace the term “lifted” with “cut off”.

Trump also promoted his newly launched “Trump accounts”, which is a saving tool for children.

Al Jazz did not fact check Trump’s remarks on Iran – because there weren’t any

Further north in Germany, DW called Trump’s SoU “debunked” (ATTACHMENT THIRTY FOUR)

Specific untruths were his ending eight wars, ending inflation, immigration (the Germans called the allegation that foreigners were emptying their prisons and mental institutions into America “Unproven”. Again, there was scant mention of foreign affairs.

And while the French, did question the American’s “clarity” on Iran, France 24 chose not to question his apparently signature statement on the Tehrorrists… his claim that he would not allow them to have a nuclear weapon. Iran also compared Trump to Goebbels. (ATTACHMENT THIRTY FIVE)

Instead they focused on his condemnation of Democrats for criticizing ICE actions, including the murders in Minneapolis. They also noted the protest against the Epfiles by women who wore white.

CNBC (ATTACHMENT THIRTY SIX) added that, like Iran, Trump made “little mention” of China.

Their only mention was in reference to “Russian and Chinese military technology” that guarded Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

The silence came as Trump plans to visit Beijing from March 31 to April 2, the first trip by a U.S. president since 2017.

“The lack of mentions about China in Trump’s speech is another example to show how Trump stays cautious now about U.S.-China relations,” pointed out George Chen, partner at The Asia Group.

“Trump doesn’t want to pick a fight with China in an election year,” said Gabriel Wildau, managing director of the public relations firm Teneo. “The state of the union showed Trump thinks glorifying U.S. military triumphs over weak states like Venezuela makes better election year politics than fighting with China over rare earths,” Wildau said.

CNBC interviewed Steven Okun, founder and CEO of Singapore-based APAC Advisors, who said: “we may see a deal on tariffs with China end of March or early April.”

Marko Papic, a chief strategist at global investment research firm BCA Research, simply said: “A big deal is coming!”

And CNN (Wednesday, 2/25 at 5:30 PM, ATTACHMENT THIRTY SEVEN) reported that Djonald UnDeterred “slapped new sanctions on Iran ahead of talks tomorrow in Geneva with Tehran.

While Politico, like the foreign media, reported on the President’s poor showing in the polls, they also suggested that Trump had handed them the lifeline they need to win on immigration again.

It came as just one quick moment during the president’s record-breaking State of the Union address Tuesday night, when he asked lawmakers to rise if they agreed with a “fundamental principle.”

“If you agree with this statement, then stand up and show your support: The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens,” Trump said, prompting Republicans to take to their feet while Democrats remained roundly seated and expressionless. (Feb. 26^th, ATTACHMENT THIRTY EIGHT)

Seizing the optics (and maybe a little AI juxtapositioning of words and images including not only immigration, but the national heroes awarded medals during the speech), the conservative nonprofit American Sovereignty will begin airing a 30 second ad Thursday that plays the moment in full, overlaid with text claiming Democrats are “for illegal alien criminals.” The ad, first shared with POLITICO, is part of the group’s ongoing seven-figure television blitz in critical battleground states like North Carolina, Michigan and Georgia.

“For most of the history of our country, Democrats and Republicans have disagreed in good faith on how to best protect the citizens of this country,” said David Shafer, a GOP strategist who previously served as chair of the Georgia Republican Party. “The Democrats made clear that protecting American citizens is no longer their primary objective.”

Rep. Buddy Carter of Georgia, who is running in the competitive GOP primary to unseat incumbent Democrat Sen. Jon Ossoff, was among the first candidates to take aim over immigration after the State of the Union.

“Tonight, Democrats — including Jon Ossoff — refused to stand for the American people,” he said in a statement Tuesday following Trump’s speech. “We saw a clear-cut division tonight between the Republicans, under the leadership of President Trump, who are standing up for our country, and the Democrats who stay seated and refused to acknowledge the truth: The State of our Union is strong.”

Perhaps unfortunately, however, the Hollywood Reporter reported that TV ratings for the SoU were “trending down.”

President Donald Trump’s 107-minute speech (the longest on record) drew about 27.8 million viewers across the seven most watched broadcast and cable outlets: ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News, the Fox broadcast network, MS Now and NBC. That’s down by about 12 percent from 31.45 million viewers for those same networks for Trump’s address to Congress last year (which was not technically a State of the Union as it came at the start of a new administration).

Fox News led the way with 9.1 million viewers, well in front of ABC’s 5.1 million. The latter was the top broadcast net for the speech for the sixth straight year, outdrawing NBC (3.6 million), CBS (3.3 million) and the Fox broadcast network (2.1 million). MS Now (2.4 million) beat out CNN (2.2 million). (February 25^th, ATTACHMENT THIRTY NINE)

USA TODAY, however, seeking to bolster its optics of moderation and impartialisty, ran an opinionator by one Joni Werner a (now former) Democrat who said that the speech changed her mind – not only about Trump, but about all the candidates.

“I believe Trump has only the best interests of the U.S. at the core of all his decisions,” she began. “I do believe the changes he has made are working. Democrats should offer him more support.”

She also expressed “disappointment” in all the elected leaders who refused to celebrate the people who have been sacrificed because of the policies brought about by the Biden administration.

“The speech improved my opinion of Trump, and I believe he has only the best interests of the United States at the core of all his decisions. I do believe the changes he has made are working, and I wish the Democratic Party would give him the same courtesy they gave the Obama administration with illegal aliens. It does not need to be this difficult. I believe Trump is trying to make government more transparent and follow the rules.

“Government needs to actually represent the people, not politicians' self interests and agenda. I am actually a registered Democrat, and I was ashamed of how congressional Democrats were acting at the State of the Union ‒ not giving Trump the common courtesy and respect the office of the president deserves.

“It will certainly be reflected with my vote in the midterms, and I will not vote for Democrats currently in office.”

A Christian, writing for “Standing For Freedom” offered his five takeaways that justified not only a Republican sweep in November but a single party regime between the President’s vision for strengthening family, freedom, and prosperity and that of the opposition — who defiantly refused to stand and applaud American heroes, American children, and the American way of life.

“Roughly half of House and Senate Democrats boycotted it entirely, including House Minority Whip Katherine Clark and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who held counter-events rather than face the music. Rep. Al Green was escorted from the chamber very early in the night after interrupting the president and waving a sign,” charged Ryan Helfenbein in his opinionation for the Liberty University group (Feb. 27^th, ATTACHMENT FORTY ONE). “Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib both shouted from their seats, breaking decorum during President Trump’s speech, especially when the President talked about Somali fraud and the number of Americans who have died as a result of mass illegal immigration.”

Omar is Somali, Tlaib an Islamist from Palestine. In response, President Trump said both should be deported.

Citing his five takeaways on the SoU, Helfenbein reported that, Republicans stood and cheered for American heroes and patriots. “Republicans stood for tax cuts. They stood for the protection and defense of American families and American citizens from the criminal carnage of illegal immigration. They stood for the American middle class. They stood for voter ID laws requiring only citizens vote in federal elections.

“(The) silence from Democrats was not political confusion — it was electoral strategy. Democrats cannot afford for Americans to believe both that Biden was a catastrophic failure and that Trump’s second term is a triumph.

Trump’s superiority could be gleaned from (1) the economy, (2) the border, (3) the fraudulent elections, (4) protection of children from government surgery to change children’s sex without the consent of the parents, and (5) that gratitude wins over grievance any day of the week.

Trump honored the U.S. hockey team, the captor of Nicolas Maduro, the widow of Charlie Kirk and God – inspiring Helfenbein to express support for “policies that will no doubt protect and defend life, marriage, and family, as well as the necessary freedoms of our Bill of Rights for American citizens, who are the only ones who have a right to live in America and to vote in America.”

From the left, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani was unusually quite last week, perhaps because the record snowfall obligated him to do earthly duties… like getting the snow shoveled… instead of spouting politics.

Even this, however, drew him into a catfight with the President over his requirement of "two forms of ID" from temporary snow shovelers while passing off on strengthening laws against alien voting in New York. (ATTACHMENT FORTY TWO)

The president drew comparisons to the identification required to shovel snow in Mamdani's New York City to legislation that he supports requiring require people to furnish photo identification in order to vote in national elections.

Trump called Mamdani "a nice guy" with "bad policy."

Tonight, the Times of Israel, published an opinionation from Tony Senatore, an author and sociology graduate whose defense of the SoU was that it was “a mirror held up to our republic itself.”

Citing the fears of Alexis de Tocqueville: “a people drifting toward intellectual conformity, mistaking party loyalty for principle, and surrendering the civic discipline of self-government for the easier comforts of tribalism,” Senatore accused Democrats of hypocrisy and, perhaps, treason.

“After watching the address, which ran for almost two hours, I could not help but think that there was a lot that President Trump should have included in his address, but did not, specifically for his supporters like me who feel confused by the direction America First seems to have taken. Also significant was the number of politicians, such as House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, advising caucus members to either attend with “silent defiance” or skip the State of the Union speech entirely. Former Secretary of Labor during the Clinton Administration, Robert Reich, had similar advice for the American people, imploring them to boycott the address and outsource their Tocquevillian civic duty as American voters to partisan commentators like himself rather than tune in. Coming from a person who constantly talks about democratic backsliding and the erosion of democracy, Reich’s hypocrisy is astounding.” (ATTACHMENT FORTY THREE)

Amid the hallelujahs and hosannas are a few doubts and cautions as may retard deification or dictatorship

“I have been critical of friends and colleagues who have uncritically defended or rationalized his statements and actions regardless of evidence, contradiction, and, in the process, elevated President Trump to an infallible or quasi-sacred individual impervious to criticism.”

As is now apparently transpiring, Donald’s doubled down on boots on the ground, missiles and drones in the air and regime change with little or no consideration of what the new national order of Venezuala, or Greenland (or Iran?) will look like – DJI Nor has this pivot been without its effects on the isolationist wing of the ‘pubs – add to those below the updated March Madness of Tucker Carlson going donkey.

Well, those of us who voted for Trump wanted entertainment…

Back to Senator… uhh, Senatore… he called it an “undemiable fact” that the President’s American First movment “has morphed into something different than the promise he campaigned on: the end of military intervention on foreign soil. I am not alone in my view, as this is the very issue that has created a rift between President Trump, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Senator Thomas Massie. In a very short time, we have gone from shifting the focus away from war and towards American interests, to talk of regime change in Cuba, Venezuela, and Iran, and the need to defend Taiwan should China invade it. Changing course is not always a bad thing, but to date, President Trump has not persuasively argued why the sudden shift in foreign policy…” and, in the SoU, well… crickets.

“One of my conservative friends told me that Americans needed to watch the debate in a similar way to how workers in corporate America need to endure performance evaluations from their supervisors…” arguing that “since President Trump was, in essence, the boss of the world, we are beholden to give him our undivided attention. I respectfully disagreed with that assessment (as well as) with Hakeem Jeffries’ idea that our elected officials should bypass the address.

“President Trump is not our boss; it’s actually the other way around. As Thomas Jefferson asserted, “the people are the only censors of their governors.” If our elected officials do not live up to our expectations, it is they who will be fired, not us. People like Robert Reich. Hakeem Jeffries and President Donald Trump are asking us to do exactly what Alexis de Tocqueville warned us about in Democracy in America, and it applies equally to the left and the right.

“Democracy weakens when party loyalty to party outweighs loyalty to process. The State of the Union Address, calls to disengage and boycott it, and reactions from both sides reveal a lot about where we are as a nation. Americans are less engaged, less informed, more tribal, intolerant of opposing speech, unwilling to defend constitutional norms when their party violates them, and are spectators, rather than active participants in our democracy.”

If doubt is a civic virtue, Tony wraps, “then blind allegiance is its enemy. The future of the United States will hinge on which habit Americans choose to cultivate.”

And that brings the DJI to its final (unepisodic) nugget of wisdom or foolishness from the press and the potentates – in this case, the severe and stately Council on Foreign Relations whose take on the SoU was penned by Experts, not authors.

Their summary confirmed and concluded the assumptions above that Trump “focused primarily on domestic policy” with an appetizer of immigration and an empty plate… no tacos, no tequila… on the exploding Mideast beyond speculations that Iran’s “sinister ambitions” to obtain nuclear weapons despite the persistence of diplomacy up until the bomb began to fall.

Spanberger, less celebratory, In the official Democratic response to Trump’s speech, Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger “contradicted his tariff claims, citing an estimate by Congressional Democrats that they cost U.S. households an average of at least $1,700 since Trump took office. She said Trump “continues to cede economic power and technological strength to Russia, bow down to China, bow down to a Russian dictator, and make plans for war with Iran.”

Dozens of Democratic lawmakers boycotted the speech and attended alternate events where watched human beings dress up as frogs and criticized Trump’s policies.

The CFR, being staffed by “experts” as they allege, also tackled a few of the largely ignored state of developments as were also shunned by the SoU.

Interesting times like ahead. AI deep fakirs at Anthropic stood up on their hind legs and refused to wag their tails at the Pentagon’s claim to greenlight mass surveillance and autonomous robots. The U.N. voted to tell Ukraine and Russia to stop fighting. Bolivia promised not to deal drugs. China purged underperforming generals and yet another war appears to be breaking out between Afghanistan and Pakistain.

And Democrats continued to complain that all the Epstein files have not yet been released.

	IN the NEWS: FEBRUARY 13^th, 2026 to FEBRUARY 19^th, 2026
Friday, February 20, 2026 Dow: 49,625.97	SCOTUS rules 6-3 against Father Trump’s tariffs... “without tariffs,” he says, “this country would be in so much trouble,” calling the justices – including his own Amy and Neil – “fools and traitors.” The busy Preident also cuts his deadline on Iran to submit to his demands from 15 to 10 days, after which another foreign war looms. He also ends W.H.O. membership and ddeclares that he is the expert on EpFiles and disgraced Andrew, because he, too was persecuted. Out of jail, the ex-Prince admits that Jeffy offered “opportunities”. After Barack Hussein Obama says he believes that UFOs are real, Trump responds by promising to release the X files (but also ways his predecessor should be prosecuted and jailed for leaking). And he celebrates Himself by putting a big banner on the DoJ building that says “Make America Safe Again”. Want traitors? Da’Bears are moving to Indiana to take advantage of a new, taxpayer-paid stadium in Hammond. This will leave the third largest city in America with no NFL
Saturday, February 21, 2026 Dow: Closed	After SCOTUS rejects his tariffs, President Trump imposes new 10% levy using a different Constitutional loophole. (It has to be ratified by Congress within 150 days) Calls Barrett and Gorsuch “embarrassments” while consumers call the decision “moneymental”. Christian Lagarde of the Eurpean central bank compares tariffs to teenage driving, saying: “You have to know the rules of the road,” while T. brought “disruptions”. British police search Randy Andy’s former homes, interview bodyguards and airport officials with hints of sex trafficking flights while tabloidsters stalk other royals. In the last day of the Milan Olympics, overtime goal by older@ brother @ who sacrifices a few teeth for the cause. It’s the first gold medal in hockey since the miracle 1980 defeat of the Soviet Union during the @ Games. America ends up with @ medals (g,s,b) – second only to Norway (See Attachment “B” below) In professional sports, MLB’s exhibition spring training games begins with new regulations about umpire calls on balls and strikes backed up (or negated) by filmed reviews.
Sunday, February 22, 2026 Dow: Closed	A defiant Trump orders Iran to make their nuclear decision within two weeks or war begins. Still enraged by SCOTUS, he pivots, cancels 10% tariffs, imposes 15%. Mexico’s Jalisco cartel leader “El Mencho” killed by army with American CIA assistance, resulting in criminals hunting down Americans, blowing up cars and buildings and provoking orders for tourists to shelter in place. Sunday talk centers upon tariffs and taxes. Trump trade rep Jamieson Geer says that the former are “very durble tools” which His President imposed because of the 45% increase in Biden’s trade deficit. He’s confident that revised language will hold up before Supremes and adds that Trump will meet with Xi on China stuff. Round Tablers talking ‘dis and “dat include liberal Donna Brazile, who says that tariff policy keeps changing and not even Trump knows what he’s doing; conservative Ramesh Ponneru (Nat. Review) says MAGA supports war, but wants an explanation, even after he tears up Biden’s “paper promises” on nukes. Jay O’Brien says the President has to justify any attack the “false claims” on Fodrow and says Shutdown 3.0 is causing long lines at airports. Susan Page says that immigration, a positive for Trump in ’24, is now a liability due to the Minnesota shootings. Ponneru says the issue has been losing hat as border crossings slide,; on the SOU rebuttal, Brazile calls Va. Gove Spanberger a “great choice.” Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-Pa) was at the White House with other gGovernors when the SCOTUS decision appeared – after which POTUS snarled “Disgrace!” Agrees that Iranians are bad, but also wants transparency before war. He hopes to flip Congress in November but worries about Fetterman. Greer, again, tells “Face the Nation” that SCOTUS controversy pits Section 301 against Section 122. Although Trump says “foreign investors” have compromised the courts; six no tariff justices want to “take down” tariffs and import “cheap Chinese crap” while Iranian foreign minister Abbas Aragcho, preparing to meet Witkoff in Geneva, says there is no need for an Iranian military buildup to “pressurize” America; we want a “win win” situation.
Monday, February 23, 2026 Dow: 50,185.37	The Olympics close with ceremonies in Verona, Italy and winning American hockey pucker Jack HughEs shows off his chipped teeth as Lindsey Vonn returns home having avoided amputation of her leg. (See ATTACHMENT “B” for results) Nor’easter bomb cyblone bombs BosWash with two feet of snow and 70 mph winds closing schools and stranding travelers. Brief NYC warmup melts ice and reveals dog poop and then more snow and winds up to 84 mph hit Montauk on Long Island. All time “heavy heart attack” snow follows the brief warmup. Trees fall power fails, three feet of snow in Providence and Plymouth to freeze any leftover pilgrims. About 250,000 powerless in Minnesota. Cars slide and airports close... in Vegas’ airport, the abandoned service dog adopted by rescue cop. In crime and legal news, the Mencho death toll tops 70 and there’s another shootout that kills 2 cops at the border – the Canadian border! Nick Reiner pleads not guilty, lawyer quits and he has to get a Public Defender. As authorities lose hope and the public loses interest, Savannah Guthrie tries to keep the search up with a million dollar reward.
Tuesday, February 24, 2026 Dow: 49,533.19	In the runup to the State of the Union (and after Mar-a-lago shooting, above), President Trump says “a lot of people are gunning for me” but crazy shooters only go after important people. He predicts “a long speech” tonight – and delivers. Pre-SoU warning from Gen. “Raisin’” Caine advises against attacking Iran because “the people of Iran are different from the leaders of Iran.” Trump duly notes in his SoU that Americans should support street protests in Tehran, but not in Minneapolis. Related or not to the big pictures, Americans continue killing one another – often in domestic violence incidents (also another SoU) no problem. Children’s book author Kouri Richins from Utah accused of poisoning her husband so as to acquire his money, and then writes and merches a book about grief. Former AmIdol Caleb Flynn acused of killing wife, declares that he believes in God. Mad stabber kills four in Seattle, 4 cops shot, two die, in Missouri. Both suspects are killed by police. Add to these more suicides... DC staffer of Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Tx) kills herself after sex with the MAGA politician, actor Robert Carradine follows his brother David into the beyond as also does Catherine, daughter of “Amigo” Martin Short.
Wednesday, February 24, 2026 Dow: 49,662.66	Live from CBS at midnight, lateniter Steven Colbert gets first crack at the SoU and is first to note that the speech was the longest in history at an hour plus. In a peaceable spirit, he also clarifies that the Women’s Hockey Team were not boycotting, they’d been invited to Flavor Flav’s Vegas party but corrects Trump’s contention of “lifting” millions of food stampers off the program... he just cut them and their children off to go hungry. What’s not said ranks up there with what is. Guest analyst John Dickerson says the President barely mentioned the war in Ukraine, as did morning opinionator Jonathan Karl (ABC) who criticized the few Iranian factoids as slippery and mentioned the EpFiles not at all while, over at CBS, dueling partisan spokesthings agreed that he was playing to his base, but disagreed over this would work in the midterms. Elsewhere, weatherpeople said Eastern “bomb cyclone” was moving away but there will be more snow tomorrow while Americans were starting to venture out into the streets of Mexico as the cartels turned to finding successor to El Mencho and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced sixteen nominees ranging from Billy Idol to the Wu Tang Clan (who founding member, Oliver “Power” Grant) died tonight.
Thursday, February 26, 2026 Dow: 49,499.20	Four killed and six wounded on American boat a mile off the Cuban coastline after shootout with Cuban military. Miguel Díaz-Canelsays that these were terrorists who sought to spread murder, madness and mayhem in the hope of regime change. SecState Marco, himself descended from refugees, says “we are going to verify that information and then make our own decisions,” denying that the U.S. government was behing the invasion. Allegators allege that fifty of the thousands of EpFiles still concealed contain reports that Donald and Jeffy raped children. But it’s Hillary, not Trump (nor Melania) summoned to testify or go to prison – which she does, for six hours. (Slick Willie is called for tomorrow.) While her challenge to televise the testimony was refused, she holds a summarical press conference after the fact. In other political news, DefSec (or WarSec) Hegseck appeals to have his overturning of the Mark Kelly prosecution overturned; ex-TranSec Larry Summers admits EpGuilt and resigns from Harvard; and CIA admits aiding in killing of cartel boss El Mencho, leading to attacks on Americans that prompt warnings to tourists to hide in their hotels and wannabees to cancel reservations. On a brighter note, Dolly Parton’s big donation motivates children’s hospital in Knoxville, TN to rename it after her.
While the SoU and reactions to it were virulently partisan, effects on the world beyond were minimal, boring and traditional a week after the more volatile indices were updated. Not to say that there weren’t wild day to day swings, but the ultimate effect was stasis.

THE DON JONES INDEX

CHART of CATEGORIES w/VALUE ADDED to EQUAL BASELINE of 15,000

(REFLECTING… approximately… DOW JONES INDEX of June 27, 2013)

Gains in indices as improved are noted in GREEN. Negative/harmful indices in RED as are their designation. (Note – some of the indices where the total went up created a realm where their value went down... and vice versa.) See a further explanation of categories HERE

ECONOMIC INDICES		(60%)
CATEGORY	VALUE	BASE	RESULTS by PERCENTAGE			SCORE		OUR SOURCES and COMMENTS
INCOME	(24%)	6/17/13 revised 1/1/22	LAST	CHANGE	NEXT	LAST WEEK	THIS WEEK	THE WEEK’S CLOSING STATS...
Wages (hrly. Per cap)	9%	1350 points	12/11/25	-5.42%	2/26	1,878.49	1,878.49	https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/average-hourly-earnings 37.17
Median Inc. (yearly)	4%	600	2/13/26	+0.05%	2/27/26	1,117.75	1,118.31	http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 51,720 746
Unempl. (BLS – in mi)	4%	600	2/13/26	+2.33%	2/26*	542.60	542.60	http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000/  4.3
Official (DC – in mi)	2%	300	2/13/26	+0.12%	2/27/26	206.20	205.95	http://www.usdebtclock.org/    7,589 7598
Unofficl. (DC – in mi)	2%	300	2/13/26	+0.19%	2/27/26	239.76	239.31	http://www.usdebtclock.org/    14,296 323
Workforce Participation Number Percent	2%	300	2/13/26	+0.025% -0.000165%	2/27/26	298.55	298.55	http://www.usdebtclock.org/    In 164,345 386 Out 103,642 689 Total: 267,987 8,075 61.326 321
WP % (ycharts)*	1%	150	2/13/26	+0.16%	2/26*	151.19	151.19	https://ycharts.com/indicators/labor_force_participation_rate 62.50
OUTGO	(15%)
Total Inflation	7%	1050	2/13/26	+0.3%	2/26*	922.82	922.82	http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm     +0.2
Food	2%	300	2/13/26	+0.7%	2/26*	260.23	260.23	http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm     +0.2
Gasoline	2%	300	2/13/26	-0.5%	2/26*	264.59	264.59	http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm    -3.2
Medical Costs	2%	300	2/13/26	+0.4%	2/26*	272.55	272.55	http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm     +0.2
Shelter	2%	300	2/13/26	+0.4%	2/26*	239.67	239.67	http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm     +0.3
WEALTH
Dow Jones Index	2%	300	2/13/26	+0.21%	2/27/26	380.64	381.44	https://www.wsj.com/market-data/quotes/index/ 49,395.16 9,499.20
Home (Sales) (Valuation)	1% 1%	150 150	2/13/26	+5.33% -1.17%	2/27/26	141.58 264.86	141.58 264.86	https://www.nar.realtor/research-and-statistics Sales (M):  4.35 Valuations (K):  404.4
Millionaires (New Category)	1%	150	2/13/26	+0.05%	2/27/26	136.51	136.58	http://www.usdebtclock.org/    24,056 069
Paupers (New Category)	1%	150	2/13/26	+0.027%	2/27/26	135.42	135.38	http://www.usdebtclock.org/    36,739 749
GOVERNMENT	(10%)
Revenue (trilns.)	2%	300	2/13/26	+0.11%	2/27/26	469.61	470.13	http://www.usdebtclock.org/    5,378 384
Expenditures (tr.)	2%	300	2/13/26	+0.06%	2/27/26	292.94	292.77	http://www.usdebtclock.org/    7,083 087
National Debt tr.)	3%	450	2/13/26	+0.07%	2/27/26	349.41	349.18	http://www.usdebtclock.org/    38,715 741
Aggregate Debt (tr.)	3%	450	2/13/26	+0.08%	2/27/26	372.72	372.42	http://www.usdebtclock.org/    106,719 805
TRADE	(5%)
Foreign Debt (tr.)	2%	300	2/13/26	+0.12%	2/27/26	255.36	255.06	http://www.usdebtclock.org/    9,501 512
Exports (in billions)	1%	150	2/13/26	-1.64%	2/26*	178.80	178.80	https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/current/index.html 287.3
Imports (in billions))	1%	150	2/13/26	+2.43%	2/26*	144.27	144.27	https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/current/index.html 357.6
Trade Surplus/Deficit (blns.)	1%	150	2/13/26	-19.20%	2/26*	201.72	201.72	https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/current/index.html 0.3
ACTS of MAN	(12%)
World Affairs	3%	450	2/13/26	-0.1%	2/27/26	470.55	470.08	French evicts Ambassador Charles Kushne (Jared’s dad). British police search several Andy homes and debrief neighbors and bodyguards as he’s released without bail, but US ambassador Peter Mendelson also EpFu**ed. “One Battle After Another wins at BAFTAs; slur-slinger apologizes for racist outbursts, blames his Tourette’s. Dictator Kim “re-elected” in NoKo.
War and terrorism	2%	300	2/13/26	-0.1%	2/27/26	284.58	284.30	SoKo ex-Pres. Yoon gets life without for killing protesters. Tesla terrorist rams crowd - several are injured, but nobody killed... because the perp was driving a Tesla. Latenighter Colbert cites reports that 95% of DoD/W AI war gamers recommended nuke strikes.
Politics	3%	450	2/13/26	-0.3%	2/27/26	457.92	456.55	Speaker Mike throws Jesse Jackson, his casket and his legacy out of the Capitol. Husband of SecLabor thrown out of hdqts. after allegations of sex crimes. Rep. Tony Gonzalez (R-Tx) accused of raping staffer who killed herself, a-la-Giuffre, Rep. Robert Garza (R-Ca) says DoJ hiding EpFile on “unidentified 14 year old” who might or might not have been raped by POTUS. Church police in red states follow up physical abortion bans with criminalization of out of state pill pushers and mandatory Ten Commandment postings in schools,
Economics	3%	450	2/13/26	-0.3%	2/27/26	430.93	429.64	Sen. Graham helping Ellisons’ Paramount outbid Netflix for WBDow falls nearly 1,000 points after more Trump tariff trix. Eurobankers warn of “disruption” despit glittering SoU promises. Amazon tops WalMart as world’s richest company while Applebee’s is closing restaurants.
Crime	1%	150	2/13/26	-0.1%	2/27/26	206.02	205.81	Woman arrested for abandoning rescue dog at Vegas airport – subsequently adopted by rescue cop. Teacher in Texas convicted of bestiality and possessing child porn.
ACTS of GOD	(6%)
Environment/Weather	3%	450	2/13/26	-0.1%	2/27/26	280.26	279.98	The week begins with extreme cold in the West and hot, hot heat east... Harlingen Texas hits 95°. Flooding in Nebraska causes car-swallowing sinkhole. Climate change causing Joro spiders spread across southwest.
Disasters	3%	450	2/13/26	+0.2%	2/27/26	463.09	464.02	Animal alerts include dog rescuing wandering toddler in, cop rescuing abandoning service dog at Vegas airport and snowplow driver saving two canines in Babylon, NY; black bears frolic on the haunted slopes of Truckee, CA where 9 skiers died in last week’s avalanche and Da Bears are also headed to the boneyard; Chicago betraying fans by moving NFL team to Indiana. Sick sailor rescued off U.S. nuke sub prosling Greenland by Danes.
LIFESTYLE/JUSTICE INDEX		(15%)
Science, Tech, Education	4%	600	2/13/26	+0.1%	2/27/26	613.68	614.29	NASA pulls back Artemis launch again. DefSec (WarSec?) Hegseth demands the dirt on potentially hostile AI Claude app. that may block robotic nuclear strikes w/o human approval. AI designers invent Zoltar, the mechanical fortune teller.
Equality (econ/social)	4%	600	2/13/26	-0.4%	2/27/26	671.70	669.01	Tuskegee U. training first black female pilots. Authoritie are losing hope and public losing interest, so Savannah Guthrie announces $1M reward for her mother’s return. Corpse evicted from Capitol, Jesse Jackson’s funeral ceremonies beginning today in Chicago. Actor John Davidson blames his racial sluts at BAFTA on his Tourettes.
Health	4%	600	2/13/26	-0.2%	2/27/26	416.71	415.88	NYC nursing home strike ends. Nissan recalls 600K rogue Rogues with engine “issues”. Recalls include Trader Joe’s chicken fried rice with glass, Aldi’s metallic meatballs; frozen blueberries cause listeria. Candy heir Brad Reese says Hershey’s is diluting the brand with cut-rate chocolate and peanut butter and rabies vaxxes found to be nothing but water. Rogue families giving Ketamine to depressed kids; TV docs say “mindless scrolling” on devices is causing “brain rot” (“toldja!” say RFK Jr. and his worms), author Jonathan Haidt (“Amazing Generation”) calls it as dangerous as tobacco, but others say Dash Diet may stop dementia.
Freedom and Justice	3%	450	2/13/26	-0.2%	2/27/26	482.07	481.11	In wake of tariff turnabout, oil and gas companies ask SCOTUS to confirm Trump termination of climate regulations. In wake of Colt and Colin Gray trials, more parents are being arrested and tried for children’s crime – bad dad gets 37 years after drunk son kils@ in. Legal eagles include Nick Reiner who pleads not guilty as his tormented attorney quits, Tony G. (above) and actor Russel Brand – charged (again) with UnEpFiled rape.
CULTURAL and MISCELLANEOUS INCIDENTS			(6%)
Cultural incidents	3%	450	2/13/26	+0.3%	2/27/26	582.55	584.30	“Goat” wins week’s weak B.O. with 17M as Hollywood prep for March 15^th Oscars. Aging boxers Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquaoi will strap on the gloves and the Olympics highlights include victories by men’s and women’s hockey teams, (see Attachment “B”). Lindsay Vonn says she’s lucky her leg was not amputated after snowcrash. RIP: Actors Paul Dane (Gray’s Anatomy), Lauren Chapa (“Father Knows Best”) and Wu Tang Clan’s Oliver Grant, salsa icon Willie Colon. WNBA’s Kara Braxton, MLB’s 1960 WS hero Bill Mazeroski and NFL’s Randall Moon, # and suicides Robert Carridine (David’s brother) and Katherine (Martin Short’s daughter),
Miscellaneous incidents	4%	450	2/13/26	+0.1%	2/27/26	548.45	549.00	Bill Gates admits affairs with Communist women (just like President Trump!). Highest bridge in Lincoln, NB, celebrates its birthday by burning down. Punch, the rejected monkey in a Japanese Zoo goes viral and finally starts making friends. Mama Bear and three cubs move into crawl speace under Tahoe cabin.

The Don Jones Index for the week of February 20^th through February 26^th, 2026 was DOWN 4.33 points

The Don Jones Index is sponsored by the Coalition for a New Consensus: retired Congressman and Independent Presidential candidate Jack “Catfish” Parnell, Chairman; Brian Doohan, Administrator. The CNC denies, emphatically, allegations that the organization, as well as any of its officers (including former Congressman Parnell, environmentalist/America-Firster Austin Tillerman and cosmetics CEO Rayna Finch) and references to Parnell’s works, “Entropy and Renaissance” and “The Coming Kill-Off” are fictitious or, at best, mere pawns in the web-serial “Black Helicopters” – and promise swift, effective legal action againth parties promulgating this and/or other such slanders.

Comments, complaints, donations (especially SUPERPAC donations) always welcome at feedme@generisis.com or: speak@donjonesindex.com.

ATTACHMENT ONE – FROM NPR

POLL: MOST SAY THE STATE OF THE UNION IS NOT STRONG AND THE U.S. IS WORSE OFF

By Domenico Montanaro 2/23 5:00 AM

As President Trump is set to deliver his first official State of the Union address of his second term, most Americans say the country is worse off than a year ago and that the state of the union is not strong, according to the latest NPR/PBS News/Marist poll.

Additionally, more people than ever are describing the direction Trump is moving the country as "change for the worse."

"It's not unusual for a president having a long 'to do' list for the [State of the Union address], but President Trump's 'check list' seems exceptionally large," said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist University Institute for Public Opinion, which conducts the survey. The address, he said, represents "a big opportunity for him to try to reset with the nation, but it's a tall order when views about him are so baked in."

The poll is the latest sign of the political headwinds Trump is facing, particularly with persuadable voters. But given that his base continues to stand behind him — more than 8 in 10 Republicans think the country is better off than a year ago — Trump is unlikely to cede any ground in Tuesday's address.

The survey of 1,462 adults was conducted from Jan. 27-30 and has a margin of error of +/-2.9 percentage points, meaning results could be about 3 points higher or lower than the reported number. Pollsters reached out to respondents in multiple ways, including with live callers, by text and online and in both English and Spanish.

Only a fraction of House seats are competitive. Redistricting is driving that lower.

Respondents largely say the state of the union is not strong

By a 57%-to-43% margin, respondents said the state of the union is not strong, a 4-point increase from a year ago.

That includes 8 in 10 Democrats and about two-thirds of independents. Roughly three-quarters of Republicans, however, said they think it is strong.

One of the sharpest divides on this question is by education — 69% of college graduates said the state of the union is not strong, while those without degrees are split 50%-50% on whether it's strong or not.

Among the groups most likely to say the state of the union is not strong are those over 60 years old and women who live in small cities or the suburbs. There is a notable gender divide, with women 12 points more likely to say the union is not strong compared to men (63% vs. 51%).

Republicans, white evangelical Christians, people who live in rural areas and parents with children under 18 were the most likely to say the state of the union is strong.

A country viewed as worse off with Trump's policies to blame

Sixty percent said the country is worse off than a year ago, including about two-thirds of independents and 9 in 10 Democrats.

Like most other issues, 8 in 10 Republicans side with Trump.

TRUMP CALLS SUPREME COURT TARIFFS DECISION 'DEEPLY DISAPPOINTING'

Most respondents (55%) also see the direction Trump is moving the country in as a "change for the worse." That's the highest number recorded by Marist on the question between both of Trump's terms.

What's more, 53% of respondents said Trump's policies have had a mostly negative impact on them personally, 4 points higher than a year ago.

Most say there's a serious threat to democracy

A whopping 78% said they see a serious threat to the future of American democracy, and 68% said the system of checks and balances dividing power between the president, Congress and the courts is not working well.

A Republican plan to overhaul voting is back. Here's what's new in the bill

Majorities across political groups — 91% of Democrats, 80% of independents and 61% of Republicans — said they see a serious threat to the future of democracy. But, as seen in past surveys and interviews, their reasons for that might well be very different.

On checks and balances, there's been a 12-point jump from a year ago in the percentage of those saying the system isn't working well. That was driven by an 11-point increase from independents and 17 points from Republicans, though a majority of Republicans continue to say the system is working well.

The high numbers of respondents saying the system isn't working is reflective of the broader decline in trust in institutions and government.

ATTACHMENT TWO – FROM CNN

TRUMP’S APPROVAL RATING WITH INDEPENDENTS HITS A NEW LOW AHEAD OF THE STATE OF THE UNION

By Ariel Edwards-Levy and Jennifer Agiesta

When President Donald Trump gives his State of the Union address Tuesday, he will face a public that increasingly questions his priorities and expresses broad doubts about whether his proposed policies are helping the nation, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS.

Adding to the pile of alarming indicators for the president’s party heading into this year’s midterms, Trump’s approval rating among political independents has dipped to a new low in CNN polling.

Just 32% of Americans now say that Trump has had the right priorities, while 68% say he hasn’t paid enough attention to the country’s most important problems. That’s the president’s most negative reading on that question to date during either of his terms in office. At the same time, Americans say, 61% to 38%, that Trump’s policies will move the country in the wrong direction rather than the right one. And Trump’s job approval rating among all adults remains mired at 36%.

The poll’s findings suggest the scale of the task ahead of the president.

When Trump addressed Congress last year for the first time since returning to the White House, his approval rating stood at a career-high 48% in CNN’s pre-speech polling. Since then, he has lost ground across all major demographic groups, with Republicans, conservatives and White Americans without college degrees among the few groups to hold a net-positive view of Trump.

Some of the steepest declines include a 19-point drop in approval among Latino Americans and an 18-point drop among Americans younger than 45. Among political independents, Trump’s approval rating has dropped 15 points over the past year to 26%, the lowest it’s been in either of his terms.

Americans want to hear about the economy and cost of living

State of the Union addresses typically draw disproportionately friendly audiences, with supporters of the president more likely to tune in. That could give Trump an opportunity to rally his own partisans, whose support for the president has also softened over the past year.

Strong approval among Republicans stands at 49% in the poll, down from 64% just after his address to Congress last year and the first time in this term it’s dipped below the 50% mark. Nearly three in 10 Republicans say Trump hasn’t paid enough attention to the most important problems, and 16% say his policies will move the country in the wrong direction.

Asked to choose the issue they’d most like Trump to address in his State of the Union speech, 57% pick the economy and cost of living, more than quadrupling the share who want to hear him focus on any other individual topic, including immigration, the state of democracy, health care policy, crime or foreign policy. Half of Democrats say they want Trump’s speech to touch on economic issues, rising to 56% among independents and 65% of Republicans.

“Part of the reason why I think people elected Trump was because they were hurting under Biden. … I think people were expecting Trump to provide a little bit of relief to their suffering,” wrote one poll respondent, a Republican from New Mexico. “Grocery prices are just through the roof. Everything is so expensive. … So I think he needs to talk about the economy, and he needs to talk about what kind of things he’s already done.”

Trump’s job approval rating, which has hovered below the 40% mark since last autumn, stands at 36%, with 63% disapproving. Nearly half strongly disapprove of his job performance, while 19% strongly approve.

Those who approve only moderately of Trump’s performance are more likely to take issue with his priorities than with his policies. While just 6% in this group think Trump’s proposals will move the country in the wrong direction, 34% say the president hasn’t paid enough attention to the country’s most important issues.

The poll finds sharp differences among Republicans by age. While 63% of Republicans who are 65 or older say they strongly approve of the president’s job performance, that stands at just 31% among Republicans younger than 35. Younger Republicans are about twice as likely as those age 65 or older to say Trump’s policies will move the country in the wrong direction (24% among 18- to 34-year-old Republicans vs. 11% among those 65 or older), and to say that he hasn’t had the right priorities (42% among 18- to 34-year-old Republicans vs. 20% among those 65 or older).

One thing unites the GOP across age lines: More than 6 in 10 say Trump should focus on economic issues in his address Tuesday.

The CNN poll was conducted by SSRS online from February 17-20 among a random national sample of 2,496 adults. Results for the full sample have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.

 

ATTACHMENT THREE – FROM USA TODAY

WHEN IS TRUMP'S STATE OF THE UNION? WHAT TO KNOW BEFORE SPEECH.

By Fernando Cervantes Jr. Feb. 17, 2026 Updated Feb. 18, 2026, 1:33 p.m. ET

How does the State of the Union relate to Trump's May prayer event?

When is Trump's State of the Union Address?

How does the State of the Union relate to Trump's May prayer event?

President Donald Trump is scheduled to deliver his first State of the Union address of his second term on Feb. 24, 2026, with live coverage on major networks and USA TODAY’s stream. House Speaker Mike Johnson invited him and praised his leadership, and the article outlines the constitutional purpose and typical timing of the speech.

President Donald Trump is set to deliver the first State of the Union address of his second administration next week, speaking before a joint session of Congress.

Trump did address lawmakers in March last year, but that speech wasn’t technically a State of the Union. Presidents usually start with a joint address early in their first year, then move on to formal State of the Union speeches in the years that follow.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) invited Trump to deliver this year’s address in January. In a letter later d on X, Johnson praised Trump’s leadership, saying the country “stands stronger, freer, and more prosperous.”

“Since his return to office, @POTUS has not stopped working for the American people and delivering on his promises,” Johnson wrote. “The best is yet to come.”

Here’s what to know about Trump’s upcoming State of the Union, including when it happens and how to watch.

WHEN IS THE STATE OF THE UNION AND HOW CAN YOU WATCH IT?

Trump is set to deliver his State of the Union address on Feb. 24 starting at 9 p.m. ET. Coverage of the event is expected to run from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET. USA TODAY will live stream coverage, both on its YouTube Channel and website.

Apart from USA TODAY’s live stream, the State of the Union will be broadcast on all major television networks, including ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News, NPR and PBS.

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WHAT IS THE STATE OF THE UNION?

According to Congress’ website, the State of the Union is when the president outlines how the country is doing and what Congress should focus on next.

The address is required by the U.S. Constitution, which directs the president to keep lawmakers informed about the state of the nation and propose legislative priorities.

Traditionally, the speech is delivered sometime between early January and early February.

ATTACHMENT FOUR – FROM PALM BEACH POST

TRUMP TO DELIVER STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS. WHY? 10 THINGS TO KNOW

By Cheryl McCloud Feb. 19, 2026, 8:47 a.m. ET

President Trump's State of the Union address is scheduled for Feb. 24.

Here's how to watch on TV or where to find livestreams.

Discover fascinating facts and historical trivia about the SOTU, including words from President Kennedy that could apply today.

President Trump is scheduled to deliver his State of the Union address next week.

Invited by House Speaker Mike Johnson, Trump will speak before a joint session of Congress Tuesday night, Feb. 24.

It hasn't always been called a State of the Union, and not all presidents have delivered their message in person.

Here's a look back at State of the Union messages, as well as how to watch Trump speak next week.

WHAT IS DATE OF STATE OF THE UNION 2026?

Trump is scheduled to deliver his State of the Union address on Feb. 24 starting at 9 p.m. ET.

HOW CAN I WATCH TRUMP'S STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS?

USA TODAY will live stream the event, both on its YouTube Channel and website.

It also will be broadcast on all major television networks, including ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News, NPR and PBS.

WHAT IS A STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS?

The U.S. Constitution directs the president to keep lawmakers informed about the state of the nation and propose legislative priorities.

"He (the president) shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient," the Constitution said.

FOR MORE THAN 100 YEARS, STATE OF UNION DELIVERED IN WRITING

George Washington and John Adams delivered the "Annual Message" to Congress in person.

President Thomas Jefferson opted to deliver his message in writing in 1801, a practice that continued until Woodrow Wilson in 1913.

GEORGE WASHINGTON DELIVERED FIRST 'ANNUAL MESSAGE'

George Washington delivered the first State of the Union address — or what was called then the “Annual Message” in person and in New York, which was the capital of the U.S. from 1785 until 1790.

He combined the Inaugural Address with his Annual Message on April 30, 1789, and delivered his first regular Annual Message to a Joint Session of Congress in New York City on Jan. 8, 1790.

THOMAS JEFFERSON OPTED TO GIVE HIS MESSAGE IN WRITING

Thomas Jefferson abandoned the in-person speech for the written message on Dec. 8, 1801, perhaps because he wasn’t a great public speaker, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.

STATE OF UNION MESSAGES DELIVERED IN WRITING UNTIL 1913

After Jefferson, it wasn't until 1913 that a State of the Union message was delivered again in person. President Wilson revived the practice of giving a speech.

It was also during Wilson's time the address "became a platform for the president to rally support for his agenda," according to History, Art and Archives of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Since President Franklin D. Roosevelt, presidents have almost always used speeches rather than written messages to fill their constitutional obligation to inform Congress about the State of the Union.

STATE OF THE UNION WASN'T ALWAYS CALLED BY THAT NAME

Presidents from George Washington through Herbert Hoover called their annual message to Congress the “Annual Message,” according to History, Art and Archives of the U.S. House of Representatives:

• It was formally known as the Annual Message from 1790 to 1946.

• It began to be informally called the "State of the Union" message/address from 1942 to 1946.

• Since 1947, it has officially been known as the State of the Union Address.

FDR began the tradition of calling it “the State of the Union address.”

WHAT STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS CALLED THIS AN 'HOUR OF NATIONAL PERIL'?

On Jan. 30, 1961, 10 days after taking the oath of office, President John F. Kennedy gave a State of the Union speech.

"That speech stands as the most alarming State of the Union address ever delivered," according to the Council on Foreign Relations.

Read President Kenney's 1961 State of the Union address

Kennedy said, "I speak today in an hour of national peril and national opportunity. Before my term has ended, we shall have to test anew whether a nation organized and governed such as ours can endure. The outcome is by no means certain."

Several concerns raised by Kennedy could ring true today:

• "The present state of our economy is disturbing. Business bankruptcies have reached their highest level since the Great Depression. The American economy is in trouble.

• "This country has continued to bear more than its of the West's military and foreign aid obligations.

• "Our cities are being engulfed in squalor.

• "Medical research has achieved new wonders — but these wonders are too often beyond the reach of too many people.

• "Our supply of clean water is dwindling.

• "Each day the crises multiply. Each day their solution grows more difficult. Each day we draw nearer the hour of maximum danger, as weapons spread and hostile forces grow stronger.

• "Our greatest challenge is still the world that lies beyond the Cold War — but the first great obstacle is still our relations with the Soviet Union and Communist China. We must never be lulled into believing that either power has yielded its ambitions for world domination."

More State of the Union trivia!

• President Ronald Reagan’s State of the Union address for 1986 was rescheduled because of the Challenger disaster that took place earlier in the day. The address was moved from Jan. 28 to Feb. 4.

• It also was President Reagan in 1982 who "began the tradition of seating a worthy American in the balcony next to the first lady to make a point."

• The longest written State of the Union Address was delivered by President Carter, 33,667 words, in 1981.

• The longest spoken State of the Union Address was delivered by President Biden, 9,216 words in 2023.

• The shortest Presidential Address was delivered by President Washington, 1,089 words, in his spoken 1790 Annual Message.

• Until 1934, the Annual Message was typically delivered in December. Since 1934, the Annual Message or State of the Union address has been delivered early in the calendar year.

• Two presidents never delivered an Annual Message or State of the Union address:

o William Henry Harrison, who died from disease in 1841.

o James Garfield, who was killed in 1881.

• Calvin Coolidge was the first president to have his State of the Union message broadcast on radio in 1923.

• Truman was the first president to have his State of the Union message broadcast on television in 1947.

• Clinton was the first president to have his State of the Union message broadcast over the Internet in 1997.

• In 2020, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ripped up several pages after President Trump's speech. “He shredded the truth, so I shredded his speech," she said at the time.

Cheryl McCloud is a journalist for the USA TODAY Network-Florida's service journalism Connect team. You can get all of Florida’s best content directly in your inbox each weekday day by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY, at https://palmbeachpost.com/newsletters.

ATTACHMENT FIVE – FROM NEWS NATION

How to watch Trump’s 2026 State of the Union address

By Anna Kutz Updated: Feb 18, 2026 / 12:01 PM CST

(NewsNation) — President Donald Trump is set to deliver his first State of the Union address since his reelection on Tuesday, Feb. 24.

The evening address to Congress, slated for 9 p.m. ET on Feb. 24, will be streamed and broadcast by NewsNation.

Democrats plot protests for Trump’s State of the Union address.

HOW TO WATCH THE STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS

Coverage of Trump’s remarks will begin at 6 p.m. ET, with special editions of “The Hill,” “Elizabeth Vargas Reports” and “Cuomo” scheduled prior to the address.

You can watch the full State of the Union address on NewsNation on TV, online at newsnationnow.com or on the NewsNation apps for your television or phone. Not sure how to watch NewsNation? Find your channel here.

Top 5 moments from Trump’s previous State of the Union addresses

NewsNation is also available to stream on YouTubeTV, Hulu, FuboTV, Vidgo, Sling and DirecTV Stream. You can also download the NewsNation app by clicking here or going directly to your phone’s app store.

WHAT IS THE STATE OF THE UNION?

The State of the Union address is a speech from the sitting president to members of Congress, and is typically delivered within the first months of each year. It’s often held in the House of Representatives Chamber in the U.S. Capitol Building.

The Constitution requires that the president provide an update to Congress, but an official State of the Union address is not required — it could be a briefing in any place or time.

“(The President) shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient,” the Constitution reads.

Following the State of the Union address, the opposing political party then gives their own response to the president’s remarks.

WHAT HAS TRUMP SAID AT PRIOR STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESSES?

During his first term in office, Trump delivered three total State of the Union addresses: 2018, 2019 and 2020.

He also gave remarks to joint members of Congress in 2017 and after his second inauguration in 2025, but neither speech met the specific criteria to deem them State of the Union addresses.

His addresses have been the scene of political infighting, bipartisan unity and multiple guest appearances.

At Trump’s 2020 address, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., ripped her copy of the president’s speech after the remarks. Another standout moment from the same year was Trump pausing his speech to award conservative radio personality Rush Limbaugh the Presidential Medal of Freedom following Limbaugh’s cancer diagnosis.

In a rare moment of unity, the women of Congress rose and began chanting “USA!” after Trump mentioned the record number of female lawmakers in 2019, prompting bipartisan applause.

@get use “A”

ATTACHMENT SIX – FROM PBS

HOW TO WATCH TRUMP'S 2026 STATE OF THE UNION

By Joshua Barajas  Feb 20, 2026 3:05 PM EST

President Donald Trump is set to deliver his first State of the Union address of his second term on Tuesday, after 13 months of break-neck deregulation, a record number of executive actions, mass layoffs, federal deployments, and much more.

President Donald Trump will deliver his State of the Union address on Tuesday, Feb. 24. Watch our coverage live, starting at 6 p.m. EST, in the video player above.

Yet, with midterm elections on the horizon, a number of pain points threaten to overshadow the list of accomplishments Trump is sure to tout during his big, primetime speech.

On Friday, the Supreme Court delivered a major setback to Trump's agenda when it struck down his sweeping tariffs. Americans have grown increasingly unsure about the president's policies, including his economic leadership. A partial government shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, brought on by Democratic opposition to Trump's aggressive immigration enforcement, seems to have no end in sight. And questions about the Jeffrey Epstein investigation continue to dog his administration.

Bottom of Form

The goal of this annual address, as laid out in the U.S. Constitution, is to update Congress on how the country is doing and propose legislative priorities. It's not yet clear how Trump, who's stressed both unity and division in his past remarks, will approach this task.

Meanwhile, a burgeoning group of Democrats see a chance to change the conversation with their own events.

Here's a short guide on how to watch this year's State of the Union address.

Trump's speech to a joint session of Congress will begin at 9 p.m. EST on Tuesday, Feb. 24.

PBS News will host continuous coverage starting with the 6 p.m. EST broadcast, followed by digital special coverage at 8 p.m., before PBS News Hour co-anchors Amna Nawaz and Geoff Bennett host on-air special coverage at 9 p.m.

PBS News will provide live ASL interpretation for the event provided by our partners at D-PAN. Check your local listings to find the PBS station near you, or watch online here or in the player above.

You can also follow the PBS NewsHour's live coverage on YouTube, X, Facebook and TikTok, and see highlights on our Instagram.

On Wednesday at 11 a.m. EST, PBS News' Deema Zein will host a live conversation with Capitol Hill correspondent Lisa Desjardins and White House correspondent Liz Landers on the major takeaways from Trump's speech.

Who is delivering the Democratic response?

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger will deliver the Democratic response to President Donald Trump's speech on Tuesday.

Gov. Abigail Spanberger, Virginia's first woman governor and vocal Trump critic, will deliver the official Democratic response. Spanberger was elected last November in an off-cycle election dominated by Democratic wins that was seen as a warning sign for Republicans in the upcoming midterms.

WHO IS DELIVERING THE PROGRESSIVE RESPONSE?

At time of publishing, no announcement had been made on who'd deliver the progressive response.

Counterprogramming events are planned by Democrats boycotting Trump's speech

A growing group of Democrats say they won't attend the speech. Instead, at least 12 Democratic lawmakers plan to attend the "People's State of the Union" rally on the National Mall.

Progressive groups MeidasTouch and MoveOn.org will host the event, featuring federal workers, immigrants and others affected by Trump's policies, according to a press release.

"This cannot be business as usual."

Maryland Rep. Chris Van Hollen wrote on X that he won't attend Trump's speech.

"Trump is marching America towards fascism, and I refuse to normalize his shredding of our Constitution & democracy," the congressman wrote. "This cannot be business as usual."

Another rebuttal, dubbed "State of the Swamp," is being held at the National Press Club in the nation's capital. Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden is expected to participate in the event.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who skipped Trump's address to Congress last year, announced that she's not attending the State of the Union, and is instead meeting with constituents harmed by the administration's policies.

"The state of the union is that the President is spitting in the face of the law," she said in a statement.

HOW OTHER DEMOCRATS ARE REGISTERING THEIR DISSENT

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries instructed Democratic lawmakers Wednesday to either attend the event with "silent defiance" or skip it all together.

Texas Rep. Al Greene was ejected from the chamber last year (and later censured) for interrupting Trump. Others walked out during the speech, wore symbolic colors, or held up signs that said "Lies," "False," among other messages in protest of the president's agenda.

Jeffries says he plans on attending the speech. His predecessor, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, famously ripped up a printed copy of Trump's 2020 speech, the final State of the Union of his first term.

"I tore up a manifest of mistruths," she later said of the moment. Earlier, Trump had rebuffed Pelosi's handshake.

'The State of The Union is …'

For decades, U.S. presidents have used a particular word to finish the phrase, "The State of the Union is …"

Hint: The word is opposite of "weak."

ATTACHMENT SEVEN – FROM PBS

TRUMP SHIFTS FOCUS TO AFFORDABILITY AHEAD OF STATE OF THE UNION

By Liz Landers and Doug Adams Feb 19, 2026

President Trump is in Georgia and is talking about affordability and the economy, a theme he’s expected to spotlight again in next week’s State of the Union address. White House correspondent Liz Landers reports.

Amna Nawaz:

President Trump is in Rome, Georgia today, talking about affordability and the economy, a theme he's expected to spotlight again in next week's State of the Union address.

Our White House correspondent, Liz Landers, has more on this and joins us now.

So, Liz, as you have been reporting, the president has been frustrated he's not getting enough credit when it comes to the economy. That's why he went to Georgia to talk about this. What did he say?

Liz Landers:

Well, today he was focused on affordability, the economy. This was also a political visit for him. This is a congressional district that's going to have a special election soon, so kind of several birds with one stone here.

He was touting the stock market. He was touting some signature legislation that has also passed recently.

President Donald Trump:

The great Big Beautiful Bill is basically a tax cut bill. And when you hear the fake Democrats talking about it, like, oh, the great Big Beautiful Bill, they try and mock it, put four years' worth of goodies into that bill and everybody said it couldn't be done.

Liz Landers:

The president visited a restaurant there and then he gave that speech at a steel mill in Georgia.

This was his first domestic trip on this issue talking about affordability in the economy since he went to Iowa a few weeks ago. But, Amna, there was some mixed messaging here today. He goes off on tangents when he gives these speeches sometimes, was talking about the operation in Venezuela a few weeks ago at the beginning of the year, also talking about a number of grievances on issues where he doesn't think he's getting credit on.

So he still has trouble sometimes sticking directly to the messaging.

Amna Nawaz:

Liz, your reporting has also shown that his chief of staff, Susie Wiles, held a sort of unusual closed-door strategy session this week to talk about messaging for the midterms. What do we know about that?

Liz Landers:

Yes, a source who participated in the meeting talked to me about this and said that this was an effort to get Republicans both inside the administration and outside allies on the same message and talking about the same priorities.

This person said that affordability is the number one issue right now for the White House going into the midterm election. Susie Wiles, the chief of staff, talked about this. So did James Blair, who is the deputy chief of staff, and then pollster Tony Fabrizio, who's worked with the president for a while. They were among the speakers.

And this Republican said that, look, these issues like affordability on energy prices on housing, on health care, fuel prices and groceries, those are sort of the main tenets that they're focused on right now.

And this person said, the president has now been in office for more than a year, and there are only so many things that he, the president, can blame Biden, his predecessor, on at this point, and recognizing that they need to get out there and sell their affordability message to the American public right now.

And so this was about that kind of coordination, and also, Amna, I would add, getting Cabinet members out on, not the campaign trail, per se, but across the country touting these messages.

Amna Nawaz:

At the same time, we know Democrats have also sort of landed on affordability as one of their primary messages going into the midterms. What do we know about how effective that will be?

Liz Landers:

It probably will be effective, based on polling.

Look, the White House actually doesn't have bad economic numbers to be touting. The jobs report that came out for January was better than anticipated. Gas prices are dropping in some parts of the country. In Georgia, I was looking at the average price of gas there is $2.71, per AAA, which is lower than it has been in the last year.

The average Georgia resident is also going to save more than $3,000 on their taxes this year from that signature tax bill that passed. That's according to the conservative-leaning Tax Foundation.

But when you look at the poll numbers of what Americans are actually feeling, FOX News had a poll, found that 59 percent of Americans disapprove of President Trump's job handling on the economy; 68 percent say that he's not spending enough time on the economy, so going back to that sort of dual messaging that the White House is dealing with between foreign policy and also domestic issues.

Amna Nawaz:

Meanwhile, we should underscore, it's February.

Liz Landers:

Yes.

Amna Nawaz:

We're talking about strategy sessions for messaging around the midterms in November at the White House. Why? Why is it such a concern for them?

Liz Landers:

Because the margins are so slim in Congress. Right now, the Republicans only have a four-seat majority in the House. And, historically, a president loses the midterm elections.

President Trump experienced that in 2018. Republicans lost 40 House seats in that election. And that also gave Democrats the power to then set into motion some of those impeachment trials, which we know President Trump is already thinking about.

He has said in a few speeches recently to Republicans that you have got to win the midterms, because, if we don't win the midterms, it's going to be -- I mean, they're going to find a reason to impeach me.

So we know that this is sort of a concern of President Trump's right now. And also, if Democrats win control, they can do a number of other things. They could stall other kinds of legislative priorities for the White House and also investigate the Trump administration.

Amna Nawaz:

That's our White House correspondent, Liz Landers.

Liz, thank you.

Liz Landers:

Of course.

ATTACHMENT EIGHT – FROM TIME

ARMED MAN FATALLY SHOT BY LAW ENFORCEMENT AT MAR-A-LAGO, SECRET SERVICE SAYS

by Richard Hall and Rebecca Schneid

Feb 22, 2026 10:13 AM ET

Aman was shot and killed by law enforcement after "unlawfully entering" the grounds of President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, in the early hours of Sunday morning, the Secret Service said.

The man was seen near the north gate of the complex carrying “what appeared to be a shotgun and a fuel can,” the Secret Service said in a statement on X. He was shot by Secret Service agents and a Deputy from the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, the statement said.

The man killed was identified by investigators as 21-year-old Austin Tucker Martin, the Associated Press reported, citing a person familiar with the investigation who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss details of the investigation.

President Trump was at the White House in Washington, D.C., at the time of the shooting.

A Year Later, Butler Shooting Marks the Defining Moment of Trump’s Political Comeback

"The incident, including the individual’s background, actions, potential motive, and the use of force, is under investigation by the FBI, the U.S. Secret Service, and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office," the Secret Service said.

At a Sunday morning news conference, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said that at 1:30 am, a deputy and two Secret Service agents confronted a “white male” who had made his way into the inner perimeter of the property and was holding a gas can and a shotgun.

“He was ordered to drop those two pieces of equipment that he had with him, at which time he put down the gas can, raised the shotgun to a shooting position,” Bradshaw said. “At that point in time, the deputy and the two Secret Service agents fired their weapons and neutralized the threat.” The suspect was declared dead at the scene.

Bradshaw said that no security personnel were wounded during the encounter, and he then distributed photographs of the shotgun and gas can to the media at the conference.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt praised the Secret Service, saying agents had “acted quickly and decisively to neutralize a crazy person.” She then criticized Democrats, whom she and President Trump have blamed for the current partial government shutdown.

“Federal law enforcement are working 24/7 to keep our country safe and protect all Americans,” Leavitt said. “It’s shameful and reckless that Democrats have chosen to shut down their Department.”

FBI Director Kash Patel said on X that the agency would be “dedicating all necessary resources” to the investigation.

President Trump previously survived an assassination attempt on the campaign trail in July 2024, when he was shot at during an event in Butler, Pennsylvania. One person in the audience was killed, and two were critically injured in the incident. The shooter, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was shot and killed by law enforcement.

Then, in September 2024, Secret Service members spotted a man hiding with a rifle in the bushes of Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, where the president was playing, just one hole away. That man, later identified as Ryan Routh, was found guilty in September 2025 of trying to assassinate the President.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told FOX News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures that he spoke with Trump, and that he and his family “shouldn’t have to endure attempt after attempt."

ATTACHMENT NINE – FROM NEWSWEEK

US WOMEN’S HOCKEY TEAM DECLINES TRUMP’S STATE OF THE UNION INVITE

By Gabe Whisnant FEB 23, 2026 AT 01:25 PM EST UPDATED FEB 23, 2026 AT 03:04 PM EST

The White House invited the U.S. women’s hockey team to attend President Donald Trump's State of the Union on Tuesday, but the players said they are unable to attend.

A spokesperson for the team told NBC News' Monica Alba that the team, which won the gold medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy, was "sincerely grateful" for the recognition, but the players are unable to attend "due to the timing and previously scheduled academic and professional commitments."

When is the State of the Union Address?

President Trump is scheduled to deliver the State of the Union address on Tuesday, February 24, speaking before a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol. The annual speech, required by the Constitution, allows the president to outline the administration’s priorities and assess the state of the nation.

Will the U.S. Men’s Hockey Team Attend the State of the Union?

Trump invited the U.S. men’s Olympic hockey team to attend the State of the Union after its gold medal victory Sunday over Canada at the Milan Cortina Winter Games, but it remains unclear whether the players will attend. While the team accepted the invitation during a phone call with the president, scheduling and travel logistics following the Olympics have not been finalized.

Newsweek has reached out to the U.S. men's hockey team

More Related Stories

WHEN DID WOMEN’S HOCKEY START IN THE OLYMPICS?

Women’s ice hockey made its Olympic debut at the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, Japan, marking the first time the sport was included on the women’s Olympic program. The United States won the inaugural gold medal, and the event has been a fixture of every Winter Olympics since.

Several days before the men's team, the U.S. women also defeated rival Canada in overtime to claim gold in Italy.

ATTACHMENT TEN – FROM US NEWS

4 QUESTIONS ABOUT TRUMP’S STATE OF THE UNION

President Donald Trump will give the first State of the Union address of his second term tomorrow. He’s expected to defend his economic record and restate his position in the tense standoff with Iran, but there could be some surprises in the prime-time speech.

I’ve written about these supernovas of presidential rhetoric for three decades – my first was President Bill Clinton’s State of the Union in 1998. To put in perspective how much time has passed, the federal budget ran a surplus of $69 billion that fiscal year. The fiscal 2025 deficit is projected to hit $1.9 trillion.

This year’s speech comes days after the Supreme Court struck down the sweeping tariffs Trump imposed under a 1977 law called the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. While the 6-3 ruling was a body blow to his signature economic policy, he says he will try to impose some tariffs in other ways.

If any justices attend, they’ll be seated right in his line of sight.

With the benefit of experience, I’m offering four questions about Trump’s remarks – and hopefully at least a couple of answers.

DOES IT STILL MATTER?

Technically, we’ll be tuning in because the Constitution (Article II, Section 3) says the president has to provide this assessment “from time to time.” It does not specify a speech. This could be done in writing.

But that would be political malpractice. As countless White House aides have told me over the decades, this is probably the largest audience an American politician will get all year, even if recent ratings are down from their heyday.

The most recent State of the Union speeches haven’t been just for TV or radio. People follow along on their phones. Clips of key moments zip around social media for days. And I, for one, am very curious to see how the remarks do on YouTube, our most-watched television platform.

So yes, it very much matters, even if it does not move the needle much in our hyper-polarized political context.

WHAT DOES HE NEED TO SAY?

One frequent inside-the-Beltway jibe is that any president might as well declare, “Tonight, I come before you to speak in ringing tones and stare into the middle distance.” The chief executive is expected to defend their record and offer some clues about how they view the way forward.

But tomorrow’s speech will be a window into how seriously the White House and the unpopular president view the challenge of selling his economic record in a midterm election year. (I separate the two because what the speechwriters craft and what Trump delivers are often at odds.)

Will this be more of the same language that he has used, in vain, to try to reverse his slide in the polls? Or will he try a new tack?

There can always be surprises. In 1996, seeking reelection, President Bill Clinton declared, “The era of big government is over.” A few months after 9/11, President George W. Bush lumped Iran, Iraq and North Korea in an “axis of evil.” In 2006, Bush called for legislation to prevent the creation of “human-animal hybrids.”

In an era of off-the-cuff presidential moments, pity the speechwriters – like Raymond Price, the aide in charge of writing President Richard Nixon’s 1970 speech. History records that Price pulled several all-nighters thanks to amphetamines known as “greenies,” courtesy of the White House doctor.

WHAT WILL DEMOCRATS DO?

Well. Last year’s response when Trump addressed a joint meeting of Congress included a cane-waving outburst, which led to an ejection from the House chamber. It was pretty cringey.

But it was an effort to get beyond responding with a live televised speech of their own, a tradition for decades. These deliveries from both parties have been unmemorable at best. Those that stand out often do so for the wrong reasons, like then-Senator Marco Rubio’s 2013 remarks, which he famously interrupted to take a gulp of water.

This year the task falls to Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger.

At least a dozen Democratic senators and representatives have already said they will boycott Trump’s speech, according to NBC. Some will attend a counter-programming rally, dubbed the “People’s State of the Union,” on the National Mall near the Capitol, the New York Times says.

WHAT’S A SKUTNIK?

That’s D.C. jargon for the special guests who sit in the gallery above the House floor, waiting to be invoked by the president.

We owe the term to President Ronald Reagan’s 1982 speech, which came two weeks after an airliner crashed into the icy Potomac River. Reagan gave one of those seats to Lenny Skutnik for his heroic efforts to save survivors and paid tribute to him in his remarks.

Trump has been adept at those moments, whether stoking partisan passions by giving right-wing commentator Rush Limbaugh the Presidential Medal of Freedom or drawing a bipartisan standing ovation by reuniting a soldier with his family after a deployment overseas.

Both were surprises. What’s in store tomorrow?

ATTACHMENT ELEVEN – FROM URBAN INSTITUTE

THE STATE OF THE UNION IS EXPECTED TO FOCUS ON AFFORDABILITY. WHAT DOES THE EVIDENCE SAY WORKS?

By Wesley Jenkins, Signe-Mary McKernan, Gregory Acs and Catherine Harvey February 18, 2026

Next week, President Trump will deliver his State of the Union address to a nation that has made its feelings clear: The economy is not working how it should.

Recent polling reflects deep frustration nationwide with costs of living and with the federal government in general, and it’s likely then that President Trump will use his speech to show the American people how he plans to bring down costs.

The Urban Institute has been tracking rising costs in its American Affordability Tracker, which provides timely data on affordability at the national, state, and congressional district levels. Addressing this affordability crisis will require a broad set of strategies from every level of government.

Below, we examine recent federal proposals and actions across housing, health care, and wealth building and explore if the evidence supports those efforts. We also offer additional, evidence-based solutions all policymakers should consider.

BRINGING DOWN HOUSING COSTS

The problem:

The United States has a known housing shortage, and that shortage coupled with increased demand has driven up rents and sales prices (by 50 and 80 percent since 2017), pricing out millions from the primary wealth-building vehicle in the US.

The proposal:

The Trump administration has proposed banning large institutional investors from purchasing homes, and a January executive order directs federal agencies to restrict sales to large institutional investors.

Urban analysis shows this policy is unlikely to substantively increase housing supply or paths to homeownership, as these investors make up only a small of the single-family rental market, and the homes they do buy are, in general, unlikely to be purchased by owner-occupants otherwise.

However, the order also directs federal programs to promote sales to owner-occupants through “first look” policies, which give owner-occupants and nonprofits an exclusive window to bid on foreclosed properties. Existing federal first look programs could—and should—be expanded and strengthened through the order.

Other evidence-based solutions:

While there is no silver bullet, a comprehensive approach using all the levers available to federal, state, and local policymakers can make housing more affordable now and in the long term. To address housing affordability, Urban research recommends the following:

• As federal lawmakers consider promising strategies proposed in the House and Senate, state and local policymakers can accelerate new construction and preserve existing affordable housing by removing regulatory and land-use barriers, partnering with local developers, and enabling more factory-built housing, which is less costly and faster to build.

• Policymakers at all levels can make homeownership more affordable for first-time buyers through well-targeted down payment assistance and low- or no-cost financing, while investing in long-term solutions to build more housing and keep prices down.

• Policymakers at all levels can increase access to financing for housing construction and rehabilitation. In addition to strengthening federal programs, state funds to leverage private capital and city partnerships with local developers and lenders are also key to unlocking affordability.

REDUCING HEALTH CARE EXPENSES

The problem:

Health care costs are high and increasing across the board, even for people who get insurance from their employers, with prescription drug prices one of the many drivers of these costs.

Further, millions are projected to lose Medicaid coverage because of new work requirements and other eligibility restrictions mandated by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The law is expected to reduce federal health care spending by $1 trillion, reduce payments to health care providers by about $1 trillion over the next 10 years, and shift billions of dollars of costs onto states.

Separately, the cost of Marketplace premium payments has skyrocketed in recent months because of the double whammy of insurers raising premiums by 26 percent on average and the expiration of enhanced premium tax credits (PTCs). Enrollees are facing monthly payments 114 percent higher in 2026 than in 2025. Urban research estimates the expired enhanced PTCs alone could cause 4.8 million people to lose health care coverage in 2026.

The proposal:

President Trump has outlined several ideas for addressing health care costs. His Great Healthcare Plan calls to end kickbacks to pharmacy benefit managers, to increase transparency of provider prices and insurance company practices, and to fund cost-sharing reductions, the latter of which Urban research has shown would negatively affect affordability. He proposes the creation of TrumpRx, a federal government website intended to provide access to lower drug prices. And he has expressed support for new health savings accounts as an alternative to the enhanced subsidies, but Urban research shows they would not improve affordability and often disproportionately benefit higher-income households.

The administration has also proposed new Marketplace regulations to reduce health insurance premiums by increasing deductibles and other cost sharing, eliminating benefit options, and otherwise weakening insurance standards. The rule would impose new administrative burdens on people seeking to enroll, which could reduce Marketplace enrollment by up to 2 million people.

Other evidence-based solutions:

To ensure health care remains accessible and affordable, Urban research supports the following recommendations:

• Federal policymakers can restore the expired enhanced PTCs. A recent compromise proposal to combine a limited restoration with new PTC reductions would cause millions of people to pay higher premiums.

• Federal policymakers can reduce administrative burdens and improve plan choices instead of pursuing its proposed Marketplace rule.

• Federal and state policymakers can mitigate health insurance coverage losses from newly introduced Medicaid work requirements and more frequent redeterminations by capitalizing on available data systems. This can ensure people who are meeting or exempt from the work requirements aren’t wrongfully denied coverage. Further, policymakers can define exemption characteristics broadly, limit the number of months people must demonstrate compliance with work requirements, and streamline Medicaid renewal processes. Federal policymakers could also reconsider the previously enacted Medicaid cuts.

• Federal and state policymakers can build on the recently passed Consolidated Appropriations Act by delinking pharmacy benefit manager compensation from drug prices, requiring that rebates reduce patients’ costs, extending these rules to Marketplace plans and Medicaid managed care, and limiting the gap between what plans pay and pharmacies receive. These steps could bring down inflated drug markups, lower out-of-pocket costs for consumers, and reduce annual prescription drug spending by 15 percent annually.

INCREASING HOUSEHOLD INCOME AND WEALTH

The problem:

Although most of the conversation around affordability focuses on rising prices in isolation, workers’ earnings haven’t kept up with key costs either. Between 2017 and 2025, median weekly earnings grew by 38 percent, less than child care (40 percent), health care (41 percent), rents (50 percent), and home sale prices (80 percent). Young people see today’s affordability crisis as a barrier to their long-term wealth-building plans, including higher education and homeownership.

The proposal:

To address these challenges, the administration has touted income and wealth-oriented proposals, including those capping credit card interest rates at 10 percent and Trump accounts.

The appeal of a credit card cap is straightforward—credit cards are widely used, and many families pay thousands of dollars each year in interest alone. A recent study suggests a 10 percent cap could save people in the US roughly $100 billion a year, with the 46 percent of households who carry a balance month to month seeing the greatest benefit. However, interest rate caps can shrink the supply of credit, which could push borrowers toward products with fewer safeguards and higher costs.

Trump accounts, enacted as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, offer a path to build wealth for the next generation. Seeded with $1,000, these tax-advantaged accounts will be given to all children born in the US between 2025 and 2028, with the holders able to use the money for a home, education, or small business development when they turn 18. Though these accounts can expand wealth-building opportunities, their current design—opt-in and without progressive deposits—could ultimately limit participation from the low-income families who need them most.

Other evidence-based solutions:

To bolster household finances, Urban research recommends the following:

• Federal policymakers increase the Supplemental Security Income asset limit to ensure eligible people of retirement age or with a disability can meet their daily needs. The asset limit (currently $2,000 for individuals and $3,000 for couples) hasn’t been increased for decades, meaning many older adults for whom monthly benefits would make a difference are ineligible.

• State and local policymakers adequately invest in early life wealth-building programs, like child development accounts and baby bonds, through progressive deposits for families with low incomes and allow for penalty-free emergency withdrawals. Federal policymakers can ensure new Trump accounts help as many children build wealth as possible by instituting automatic enrollment.

• State and local policymakers increase minimum wages and require employers to pay no less than the full federal minimum wage to tipped employees. Although employers may pass the cost of higher minimum wages onto customers, most notably in the restaurant industry, research finds these price increases are typically under 1 percent in other sectors.

• State policymakers expand workers’ rights to collectively bargain, as research shows the decline in unionization in recent decades has cost workers $3,250 in annual income.

As affordability remains at the top of the president’s agenda, policymakers at all levels and across both parties should pursue evidence-based solutions that provide Americans with immediate and long-term relief. To inform these efforts, the Urban Institute will continue compiling policy solutions to create an affordable future for all.

ATTACHMENT TWELVE – FROM FOX

STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS 2026: WHAT TO EXPECT IN TRUMP’S SPEECH

By Chris Williams Published February 22, 2026 8:34am EST

The Brief

President Trump will deliver his State of the Union on February 24 at 9 p.m. ET, airing on major networks including LiveNOW from FOX.

• He is expected to highlight strong economic growth amid concerns about high living costs and trade policies.

• Trump will also address immigration and foreign policy, including enforcement efforts and recent tariff and NATO developments.

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump is set to speak to Americans and Congress during his first State of the Union Address in his second term.

Here's what we know:

WHAT IS THE STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS?

Trump's State of the Union address will be held on Tuesday, February. 24 at 9 p.m. ET.

WHERE CAN I WATCH THE STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS?

What you can do:

A number of networks have said they plan to air the Republican president's address across their broadcast and streaming platforms, with special programming before and afterward.

Viewers can also watch the speech on major television networks, including FOX and FOX News.

LiveNOW from FOX will also have special coverage leading up to his address and then afterward, including the Democrats’ response.

WHAT WILL TRUMP TALK ABOUT?

Why you should care:

Trump is expected to talk about the following topics:

ECONOMY

Powered by strong consumer spending, the U.S. economy grew at the fastest pace in two years from July through September, the government said in a slight upgrade of its first estimate. America’s gross domestic product — the nation’s output of goods and services — rose at a 4.4% annual pace in the third quarter, the Commerce Department reported Thursday, up from 3.8% in the April-June quarter and from the 4.3% growth the department initially estimated. The economy hasn’t grown faster since third-quarter 2023.

Trump delivers World Economic Forum special address

The economy has remained resilient despite uncertainty caused by President Donald Trump’s economic policies, particularly his double-digit taxes on imports from almost every country on Earth.

Despite the strong growth numbers, many Americans are dissatisfied with the state of the economy and especially the high cost of living.

RELATED: January jobs report shows US added 130K jobs exceeding economists expectations

IMMIGRATION

When Trump entered office, immigration was among his strongest issues. It’s since faded, a troubling sign for Trump, who campaigned on both economic prosperity and crackdowns to illegal immigration.

President Donald Trump marked on year of his second term in the White House. Trump touted his accomplishments of his new term. Trump started the briefing by holding up mugshots of some criminals his administration has arrested in Minnesota: "Many of them murderers... do you want to live with these people?"

Just 38% of U.S. adults approve of how Trump is handling immigration, down from 49% in March.

At least six people have died during the Trump administration’s intense immigration enforcement campaign in the U.S.

RELATED: Most Americans say it's ‘unacceptable’ for immigration officers to hide their faces, poll finds

But there are signs that Americans still give Trump some leeway on immigration issues. About half of U.S. adults say Trump has "gone too far" when it comes to deporting immigrants living in the country illegally, which is unchanged since April, despite an immigration crackdown that spread to cities across the U.S. in the second half of the year.

FOREIGN POLICY

Trump has focused his attention more on foreign policy in his second term.

Trump recently scrapped the tariffs that he threatened to impose on eight European nations to press for U.S. control over Greenland, pulling a dramatic reversal shortly after insisting he wanted to get the island "including right, title and ownership."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet President Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday in a visit expected to center on Iran, as Washington weighs diplomacy against the threat of military action and Israel pushes to shape the scope of negotiations.

In a post on his social media site, Trump said he had agreed with the head of NATO on a "framework of a future deal" on Arctic security, potentially defusing tension that had far-reaching geopolitical implications.

He said "additional discussions" on Greenland were being held concerning the Golden Dome missile defense program, a multilayered, $175 billion system that for the first time will put U.S. weapons in space.

ATTACHMENT THIRTEEN – FROM REUTERS

HOW THE STATE OF THE UNION BECAME A STAGE FOR POLITICAL CONFRONTATION

By Howard Goller

February 21, 2026 6:13 AM EST Updated February 21, 2026

President Trump will address Congress on Tuesday

• He will face Supreme Court justices days after tariff rebuke

• Annual speeches now prime-time events with political tension

• Democrats plan rally against Trump's policies during his speech

Feb 21 (Reuters) - What began as a spare presidential report to the U.S. Congress has hardened into a prime-time pressure chamber shaped by an era of fierce polarization, with the State of the Union speech now unfolding as a long night of choreographed tension and open confrontation - a moment for presidents to wrest narrative from turmoil and craft the defining images of their time in power.

President Donald Trump will deliver his speech to Congress at 9 p.m. ET on Tuesday (0200 GMT on Wednesday), a far cry from President George Washington's first address in 1790 - a brisk 1,089-word report that could be read in less time than many modern presidents take to clear their throats.

In 1801, President Thomas Jefferson took a different approach by sending a written message rather than speaking in person, a practice that endured for more than a century. Only in 1913 did President Woodrow Wilson resume the tradition of delivering the message in person.

President Harry Truman in 1947 delivered the first televised State of the Union address, marking the beginning of a new era in presidential communication. President Lyndon Johnson in 1965 delivered the first prime-time State of the Union address to maximize television viewership.

Since then, the nighttime speeches have grown more raucous as partisan divisions have sharpened, with the president's party often rising in applause while the opposition pointedly remains seated.

This year, a group of Democrats will abandon Trump's speech for an outdoor rally against his policies. After the speech, newly elected Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat, will deliver the traditional televised response.

Heightening the suspense, Trump will come face to face with justices of the Supreme Court four days after a 6–3 majority — including two Trump appointees — struck down his signature tariffs as an overreach of presidential authority.

WHEN THE SPEECHES STRETCHED TO NEW LENGTHS

Recent presidents have gone far longer than George Washington did.

President Bill Clinton set a record in 2000 with a State of the Union speech lasting 1 hour, 28 minutes and 49 seconds. Trump's 2025 address ran even longer at 1 hour, 39 minutes and 32 seconds, according to the American Presidency Project.

Trump's speech last year came too soon after his return to the presidency to be formally considered a State of the Union speech. As with other presidents just assuming office, his was branded merely a joint address to Congress.

ARMED MAN FATALLY SHOT AT TRUMP'S MAR-A-LAGO RESORT, OFFICIALS SAY

President Ronald Reagan launched the tradition of inviting special guests in 1982 by introducing Lenny Skutnik, a Congressional Budget Office employee who heroically rescued a plane crash survivor from the Potomac River.

Such honors have been contentious at times, such as in 2020 when Trump, a former reality TV star, awarded the highest U.S. civilian honour - the Presidential Medal of Freedom - to polarizing radio show host Rush Limbaugh.

VIRAL CLASHES THAT REDEFINED THE STATE OF THE UNION

In more recent years, some of the more monumental moments during presidential speeches to Congress have been confrontational and gone viral.

* In 2009: 'YOU LIE,' OBAMA IS TOLD

Republican Representative Joe Wilson shouted, "You lie!" at Democratic President Barack Obama during a healthcare speech to Congress, though it was not a State of the Union address. Wilson was protesting Obama's statement that healthcare plans then being considered in Congress would not insure immigrants who entered the country illegally. Wilson later apologized in the face of bipartisan criticism over the rare breach of protocol in a presidential address.

* In 2010: A SUPREME COURT SCOWL HEARD NATIONWIDE

When the following year Obama sharply criticized the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling that he said would "open the floodgates" to unlimited corporate and potentially foreign money in U.S. elections, Justice Samuel Alito reacted by shaking his head and appearing to mouth "not true," a rare breach of the justices' traditionally impassive demeanor.

* In 2020: TRUMP-PELOSI FEUD IN PRIME TIME

Trump, a Republican, snubbed U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the top Democratic elected official in Washington, declining to shake her hand as he handed her a paper copy of his State of the Union speech. Pelosi avoided citing the customary "high privilege and distinct honor" that usually accompanies the speaker's introduction of the president to Congress. At the end of his 80-minute speech, Pelosi stood and ripped apart her copy of the remarks he had handed her as millions watched on television. She later told reporters it was "the courteous thing to do, considering the alternative."

* In 2023: BIDEN'S SPIRITED EXCHANGE WITH REPUBLICANS

Democratic President Joe Biden had a spirited exchange with Republican lawmakers after some of them interrupted and booed during his State of the Union address. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene yelled "liar" at Biden after the president said, "Instead of making the wealthy pay their fair , some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security to sunset." Republican Representative Andy Ogles of Tennessee yelled "it's your fault" at Biden over the U.S. fentanyl crisis.

* In 2024: BIDEN TAKES ON TRUMP AND THE REPUBLICANS

Biden drew sharp contrasts with Trump, accusing his Republican rival of undermining democracy, accommodating Russia and blocking immigration reform, while largely focusing his speech on Trump without naming him. Biden needled Republicans when they booed his claim they wanted to cut taxes for the wealthy, taunting them with an ad-libbed line questioning their objections to another $2 trillion tax cut for the wealthy. "Oh, no? You guys don't want another $2 trillion tax cut? I kind of thought that's what your plan was," Biden said.

WHEN SPEECHES RESET U.S. POLICY

The State of the Union speeches have at times delivered policy landmarks.

In 1941, 11 months before the United States entered World War Two, President Franklin Roosevelt gave his "Four Freedoms" speech laying out freedoms people worldwide should have: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear. In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson declared an "unconditional War on Poverty," launching an ambitious sweep of social programs that reshaped federal spending and the government's role in economic opportunity.

In 1996, Clinton proclaimed that "the era of big government is over," signaling a recalibration aimed at drawing Republicans into a more bipartisan approach to governing. In 2002, President George W. Bush branded Iraq, Iran and North Korea an "axis of evil" in the wake of the September 11, 2001, attacks, marking a turn toward a more assertive foreign policy.

ATTACHMENT FOURTEEN – FROM USA TODAY

TRUMP V. TRUMP. WHICH PRESIDENT SHOWS UP AT THE STATE OF THE UNION?

Will it be the-economy-is-fixed Trump or I-feel-your-pain Trump when he addresses Congress? America-First Trump or Nobel-Prize-peacemaker Trump?

Updated Feb. 21, 2026, 8:50 a.m. ET

What refunds did Trump's administration promise?

How will Trump proceed with tariffs after SCOTUS ruling?

What contrasts Trump's campaign promises vs. current policies?

What is Trump's current approval rating?

The state of President Donald Trump's union is troubled.

When he delivers the annual State of the Union on Feb. 24, the audience in the House chamber will likely include members of a Supreme Court that just outlawed the stiff tariffs that have been his primary economic and national-security cudgel. A key part of his administration has been partially shut down in a ferocious showdown over his aggressive immigration enforcement.

And congressional Republicans, bracing for what now looks like difficult midterm elections, will be watching for which Donald Trump climbs the dais.

More: Why Supreme Court tariff ruling makes Trump a loser, Congress a winner

Call it a battle for Trump's brain.

Some see the effort to re-focus his message on kitchen-table problems − and even to acknowledge that those problems are real − as an existential challenge to their own political futures and the GOP's continued control of Congress in November.

That has not been the president's priority so far.

Since he signed the so-called Big Beautiful Bill last July 4, extending the sweeping tax cuts from his first term, Trump has been less interested in legislation and more interested in legacy. He has been less engaged on the close-to-home issues that were key to his re-election in 2024 and more on the global war-and-peace causes he hopes will burnish his place in history.

More: You do the (midterm) math: Trump's 36% approval, MAGA's $304 million

Not to mention imprinting his gilded brand on everything from the Rose Garden to the Kennedy Center − now designated the Trump-Kennedy Center in the lettering above its marbled entrance.as parts of it remain .

Indeed, it was his eagerness to bypass Congress that ran headfirst into the Supreme Court, which ruled Feb. 20 that the president didn't have the authority to impose stiff tariffs without congressional approval. The court's 6-3 decision threatens a cornerstone of his economic policy.

More: 4 issues to watch after Supreme Court ruling overturns Trump tariffs

At the State of the Union, not only senators and representatives but also Cabinet members and military chiefs and high court justices and ambassadors from around the world will be arrayed before Trump in the House chamber. The evening offers the grandest venue, the biggest TV audience and the highest-profile speech most presidents have all year.

Will Trump use the opportunity to deliver a forward-looking agenda designed to boost fellow Republicans, some unnerved by Democratic victories in a series of special elections over the past year? Or one that exalts the achievements he claims to have already scored?

We'll see on Tuesday.

ON THE ECONOMY, TRIUMPH v. EMPATHY

Take the economy.

On no other front is there a greater division between what Trump has been saying and what congressional Republicans want to hear.

"I think we have the greatest economy actually ever in history," Trump told Fox Business. While mainstream economists don't go that far, Trump can cite stock-market momentum, stronger-than-predicted job growth and the cooling of inflation as evidence his policies are working.

He has graded the economy as "A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus" and he dismissed the economic anxiety summed up by the word "affordability." He calls it a "Democratic hoax" and a "con job."

But "affordability" is the concern that members of Congress in both parties are hearing from their constituents. The rising costs consumers are beginning to pay from Trump's stiff tariffs and the loss of enhanced premium subsidies in the Affordable Care Act are fueling economic angst. So is a sense that the positive economic developments are rebounding mostly to the benefit of the wealthy, not the workers.

A majority of Americans said in a Pew Research Center poll released this month that they were "very worried" about the costs of a string of specifics − health care, food, housing and electricity. The Gallup Poll found that the percentage of adults who predict they will have a high-quality life in five years has fallen to a record low, a decline that continued during 2025, when Trump was back in office.

Republicans on the ballot this fall hope to hear an empathetic message from Trump. More "I feel your pain." Less "the economy is fixed" − no matter how it feels to you.

INFLATION SHOPPING

"People aren't dumb," Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, a MAGA Republican and Trump stalwart, told NBC News. "They know when they go to the grocery store what it costs and what it doesn't. They know what their rent costs. They know what their prescription drugs cost. And all of that stuff is too high. And they can't afford it. And they know that."

During the 2024 campaign, Trump hammered predecessor Joe Biden for failing to do more to address inflation. He accused the then-president of being out of touch by making the argument that the economy was rosier than most voters realized.

Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, said Trump and his advisers are the ones who now seem out of touch.

"Trump is not sitting down on a Thursday night and paying his own bills and seeing what's going on with health care and how much his credit card shows for gas receipts," she said. "You can't call it a hoax and suggest that people are going to believe it."

ON FOREIGN POLICY, AMERICA FIRST V. THE NOBEL PRIZE

On foreign policy, too, Trump's actions in office have been different than his campaign message.

During his presidential campaigns, Trump extolled an "America First" message. That is, that the country should focus on its problems at home, not on its role around the world. He promised no more "endless wars" like the one in Afghanistan, the nation's longest, which ended in 2021 after nearly two decades.

But Trump in office has been extensively engaged in conflicts around the globe, now bragging that he has settled eight wars and deserves the Nobel Peace Prize. In recent days, he convened his "Board of Peace," with an agenda that starts with rebuilding devastated Gaza. Last week he dispatched a top aide and his son-in-law for back-to-back negotiations in Geneva on the war in Ukraine and tensions with Iran.

He has moved a second carrier group to the Middle East to be poised for possible strikes on Iran, despite warnings from allies in the region that could risk sparking a larger war.

The issue for some of his supporters is not only the expansive global role he has asserted for the United States but also the time and attention he has devoted to it. Voters' priorities tend to be closer to home, on whether they can buy a house and if the streets in their community are safe.

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'Affordability is a con job by the Democrats,' Trump says

Trump's dominance shows signs of slipping amid Epstein saga and affordability woes

'Punch our customers in the face.' Farm concerns about Trump tariffs could fuel 2026 races

When Trump was flying to Switzerland last month for the World Economic Forum in Davos, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles told reporters that the president would scale back his overseas trips this year and ramp up his domestic travel − starting with a trip to Iowa focused on farmers battered by tariffs.

On Thursday, he was in Rome, Georgia, though in scattered remarks he declared that he had already "won affordability," not exactly the message he has been urged to deliver.

More: Trump says he 'solved' affordability, stumps to replace Marjorie Taylor Greene

He was in the congressional district holding a special election in March to replace Marjorie Taylor Greene, a MAGA backer-turned-critic who resigned in January.

"If you had put America FIRST from the start, instead of your rich donor class and foreign policy, you wouldn't have to strategize on how to gaslight Americans," Greene heckled in post on X about White House planning for the State of the Union. "Messaging won't fix this."

YOU CAN WRITE A SCRIPT. YOU CAN'T MAKE HIM STICK TO IT

Even in his biggest speeches, Trump rarely follows the script.

Consider last year's address to a Joint Session of Congress.

"To my fellow citizens: America is back," Trump began, reading the version on the teleprompter.

But for the next hour and 39 minutes, he ranged far afield, delivering the longest such address in decades. He praised fire fighters ("unbelievable people" who "voted for me in record numbers") while denouncing "wokeness" ("wokeness is trouble"). He gave a hat tip to Secretary of State Marco Rubio but paired it with a warning. "Now we know who to blame if anything goes wrong," he ad libbed.

He also repeatedly blamed the nation's economic and other woes on Biden, something that will be harder to do after he has been the president in charge for more than a year.

"As you know, we inherited from the last administration an economic catastrophe and an inflation nightmare," Trump said last year, pointing out in particular the price of eggs as a sign of Biden's failure. "As president, I'm fighting every day to reverse this damage and make America affordable again."

There's that word. Does he say it again this time?

ATTACHMENT FIFTEEN – FROM WASHINGTON TIMES

SOTU HIGHLIGHTS TRUMP’S CHALLENGE AGAINST DEMOCRATS’ RADICAL OPPOSITION

President must outline unity, economic renewal, and respect for voters amid left-wing disruption

By Editorial Board - The Washington Times - Monday, February 23, 2026

OPINION:

The state of our union is more precarious as sore losers continue to act out their frustrations in uncivil ways. It’s a safe bet that Democrats will carry on like spoiled toddlers Tuesday night because they have yet to demonstrate the ability to sit with dignity for more than a few minutes in the presence of Donald J. Trump.

Something about radical liberals fills them with an irresistible urge to signal virtue to their extremist supporters through disrespectful outbursts. They don’t realize that, when they express contempt for the man who holds the country’s highest office, they reveal their contempt for the Americans who put him there. Such boorish behavior from politicians on the left and the media outlets that serve their interests has a corrosive effect on society.

Because of this, Mr. Trump faces a challenge greater than that of any of his modern predecessors. To repair the damage being done to our republic, he will have to reinvigorate the coalition that returned him to the Oval Office a second time. Americans still want an agenda that puts America first.

Rambunctious House and Senate Democrats alienate ordinary voters with their crude antics. The same is true with propositions that are popular everywhere but Capitol Hill, such as requiring proof of identity for anyone who tries to cast a ballot. Thus, Mr. Trump must twist every arm in the Senate to pass the SAVE Act.

The president might also consider adopting an idea from California, where legislators last year enacted the Automatic Renewal Law, which simplifies the process of canceling subscriptions and ends the sneaky practices some companies employ to trick the unwary into paying for services they don’t use.

After all, the Golden State does encourage shoplifting, so why not boost an initiative that can win goodwill across the political spectrum? Another way to regain trust is to err on the side of openness and stop bureaucrats from redacting information that is embarrassing to their institutions.

The Justice Department has yet to release damning Russiagate documents, such as the financial records that detail which “journalists” were being paid by the public relations firm peddling the debunked dossier. We haven’t seen key papers justifying the dubious claim that Russia hacked the Democratic National Committee.

• Veterans sue over Trump’s Independence Arch proposal near Lincoln Memorial

• Sen. Klobuchar and naked emperors of the left

• Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent: Tariff revenue projections ‘unchanged’ after SCOTUS ruling

The public needs to see the extent of the dirty tricks campaign kicked off by Hillary Clinton that President Obama amplified through the intelligence agencies under his leadership.

Although a soaring Dow Jones Industrial Average is great for those who play the market, young, first-time Republican voters are less likely to be deeply invested in Wall Street. With housing costs consuming the greatest share of the average paycheck, they can’t afford it. Too many feel the American dream is leaving them behind.

Mr. Trump needs to revert to his instincts to bring wayward followers back into the fold. He ought to prioritize his populist economic plan over foreign entanglements.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis warned of a sagging economy on Friday. Gross domestic product growth slowed to 1.4% in the last quarter. If you omit the reduction in government purchases from the partial shutdown that Democrats engineered, the figure would be 2.3%, but cynical Democrats are still celebrating.

It’s that nasty streak on the left that needs highlighting. After four years of President Biden and his staggering inflation, falling real wages and migrant caravans, the nation is on the right track. It takes only a slight course correction to keep it firmly on the road to prosperity.

ATTACHMENT SIXTEEN – FROM IUK

TRUMP TO REPUBLICANS: IT'S THE TARIFFS, STUPID

By John Bowden Friday, February 20, 2026

Three decades after political strategist James Carville coined his famous warning to Bill Clinton ("It's the economy, stupid!"), the message couldn't be more relevant.

With persistent high prices still affecting areas of the economy like energy and groceries, Donald Trump turned to the midterm campaign trail on Thursday with a mission: Sell voters on the Trump economy.

For better or worse, that means talking about tariffs.

The president's second-term economic agenda has been defined by trade policy even moreso than his first stint in the White House, as Trump rolled out a flat duty on all U.S. imports and his so-called "reciprocal" tariffs on many U.S. trading partners.

Those tariffs were wielded like a club by Trump as he sought to bully countries like China, Canada, the U.K. and Denmark into line on whatever issue of the day came to his desk — everything from typical trade conflicts to his demand for control over Greenland.

At his rally in Rome, Georgia on Thursday the president was in clear campaign mode as he appeared alongside Republican candidates including Rep. Mike Collins, who is running for the Senate seat held by Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff.

An at-times awkward rally shifted focus back and forth between Trump's message and various fawning Republican candidates and Trump supporters.

But the goal was clear. The president is set to spend the 2026 campaign season convincing Americans that the projected negative effects of his volatile tariff levels are miniscule, while the benefits of an "America First" trade policy are simply being ignored by the growing number of Americans represented by his sagging approval ratings.

ATTACHMENT SEVENTEEN – FROM USA TODAY

TRUMP IN RETREAT? STATE OF THE UNION ARRIVES AMID 'VERY ROUGH PATCH'

“They’re in a very rough patch,” said Quinnipiac University polling analyst Tim Malloy, whose survey recently had Trump's approval rating at 37%.

Updated Feb. 21, 2026, 10:23 a.m. ET

ISSUES THAT MAY SHAPE TOMORROW'S HEADLINES...

What is Trump's current approval rating?

How did the Supreme Court ruling affect Trump's economic agenda?

What impact did Minnesota shootings have on Trump's immigration approval?

President Donald Trump's aggressive second-term agenda already was faltering when the Supreme Court delivered a hammer blow.

The court's 6-3 decision released Feb. 20 invalidating Trump's use of emergency powers to enact sweeping tariffs shattered a pillar of his economic agenda. It's also the latest in a series of other setbacks, from his withdrawal of immigration agents in Minneapolis to his retreat on seizing Greenland.

The backpedaling and defeats come amid falling poll numbers, massive anti-Trump demonstrations, strong election performances by Democrats and other signs that the political mood is shifting hard against the Republican president, setting the stage for a high-stakes State of the Union address on Feb. 24, the first of his second administration.

More: Why supreme court tariff ruling makes Trump a loser, Congress a winner

The primetime speech from the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, comes at a critical time for Trump as he tries to combat increasingly negative views about his performance and deliver a message that can reverse the GOP’s dire outlook for the 2026 midterm elections, which historically favor the party out of power.

Presidential historian Douglas Brinkley said the speech carried live on every television network and cable news channel is a “dream opportunity for presidents to up their game” and shore up their support.

“You own the floor,” he said.

More: Trump V. Trump. Which President Shows Up At The State Of The Union?

TRUMP'S 'ROUGH PATCH'

Trump’s standing with the public has been crumbling under his feet, with polls showing him at or near a second-term low amid cost-of-living concerns, intense backlash to his immigration agenda and skepticism of other administration policies.

That the president is now on defense after a stunning first year of disruptive policy moves has been evident in his recent losses and reversals.

In addition to U-turns on Greenland and Minneapolis, Trump also deleted a video he posted depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes after bipartisan condemnation, although he declined to apologize and blamed an aide. And he continues to grapple with the fallout from the congressionally-compelled release of the Epstein files.

“They’re in a very rough patch,” said Quinnipiac University polling analyst Tim Malloy, whose survey found Trump’s approval rating was at just 37% at the beginning of February. The poll had Trump's approval at 45% a year ago.

Losing the tariff case is especially consequential. While polls show they are unpopular, tariffs have been central to Trump's economic agenda, which will face a referendum in the midterm elections.

More: 'Punch Our Customers In The Face.' Farm Concerns About Trump Tariffs Could Fuel 2026 Races

"It is a massive setback," said GOP consultant Matthew Bartlett, who worked in the State Department during Trump's first administration, noting that tariffs are the president's "signature economic policy."

The tariff ruling "will undoubtedly raise the stakes" for the president's State of the Union address, Barlett added, while predicting some "heightened theatrics" as Trump speaks before Supreme Court justices who delivered him a stunning rebuke and who the president bashed in a press conference after the decision. Trump singled out two of the justices who he appointed during his first term but who ruled against him on tariffs - Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett - as an "embarrassment to their families."

President Donald Trump gestures as he speaks during a press briefing at the White House, following the Supreme Court's ruling that Trump had exceeded his authority when he imposed tariffs, in Washington, D.C., February 20, 2026.

"This SOTU could go from a circus environment to a coliseum atmosphere," Bartlett said.

Trump has deeply woven tariffs into his economic pitch, which also has focused on bright spots such as a booming stock market, relatively low inflation and better than expected job numbers. His defeat before the Supreme Court could further dim views of his economic stewardship, although allies believe he has a good case to make.

“If he had low numbers and not accomplished anything people could be worried,” former GOP House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a Trump ally who led House Republicans during part of the president's first term, told USA TODAY before the Supreme Court's tariffs decision. “He’s got so many accomplishments, the thing he has to do is narrow it down and talk to the American people about what he has done… and you know his numbers will pop.”

‘LEAKING AIR’ ON ECONOMY, IMMIGRATION

The White House has been eager to tout signs of a resilient economy, blasting out a press release earlier this month when employers added 130,000 jobs in January, beating expectations as the unemployment rate dropped to 4.3%.

“This is the Trump economy,” the release declared.

The stock market’s strong run also has been a top Trump selling point as he celebrates major indexes setting new records. The president mentioned a recent peak in the financial markets during his Feb. 20 press conference in response to the court's tariff decision, and Attorney General Pam Bondi also pointed to soaring stock prices during a congressional hearing in pushing back against her department's handling of the Epstein files. Even more crucially for many Americans, many of whom don't own stocks, inflation cooled to 2.4% in January, close to the Federal Reserve’s 2% target rate.

Yet prices for many essential goods remains high, and polls show a majority of Americans are acutely concerned about the cost of living. The White House recently cited the $6.69 per pound cost of ground beef, the highest since record-keeping began in the 1980s, in an executive order allowing more tariff-free beef from Argentina.

Just 39% of Americans approved of Trump’s handling of the economy in the Quinnipiac survey released earlier this month. The president also received low marks for his handling of immigration, with just 38% approving.

“Where he’s really leaking air is on the economy and on immigration, where his numbers are bad and getting worse,” Malloy said.

A January survey by the Pew Research Center found that 60% of Americans disapprove of Trump's tariffs, which economists widely view as contributing to higher consumer costs. The survey found that a majority of Americans are "very" concerned about the cost of health care, groceries, housing and electricity.

During a Feb. 19 appearance in Georgia while campaigning in a congressional special election to fill former Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's seat, Trump told supporters that affordability is no longer an issue, though, saying “we’ve solved it, and we’re going still lower, but we’ve solved it.”

TRUMP STICKS WITH TARIFFS

The dissonance between Trump’s economic boosterism and Americans’ pervasive cost-of-living concerns presents a challenge as the president works to sell his vision in the State of the Union. He has struggled to stay focused and strike the right tone on economic issues, according to some Republicans who say he has been too distracted overseas on Venezuela and Greenland.

Trump “doesn’t seem to feel the pain that many Americans are experiencing with the economy or the sanctity of their jobs. It seems to be unnoticed,” former Michigan GOP Rep. Fred Upton told USA TODAY.

Bartlett said in the "irrational exuberance" surrounding Trump's return to power the president and his allies “overlooked” the critical issue of affordability.

“The notion that the Republican Party and the president has largely done everything but the one thing that matters most to voters, it’s going to continue to plague them,” he added.

The State of the Union could be an opportunity for Trump to “reset” and rally support for a bipartisan economic agenda, Bartlett said, but he thinks it’s unlikely. The tariff ruling could even be beneficial, he said, noting the concern that tariffs increase prices.

Yet Trump has vowed to continue pursuing tariffs through other methods, saying in his press conference after the court ruling that the country is "booming because of tariffs" and "we are going to keep it going just as before." He even announced a new 10% global tariff.

"The Supreme Court has thrown the Trump economy a life preserver, yet the president continues to demand an anchor," Bartlett said.

The ongoing tariff debate could overshadow other moves Trump has made on the economy. McCarthy pointed to Trump's efforts to lower prescription drug prices and cut taxes as tangible economic benefits for people. He said the president has done much that “people don’t see” and the State of the Union is an opportunity to change that, describing the speech as Trump's "report card" to the public.

Trump’s sinking approval rating also is tied to his low marks on immigration, with the president reeling from uproar around his aggressive tactics in Minnesota, where two people were shot to death by federal immigration agents. Democrats have warned that the administration is pushing an authoritarian approach that violates constitutional rights, and polls show most people disapprove of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

It’s “astounding” how immigration has gone from a political strength to an “incredible political liability” for Trump, Bartlett said.

The shift has Trump dialing back.

TRUMP IN RETREAT

Outrage over the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis prompted a rare admission from Trump that his administration overreached, with the president saying there needs to be a “softer touch.”

The deaths also led Trump to pull his immigration agents out of the city and end the operation. The dramatic course correction came on the heels of other reversals, painting a picture of Trump in retreat 13 months into his second term.

Demonstrators attend a protest against the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after the fatal shootings of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti by U.S. federal immigration agents, in Minneapolis Minnesota, U.S., January 31, 2026.

Trump’s first year back in office was marked by massive disruption, including a campaign led by billionaire Elon Musk to slash federal agencies and sweeping deportation efforts that included the deployment of National Guard in major cities. The president bombed Iran and captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Yet after months of saying he wanted to seize Greenland, Trump backed off in the face of overwhelming opposition among U.S. allies and congressional Republicans. And the president already was adjusting his approach on tariffs before the Supreme Court struck them down, exempting or delaying the levies on goods from coffee to beef and furniture in the face of price concerns.

“That is a sign of a strong leader that he could adapt,” McCarthy said, adding; “He keeps his eye on the solution to the problem. If one path is not working he adapts.”

Whether there will be any recalibration when Trump stands before Congress on Feb. 24 remains to be seen. The president often has chosen a combative approach, even excoriating Democrats during the bipartisan prayer breakfast this year, Upton noted.

The economy is expected to be top of mind for voters in the midterm election. White House Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair framed the administration’s message in a Feb. 17 Fox Business interview, saying voters will be faced with “a choice to go backwards to the economy pain they were feeling, or to go forwards for things to continue to get better.”

The White House has routinely sought to drive home that economic message, with Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt opening her Feb. 18 briefing reciting a list of "promising signs" on the economy and declaring "the best is yet to come." Top White House officials huddled with Trump's Cabinet at a recent meeting in Washington to discuss the administration's economic messaging heading into the midterms, according to Politico.

"We have the hottest country in one year. We have the hottest country anywhere in the world," Trump declared in Georgia.

Yet Trump has struggled to stay on message about the economy, veering off in his Georgia speech to unfound claims about election fraud and other topics.

Nebraska GOP Rep. Don Bacon, who has opposed Trump on tariffs and other issues and is not running for reelection, told USA TODAY the strong performances by Democrats in elections over the last year are “a red, flashing light” for the GOP as the party heads into the midterms.

Trump has a chance to “reframe the agenda” with his speech and refocus on affordability after being “sidetracked” on other issues, said Bacon, who celebrated the Supreme Court ruling on tariffs and said he hopes Trump's "staff and lawyers talk some sense into him" as the president vows to keep pursuing the levies.

“If you’re driving a car and you’ve got a red flashing light, it's time to get your engine looked at or pull over," Bacon said.

ATTACHMENT EIGHTEEN – FROM POLITICO

A HIGH-STAKES STATE OF THE UNION JUST GOT HARDER FOR TRUMP

The president heads to the Hill for a primetime address to Congress on Tuesday amid a torrent of negative news.

By Megan Messerly and Daniel Desrochers 02/21/2026 07:00 AM EST

President Donald Trump didn’t hide it.

It’s a “disgrace,” he said during a breakfast with governors, looking at a note that told him his administration had just suffered a humiliating rebuke at the hands of a conservative Supreme Court, according to a governor who was in the room, granted anonymity to details of the meeting.

Trump cut his remarks short and walked out of the room with his favorite presidential power and, by extension, his agenda, on a knife’s edge — four days ahead of the most important speech of the year.

The president’s primetime address to Congress on Tuesday was supposed to set the stage for a tough but disciplined midterm campaign focused on the administration’s efforts to lower costs for everyday Americans and tout his first-year accomplishments. Instead, he heads to the Hill amid a torrent of negative news.

Economic growth is flagging. U.S. military assets are massing in the waters around Iran in anticipation of a potential strike that many in the president’s base find odious. A major government agency is shut down over an immigration standoff with Democrats sparked after federal agents killed two U.S. citizens. “Make America Healthy Again” activists are furious over Trump’s order boosting domestic production of the herbicide glyphosate. The scandal surrounding Jeffrey Epstein, the late convicted sex offender, continues to swirl.

And now, the nation’s highest court has dealt the president what some allies see as the most humiliating and devastating blow of his second term. Six justices, including two Trump appointees, said Friday that the president does not have the ability to unilaterally impose tariffs on trading partners in the event of an international economic emergency, a power that the court made clear resides with Congress.

“This is the signature economic policy, we’re four days away from the State of the Union, and he has just been rejected by the court in a pretty serious public way,” said Allison Smith, a lobbyist and former trade official in the Biden administration.

The tariff decision comes as Trump’s approval rating hovers near its second-term low, and eight months ahead of an election in which Republicans are trying to hold on to their thin majority in the House.

Even as the president is expected to celebrate a slew of positive economic data during Tuesday’s address, his administration will be forced to contend with slower than expected GDP growth and the loss of the president’s favorite economic and national security tool.

A frustrated Trump on Friday fumed to reporters about the Supreme Court’s rebuke, suggesting that some of the justices were influenced by an unnamed cabal of “foreign interests” that had bullied them into a “deeply disappointing” and “ridiculous” decision.

“I would not want to be in the Oval Office right now,” said one person close to the White House, who like others in this story was granted anonymity to speak candidly, minutes after the decision came down.

A second person close to the White House, a former Trump official, described it as a “stunning defeat.”

“Obama had a stunning rebuke. Roosevelt had a stunning rebuke,” the person said. “Presidential powers have their limits.”

The blow to Trump’s tariff agenda comes as he is also struggling to retain the upper hand on his other major domestic priority — deportations. Democrats have refused to fund the Department of Homeland Security unless the White House agrees to reform how federal immigration officers operate, and polling shows a growing backlash to some of the heavy-handed tactics that immigration officers have employed.

The Trump administration was forced to shift gears in January, sending White House border czar Tom Homan to Minnesota to de-escalate tensions with local authorities, in what was widely seen as a retreat for the administration.

Trump, meanwhile, is sending aircraft carriers, fighter jets and surveillance planes to the Middle East in preparation for possible military action in Iran.

Elements of his base traditionally skeptical of military intervention have largely tolerated the targeted actions he has taken during his second term — including the arrest of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro and a strike on Iranian nuclear facilities. A more extensive operation in Iran risks alienating them.

An overseas operation would also distract from the White House’s efforts to sell its affordability initiatives to Americans, who do not want to see the U.S. embroiled in conflict abroad.

“You don’t want to go into a State of the Union with a foreign policy issue hanging over your head,” a third person close to the White House said.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court ruling has blunted Trump’s preferred geopolitical tool. Trump has lobbed tariff threats at a wide range of trading partners as he sought the upper hand in international relations — ranging from his attempts to isolate leadership in Cuba and Iran to his brazen attempt to acquire Greenland.

The court’s decision undercuts that ability to wield tariffs in the heat of the moment, typically as a way to extract concessions from countries on unrelated issues.

“The hardest part of this ruling for him is going to be the way in which it has taken away his magic tariff Sharpie,” said Peter Harrell, a former Biden official. “He can’t just threaten tariffs on a whim.”

But as Trump has traveled the country to celebrate his successes — and to convince voters that they should elect Republicans — he’s battling with an American populace that firmly believes the economy isn’t working in their favor.

He has talked about how his tariffs have helped end wars and loaded up the country’s coffers. He’s floated plans to use tariffs to provide direct payments to veterans, farmers and small businesses — and even issue a tariff rebate — none of which have come to fruition.

Yet Trump remains unbowed. On Friday, he pledged to reimplement his tariffs, warning that they could end up even higher than before.

“The president has multiple tools in his toolbox,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said at the Dallas Economic Club Friday afternoon, adding that other tariff authorities “will result in virtually unchanged tariff revenue in 2026.”

ATTACHMENT NINETEEN – FROM NBC

AT LEAST 12 DEMOCRATIC LAWMAKERS PLAN TO BOYCOTT TRUMP'S STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS

The members of Congress plan to attend a rally organized by progressive advocacy groups on the National Mall, instead.

Feb. 18, 2026, 11:37 AM EST / Updated Feb. 18, 2026, 12:08 PM EST

At least a dozen Democratic members of Congress plan to boycott President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address at the Capitol on Tuesday and are scheduled to attend a rally on the National Mall, instead.

The progressive groups MoveOn and MeidasTouch announced Wednesday that they're hosting the “People’s State of the Union” rally at 8:30 p.m. ET near the Capitol. The event is billed as "counterprogramming" to "President Trump’s night full of lies and misplaced priorities for the American people." The groups said, "Democratic lawmakers will be joined on stage by the everyday Americans most impacted by Trump’s dangerous agenda."

The lawmakers planning to skip the speech and attend the rally, according to the organizers, are Sens. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Tina Smith of Minnesota and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, as well as Reps. Yassamin Ansari of Arizona, Becca Balint of Vermont, Greg Casar of Texas, Veronica Escobar of Texas, Pramila Jayapal of Washington, Delia Ramirez of Illinois, and Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey.

“Next week, Trump will deliver his State of the Union address. I won’t be there," Van Hollen wrote Wednesday on X. "Trump is marching America towards fascism, and I refuse to normalize his shredding of our Constitution & democracy. This cannot be business as usual.”

Murphy said in a statement that Trump has made "a mockery" of the State of the Union address, "taking a moment that is meant to bring the country together and turning it into a campaign rally to spew hatred and division." He added, "Democrats have no obligation to reward him with an audience as he lies and attacks people who disagree with him."

Similarly, Balint said in a statement that the State of the Union address “is meant to be a serious reflection of our nation’s progress, our shortfalls, and the common goals ahead of us.”

“Instead of sitting through what has become President Trump’s annual self-congratulation, misinformation, and division speech, I look forward to a night of standing with colleagues, organizers, advocates, and everyday Americans who are committed to doing the real and honest work of protecting our rights, strengthening our communities, and holding those in power accountable,” she said.

Reached for comment, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson criticized Democrats for voting against tax cuts and opposing other parts of Trump's agenda, like border security. "It’s not a surprise that they refuse to celebrate and honor the Americans who have benefitted from the commonsense policies Republicans have governed with," she said.

Historically, the president's opposing party conveys its opposition to the annual speech with an official response immediately after the address. But since Trump's first term as president, in addition to delivering a formal response, Democrats have displayed their dissenting views in other ways. A number of Democratic lawmakers have either skipped the speech, walked out of the chamber mid-address or been thrown out of the chamber or have taken other action to make their disdain for his remarks clear.

During Trump's speech last year, which is called a joint address to Congress in the first year of a presidential term, Rep. Al Greene of Texas was removed from the House chamber by the sergeant-at-arms after he jeered at Trump. Numerous Democrats walked out in protest after Trump taunted Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and called her "Pocahontas." Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico and Rep. Maxine Waters of California were among the Democrats who boycotted the address altogether. Other Democrats who attended the speech held up white signs as Trump spoke that called him "king" and "liar" and others that said "Save Medicaid" and "Musk Steals."

As soon as Trump finished his final State of the Union address during his first term in 2020, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California famously tore up a paper copy of the speech as she stood behind him on the dais.

“I tore up a manifesto of mistruths,” Pelosi later told reporters. “It was necessary to get the attention of the American people to say, ‘This is not true, and this is how it affects you.’ And I don’t need any lessons from anybody — especially the president of the United States — about dignity.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York told reporters Tuesday that it was his "present intention to be at the State of the Union" next week. If Democrats win back control of the House majority in this year's midterm elections and if Jeffries is elected speaker, he could be sitting behind Trump in his address next year.

"We’re not going to his house. He’s coming to our house, and it’s the people’s house," Jeffries said. "And having grown up where I grew up, you never let anyone run you off your block."

ATTACHMENT TWENTY – FROM GUK

ABIGAIL SPANBERGER TO GIVE DEMOCRATIC RESPONSE TO TRUMP’S STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS

Virginia governor is seen as a model for the party to win back power in midterm elections

By Lauren Gambino Thu 19 Feb 2026 18.36 EST

Virginia’s governor, Abigail Spanberger, will deliver the Democratic response to Donald Trump’s State of the Union address next week, elevating a pragmatic voice whose affordability-focused gubernatorial campaign is seen as a model for the party to win back power in the November midterm elections.

The Democratic rebuttal will immediately follow Trump’s address to Congress on 24 February. Spanberger, a former undercover CIA officer who served three terms in Congress, became Virginia’s first female governor earlier this year, resoundingly winning an office previously held by a Republican. She won the race by a double-digit margin, campaigning on affordability and lowering costs for families.

In a statement, the House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, and his counterpart, the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, hailed Spanberger as a public servant with a record of holding Trump accountable – and winning races in competitive territory.

“She stands in stark contrast to Donald Trump, who will lie, deflect and blame everyone but himself for his failed presidency on Tuesday evening,” Jeffries said in a statement announcing her selection. “As our nation marks its 250th anniversary this summer, Governor Spanberger embodies the best of America as a mother, community leader and dedicated public servant.

“Governor Spanberger will lay out a clear path forward: lower everyday costs, protect healthcare, and defend the freedoms that define who we are as a nation,” Schumer added.

Spanberger said she planned to use her rebuttal to address Americans’ concerns with “rising costs, chaos in their communities, and a real fear of what each day might bring”.

“Next week, I look forward to laying out what these Americans expect and deserve – leaders who are working hard to deliver for them,” she said.

In choosing Spanberger, 46, Democratic leaders are handing the spotlight to a battleground-tested moderate with national security credentials and a reputation for message discipline, particularly on economic issues and highlighting the impact of federal policies on everyday Virginians. Her 15-point victory in a purple state last November, alongside Mikie Sherrill in the New Jersey’s governor’s race, provided a jolt of optimism for Democrats still searching for an effective response to counter a president who dominates the political national conservation.

As Trump contends with sagging approval ratings amid economic unease and a backlash to his deportation agenda, Democrats believe they are strongly positioned to win control of the House – and possibly even the Senate – in November.

The rebuttal slot is typically reserved for a rising star – an ascendant figure the party believes can carry its message and showcase its next generation. Last year, Democrats chose the Michigan senator Elissa Slotkin, another centrist figure with an intelligence background who won her seat even as Trump claimed the battleground state in 2024. But unlike Slotkin, Spanberger is not seen as a potential 2028 contender.

Democrats also chose Senator Alex Padilla, to deliver the party’s Spanish-language response. In a statement, the 52-year-old senator said he planned to discuss “a federal government that weaponizes enforcement agencies against immigrants and US citizens alike”, as well as the Trump administration’s “failed economic agenda” and its effort to restrict voting access.

“Americans don’t need another speech from Donald Trump pretending everything is fine when their bills are too high, paychecks are too low, and masked and militarized federal agents are roaming our communities violating constitutional rights on a daily basis,” Padilla said in a statement.

Padilla, the son of Mexican immigrants and the first Latino to represent California in the Senate, was tackled to the ground by federal agents and handcuffed after attempting to ask the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, a question at a news conference in Los Angeles during the administration’s immigration crackdown in the city last summer.

Democrats are heavily courting Latino voters who shifted toward Trump in the presidential election, but have soured on the president over his handling of the economy and his sprawling deportation campaign that has swept up long-settled immigrants, green-card holders and even US citizens.

“As Donald Trump, Kristi Noem and Maga extremists have tried to silence the voices of our Latino brothers and sisters, Senator Alex Padilla has consistently fought back and proven Democrats will not bend the knee to this out-of-control administration,” Jeffries said in a statement.

ATTACHMENT TWENTY ONE – FROM POLITICO

VIRGINIA GOV. ABIGAIL SPANBERGER TAPPED FOR STATE OF THE UNION REBUTTAL

California Sen. Alex Padilla will deliver the Democratic response in Spanish.

By CHEYANNE M. DANIELS 02/19/2026 03:22 PM EST

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger will deliver the Democratic rebuttal to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address next week, Democratic Minority Leaders Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer announced Thursday.

Sen. Schumer said Spanberger “has always put service over politics,” and Rep. Jeffries praised Spanberger for her decisive victory in November’s election.

“She stands in stark contrast to Donald Trump, who will lie, deflect and blame everyone but himself for his failed presidency on Tuesday evening,” Jeffries said.

In a statement, Spanberger said Americans expect and deserve “leaders who are working hard to deliver for them.”

“We are at a defining moment in our nation’s history,” she said. “Virginians and Americans across the country are contending with rising costs, chaos in their communities, and a real fear of what each day might bring.”

Spanberger flipped Virginia’s governor’s mansion blue last year, becoming the state’s first female governor. She previously represented the commonwealth’s 7th District in the House. Before her time in politics, Spanberger served in the CIA.

The two minority leaders also announced Thursday that Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) will deliver the Democratic response in Spanish on Tuesday.

Padilla, the son of Mexican immigrants and California’s first Latino senator, garnered nationwide attention last summer after he was forcibly detained by officers during a press conference with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

“As Donald Trump, Kristi Noem and MAGA extremists have tried to silence the voices of our Latino brothers and sisters, Senator Alex Padilla has consistently fought back and proven Democrats will not bend the knee to this out-of-control administration,” Jeffries said.

Schumer added that Padilla’s message will be a “sharp contrast to President Trump’s chaos and self-dealing.”

Padilla said he plans to discuss lowering costs, safeguarding democracy and reining in “rogue federal agencies” in his speech.

“Americans don’t need another speech from Donald Trump pretending everything is fine when their bills are too high, paychecks are too low and masked and militarized federal agents are roaming our communities violating Constitutional rights on a daily basis,” Padilla said.

Trump will address the nation from the Capitol on Tuesday, though a swath of Democrats have announced they plan to boycott the address. Jeffries, however, told reporters Wednesday that he plans to attend Trump’s speech.

“We’re not going to Donald Trump’s house, he’s coming to our house,” Jeffries said. “It’s my view that you don’t let anyone ever run you off of your block.”

ATTACHMENT TWENTY TWO – FROM PALM BEACH POST

TRUMP TO DELIVER STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS. WHY? 10 THINGS TO KNOW

Cheryl McCloud Feb. 19, 2026, 8:47 a.m. ET

• President Trump's State of the Union address is scheduled for Feb. 24.

• Here's how to watch on TV or where to find livestreams.

• Discover fascinating facts and historical trivia about the SOTU, including words from President Kennedy that could apply today.

President Trump is scheduled to deliver his State of the Union address next week.

Invited by House Speaker Mike Johnson, Trump will speak before a joint session of Congress Tuesday night, Feb. 24.

It hasn't always been called a State of the Union, and not all presidents have delivered their message in person.

Here's a look back at State of the Union messages, as well as how to watch Trump speak next week.

WHAT IS DATE OF STATE OF THE UNION 2026?

Trump is scheduled to deliver his State of the Union address on Feb. 24 starting at 9 p.m. ET.

HOW CAN I WATCH TRUMP'S STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS?

USA TODAY will live stream the event, both on its YouTube Channel and website.

It also will be broadcast on all major television networks, including ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News, NPR and PBS.

WHAT IS A STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS?

The U.S. Constitution directs the president to keep lawmakers informed about the state of the nation and propose legislative priorities.

"He (the president) shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient," the Constitution said.

FOR MORE THAN 100 YEARS, STATE OF UNION DELIVERED IN WRITING

George Washington and John Adams delivered the "Annual Message" to Congress in person.

President Thomas Jefferson opted to deliver his message in writing in 1801, a practice that continued until Woodrow Wilson in 1913.

GEORGE WASHINGTON DELIVERED FIRST 'ANNUAL MESSAGE'

George Washington delivered the first State of the Union address — or what was called then the “Annual Message” in person and in New York, which was the capital of the U.S. from 1785 until 1790.

He combined the Inaugural Address with his Annual Message on April 30, 1789, and delivered his first regular Annual Message to a Joint Session of Congress in New York City on Jan. 8, 1790.

THOMAS JEFFERSON OPTED TO GIVE HIS MESSAGE IN WRITING

Thomas Jefferson abandoned the in-person speech for the written message on Dec. 8, 1801, perhaps because he wasn’t a great public speaker, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.

STATE OF UNION MESSAGES DELIVERED IN WRITING UNTIL 1913

After Jefferson, it wasn't until 1913 that a State of the Union message was delivered again in person. President Wilson revived the practice of giving a speech.

It was also during Wilson's time the address "became a platform for the president to rally support for his agenda," according to History, Art and Archives of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Since President Franklin D. Roosevelt, presidents have almost always used speeches rather than written messages to fill their constitutional obligation to inform Congress about the State of the Union.

STATE OF THE UNION WASN'T ALWAYS CALLED BY THAT NAME

Presidents from George Washington through Herbert Hoover called their annual message to Congress the “Annual Message,” according to History, Art and Archives of the U.S. House of Representatives:

• It was formally known as the Annual Message from 1790 to 1946.

• It began to be informally called the "State of the Union" message/address from 1942 to 1946.

• Since 1947, it has officially been known as the State of the Union Address.

FDR began the tradition of calling it “the State of the Union address.”

WHAT STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS CALLED THIS AN 'HOUR OF NATIONAL PERIL'?

On Jan. 30, 1961, 10 days after taking the oath of office, President John F. Kennedy gave a State of the Union speech.

"That speech stands as the most alarming State of the Union address ever delivered," according to the Council on Foreign Relations.

Read President Kenney's 1961 State of the Union address

Kennedy said, "I speak today in an hour of national peril and national opportunity. Before my term has ended, we shall have to test anew whether a nation organized and governed such as ours can endure. The outcome is by no means certain."

Several concerns raised by Kennedy could ring true today:

• "The present state of our economy is disturbing. Business bankruptcies have reached their highest level since the Great Depression. The American economy is in trouble.

• "This country has continued to bear more than its of the West's military and foreign aid obligations.

• "Our cities are being engulfed in squalor.

• "Medical research has achieved new wonders — but these wonders are too often beyond the reach of too many people.

• "Our supply of clean water is dwindling.

• "Each day the crises multiply. Each day their solution grows more difficult. Each day we draw nearer the hour of maximum danger, as weapons spread and hostile forces grow stronger.

• "Our greatest challenge is still the world that lies beyond the Cold War — but the first great obstacle is still our relations with the Soviet Union and Communist China. We must never be lulled into believing that either power has yielded its ambitions for world domination."

More State of the Union trivia!

• President Ronald Reagan’s State of the Union address for 1986 was rescheduled because of the Challenger disaster that took place earlier in the day. The address was moved from Jan. 28 to Feb. 4.

• It also was President Reagan in 1982 who "began the tradition of seating a worthy American in the balcony next to the first lady to make a point."

• The longest written State of the Union Address was delivered by President Carter, 33,667 words, in 1981.

• The longest spoken State of the Union Address was delivered by President Biden, 9,216 words in 2023.

• The shortest Presidential Address was delivered by President Washington, 1,089 words, in his spoken 1790 Annual Message.

• Until 1934, the Annual Message was typically delivered in December. Since 1934, the Annual Message or State of the Union address has been delivered early in the calendar year.

• Two presidents never delivered an Annual Message or State of the Union address:

o William Henry Harrison, who died from disease in 1841.

o James Garfield, who was killed in 1881.

• Calvin Coolidge was the first president to have his State of the Union message broadcast on radio in 1923.

• Truman was the first president to have his State of the Union message broadcast on television in 1947.

• Clinton was the first president to have his State of the Union message broadcast over the Internet in 1997.

• In 2020, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ripped up several pages after President Trump's speech. “He shredded the truth, so I shredded his speech," she said at the time.

READ the SPEECH and TWO TAKEAWAYS as ATTACHMENTS “A”, “B” AND “C”

ATTACHMENT TWENTY THREE – FROM USA TODAY USE “A”

TRUMP ASKS AMERICA TO ‘JUST HOLD ON’ 

The first State of the Union address of President Donald Trump’s second term is now in the books. I have covered these supernovas of political rhetoric since 1998, so let me tell you what I saw in a speech that stretched all over the policy landscape over the course of nearly two hours.

THE SOTU SURPRISES

Forgive me for starting with the stagecraft rather than the substance. But this was the surprise State of the Union – every few minutes, the showman-turned-president sprang a theatrical moment on his audiences in the chamber and watching at home.

Not quite 15 minutes into his remarks, Trump made good on his promise to have the U.S. men’s Olympic hockey team at the event. The athletes, each wearing a smile and sporting a shiny gold medal, walked down the aisles of the press area of the gallery above the floor of the House of Representatives.

While that had been telegraphed, what happened next had not: Trump announced that he was awarding the team’s goalie, Connor Hellebuyck, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The moment got one of the night’s loudest bipartisan standing ovations.

(Trump, who welcomed the team at the White House earlier in the day, said America’s gold medal-winning women’s hockey team would come to the White House soon.)

There were other surprises – the Legion of Merit medal for a Coast Guard rescue swimmer, the Congressional Medal of Honor for the chief warrant officer who led the raid that arrested former Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, the same for a U.S. pilot in the Korean War who shot down several Soviet fighters, the Purple Heart for a National Guardsman shot and grievously wounded in Washington, D.C., last year, the surprise appearance of a Venezuelan dissident recently released from a notorious prison.

Many of the most heartwarming, bipartisan moments were packed in the first hour or so of this speech, when the annual address typically has its largest audience.

‘Just Hold On’

One question before the speech was what approach Trump would take to win over Americans unhappy with his handling of the economy – specifically the cost of living. The answer is that the president scoffed at Democratic claims of an affordability crisis and basically declared he had already done a lot.

“Prices are plummeting,” he said. “Just hold on a little while, we're getting it down. And soon you will see numbers that few people would think were possible to achieve just a short time ago.”

Inflation has eased slightly in his second term, but prices on the whole, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, have increased.

Trump’s other nods to the cost of living included pressing Congress to ban institutional investors from buying single-family homes, adopt his health plan and codify his efforts to reduce prescription drug prices. He also promised he would give $1,000 annually to workers who do not benefit from a retirement plan with matching employer contributions.

The retirement idea sounded a lot like a law passed under President Joe Biden.

And the fate of the other initiatives is murky.

IRAN WAR RATIONALE

Trump gave probably his most expansive remarks justifying a potential war with Iran, echoing rhetoric of many past presidents but adding a layer of his own.

The president, who has insisted for months that U.S. and Israel strikes last year “obliterated” Tehran’s nuclear program, said “they want to start all over again and are, this moment, pursuing their sinister ambitions.”

He said Iran has “already developed” missiles that can reach Europe and America’s overseas bases and is working on missiles that can reach the U.S. mainland.

“We are in negotiations with them. They want to make a deal, but we haven't heard those secret words: ‘We will never have a nuclear weapon,’” Trump continued. “My preference is to solve this problem through diplomacy. But one thing is certain, I will never allow the world's No. 1 sponsor of terror, which they are by far, to have a nuclear weapon.”

Iranian officials have said since the 1990s that they do not want nuclear weapons and said as much again hours before Trump’s speech.

BANNING CONGRESS FROM SELLING STOCKS

Another big bipartisan standing ovation rewarded Trump when he seemed to side with legislation that would restrict lawmakers’ ability to trade individual stocks. The ban would also apply to their spouses and dependent children.

“Let's also ensure that members of Congress cannot corruptly profit from using insider information,” he said. “Pass the Stop Insider Trading Act without delay.”

This is a popular issue that never seems to clear the House, whether the speaker is a Democrat or a Republican. Let’s see what happens when this president pushes for it.

ATTACHMENT TWENTY FOUR – FROM NEW YORK TIMES

‘HE’S DEBASED THIS COUNTRY’: THE BEST AND WORST MOMENTS FROM TRUMP’S STATE OF THE UNION

Feb. 25, 2026

By New York Times Opinion

President Trump addressed a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night, celebrating his record on immigration and the economy. “We’re winning so much,” he said. “Inflation is plummeting, incomes are rising fast. … America is respected again.” Here’s what our writers thought of his speech.

HATED HIS PLANS LIKED HIS PLANS LIKED HIS DELIVERY HATED HIS DELIVERY

“Long, exhausted and repetitive.”

– Jamelle Bouie

BEST MOMENT

– Binyamin Appelbaum 

Before speaking, Trump stopped to shake hands with the four Supreme Court justices who were in attendance. While speaking, he described the court’s rejection of his tariffs as an unfortunate disappointment, but he didn’t insult the justices or question the court’s legitimacy. I’m counting it as a win for the rule of law.

– Josh Barro 

Congratulating the U.S. men’s hockey team on its Olympic victory — a rare part of the night when Trump seemed to be genuinely enjoying himself.

– Jamelle Bouie 

The single best moment was when this long, exhausted and repetitive speech finally ended. It was then that I felt true relief.

– Michelle Cottle 

The appearance of the men’s Olympic hockey team. The young guys playing to the crowd and showing off their medals were adorable. Here was an appropriate moment for those “U.S.A.” chants. So wholesome.

– Michelle Goldberg 

The moment when, after setting a record for the longest State of the Union in recorded history, it finally ended.

– Daniel McCarthy 

The president’s condemnation of congressional insider trading was the single most memorable moment, both for getting Democrats to stand along with Republicans and for getting laughs at the mention of Nancy Pelosi.

– Matthew Schmitz 

Democrats are feeling emboldened on immigration amid Trump’s controversial enforcement push. But Trump effectively invoked what is still one of his strongest issues, while drawing a contrast with Democrats: “The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.” Many Americans agree.

– Megan K. Stack 

I didn’t think Trump was capable of giving a speech this boring. I expected fighting words, but he was unusually subdued. I was mildly glad to hear him say plainly that he prefers a diplomatic solution with Iran. I’m not sure I believe him — there is still considerable momentum toward attacking Iran, and Trump’s surrounding rhetoric wasn’t exactly conciliatory — but that one moment offered a tiny bit of hope.

ATTACHMENT TWENTY FIVE – FROM TIME (ELLIOTT)

TRUMP’S STATE OF THE UNION—THE LONGEST EVER—STRUGGLED TO LAND ITS POINTS

By Philip Elliott

Senior Correspondent

Feb 25, 2026 12:33 AM ET

President Donald Trump’s first proper State of the Union in his second term broke the record for the longest presidential speech to Congress, his own. At a whopping 108 minutes, Trump on Tuesday swung wildly between trying to reassure voters their gamble on his return to power was worth it and targeting the Democrats in the room with a series of sneers, taunts, and swipes. The whole night seemed driven by gimmicks more than a clear or coherent message, and was devoid of any new policy ideas that would be obvious wins for GOP lawmakers.

Parts of the night seemed to heed Republican allies’ beseeching for him to talk about economic progress and promise. Others seemed to be straight-up trolling of his rivals. As a package, its main objective was maintaining Trump as the country’s central character in an election year when strategists anticipate many voters’ choices will be a referendum on Trump’s one-party control of Washington.

But Trump clearly knows he’s in political trouble. He dodged divisive pitfalls such as the bulldozed East Wing, the shootings of Americans at the hands of U.S. security forces, or the capricious slashing of the federal workforce. Even in criticizing Supreme Court Justices to their faces, the worst he could muster was to call a recent ruling against his tariff tiff “unfortunate.”

The moments of civility, though, were an exception in an almost two-hour speech that rehashed many of the Trump classics, including the gripe that he should be serving in his third term, not his second. There were also his discursive comments, such as his observation “the firemen don’t get mentioned enough” and “Space Force is my baby.” He praised First Lady Melania Trump as a “movie star.” He awarded a bunch of medals, but complained that he was told it is illegal to give himself such honors.

The top of the speech was exactly the type of speech his allies have been begging the White House to script for months amid Trump’s plummeting polling. He deployed the gold-medalist Olympic men’s hockey team as guests, filling the aisles between reporters in the balcony. In announcing them, Trump grew so loud that the audio feed spiked in a way that left his words garbled.

It was the most unifying moment of the night, and one of the most durable. But Trump does not share well, especially not on a night where he knows he commands the nation’s attention in a way he is unlikely to get again before November’s elections.

He quickly pivoted to talking points voters have heard from him for years. He promoted a resurrection of Christianity, decried trans rights, and bullied NATO allies. He accused Democrats of “destroying our country,” harboring immigrants who defraud government programs, and winning elections only through cheating. 

He boasted about military deployments domestically to Democratic cities like Washington, D.C., Memphis, and New Orleans. “They don’t like to hear that,” Trump said, scowling at the Democrats’ side of the House Chamber. 

“You should be ashamed of yourselves,” he snarled when Democrats sat in silence as Trump demanded they approve a spending package for the Department of Homeland Security.

And when he proposed a tough crime bill in response to the killing of a refugee in Charlotte, N.C., by an accused suspect with a long rap sheet and history of mental health challenges, he glared at the sea of sitting Democrats. “How do you not stand?”

It was the type of cultural trolling that Trump cannot shed, no matter how much he has been told it’s souring his brand. When Trump gave a similar speech to Congress last year, his approval rating stood at a career-high 48%, according to CNN’s polling. But he has lost ground with all major groups, and has a net positive view only with Republicans, conservatives, and white Americans without college degrees. He went to Capitol Hill with an approval of 36%, with 32% saying he has the right priorities and 38% saying he has the right policies.

Despite a year in which Trump is resetting the world order, he barely touched on foreign policy until late in his address. He initially downplayed the kidnapping of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and referred to the nation as “our new friend and partner.” But about 90 minutes later, he was praising the military operation that took the “outlaw dictator” from his home to a New York jail as “one of the most complex, spectacular feats of military competence and power in world history.”

It was similarly vague when Trump got to Iran, which he has been signaling is likely to be the next operation for a U.S.-led intervention. But Trump was circumspect on his end goal in potentially striking the Islamic Republican. While he listed Iran’s historical offenses, he spoke little on why military action there was in America's interests.

Sprinkled throughout the speech were the typical Trump whoppers. “The roaring economy is roaring like never before,” Trump claimed, despite the economy growing at roughly the same pace in 2025 as it did in 2024. “Inflation is plummeting,” Trump said, despite inflation being stuck higher than the target set by the Federal Reserve. Despite increases in wages, they’re being outpaced by the costs of goods and services. And he repeated his misleading claim of ending eight wars, including the one in Gaza.

Republicans predictably greeted Trump warmly, but it was certainly less robust than how Democrats greeted Biden at similar events. Even before the speech ended, there was a steady stream of Democrats heading toward the exits. And by the time Trump wrapped his stemwinder, Republicans were looking restless and more than a little tired—both because of the hour and because they know the march toward November will be a whole lot of this. 

As Trump was finishing his speech, Democratic candidates in three more special elections won in Pennsylvania and Maine. Since Trump took office for the second time, Democrats have won or overperformed in 251 out of 281 contests.

ATTACHMENT TWENTY SIX – FROM FOX

FACT-CHECKERS CHALLENGE TRUMP’S ‘EIGHT WARS’ CLAIM, BACK HIM ON CRIME

Immigration and crime assertions largely confirmed, while voter fraud and Medicaid statements labeled misleading

By Ashley Oliver Fox News Published February 25, 2026 3:46pm EST

Fact-checkers delivered a mixed verdict on President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address, backing some immigration and crime claims while disputing others on voter fraud, Medicaid and foreign conflicts.

Reviews from PolitiFact, FactCheck.org, The New York Times and others found that Trump’s assertion that "zero illegal aliens" were admitted into the country was an accurate characterization even though illegal crossings have continued at low levels. 

The fact-checkers also confirmed his claim that the national murder rate is at a historic low but labeled his statements about "rampant" voter fraud, Medicaid and the number of wars he ended as misleading.

The fact-checks underscored how Trump’s address was a blend of verifiable points and broader claims that grabbed headlines but could be misleading to voters who Trump is hoping will keep Republicans in power in Congress as he stares down a tough 2026 midterm election cycle.

IMMIGRATION

When Trump said Tuesday that "zero illegal aliens have been admitted to the United States," he was referencing U.S. Border Patrol detaining or deporting migrants attempting to enter the country illegally or under asylum, rather than following the Biden administration's protocol and releasing them into the country.

Fact-checkers acknowledged the reversal in immigration policies under Trump. They pointed out that illegal border crossings are still happening, but at a far lower pace.

"Encounters with people trying to illegally cross the U.S. southern border have dropped significantly during Trump’s second term," PolitiFact noted, adding that authorities encountered about 10,000 migrants in January compared to more than 60,000 in January 2025. 

Trump's comments about illegal immigrants committing crimes were more disputed, fact-checkers found, noting that the Department of Homeland Security’s figures did not reflect that the Biden administration allowed nearly 12,000 murderers to enter the country illegally, as Trump claimed during his speech.

TRUMP TAKES DIRECT SOTU SWIPE AT DEMOCRATS OVER TAXES: 'TO HURT THE PEOPLE'

NPR noted that Trump called Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska’s killer an immigrant despite lacking evidence of that. The outlet noted that local media have reported that the suspect, Decarlos Dejuan Brown Jr., was born in Charlotte, North Carolina. 

Brown appeared in grisly surveillance footage repeatedly stabbing Zarutska, 23, while she was riding the light rail home from work in August 2025. Her murder has become a national example of local prosecutors’ lax policies toward repeat offenders.

When Trump said more broadly that the nation’s murder rate is the lowest it has been in 125 years, fact-checkers found that was true.

‘EIGHT WARS’

Several fact-checkers took issue with Trump touting he had ended "eight wars."

Trump gained widespread praise for brokering a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that led to a return of Israeli hostages, and the president has been credited with establishing a truce between Israel and Iran after carrying out damaging airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

The New York Times said that eight wars, though, was "exaggerated," and FactCheck.org called the figure "inflated."

The fact-checkers pointed to Trump’s disputed involvement in India’s ceasefire with Pakistan. Trump also "counts some international disagreements that weren’t wars," FactCheck.org said.

Trump was involved in mediating a border dispute between Cambodia and Thailand and brokered peace agreements between Armenia and Azerbaijan and also Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. 

Trump also has referenced wars between Serbia and Kosovo, and Egypt and Ethiopia, but some have said those involve tense disagreements and do not amount to war.

VOTER FRAUD

A top flashpoint for fact-checkers was Trump’s assertion that "cheating is rampant" in federal elections.

"Trump made a rapid-fire series of false claims about US elections," CNN reporter Daniel Dale wrote.

Trump made the comments while demanding Congress pass the SAVE America Act, which would impose a physical proof of citizenship requirement on anyone registering to vote in federal elections.

It is illegal for noncitizens to vote, and voters must declare under penalty of perjury that they are U.S. citizens as part of the registration process. State officials are required by federal law to practice voter roll maintenance to make sure voters who are registered are valid. 

State and federal prosecutions of noncitizen voting have been exceedingly rare, but Trump and his base have contended that noncitizen voting is prevalent and simply going undetected.

WHITE HOUSE SAYS MURDER RATE PLUMMETED TO LOWEST LEVEL SINCE 1900 UNDER TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

NPR pointed to observations by election expert David Becker, who runs the nonprofit Center for Election Innovation and Research.

"Even states that are looking everywhere to try to amplify the numbers of noncitizens … when they actually look, they find a surprisingly, shockingly small number," Becker said.

The New York Times said the number of noncitizens casting ballots is "infinitesimally small," noting a Trump DHS study that found up to 0.2% of registered voters could potentially be noncitizens.

JOBS

Fact-checkers labeled Trump’s assertion that more Americans were working than ever before as true, but they said the president’s claim about job growth was misleading.

Job growth remained steady under Trump while the population was the largest it has ever been, meaning labor force participation has not kept up with the population, The New York Times noted.

PROTECTING MEDICAID

Fact-checkers swatted down Trump’s claim that he would "always" protect Medicaid, noting that the "big, beautiful bill," his signature tax and spending plan enacted in July 2025, cut nearly $1 trillion from the program by changing its eligibility requirements.

"With fewer people on Medicaid, the program costs less," FactCheck.org noted.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.

ATTACHMENT TWENTY SEVEN – FROM PBS

FACT-CHECKING DEMOCRATS' RESPONSES TO TRUMP'S 2026 STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS

Feb 25, 2026 12:53 PM EST

In a move that reflected the party's divisions, Democrats offered a range of responses to President Donald Trump's Feb. 24 State of the Union address.

WATCH: Major takeaways from Trump's 2026 State of the Union address

Some skipped Trump's speech or attended alternate events. Others spoke out in opposition to Trump's words.

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger delivered the party's official response, emphasizing the burden of rising costs on American families and safety concerns about federal immigration enforcement.

Rep. Al Greene, D-Texas, was escorted from the chambers after holding up a large sign that said, "Black people aren't apes," referencing a video Trump recently posted on Truth Social depicting President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama as apes. Greene was similarly removed during Trump's 2025 address to Congress after protesting the president's speech.

At another point, Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., shouted at Trump, accusing him of killing Americans, referring to the shooting deaths of two U.S. citizens in her state, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, by federal immigration agents.

Several other lawmakers wore pins that read "release the files" in reference to documents related to the late sex-offender Jeffery Epstein.

Many Democrats attended events organized by liberal groups elsewhere in Washington, D.C.

The advocacy group MoveOn and left-leaning media outlet MeidasTouch planned a rally they dubbed the "People's State of the Union." Gathered on the National Mall, attendees spoke about immigration policy and the Epstein files. Several senators and U.S. representatives spoke.

WATCH: Democratic lawmakers join 'People's State of the Union' rally during Trump's address

Pro-democracy, anti-Trump advocacy group Defiance.org hosted another event, with speakers including lawmakers and mayors whose cities have been targets of Trump's immigration crackdowns. The event was dubbed the "State of the Swamp," and many guests sported frog-themed hats and headbands — a reference to the peaceful protest movement known as the Portland Frog Brigade, members of whom were in attendance.

We fact-checked some of the Democrats' Feb. 24 remarks.

Spanberger: Trump's policies 'have forced American families to pay more than $1,700 each in tariff costs.' 

Estimates vary, but research supports this number.

Spanberger's office pointed to research from the Democrats on Congress' Joint Economic Committee, which estimated that the average U.S. household has paid about $1,745 in tariff costs from February 2025 to January.

WATCH: 'We all know' Trump is not making your life more affordable, Spanberger says

Other groups estimated lower tariff burdens, from $1,000 per household to $1,230 per household.

One group's figure was higher than Spanberger's: In August, the National Taxpayers' Union estimated that tariffs added $2,048 to U.S. households' tax burden.

Spanberger: 'Rural health clinics in Virginia and across the country are already closing their doors' because of Trump's signature One Big Beautiful Bill Act. 

This is accurate.

On Sept. 4, 2025, two months after Trump signed the bill into law, Virginia health care company Augusta Medical Group announced it was closing three rural clinics. The company said its consolidation was part of its "ongoing response to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and the resulting realities for healthcare delivery."

Other companies have closed locations or consolidated services, saying the changes followed physician shortages and recent congressional cuts to Medicaid.

Trump's tax and spending law is expected to reduce federal Medicaid spending in rural areas by at least $137 billion by 2034, according to an analysis by KFF, a health policy research organization. The Congressional Budget Office predicts the law will raise the number of uninsured patients by 10 million by 2034.

Rural health facilities disproportionately rely on Medicaid reimbursement to stay afloat. In 2023, 40.6% of children and 18.3% of adults under age 65 from rural areas and small towns were enrolled in Medicaid.

Trump's tax and spending law includes the Rural Health Transformation Program, a one-time $50 billion investment in rural health funding. But the new funding source will not offset what rural health facilities lose from the Medicaid cuts.

Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy: 'Millions of Americans are losing their health care.' 

Early data supports Murphy's figure, which he cited while speaking at the "People's State of the Union" rally.

On Jan. 1, enhanced tax credits that helped reduce health care costs for most people purchasing insurance through Affordable Care Act marketplaces expired. KFF estimated that premium costs would more than double in 2026 for Affordable Care Act enrollees. Anecdotal reports show some people have dropped their insurance, citing rising costs.

Health analysts and the Congressional Budget Office reported that the subsidies' expiration would cause rising costs that would trigger millions of Americans to forgo health insurance coverage. Early Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services data signals that about 1.5 million people may have dropped their insurance in 2026.

ATTACHMENT TWENTY EIGHT – FROM GUK

Trump claims host of successes and attacks old foes in longest State of the Union

President hails ‘turnaround for the ages’ but offers few policy pledges and repeats jibes against ‘crazy’ Democrats

Chris Stein Wed 25 Feb 2026 05.37 EST

Donald Trump proclaimed his first year in office a success at the State of the Union address on Tuesday evening, even as his presidency is dogged by low public approval ratings before November’s midterm elections in which voters could hand control of Congress back to his Democratic opponents.

The annual address to a joint session of Congress came after months of turmoil for the Republican president, including a crackdown on immigrant communities in Minneapolis that resulted in the deaths of two US citizens, and faltering progress on his campaign promise of lowering the cost of living.

Despite Democrats walking out, holding signs and verbally clashing in the chamber, Trump maintained a triumphant tone in his speech, arguing that he had rebuilt a country ruined by Joe Biden. Speaking for just under two hours, his speech was the longest State of the Union ever delivered, and saw Trump repeatedly bring out surprise guests to serve as living embodiments of what he saw as the country’s greatness.

“Tonight, after just one year, we can say with dignity and pride that we have achieved a transformation like no one has ever seen before, and a turnaround for the ages,” Trump said.

“We will never go back to where we were just a very short time ago. We’re not going back.”

Recent surveys have shown that many voters disagree. A Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll released this week found a mere 39% of voters view his presidency positively, and others have found him underwater on key issues such as the economy and immigration.

But Trump gave no acknowledgment to the bad vibes, instead running through his administration’s accomplishments in a speech that was interspersed with falsehoods and exaggerations but light on new policy proposals. He announced that his vice-president, JD Vance, would lead a “war on fraud”, and that he had negotiated a “ratepayer protection pledge” to offset the impact of new datacenters on households’ electricity costs.

He alleged that a Ukrainian refugee was murdered in North Carolina by an immigrant, when the suspect is in fact a US citizen, while claiming that his administration “will always protect” Medicaid even though the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the main domestic legislation he has signed in his second term, mandates cuts that are expected to cost millions of people their healthcare.

Four supreme court justices were in attendance, three of whom – John Roberts, Amy Coney Barrett and Elena Kagan – had last week signed on to an opinion saying he could not use executive power to impose tariffs on US trading partners. As the three sat in the front row together with Brett Kavanaugh, who had dissented from their opinion, Trump issued a relatively measured criticism of their decision, calling it “unfortunate” and “disappointing”.

He was less restrained when it came to Democratic lawmakers, who he wrote off as “crazy”, or Somali immigrants, who he described as “pirates who ransacked Minnesota”, the site of a long-running and contentious immigration operation. And though he has ordered a major military buildup around Iran, he revealed little about what his intentions were for the longtime US adversary.

“My preference is to solve this problem through diplomacy. But one thing is certain, I will never allow the world’s number one sponsor of terror, which they are by far, to have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said.

Much of the rest of his speech was dedicated to honoring a parade of US citizens who appeared in the galleries overlooking the floor of the House of Representatives, where the speech took place. These included the men’s hockey team that just won gold medals at the Winter Olympics, and a national guard soldier who survived a fatal shooting in downtown Washington DC. Trump also awarded the Medal of Honor, the highest military decoration, to a Korean war veteran and a helicopter pilot wounded during the January raid to capture the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro.

“Our country is winning again. In fact, we’re winning so much that we really don’t know what to do about it,” Trump said.

Democrats who attended staged what one party leader called “silent defiance”, refraining from applause during much of the speech and staying in their seats. Only occasionally did they rise to clap when Trump brought up subjects with bipartisan approval, such as the release of Israeli hostages taken by Hamas and a proposal to ban lawmakers from trading stocks.

Several Democrats opted to skip the event, with some instead taking part in counter-programming held elsewhere, including a “People’s State of the Union” organized by liberal groups.

At the start of the speech, Al Green, the Democratic representative from Texas who was ejected from the House chamber a year ago for heckling the president and later censured, held up a sign reading “Black people aren’t apes!”, in reference to Trump sharing a racist video of Barack and Michelle Obama. After confrontations with Republicans, Green appeared to be escorted out of the chamber.

At key moments, lawmakers also shouted back to Trump’s onslaught of claims, with Ilhan Omar, the Democratic congresswoman from Minnesota, saying “you have killed Americans” in reference to the deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in her state.

Other Democrats stayed through parts of the speech but left early. “Walked out of the State of the Union because I couldn’t sit through hours of Trump’s lies,” said the Virginia senator Mark Warner.

Reviews from those who remained throughout were equally negative. “For nearly two hours tonight, Donald Trump spewed lies, propaganda and hatred,” said Hakeem Jeffries, the top House Democrat in a statement. “Instead of presenting the nation with a positive vision for our future and the economy, the president blamed others for his failures.”

The speech was nonetheless a key moment ahead of the November midterm elections, in which Trump’s Republican allies are defending their slim control of the Senate and House. After failing to stop Trump’s return to the White House in 2024, Democrats have taken heart from successes in recent off-year and special elections that may indicate voters are ready to deliver them victories in key races that could decide control of Congress.

The official response to Trump’s speech was delivered by Abigail Spanberger, the Virginia governor who won a decisive victory last year in an election that put Democrats firmly in control of the southern state.

“Is the president working for you?” Spanberger asked in a 13-minute speech that criticized many of Trump’s policies, from his tariffs to his widespread deployments of federal agents to round up suspected undocumented immigrants. “We all know the answer is no.”

ATTACHMENT TWENTY NINE – FROM AXIOS

SOTU ERUPTS AS AL GREEN IS ESCORTED OUT OVER ANTI-TRUMP SIGN

BY Andrew Solender

The State of the Union quickly got physical on Tuesday, when Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) mounted yet another protest from inside the House chamber that prompted multiple Republicans to confront him.

Why it matters: The demonstration resulted in Green getting escorted out of the House chamber, the second time in as many years he has been ejected from a Trump speech to Congress.

Green notoriously heckled Trump relentlessly at the start of his 2025 speech to a joint session of Congress, which was rocked by Democratic heckling and walkouts throughout.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) had repeatedly urged his members in the run-up to the speech to maintain decorum, with lawmakers specifically instructed not to bring signs.

What happened: As Trump entered the chamber, Green held up a sign reading "BLACK PEOPLE AREN'T APES!" and remained standing as Trump began his speech.

Numerous Republican lawmakers walked over to Green to confront him verbally, with Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) attempting to snatch the sign out of his hand.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) also attempted to pull the sign down.

Mullin and Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) then tried to block Trump's view of Green, who was eventually escorted out by a House sergeant-at-arms staffer.

But as he was leaving, Green stopped in the chamber and held up his sign directly at Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas). Nehls tried vigorously to snatch the sign out of his hand.

Between the lines: The sign was a reference to Trump's account posting a video to Truth Social this month that depicted former President Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as apes.

After leaving the chamber, Green told reporters, "I wanted the president to see it and he saw it. I told him Black people are not apes ... What I'm doing is making a point to the president."

Green denied that he was going against Jeffries with his protest.

What to watch: Green was censured for his disruption last year, and Republican leaders signaled that could be on the table again.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told reporters Republicans will "talk about" that possibility.

Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) told CNN the GOP will "seriously" look at whether to censure Green.

ATTACHMENT THIRTY – FROM POLITICO
ABIGAIL SPANBERGER GAVE DEMOCRATS’ RESPONSE TO TRUMP. BUT SHE DIDN’T HAVE THE STAGE TO HERSELF.

Democratic groups staging counterprogramming events offered a snapshot of a party divided over how best to approach the midterms.

By Aaron Pellish and Lisa Kashinsky 02/25/2026 12:02 AM EST

Democratic leadership’s choice to have Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger deliver the State of the Union rebuttal was a strategic move to keep the party’s focus on affordability. But she was just one Democrat jockeying to pave the way forward for the party.

Various Democratic factions hosting numerous competing events Tuesday night diverged on the best way to challenge President Donald Trump. Throughout the speeches, universal calls to bring down costs and crack down on Immigration and Customs Enforcement mixed in with more forceful and sometimes vulgar rebukes of his administration — laying bare the ideological and stylistic divides that are driving the party’s identity crisis.

Spanberger — a one-time battleground House Democrat who joined Congress during the party’s last wave election — was the headliner, calling from Williamsburg, Virgina, for Trump to focus on the needs of American families while also condemning the president for doing “what he always does: He lied, he scapegoated, and he distracted.”

But she was far from alone, with a group of Democratic-aligned organizations holding their own State of the Union events in an effort to harness rising furor against Trump.

Dozens of lawmakers spoke across several counterprogramming events, including a rally hosted by MoveOn and the left-leaning media outlet MeidasTouch on the National Mall, or at another in downtown Washington hosted by the anti-Trump activist networks Defiance and the Portland Frog Brigade along with the Courier Newsroom.

On the Mall, Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) called to impeach Attorney General Pam Bondi over the Epstein files, and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) accused Trump of “rigging” the midterms by pushing voting restrictions to “save his authoritarian control and turn the presidency into a kingship.” Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.) called herself a “bareknuckled brawler with a heart” and declared “that’s what we need right now.”

The dueling rallies, both timed to overlap with Trump’s speech, were accompanied by a Working Families Party rebuttal also delivered by Lee.

Some party strategists said the events — which also hosted high-profile Democrats like Robert De Niro, Joy Reid and New York congressional candidate George Conway — splintered the party’s response in a high-profile moment.

“A uniform response is much better than a cacophony of responses,” said Matt Bennett, an executive with the center-left think tank Third Way. “One narrative is better than many, and Spanberger is very talented at articulating a message that resonates broadly.”

Dueling State of the Union responses are not a new phenomenon. While the party out of power typically green-lights an English- and Spanish-language rebuttal — Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) gave Democrats’ response in Spanish this year, vowing his party would lower costs, make voting more accessible and rein in ICE — different wings have long looked to get in on the action, from Tea Party Republicans during Barack Obama’s presidency to the progressive groups on Tuesday night.

But the lack of a unified response Tuesday comes as the Democratic Party still searches — and fights over — the best way to beat Trump, even as party members agree overall that centering the Trump administration’s struggles to boost the economy gives them the best chance in November.

Democrats were already divided in their approach to Trump’s address to Congress. Dozens of members across both chambers skipped the speech to protest the president while others said they were attending out of constitutional duty — a schism that stretched all the way up through party leadership.

Despite calls from Democratic leadership to refrain from protests inside the House chamber, Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) was escorted out of the room minutes into Trump’s speech after brandishing a sign reading “Black people aren’t apes,” a likely reference to a racist video Trump reposted earlier in the month.

Progressive Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) also heckled Trump at multiple points during Trump’s speech, including in response to Trump touting his aggressive immigration enforcement.

At multiple moments during his speech, Trump appeared to relish opportunities to draw Democrats in attendance into heated exchanges.

“You people are crazy,” he said at one point, prompting some Democrats in the room to heckle him in return.

Spanberger’s aides were cognizant of the volume of competing Democratic rebuttals and built a “war room” team to boost the governor’s response on social media. And while her team insisted that she isn’t competing with other counter-programming events, her aides believed heading into Tuesday evening that Spanberger’s successful affordability-focused campaign last year gave her credibility on how to best respond to Trump.

Spanberger, whose campaign last year is viewed by some party strategists as a blueprint for Democrats to score victories in November, focused on her proposals to lower costs for Virginians, while also criticizing the president for aggressive immigration policies and blaming rising costs on Trump’s tariffs.

“Americans deserve to know that their leaders are focused on addressing the problems that keep them up at night, problems that dictate where you live, whether you can afford to start a business, or whether you have to skip a prescription in order to buy groceries,” she said in her live rebuttal. “Is the president working to make life more affordable for you and your family? We all know the answer is no.”

Several of the lawmakers who spoke at competing events echoed that affordability template, including some Democrats with possible presidential ambitions, like Sens. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.).

Gallego, who warned in his speech that Trump was making Americans “sicker and poorer,” told POLITICO beforehand that “it’s fine that we have different people talking, provided the message is all the same: [that Democrats] are here to fight for everyday Americans.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and CNN’s Clarissa Ward on the state of the war | The Conversation

Some of those behind Democrats’ various response events Tuesday said they aimed to better capture the degree of frustration voters feel towards Trump.

“These are not the times for an institutionalist to say, ‘Well, let’s just give him his moment, and if you want to protest, protest by sitting there silently.’ That’s bullshit,” said Miles Taylor, a co-founder of Defiance and former Trump administration official-turned-Trump critic. “And I think that Hakeem Jeffries knows that his caucus feels like that doesn’t meet the moment, which is why so many of them are literally just not showing up.”

Taylor added that the plethora of Democratic responses also reflected the current political media environment, where both voters and candidates can easily find forums that align with their preferences.

Lee, who railed against Trump’s “authoritarianism” and cast his speech as an “obituary for the country working people built” in her Working Families Party rebuttal, said Democrats are at a “crossroads” and won’t win control of Congress “by electing more of the same” — which she cast as those who “speak boldly but deliver cautiously or sometimes even vote with MAGA.”

In an interview on Monday, Lee said it was critical for Democrats to promote a bigger tent after progressives scored major wins of their own in recent elections, from Zohran Mamdani being elected mayor of New York City to Analilia Mejia’s victory this month in the Democratic primary to replace moderate now-Gov. Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey.

Progressives “are always accepting of moderate places being represented well,” Lee said. But “it feels like there’s a wing of this party fighting back more against us trying to represent our own communities just as hard as somebody who is trying to represent their community in a swing district.”

ATTACHMENT THIRTY ONE – FROM REUTERS

IRAN DESIGNATED AS A STATE SPONSOR OF WRONGFUL DETENTION, RUBIO SAYS

By Reuters February 27, 2026 4:19 PM EST

Feb 27 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday he has designated Iran as a state sponsor of wrongful detention.

"The Iranian regime must stop taking hostages and release all Americans unjustly detained in Iran, steps that could end this designation and associated actions," Rubio said in a statement.

The move comes as tensions mount between the U.S. and Iran, even as the two countries conducted talks over Iran's nuclear program on Thursday.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he was disappointed with the negotiations, warning, "sometimes you have to use force."

ATTACHMENT THIRTY TWO – FROM BBC

TRUMP'S STATE OF THE UNION SPEECH - AT A GLANCE

BY Ana Faguy and James FitzGerald

In what became the longest-ever address of its kind, President Donald Trump provided his update on America as part of his State of the Union address, offering victorious - and sometimes combative - remarks, praising the work of fellow Republicans and outlining his future agenda.

The annual address by the president is made to members of the US Congress, his cabinet, members of the Supreme Court - along with the president's family and other guests.

The speech came at a particularly pivotal time for the president as tensions flare over Iran, and just days after his global tariffs programme was struck down by the nation's highest court.

There are also continued worries over affordability in the US - which is considered by pundits to be an issue that could cause Trump's Republican Party to lose full control of the US Congress in midterm elections later this year.

Here are several key moments from his evening in the spotlight, speaking to a sharply divided Congress and an audience of tens of millions of Americans.

1. Speech sets record for length - focusing on domestic issues and touching on Iran

Trump's speech made a number of claims about the economy, which he said was "roaring like never before", and he said the US now had "the strongest and most secure border in American history".

He said his achievements in office so far meant that he had transformed the US from a nation in crisis into the "hottest" country on Earth.

Clocking in at a record one hour and 47 minutes, Trump's address beat the previous record-holder, by Bill Clinton, by nearly 20 minutes.

On the international front, Trump repeated a warning to Iran over nuclear weapons, though he touched on the subject for a relatively brief time and left lawmakers guessing over what would happen if ongoing diplomatic talks broke down.

He said at least 20,000 protesters had been killed during a recent crackdown in Iran. He added that Tehran had already developed missiles that can threaten Europe and could soon reach the US. Iran's leaders were working on "pursuing their sinister nuclear ambitions", he added.

An Iranian foreign minister spokesperson said: "No one should be fooled by these blatant falsehoods".

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Fact-checking Trump's longest ever State of the Union

2. Trump comes face-to-face with justices who struck down his tariffs

The four Supreme Court justices who did attend remained passive as Trump again criticised a ruling that went against him on Friday

It was the first time that Trump - at least publicly - came into contact with members of the Supreme Court since he railed against their decision on Friday. The US top court struck down the bulk of his global tariffs, saying he had overstepped his authority.

All of the court's justices are invited to the president's state of the union address, but on Tuesday evening, only four of the nine were present: Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Elena Kagan and Brett Kavanaugh.

As is customary, Trump shook the hand of Roberts as he moved to the podium, but the pair shared a stoic look - a possible sign of the lingering tension since the president lambasted the six justices, Roberts included, who ruled against the levies.

Later, when Trump referenced that ruling and his tariffs policy directly in his remarks, he again chastised the justices, though not as harshly as he had previously. The camera in the room pointed in the direction of Justice Coney Barrett - who was nominated by Trump during his first term and was among the group who ruled against the president.

She remained emotionless as Trump called the ruling "disappointing" and "unfortunate", staring in the direction of the justices sitting just feet away from him in the front row of the chamber.

Trump continued, saying he would turn to other laws to push his tariff policy ahead - including the new global rate of 15% that he said would replace those struck down by the high court.

3. Democrat ejected from the room... again

It's become almost routine for the president's annual address to lead to protests from the opposing party.

Dozens of Democrats, including some in party leadership positions, skipped Trump's speech and instead attended a handful of rallies in Washington to show their opposition to the president and his agenda.

Inside the chamber, the lack of Democrats on one side of the aisle was visibly clear with rows of empty seats seen from many camera angles.

Some of the remaining Democrats in the room also lodged their own protests.

Congressman Al Greene, of Texas, was escorted out of the chamber - for a second year in a row. As Trump entered the chamber, Greene held up a white sign emblazoned with black lettering reading, "black people aren't apes!"

The sign appeared to be referencing a racist video posted and subsequently deleted by Trump on social media, showing former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes.

The sign and the lawmaker's shouting led to him being escorted from the chamber by several officials. During Trump's address last year, Greene was also escorted out after shouting.

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, a Democrat from Minnesota, was also repeatedly heard shouting at the president as he referenced immigration and alleged fraud in Minnesota's Somali-American communities.

"That's a lie, you're a liar," Omar shouted as Trump spoke over her. Rashida Tlaib, a Democrat from Michigan, joined in with heckles of her own.

During the official Democratic response, Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger set out three questions she wanted Americans to ask themselves: was the president working to make life more affordable, was he keeping America safe at home and abroad, and was the president working for them.

The answer to all three was no, Spanberger said.

4. 'Stand up' moment highlights gulf with political rivals

Amid the Democratic heckles, Trump taunted his political opponents - including with a moment that was designed to visually highlight the political gulf between the two parties.

At one point, he asked those in the audience - which was largely made up of members of Congress - to stand if they agreed with this sentence: "The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens".

Cameras panned around the room and showed Republicans on their feet cheering, while the other half of the room was seated motionless.

Trump noted several times that Democrats were not cheering or standing as he listed off his administration's actions and policy wins.

"You should be ashamed of yourself, not standing up," he said.

He also said at one point: "These people are crazy. I'm telling you. They're crazy."

5. Victorious hockey stars introduced to chants of 'U-S-A, U-S-A'

Trump's speech was filled with patriotism - and he noted that celebrations were planned for later in the year for the country's 250th anniversary.

In a movie-like entrance, the US men's hockey team descended into the House chamber, from an overhang where members of the press were seated above Trump.

Those in the audience erupted in applause and chants of "U-S-A, U-S-A".

The team's appearance was teased this week in the wake of the gold-medal overtime victory against Canada on Sunday in the Winter Olympics.

Trump applauded the team's victory as they looked on the chamber, gold medals in hand, and announced that Connor Hellebuyck, goalie of the team, would receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom - America's highest civilian honour.

Earlier this week, the president said that if he did not also invite the women's team - who also won gold - he "probably would be impeached".

The women's team said it was unable to attend the speech, but Trump made a point during his address of saying the victorious players would soon visit the White House.

6. More honours for National Guards shot in Washington, and Venezuela raid pilot

Among the others decorated during a night of showmanship and special guests were two young National Guard members who were shot while patrolling in Washington DC late last year.

Andrew Wolfe, 24, who was injured, and the family of Sarah Beckstrom, 20, who was killed, were given Purple Heart military decorations.

Trump said Wolfe had "battled back from the edge of death".

Trump also announced that a Medal of Honour was being given to Chief Warrant Officer Eric Slover, a helicopter pilot who was hit by a bullet during the dramatic US military operation earlier this year to seize Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from Caracas.

Among the other special guests were an emotional Erika Kirk, the widow of political activist Charlie Kirk, who was shot dead last year and received a tribute of his own from Trump.

ATTACHMENT THIRTY THREE – FROM AL JAZEERA

FACT-CHECKING DONALD TRUMP’S STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS

The US president exaggerates on economy and immigration amid sagging popularity before the crucial midterm elections.

Published On 25 Feb 2026 25 Feb 2026

In a combative State of the Union speech – the longest in modern history at about 108 minutes – United States President Donald Trump defended his administration’s economic performance and hardline immigration agenda amid sagging poll numbers before the midterm elections.

Trump boasted that inflation is plummeting and gas prices are lower. He also defended his immigration efforts, which have caused turmoil in Democratic-run cities and resulted in the deaths of two US citizens shot by immigration agents.

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Key takeaways from Trump’s State of the Union speech

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Trump called on legislators to stand and show their support if they agree that the “first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens”. That garnered a prolonged standing ovation from Republicans and silence from seated Democrats, prompting Trump to say they should be “ashamed of themselves”.

Scant in Trump’s speech: Acknowledgement of the fourth anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine war, which he vowed during his presidential campaign to end. He also didn’t discuss the release of government files on late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, an issue Trump pivoted on after undermining efforts to release them, although some Epstein victims were in attendance.

Dozens of Democrats skipped Trump’s address and attended outside events, including a rally on the National Mall. Democratic Representative Texas, Al Green, was escorted out of the House chamber at the start of Trump’s speech after he held up a sign that read “Black people aren’t apes,” referencing a video Trump recently posted on Truth Social depicting President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama as apes. (The video was later removed, and the White House said it was posted in error.)

A rare moment of bipartisan cheer came when Trump introduced the Olympic gold-medal-winning men’s hockey team and announced plans to award goaltender Connor Hellebuyck the Presidential Medal of Freedom, one of the highest civilian awards.

Here are fact-checks of some of Trump’s statements.

ECONOMY

Inflation has eased somewhat during Trump’s second term, but “plummeting” is an exaggeration.

The year-over-year rise in prices for January 2026 was about 2.4 percent. That’s lower than the year-over-year rate when he took office in January 2025, but it had already fallen from a peak of roughly 9% in the summer of 2022 under former President Joe Biden.

By Biden’s last month in office, year-over-year inflation was about 2.9 percent. The Federal Reserve aims to keep inflation about 2 percent year-over-year.

Inflation has dipped modestly under Trump, compared to what he inherited

Some items have seen price decreases during Trump’s second term, while others have experienced price increases.

The price of gasoline has dropped about 6 percent, and the price of new and used cars has dropped by a little under 1 percent.

Groceries are up by about 2 percent, electricity is up by 6.3 percent, housing is up by 3.4 percent, medical care is up by 3.2 percent and apparel is up by 1.8 percent.

Wages on Trump’s watch have so far risen faster than inflation.

Trump claimed gasoline is ‘now below $2.30 a gallon in most states’

Looking at statewide averages, Trump is wrong – not one state has an average below $2.30 per gallon, according to the American Automobile Association. Some individual stations might be lower.

The state with the nation’s lowest average price on February 24 was Oklahoma, at $2.37 a gallon. Arkansas, Kansas and Mississippi are the other states with average prices at or below $2.50 a gallon. Another nine states had gasoline between $2.50 and $2.60 a gallon.

According to GasBuddy, a gasoline price app, two Oklahoma stations on February 23 were charging $1.99 a gallon, as were three in Kansas and two in Texas.

Trump said, “When I visited the great state of Iowa just a few weeks ago, I even saw $1.85 a gallon for gasoline.” However, a woman attending the speech fact-checked him; it was $2.69 a gallon at the station outside the Iowa venue for Trump’s speech there. The state average at the time was $2.57 a gallon, and GasBuddy found just four stations in the state selling for less than $2 a gallon.

Gasoline prices have fallen during Trump’s second term, from a nationwide average of $3.11 a gallon when he was inaugurated to $2.92 the week of February 16.

TRUMP’S CLAIM ON DRUG PRICES

“I’m also ending the wildly inflated cost of prescription drugs like it’s never happened before,” he said.

Trump said prescription drug prices for Americans are dropping to some of the lowest in the world, with differences as high as “300, 400, 500, 600 percent and more, all available right now at a new website called TrumpRX.gov.”

That’s mathematical hyperbole, and it exaggerates savings on the new TrumpRx.gov website. A 100 percent drop in a drug’s price means it would cost $0. Prices slashed by 300 percent to 900 percent would mean drug manufacturers are paying people who are obtaining medications, instead of the other way around.

The discounts on TrumpRx.gov are largely limited to drugs for weight loss and fertility that many Americans have to pay for out of pocket because insurance plans often offer limited or no coverage. For example, the site offers Cetrotide, a medication used as part of fertility treatments, for $22.50, down from $316.12 – a 93 percent discount. It also offers Wegovy pills for $149 a month, down from $1,349 – an 89 percent discount.

Other pharmacies or websites sell generic versions of 20 of the 43 drugs on Trump’s website, often at lower prices. Plus, the website says these discounts are currently “only available for cash-paying patients,” not people using their insurance.

A White House official told PolitiFact the administration plans to extend the website’s benefits to people with insurance through Trump’s health care plan, which has not advanced in Congress.

IMMIGRATION

“In the past nine months, zero illegal aliens have been admitted to the United States,” Trump declared, referring to undocumented immigrants.

Encounters with people trying to illegally cross the US southern border have dropped significantly during Trump’s second term.

In January 2026, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials encountered immigrants at the southern border nearly 10,000 times compared with more than 61,000 encounters in January 2025.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, US Border Patrol has not released any immigrants into the US for eight months while they await their court proceedings. That means immigrants encountered by Border Patrol have either been quickly deported or detained.

“And with our new military campaign, we have stopped record amounts of drugs coming into our country and virtually stopped it completely coming in by water or sea,” the US president said.

There is no evidence that drugs coming in by sea have been “virtually stopped” by the Trump administration’s “new military campaign.”

Trump didn’t detail what military campaign he was referencing, but since September 2025, the Trump administration has struck at least 41 vessels killing about 152 people in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific Ocean. The administration hasn’t provided any evidence that the vessels it has struck were carrying drugs.

There has been a drop in Customs and Border Protection drug seizures since the strikes began. But the Coast Guard – not CBP – oversees most drug seizures on water, especially in international waters. And that agency has seen a steep increase in drug seizures.

The White House cites a drop in CBP drug seizures as a success at the same time the Coast Guard cites an increase in drug interdictions as a success, too.

However, neither an increase nor a decrease in drug seizures shows how many drugs are entering the US. That number is unknowable, according to drug experts. Drug seizures tell us only how many drugs are stopped from entering the US.

CRIME

“Last year, the murder rate saw its single largest decline in recorded history. This is the biggest decline, think of it, in recorded history, the lowest number in over 125 years,” Trump said in his long speech.

He’s right about the largest decline, but whether it’s the lowest in 125 years is less certain.

Experts expect that when the final 2025 murder rate, as defined by the FBI, is released later this year, it likely will be the lowest in at least 65 years. The 2025 drop of about 20 percent is likely to become the largest one-year decline ever recorded, experts say.

Whether it is the lowest in 125 years is less certain. Here’s why the 125 years number raises questions: The data collected between 1930 and 1960 is not comparable to later data, and the data from 1900 to 1930 includes all homicides, not just murders. (A killing in self-defense, for instance, is a homicide but not murder.)

The FBI’s murder rate is poised to hit a low for at least the past 60-plus years

SNAP benefits

“In one year, we have lifted 2.4 million Americans, a record, off of food stamps,” Trump said.

The number refers to Americans who are projected to lose their benefits following the passage of Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act – not necessarily people who were able to afford to be off them.

An August 2025 Congressional Budget Office analysis found that about 2.4 million Americans would lose access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, more commonly known as food stamps, because of the law.

The law expanded work requirements for able-bodied adults, mandating that parents of dependent children ages 14 and older work, volunteer or participate in job training at least 80 hours a month. It also requires adults ages 55 to 64, veterans, people experiencing homelessness and people who were formerly in foster care to meet the new requirements, while exempting Native Americans.

About 42 million low-income people receive benefits through SNAP, getting an average individual monthly benefit of about $190, or $356 per household. Recipients can use the benefits to buy fruits, vegetables, meat, dairy products, bread and other foods. The majority of SNAP households live in poverty.

TRUMP ACCOUNTS

Trump also promoted his newly launched “Trump accounts”, which is a saving tool for children.

Under the programme set to be implemented in July, babies born between January 1, 2025, and December 31, 2028, will receive $1,000 in seed money from the federal government. Parents can make additional deposits but aren’t required to.

Trump said accountholders, with “modest additional contributions,” could see their investment “grow to over $100,000 or more by the time they turn 18.”

But this growth is not guaranteed over decades, and it almost certainly wouldn’t happen in 18 years.

An investment calculator maintained by the federal Securities and Exchange Commission shows that $1,000 could grow to about $6,000 after 18 years.

many Americans could not afford to do – it would produce about $60,000 in 18 years, at a 10 percent rate of growth.

The historical annual average gain for the US stock market is about 10 percent, but that rate of gain is not assured. Management fees also could eat into any gains.

Even a modest 2 percent inflation rate would take a big bite out of the final amount.

Finally, the amount in the account would decline further upon withdrawal because of taxes.

ATTACHMENT THIRTY FOUR – FROM DW

FACT CHECK: TRUMP'S STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS DEBUNKED

By Kathrin Wesolowski and Alima de Graaf

US President Donald Trump delivered the longest State of the Union speech in modern history with statements on the economy, migration as well as bold claims about how he's ended wars. A DW Fact check.

US President Donald Trump's long State of the Union speech included much that was false or unproven.

"Our nation is back, bigger, better, richer and stronger than ever before," US President Donald Trump said in his nearly two-hour long State of the Union speechon Tuesday night.

Amid sagging poll numbers ahead of the midterm elections, he made false claims about the US economy, international politics and migration. DW Fact check takes a closer look at three claims.

Trump didn't end eight wars 

Claim: "In my first 10 months, I ended eight wars," Trump said. "Cambodia and Thailand, Pakistan and India — would have been a nuclear war, 35 million people said the prime minister of Pakistan would have died if it were not for my involvement — Kosovo and Serbia, Israel and Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, the Congo and Rwanda. And, of course, the war in Gaza, which proceeds at a very low level."

DW Fact check: False

It's not the first time Trump has claimed that he's ended several wars. In his speech before the United Nations General Assembly last fall, he stated that he ended seven wars — he has now added ending the war in Gaza to that list. But his claim is false — many of the wars he listed remain unresolved, and his role as the broker of peace is disputed. 

• Cambodia and Thailand
  In July 2025, Trump threatened to withhold trade deals if no peace deal about the long-running border dispute would be signed. The leaders agreed to a ceasefire on July 28, but it didn't hold. After deadly clashes in December, the agreement was replaced by another ceasefire that Trump was not involved in. According to media reports, the situation is still fragile.
• Pakistan and India
  In May 2025, Trump announced that Pakistan and India, both armed with nuclear weapons, had reached a ceasefire due to US-led talks after the countries' worst military confrontation in 25 years. Still, Saudi Arabia and Iran also emerged as key mediators due to their strong economic and diplomatic ties with both India and Pakistan. Back then, Indian defense strategist Brigadier S K Chatterji warned that the deal was no guarantee of future stability. India has repeatedly rejected Trump's claim of ending the war against Pakistan.
• Kosovo and Serbia
  Serbia and Kosovo were not in an open state of war. Trump's 2020 agreement focused on economic relations rather than peace. Serbia denied any plans to attack Kosovo, and tensions remain, with sporadic clashes and NATO peacekeepers still stationed in the region. Serbia and Kosovo have never signed a final peace treaty. 
• Israel and Iran
  Trump brokered a ceasefirebetween Israel and Iran in June 2025, after the US joined Israel in bombing Iranian nuclear sites.The situation in the region is still fragile, amid the killings of thousands of Iranians by the regime. Trump says the US considers military strikes to pressure Iran to agree to a deal to curb its nuclear program. 
• Egypt and Ethiopia
  Egypt and Ethiopia were never at war during Trump's presidency. In a dispute about the Grand Renaissance Dam, which Cairo and Khartoum fear will reduce their Nile water share, Trump got involved but talks collapsed in June 2025. Trump publicly sided with Egypt. The dispute continues. 
• Armenia and Azerbaijan
  In August 2025,the countries signed a peace deal at the White House. Both leaders met again at the World Economic Forum in Davos, praising the peace deal they made. 
• Congo and Rwanda
  The US was involved in a peace deal signed by both countries in June 2025 but fighting continued after the agreement. In December 2025, the leaders of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda agreed to a new peace deal in a meeting in Washington D.C. hosted by Trump. Still, the conflict is ongoing.
• "The war in Gaza"
  Since the Hamas-led terror attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, in which nearly 1,200 people were killed and about 250 were taken hostage, Israel killed at least 71,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health officials. In October 2025, Trump signed a Gaza ceasefire document, alongside key mediators Egypt, Qatar and Turkey. Since then, both Israel and Hamas have accused each other of violating the ceasefire. The conflict is still ongoing.  Trump exaggerates inflation success 

Claim: "Inflation is plummeting," Trump said, adding, "the Biden administration and its allies in Congress gave us the worst inflation in the history of our country."

DW Fact check: False

While inflation has eased a bit, it's by no means a drastic drop as claimed by Trump. In January 2026, the inflation rate in the US stood at 2.4%, compared to 3% when Trump took office in January 2025, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Inflation was around 2.9% in the last month of the Biden administration and had been fluctuating between 3.7 and 2.4 percent since mid-2023. The current inflation rate is still abovethe Federal Reserve's target of 2%.

While it is true that the annual inflation rate in the US reached a 40-year high of 9.1% in June 2022 during the Biden administration, this was more than two years before Trump's return for a second term, and inflation had already fallen sharply before Trump took office.

The highest inflation in US history occurred after World War I, when the largest price increase within twelve months was 23.7% between June 1919 and June 1920 — not during the Biden administration.

Trump claims millions poured in from prisons and mental institutions 

Claim: "Under Biden and his corrupt partners in Congress and beyond, it reached a breaking point […], open borders for everyone. They poured in by the millions and millions from prisons, from mental institutions. They were murderers, 11,888 murderers." 

DW Fact check: Unproven 

There is no proof that millions of people entered the US from prisons and mental institutions abroad under former US President Joe Biden.

Trump made similar claims in 2023, 2024 and 2025,citing various different figures.

Statistics from the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency show that 10.8 million migrants were "encountered" at the nation's borders from 2021 to 2024 when Biden was president. 

"Encounters" mean both apprehensions of migrants illegally crossing the border and those deemed inadmissible at the ports of entry by CBP officers.  

There is no comprehensive data documenting people's criminal or institutional history in origin countries and it's thus impossible to link millions of migrants to prisons and mental institutions.  

It is unclear why Trump is quoting the number 11,888. Fact checkers have traced his statements back to noncitizens convicted of murder who were not detained by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE). According to the agency,13,099 non-detained noncitizens were convicted of homicide as of July 2024, along with 277 that were detained. 

However, the Department of Homeland Security clarified that this data goes back decades and includes individuals entering the country over the past 40 years or more, long before Biden took office.

Anwar Ashraf contributed reporting.

ATTACHMENT THIRTY FIVE – FROM FRANCE 24

TRUMP TOUTS ‘GOLDEN AGE OF AMERICA’ IN LONGEST EVER STATE OF UNION SPEECH

President Donald Trump focused on the US economy, immigration and other domestic policy issues in his 2026 State of the Union address, telling a divided Congress that he has ushered in "the golden age of America". Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger delivered the Democrat's official response, criticising Trump for abandoning  Americans struggling with an affordability crisis.

Issued on: 25/02/2026 - 11:52 Modified: 25/02/2026 - 12:01

US President Donald Trump boasted in his State of the Union address on Tuesday that he had ushered in "the golden age of America", seeking to project an aura of success despite sagging approval ratings and deepening voter frustration ahead of November's midterm election.

Heeding calls from Republican lawmakers worried they could lose their congressional majority later this year, Trump spent the first hour of his televised speech focused on the economy, saying he had slowed inflation, driven the stock market to record heights, signed sweeping tax cuts and lowered drug prices.

But it was unclear whether his rosy assessment would assuage Americans' anger about the cost of living. Trump sought to blame his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden, for high prices, but opinion polls show voters hold Trump responsible for not doing more to ease an affordability crisis after he campaigned relentlessly on the issue.

"Our nation is back – bigger, better, richer and stronger than ever before," Trump said after taking the stage to cheers of "USA, USA" from fellow Republicans in Congress, with dozens of empty seats on the Democratic side a reminder that many lawmakers skipped the speech for anti-Trump rallies outside.

The annual speech to Congress came at a fraught moment for Trump's presidency, with polls showing a majority of Americans have soured on his performance, anxieties rising over Iran and his signature tariff policy foundering after the US Supreme Court struck down most of his import taxes.

US Supreme Court strikes down Trump's tariffs

For much of the speech, Trump was uncharacteristically disciplined, mostly appearing to stick to his prepared remarks and eschewing his usual stream-of-consciousness digressions. But he flashed his combative side while discussing his immigration crackdown, exchanging shouted insults with several Democratic lawmakers.

The former reality television star injected plenty of spectacle into the event. At one point, he bragged about all the "winning" that the US has experienced during his term, before introducing some other winners: members of the US men's ice hockey team, who entered the chamber wearing the gold medals they won at the Winter Olympics on Sunday.

He declared that the team's goaltender, Connor Hellebuyck, would receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, one of half a dozen medals handed out to various guests with typical Trumpian fanfare.

Heckles, expulsion, cheers: Top moments from Trump’s State of the Union speech

The 79-year-old Trump's speech lasted approximately an hour and 47 minutes, breaking the record he set last year for the longest presidential address to Congress.

NO CLARITY ON IRAN

While Trump said inflation is "plummeting", prices for groceries, housing, insurance and utilities remain significantly higher than they were a few years ago. New data released on Friday showed the economy slowed more than expected last quarter while inflation accelerated.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll found only 36% of Americans approve of his handling of the economy. Democrats hope to seize control of both houses of Congress from Republicans in November when all 435 seats are on the ballot for the House of Representatives and about a third of the 100 seats in the Senate.

Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat whose decisive victory in November was an early midterm warning sign for Republicans, delivered her party's official response, criticising Trump for abandoning struggling Americans.

"Is the president working to make life more affordable for you and your family?" she said. "We all know the answer is no."

Trump, who attacked the Supreme Court in personal terms after the tariff decision on Friday, held his fire on Tuesday, shaking hands with the four justices present as he entered the chamber. He called the ruling "unfortunate" but argued that it would ultimately have little impact on his trade policy.

Trump did not discuss artificial intelligence, at a time when the technology is fueling both the stock market and growing worries among workers about the threat it poses to job security.

He also spent little time on foreign policy, even though he has focused much of his energies in office on issues abroad.

Trump again claimed he "ended" eight wars, an exaggeration, and barely mentioned Ukraine, despite Tuesday marking the fourth anniversary of Russia's invasion. He did not discuss China, America's chief economic rival, or Greenland, the semi-autonomous Danish territory he has threatened to take over.

Trump also did not offer clarity regarding his plans for Iran amid signs he is inching closer to a military conflict with Tehran.

"My preference is to solve this problem through diplomacy," he said. "But one thing is certain: I will never allow the world's No. 1 sponsor of terror, which they are by far, to have a nuclear weapon."

TRUMP, DEMOCRATS CLASH

When Trump turned to his favourite topic, immigration, he repeated the same rhetoric that animated his 2024 campaign, claiming undocumented migrants were responsible for a wave of violent crime despite studies showing that is not the case.

"You should be ashamed," he told Democrats, chastising them for refusing to fund the Department of Homeland Security unless measures are taken to curb the aggressive tactics of immigration agents under Trump.

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Opinion polls show a majority of Americans believe Trump's immigration crackdown has gone too far, after two US citizens were shot dead by masked federal agents in Minneapolis.

As Trump praised his immigration enforcement, Democrat Ilhan Omar, who represents a Minneapolis US House district, shouted in his direction, "You have killed Americans!"

Trump, who has falsely claimed for years that election fraud in the US is rampant, also attacked Democrats for not supporting a voter identification requirement.

"They want to cheat," he said. Democrats argue that the Republican-backed legislation would impose unnecessary burdens on voters and suppress turnout.

Democratic US Representative Al Green was removed from the House chamber ⁠for the second consecutive year after waving a sign at Trump that read, "Black people aren't apes". The message referred to a social media video Trump posted with a clip depicting former president Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as apes.

The White House eventually took down the video, which Trump said was posted by ⁠a staffer. Green, who is Black, was also ejected during last year's address after shouting at Trump.

Other Democrats offered quieter messages of protest. US Representative Jill Tokuda, a Hawaii Democrat, wore a white jacket emblazoned with words like "affordability" and "healthcare".

A number of Democratic women wore tags saying "release the files", a reference to the scandal surrounding convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. About a dozen Epstein accusers attended as guests of Democrats.

(FRANCE 24 with Reuters)

Trump threatens Iran in State of the Union speech, Tehran compares him to Goebbels

Heckles, expulsion, cheers: Top moments from Trump’s State of the Union speech

ATTACHMENT THIRTY SIX – FROM CNBC

TRUMP MAKES LITTLE MENTION OF CHINA IN THE LONGEST STATE OF THE UNION SPEECH

BY Evelyn Cheng Published Wed, Feb 25 2026 3:42 AM EST

Key Points

· U.S. President Donald Trump steered clear of China in his State of the Union speech Tuesday.

· The only mention was in reference to “Russian and Chinese military technology” that guarded Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

· The silence comes as Trump plans to visit Beijing from March 31 to April 2, the first trip by a U.S. president since 2017.

BEIJING — U.S. President Donald Trump avoided directly naming China in his State of the Union address Tuesday, just weeks before his scheduled trip to Beijing.

In what was the longest State of the Union (SOTU) speech by any U.S. president, Trump covered a range of topics from inflation and tariffs to stock market records.

But notably, he did not directly mention China, other than a reference to “Russian and Chinese military technology” that guarded Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro during the operation that led to the capture of the foreign leader.

During Trump’s first term from 2017 to 2021, he made direct references to the Chinese nation in all three of his State of the Union addresses. The remarks had largely highlighted the threat from Beijing to the U.S.

“Trump doesn’t want to pick a fight with China in an election year,” said Gabriel Wildau, managing director, Teneo, referring to the coming U.S. midterm elections in November.

“Stability in U.S.-China relations is a priority for the president at least this year and potentially for the rest of his term,” Wildau said.

In order to maintain that relationship, Trump plans to visit Beijing from March 31 to April 2, the first trip by a U.S. president since 2017.

But China’s foreign ministry has yet to confirm exact dates for the visit, pointed out George Chen, partner at The Asia Group. “That makes Trump look more desperate to visit China more than how much [Chinese president Xi Jinping] wants to host him.”

“The lack of mentions about China in Trump’s speech is another example to show how Trump stays cautious now about U.S.-China relations,” Chen said.

China and the U.S. ratcheted up tariffs on each others’ goods last spring to well over 100%, before reaching a trade truce in October to bring tariffs below 50% for the next year. Beijing also tightened its restrictions on rare earths exports worldwide. The Asian country dominates the global supply chain for rare earths, critical minerals used in a swath of technologies.

“The state of the union showed Trump thinks glorifying U.S. military triumphs over weak states like Venezuela makes better election year politics than fighting with China over rare earths,” Wildau said.

Uncertainty around tariffs picked up over the weekend after the U.S. Supreme Court last week struck down tariffs that Trump had imposed on a swath of countries last year. Trump then quickly pointed to an alternative basis for raising the global tariff rate.

In social media posts on Weibo, two Chinese state media outlets highlighted opposition within Congress to Trump’s speech. Local attention in China to Trump’s address was otherwise muted.

Trump’s limited mention of China also reflects how unpredictable his policy on Beijing can be, said Yue Su, principal economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

“By contrast, [Democrat U.S. President Joe] Biden consistently referred to China in his speeches, which underscored a degree of continuity and predictability in his China policy,” she said, referring to Trump’s predecessor.

The Democratic Party’s rebuttal to Trump’s State of the Union Tuesday focused directly on Beijing.

“But as the president spoke of his perceived successes tonight, he continues to cede economic power and technological strength to Russia, bow down to China, bow down to a Russian dictator and make plans for war with Iran,” said Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger, who gave the rebuttal.

A big deal coming?

For a U.S. president who has called out Xi by name in public speeches, the absence of mentioning the world’s second-largest economy in the SOTU speech marks a strategic move.

If Trump seals a deal during his Beijing trip, “he could easily frame it as a major achievement for his base,” said EIU’s Su. “And if negotiations do not go well, a retaliatory or hardline approach could be presented in a similarly positive light domestically.”

Steven Okun, founder and CEO of Singapore-based APAC Advisors, said that this year, the speech was understandably more focused on topics that impact the midterm elections, which don’t include China.

But he pointed out that if Trump really wanted to address U.S. consumer affordability, lowering tariffs on China would “show up much quicker in people’s pocketbooks.”

“So, we may see a deal on tariffs with China end of March or early April,” Okun said Wednesday on CNBC’s “Access Middle East.”

Many U.S. company executives are expected to accompany Trump on his trip to China in a few weeks. Meetings with Chinese counterparts can be an opportunity to support deals, including Chinese purchases of U.S. agricultural products.

When asked about Trump’s limited discussion of China, Marko Papic, a chief strategist at global investment research firm BCA Research, simply said: “A big deal is coming!”

—CNBC’s Sydney Goh contributed to this report.

ATTACHMENT THIRTY SEVEN – FROM CNN

DEMOCRATS SAY TRUMP IS OUT OF TOUCH AFTER HIS STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS

Updated 5:30 PM EST, Wed February 25, 2026

Here's the latest

• Reaction to SOTU address: President Donald Trump took a victory lap in his 2026 State of the Union speech last night, during which he touted the economy, took jabs at Democrats and briefly touched on foreign affairs. Read an annotated, fact-checked version of his speech.

• Democratic response: Democrats said the speech showed Trump is out of touch with average Americans. During the official Democratic response, Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger sharply criticized the president over affordability concerns and his immigration crackdown, offering a preview of the party’s message ahead of November’s midterms.

• Iran negotiations: Meanwhile, the US slapped new sanctions on Iran ahead of talks tomorrow in Geneva with Tehran.

ATTACHMENT THIRTY EIGHT – FROM POLITICO
THE SOTU MOMENT THAT REPUBLICANS HOPE SAVES THE MIDTERMS

Americans have soured on the White House’s immigration enforcement tactics, but the president’s speech has the GOP strategizing on how to regain momentum on a favorite issue.

By Alec Hernandez and Dasha Burns02/26/2026 04:45 AM EST

Republicans are betting President Donald Trump just handed them the lifeline they need to win on immigration again.

It came as just one quick moment during the president’s record-breaking State of the Union address Tuesday night, when he asked lawmakers to rise if they agreed with a “fundamental principle.”

“If you agree with this statement, then stand up and show your support: The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens,” Trump said, prompting Republicans to take to their feet while Democrats remained roundly seated and expressionless.

That visual — a literal juxtaposition of the two sides of the aisle — is one Republicans are eager to spread across the airwaves and highlight on the campaign trail after weathering months of backlash to Trump’s unpopular mass deportation campaigns. The National Republican Congressional Committee held a meeting Wednesday morning on how best to deploy that specific moment in attack ads against vulnerable Democratic House members, according to one person familiar with the conversation, granted anonymity to discuss private planning.

At least one group is already making its move: The conservative nonprofit American Sovereignty will begin airing a 30 second ad Thursday that plays the moment in full, overlaid with text claiming Democrats are “for illegal alien criminals.” The ad, first shared with POLITICO, is part of the group’s ongoing seven-figure television blitz in critical battleground states like North Carolina, Michigan and Georgia.

“For most of the history of our country, Democrats and Republicans have disagreed in good faith on how to best protect the citizens of this country,” said David Shafer, a GOP strategist who previously served as chair of the Georgia Republican Party. “The Democrats made clear that protecting American citizens is no longer their primary objective.”

Several GOP candidates in high-profile races and lawmakers quickly amplified the clip on social media and released statements slamming Democrats for staying in their seats.

This moment is potentially critical for Republicans, who have found themselves underwater on both the economy and immigration — two issues they used to own. Recent polling from POLITICO and Public First shows nearly half of all Americans found Trump’s immigration tactics to be too aggressive and 46 percent of them think the Trump administration is responsible for high costs.

Trump honed the immigration portion of his address on border security and removing violent criminals. | Alex Kent for POLITICO

Although Trump’s Tuesday speech left some Republicans feeling skeptical that he did enough to sell a forward-looking economic agenda that would assuage Americans’ concerns, others are thrilled with his effort to reframe the GOP’s immigration platform.

Rather than focusing on his controversial mass deportation efforts, Trump honed the immigration portion of his address on two aspects that enjoy broader support: border security and removing violent criminals. That, coupled with the made-for-TV moment contrasting Republicans and Democrats, has helped give GOP campaign strategists more room to maneuver ahead of the midterms.

“That was incredibly helpful, it paints a different picture,” said Preya Samsundar, a Republican communications strategist involved in several races, including New Mexico’s gubernatorial election and the House special in Georgia’s 14th district. “It sets the tone for why the majority of Americans — regardless of the Republican, Democrat or Independent — were supportive of the President’s immigration policies in the first place.”

Rep. Buddy Carter of Georgia, who is running in the competitive GOP primary to unseat incumbent Democrat Sen. Jon Ossoff, was among the first candidates to take aim over immigration after the State of the Union.

“Tonight, Democrats — including Jon Ossoff — refused to stand for the American people,” he said in a statement Tuesday following Trump’s speech. “We saw a clear-cut division tonight between the Republicans, under the leadership of President Trump, who are standing up for our country, and the Democrats who stay seated and refused to acknowledge the truth: The State of our Union is strong.”

Still, Democratic operatives, like pollster Brian Stryker, argue that immigration is no longer the “lead weight” that it was for their party in 2024. Democrats’ recent special election wins, including in Texas where Hispanic voters ran en masse back to Democrats, nod to their momentum on the issue.

“A Democrat with a moderate immigration policy can be heard right now, while two years ago, they assumed every Democrat was for open borders,” he said.

If Republicans were to gain the front foot on immigration again, that could help them redirect some of the focus from their perceived weak spots on the economy — at least temporarily. They’re betting that the images of Democrats staying in their seats on immigration will have staying power.

“I saw Stephen Miller’s tweet afterwards saying it was the biggest moment in the history of the Congress. Doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about,” said Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.) of the White House deputy chief of staff’s late-night posts on social media. “The whole thing is disgraceful to me. It was a stunt, and it was pathetic.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer rushed to defend Democrats after Trump’s speech, saying they “agree” on protecting Americans and the president is the one risking their safety with his immigration operations — a nod to the killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti.

But the damage may have been done.

“It’s theatrics, but at the end of the day it’s kind of a shake your head move for Democrats not to stand up,” Ben Voelkel, a Wisconsin-based Republican strategist, said.

ATTACHMENT THIRTY NINE – FROM HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

TV RATINGS: STATE OF THE UNION TRENDS DOWN IN EARLY NUMBERS

Viewing across the broadcast networks and three biggest cable news channels falls by about 12 percent vs. a year ago.

By Rick Porter February 25, 2026 3:31pm

The State of the Union address drew a smaller audience than last year’s presidential address to Congress, based on preliminary Nielsen ratings.

President Donald Trump’s 107-minute speech (the longest on record) drew about 27.8 million viewers across the seven most watched broadcast and cable outlets: ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News, the Fox broadcast network, MS Now and NBC. That’s down by about 12 percent from 31.45 million viewers for those same networks for Trump’s address to Congress last year (which was not technically a State of the Union as it came at the start of a new administration).

Fox News led the way with 9.1 million viewers, well in front of ABC’s 5.1 million. The latter was the top broadcast net for the speech for the sixth straight year, outdrawing NBC (3.6 million), CBS (3.3 million) and the Fox broadcast network (2.1 million). MS Now (2.4 million) beat out CNN (2.2 million).

Fox News also topped the core news demographic of adults 25-54 with 1.47 million such viewers, followed by ABC (1.22 million), NBC (1.02 million) and CBS (815,000). CNN (655,000) moved in front of the Fox broadcast (560,000) and MS Now (323,000) in the demo.

Last year’s address drew a total of 36.63 million viewers across 15 broadcast and cable networks. Final ratings for Tuesday’s address, which will include both additional outlets and Nielsen’s big data measurement, will be out Thursday afternoon. The numbers above may undergo some adjustments in the finals.

A decline for the State of the Union a year after a president takes office is fairly common in recent history. Following their initial addresses to Congress shortly after taking office, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Trump in his first term all drew smaller audiences for the next year’s State of the Union. The exceptions are George W. Bush in 2002, a few months after the 9/11 attacks, and Joe Biden in 2022, whose first address to Congress came much later than usual (late April 2021) due to health restrictions during the height of the COVID pandemic.

ATTACHMENT FORTY – FROM USA TODAY

I'M A DEMOCRAT. TRUMP'S STATE OF UNION MADE ME LIKE HIM MORE.

I believe Trump has only the best interests of the U.S. at the core of all his decisions. I do believe the changes he has made are working. Democrats should offer him more support.

By Joni Werner Feb. 26, 2026, 1:25 p.m. ET

I watched President Donald Trump's entire 2026 State of the Union speech. And I loved it! Watching it made me more likely to vote in the midterm elections.

This was the first time I wasn't bored and actually agreed with everything he had to say. I appreciate his businessman's approach to the economy and tariffs. I loved that he celebrated the people directly affected by his policy changes and celebrated the economy wins by putting America first.

I am disappointed in all the elected leaders who refused to celebrate the people who have been sacrificed because of the policies brought about by the Biden administration.

Another view: Trump needed to sell strengths on economy, border. He did.

DEMOCRATS SHOULD GIVE TRUMP SPACE TO SUCCEED

The speech improved my opinion of Trump, and I believe he has only the best interests of the United States at the core of all his decisions. I do believe the changes he has made are working, and I wish the Democratic Party would give him the same courtesy they gave the Obama administration with illegal aliens. It does not need to be this difficult. I believe Trump is trying to make government more transparent and follow the rules.

Government needs to actually represent the people, not politicians' self interests and agenda. I am actually a registered Democrat, and I was ashamed of how congressional Democrats were acting at the State of the Union ‒ not giving Trump the common courtesy and respect the office of the president deserves.

It will certainly be reflected with my vote in the midterms, and I will not vote for Democrats currently in office.

ATTACHMENT FORTY ONE – FROM STANDING FOR FREEDOM

PRESIDENT TRUMP’S STATE OF THE UNION: FIVE TAKEAWAYS CHRISTIAN’S CAN’T IGNORE

By Ryan Helfenbein February 27, 2026

President Trump’s record-breaking State of the Union speech on Tuesday night illustrated the contrast between his vision for strengthening family, freedom, and prosperity and that of the opposition — who defiantly refused to stand and applaud American heroes, American children, and the American way of life.

One hundred and eight minutes — that’s how long President Trump spoke before a joint session of Congress on Tuesday evening.

Roughly half of House and Senate Democrats boycotted it entirely, including House Minority Whip Katherine Clark and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who held counter-events rather than face the music. Rep. Al Green was escorted from the chamber very early in the night after interrupting the president and waving a sign. Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib both shouted from their seats, breaking decorum during President Trump’s speech, especially when the President talked about Somali fraud and the number of Americans who have died as a result of mass illegal immigration.

The State of the Union is the most consequential speech for the President, and there is a reason that no sitting President ever wants to miss the opportunity to speak to joint members of Congress: It is the greatest stage in the world — especially in a mid-term election year. The State of the Union frames the administration’s record, it sets the legislative agenda, and in a mid-term year signals exactly what each party will run on through November.

This speech was that — and more — and has received much praise from Republican strategists and conservative political commentators for what Trump did so well.

The Democrats knew that this would be Trump’s victory lap and a stark contrast from what took place during the Biden years. That is precisely why many chose not to be present for the speech because frankly it doesn’t strengthen the Democratic Party’s argument for why they should be the party in power.

And the entire room on Tuesday night told the story.

Republicans stood and cheered for American heroes and patriots. Republicans stood for tax cuts. They stood for the protection and defense of American families and American citizens from the criminal carnage of illegal immigration. They stood for the American middle class. They stood for voter ID laws requiring only citizens vote in federal elections.

Democrats refused to acknowledge any accomplishments that were good for the American people as a whole — falling inflation, historic low crime rates, acknowledging the victims of illegal immigration, or a call to protect children from gender ideology.

That silence from Democrats was not political confusion — it was electoral strategy. Democrats cannot afford for Americans to believe both that Biden was a catastrophic failure and that Trump’s second term is a triumph.

If both are true — and they certainly are as a matter of record — Democrats have next to no argument heading into November.

So what are some of the key takeaways from Tuesday night’s speech?

The first is Trump’s record on the economy since taking office since last year.

Trump reported the results after just one year: Inflation was at 1.7 percent as of the last month of 2025, the national average for a gallon of gas went below $2.30 per gallon, mortgage rates are now down below 6 percent for the first time since 2022, the Dow hit 53,000 points for the first time, there is over $18 trillion in new economic investment in the United States, while more than 2.4 million Americans have rolled off of food stamps.

Add to that, the murder rate posted today is in its largest decline in history; it is the lowest in more than 125 years.

Now Republicans stood and clapped for all of these accomplishments, while Democrats were noticeably silent. Now this is a rapid departure from where historic State of the Unions used to be. Regardless of who the party in power is or who the party in the Oval Office was, Democrats and Republicans would generally be supportive of any accomplishments that champion the American people and a better way of living for the American people.

You cannot make an argument that you are better fit to govern the majority of Americans when you actively root against Americans when you’re not in power — and that was the argument Democrats clearly put on display on Tuesday night.

Which brings us to the second crucial takeaway: border security and mass illegal immigration

President Trump made this contrast abundantly clear. He said “One of the greatest things about the State of the Union is how it gives Americans the chance to see clearly what their representatives really believe.”

And he followed it up by saying, “So tonight, I’m inviting every legislator to join with my administration in reaffirming a fundamental principle. If you agree with this statement, then stand up and show your support: ‘The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.’“

It was on that note that Democrats, with the exception of Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, remained seated, while the entire rest of the assembly, including many of those in the gallery on the second floor, stood in applause.

Lest we forget millions upon millions of illegal immigrants poured across the southern border under Biden’s administration. The president reported 11,888 Americans murdered by illegal immigrants under Biden’s policies.

He then introduced them by name: Lizbeth Medina’s mother, Jacqueline, whose daughter was stabbed to death. He also highlighted seven-year-old Dalilah Coleman and her father, Marcus — Dalilah was struck by an illegal immigrant driving an 18-wheeler. And no one can forget Sarah Beckstrom, a 20-year-old National Guard member killed by an Afghan national who immigrated to the U.S. legally but who highlights just how dangerously incompatible Islam is to a constitutional society.

These were not statistics. These were people in the gallery, while Democratic members of Congress refused to stand.

Fentanyl was the leading cause of death for Americans from age 18 to 49 in the United States because of the porous U.S.-Mexican border under President Biden. And all of that was apparently a choice. It was not an inevitability to have such lawlessness at the southern border, it was a matter of public policy. A government that refuses to protect its citizens, against illegal immigration is not practicing compassion, it is being derelict in its duty.

Third, a natural spillover from securing our borders is securing our national elections from the illegal vote.

There are currently 36 states in the United States that have voter ID laws to help regulate and secure federal elections. There are 14 states that do not have Voter ID law. Only one of those states did Trump carry in the 2024 election: Pennsylvania. All the other states were carried by Kamala Harris, including New York and California, which have very lax standards for proof of identification, including not requiring a proof of citizenship in order to vote.

In these states, illegal votes are counted and congressional districts are gerrymandered with illegal votes to influence representation in blue states.

President Trump pointed out in his speech that even New York City required identification and a Social Security card for their jobs programs. If this can be required to fill out a job application and conduct interviews for taxpayer-funded jobs in New York City, certainly it should be a requirement to vote in federal elections.

Even in states like Texas and Florida, voter registrations rolls must be audited for proof of citizenship as many will still cast illegal ballots in states where Voter ID laws are already in place.

And the only reason Democrats are vehemently opposed to the SAVE America Act is because they benefit where making it easy to cheat is still permissible under lax voter standards.

The fourth takeaway is that the protection of children from trans ideology is a winning issue for most Americans.

The story of Sage Blair is heartwrenching, and it is proof that the trans ideology knows no bounds. There are no limits to the distance they are willing to go to prey upon the weak, defenseless, and innocent in order to advance their agenda.

Sage’s school in Appomattox County, Virginia, attempted to transition her without her parents’ knowledge or consent, fracturing her family. Trump called for an immediate federal ban on schools conducting gender transitions without parental consent and on states removing children from parents who decline to affirm a gender identity.

The President said, “No state can be allowed to rip children from their parents’ arms” — while Democrats sat in stone-cold silence. Not one on the left stood for a mother whose daughter had wrongfully been stolen from her, only later to be rescued and returned home. Sage is now at Liberty University as a scholarship recipient.

The fifth and final takeaway is that gratitude wins over grievance any day of the week.

Americans love celebrating American greatness. This includes the American gold medal-winning U.S. Men’s Hockey team and Connor Hellebuyck, who was the goaltender unanimously praised for his role in securing the team’s first gold medal since 1980. President Trump will award him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. 

Then there was Army Chief Warrant Officer Eric Slover, who received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his heroic actions in Venezuela that led to the capture of Nicolas Maduro, and Navy Captain E. Royce Williams, who also received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his heroic actions in a dogfight in the Korean War, which had been long classified before now.

The President acknowledged: “There has been a tremendous renewal in religion, faith, Christianity, and belief in God — especially among young people.”

He then honored Erika Kirk, Charlie Kirk’s widow; his life was taken on September 10, 2025. The President clearly acknowledged that Charlie was “martyred for his beliefs.” The President then said, “In Charlie’s memory, we must all affirm that we are one nation under God and must totally reject violence of any kind.”

For anyone watching the State of the Union the contrast between both the party in power and the party seeking power could not have been greater. There is a growing divide between the policy prescriptions, the ideology, and the expectations of what America is as a nation, what is to the greatest benefit of the American people, and what the role of government is in securing our rights and freedoms as Americans.

As far as speeches go, President Trump’s State of the Union did not disappoint. It is a good reminder of exactly what is at stake in this nation as a matter of public policy and the ongoing political debate, as well as the future of what freedom looks like in this country.

The most important takeaway for Christians is that we recognize our responsibility in this republic is that we must do all that we can to promote policies that align with our biblical values and biblical worldview.

These are policies that will no doubt protect and defend life, marriage, and family, as well as the necessary freedoms of our Bill of Rights for American citizens, who are the only ones who have a right to live in America and to vote in America.

Regardless of how the mainstream media saw Tuesday night’s State of the Union, it is important that Christians and Christian citizens recognize what Trump was presenting the American public: a true contrast to the failed technocratic state, to the endless media propaganda, and to the failed policies of the Biden administration just a short while ago.

And for that, Trump delivered on the optics and delivered once again on the political moment to kick off the 2026 midterms. It will truly be an interesting cycle to watch.

This article is a lightly edited transcript of the “Here’s the Point” podcast by Ryan Helfenbein, executive director of the Standing for Freedom Center.

ATTACHMENT FORTY TWO – FROM ABC

MAMDANI RESPONDS AFTER TRUMP CALLS OUT MAYOR OVER NYC'S SHOVELING PROGRAM IDS

By Eyewitness News  Wednesday, February 25, 2026 8:24PM

President Trump brought up city's shoveling program during the State of the Union, noting it requires "two forms of ID" from temporary snow shovelers.

NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- Mayor Zohran Mamdani said 1,400 New Yorkers signed up to join the city's emergency snow-shoveling program on Tuesday alone, thanking President Donald Trump and Republicans for making it a popular talking point at the State of the Union address.

"I can tell you, I didn't expect this much attention nationwide on our emergency snow shoveler program," Mamdani said on Wednesday in response to Trump's remarks. "It is a program that has existed for years. It is a program that has been part of responses to storms."

He said the conversation has been helpful in sharing the fact that New Yorkers can be a part of this program.

"I mean yesterday, we saw more than 1,000 New Yorkers enroll into this program, and that, in and of itself, doubles the size of the snow shoveling program that we first found when coming into office," Mamdani said.

Trump brought up city's shoveling program during the State of the Union, noting it requires "two forms of ID" from temporary snow shovelers.

The president drew comparisons to the identification required to shovel snow in Mamdani's New York City to legislation that he supports requiring require people to furnish photo identification in order to vote in national elections.

Mamdani has noted that the city government requires short-term snow shovelers to provide two forms of ID because federal law requires it.

Trump also called Mamdani "a nice guy" with "bad policy."

ATTACHMENT FORTY THREE – FROM TIMES OF ISRAEL

WHAT THE 2026 STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS REVEALED ABOUT AMERICA

Feb 27, 2026, 7:15 PM

President Trump’s 2026 State of the Union Address was not only a political spectacle but a mirror held up to our republic itself. In the applause, the calls for boycotts, and the silences, one sees that habits Alexis de Tocqueville feared most: a people drifting toward intellectual conformity, mistaking party loyalty for principle, and surrendering the civic discipline of self-government for the easier comforts of tribalism. If democracy decays not through sudden coups but through gradual civil neglect and soft despotism, then the most important question raised by this address is not what the President said, how his words stood up to the rigor of fact-checking, but whether Americans still possess the independent spirit necessary to govern themselves. After watching the address, which ran for almost two hours, I could not help but think that there was a lot that President Trump should have included in his address, but did not, specifically for his supporters like me who feel confused by the direction America First seems to have taken. Also significant was the number of politicians, such as House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, advising caucus members to either attend with “silent defiance” or skip the State of the Union speech entirely. Former Secretary of Labor during the Clinton Administration, Robert Reich, had similar advice for the American people, imploring them to boycott the address and outsource their Tocquevillian civic duty as American voters to partisan commentators like himself rather than tune in. Coming from a person who constantly talks about democratic backsliding and the erosion of democracy, Reich’s hypocrisy is astounding.

Although I wrote a pitch on Merion West advising that President Trump was the only viable presidential candidate in 2025, I have been critical of friends and colleagues who have uncritically defended or rationalized his statements and actions regardless of evidence, contradiction, and, in the process, elevated President Trump to an infallible or quasi-sacred individual impervious to criticism. It is an undeniable fact that President Trump’s America First movement has morphed into something different than the promise he campaigned on: the end of military intervention on foreign soil. I am not alone in my view, as this is the very issue that has created a rift between President Trump, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Senator Thomas Massie. In a very short time, we have gone from shifting the focus away from war and towards American interests, to talk of regime change in Cuba, Venezuela, and Iran, and the need to defend Taiwan should China invade it. Changing course is not always a bad thing, but to date, President Trump has not persuasively argued why the sudden shift in foreign policy, and I felt he was obligated to discuss all of the above in his almost two-hour speech. Unifying the fractured Republican Party, admitting that it does have a problem indeed, and getting on the same page within the party over issues ranging from Israel to rampant government spending, to a resurgence of the neoconservatism prevalent in the Bush/Cheney era, would have been a good start to the address. Apparently, these topics were still too substantive to discuss.

One of my conservative friends told me that Americans needed to watch the debate in a similar way to how workers in corporate America need to endure performance evaluations from their supervisors. His logic was that they wouldn’t have the option to bypass the evaluation because they didn’t feel their boss was worthy of their time, or because they disliked him personally. He argued that since President Trump was, in essence, the boss of the world, we are beholden to give him our undivided attention. I respectfully disagreed with that assessment and with Hakeem Jeffries’ idea that our elected officials should bypass the address. Politicians, especially Members of Congress, are far more obligated to attend the State of the Union than ordinary Americans are obligated to watch it, both formally and informally. Mandated under Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution, the State of the Union’s key audience is Congress as an institution. Thus, the public watches by choice; Congress is supposed to attend in its governing role.

That notwithstanding, President Trump is not our boss; it’s actually the other way around. As Thomas Jefferson asserted, “the people are the only censors of their governors.” If our elected officials do not live up to our expectations, it is they who will be fired, not us. People like Robert Reich. Hakeem Jeffries and President Donald Trump are asking us to do exactly what Alexis de Tocqueville warned us about in Democracy in America, and it applies equally to the left and the right. Democracy weakens when party loyalty to party outweighs loyalty to process. The State of the Union Address, calls to disengage and boycott it, and reactions from both sides reveal a lot about where we are as a nation. Americans are less engaged, less informed, more tribal, intolerant of opposing speech, unwilling to defend constitutional norms when their party violates them, and are spectators, rather than active participants in our democracy. As my Columbia classmate Navy Corpsman Anthony Bunkley wisely stated in a personal conversation, democracy is a “moral discipline rather than a political arrangement, and its greatest enemy is the idea that one side, one ideology, or one institution can monopolize reality. He continued, “doubt is a civic virtue, and to think freely is to risk exile, mockery, or cancellation, but to avoid risk, or civic engagement, is to abandon freedom altogether.”

If doubt is a civic virtue, then blind allegiance is its enemy. The future of the United States will hinge on which habit Americans choose to cultivate.

I was a sociology major at Columbia University, where i received my B.A in 2017, at age 55. My opinion pieces have appeared in the Columbia Spectator, the Tab at Columbia University, and Merion West. I have been called The Arthur Avenue Mozart by friends, and have been described as Paulie "Walnuts" Gaultieri of The Sopranos had he attended a prestigious Ivy League university.

ATTACHMENT FORTY FOUR – FROM THE COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS

TRUMP’S STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESSES DOMESTIC POLICY

By experts and staff February 25, 2026 10:07 a.m.

A summary of global news developments with CFR analysis delivered to your inbox each morning.

Trump focused primarily on domestic policy in his State of the Union speech last night and devoted most of his foreign policy comments to immigration. He argued that his economic policies had improved Americans’ lives over the past year and defended his “peace through strength” foreign policy posture. He notably made only a passing reference to China, for the most part focused on the Western Hemisphere.

On tariffs and the economy, Trump called last week’s Supreme Court ruling that struck down his emergency tariffs “unfortunate,” but vowed to maintain the duties under other legal statutes. He claimed most countries want to maintain the trade deals they struck in response to high U.S. tariffs. Trump criticized higher inflation during the Biden administration and pointed to lower levels in 2025. He also announced a new effort to control household energy prices via commitments from tech companies to provide for their own data center electricity needs.

On the Middle East, Trump said he sought a nuclear deal with Iran to thwart the country’s “sinister ambitions” to obtain nuclear weapons, but said he had yet to hear Iran commit to abandoning those ambitions. He also warned that Iran was trying to develop missiles that could reach the United States. Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson broadly denied Trump’s claims about its missile and nuclear program today. Trump also celebrated progress toward peace in Gaza, taking credit for hostage returns during the truce, even as he said some violence persists.

On the Western Hemisphere, Trump hailed reduced immigration at the southern border, claiming it made the country safer, and celebrated his anti-drug boat strikes. He also praised the January U.S. military operation to oust former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, saying that under an interim government led by Delcy Rodríguez—a Maduro ally—Venezuela has become “our new friend and partner.”

On Europe, Trump’s main mention of Russia and Ukraine was a quick reference to ongoing peace negotiations. He referred to NATO countries as “friends and allies” and hailed their commitment—following U.S. urging—to hike defense spending to 5 percent of GDP.

In the official Democratic response to Trump’s speech, Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger contradicted his tariff claims, citing an estimate by Congressional Democrats that they cost U.S. households an average of at least $1,700 since Trump took office. She said Trump “continues to cede economic power and technological strength to Russia, bow down to China, bow down to a Russian dictator, and make plans for war with Iran.” Dozens of Democratic lawmakers boycotted the speech and attended alternate events where they criticized Trump’s policies.

“Trump’s advisers have been arguing for some time that the way to reverse his sliding poll numbers and boost Republican chances in November is to make the case that his policies are improving the economy and making life more affordable for average Americans…Foreign policy experts [are] listening to what Trump says—or doesn’t say about the rest of the world.”

ACROSS THE GLOBE

Pentagon-Anthropic dispute. The Pentagon has issued an ultimatum to Anthropic over its technology use terms, multiple media outlets reported. If Anthropic does not agree by 5 p.m. Friday, the Pentagon reportedly threatened to label the firm a supply-chain risk or to invoke a law allowing the government to force the firm’s hand. Anthropic wants the Pentagon to comply with its policies that prohibit mass domestic surveillance and the use of autonomous weapons without human oversight, while the Pentagon seeks to use the technology for any lawful action.

UNGA VOTE ON UKRAINE. The United States abstained yesterday from a UN General Assembly vote on a resolution in support for “lasting peace in Ukraine.” The resolution passed 107-12, with 51 absentions. It called for an immediate truce, the release of illegally detained people, and the return of persons who had been forcefully transferred. The deputy U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said the resolution’s language was “likely to distract” from ongoing U.S.-led diplomatic efforts to get Russia and Ukraine to agree to a truce.

DEA BACK IN BOLIVIA. Bolivia’s government has resumed cooperation with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration almost two decades after the country’s leftist Evo Morales administration ended joint counternarcotics operations and ordered the agency’s 2008 expulsion. The policy shift comes after a centrist government recently took power. Bolivia’s interior minister said Monday that the country was also cooperating with European intelligence and police and hoped to do so with neighboring countries as well.

RUSSIAN PROBE OF TELEGRAM CHIEF. Telegram founder Pavel Durov confirmed yesterday that the Kremlin had opened an investigation into him over allegations of “aiding terrorism.” He wrote that the allegations were “pretexts” to suppress free speech and restrict access to the encrypted messaging platform. Russia has recently tried to coax citizens toward a state-run rival messenger and put restrictions on some of Telegram’s functions.

SOUTH KOREA’S RISING BIRTH RATE. The total number of babies born in the country last year rose 6.8 percent from 2024, bringing the country’s fertility rate to 0.8 for the first time in four years, the statistics ministry said yesterday. A ministry official attributed the jump to an increase in marriages among couples who had delayed their nuptials due to the COVID-19 pandemic. South Korea spent hundreds of billions of dollars over the last twenty years on policies aimed at boosting the birth rate.

REPORT ON CHINA’S MILITARY PURGE. More than one hundred Chinese military officers have potentially been ousted since 2022, according to a report published yesterday by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The estimate far exceeds the government’s official total of thirty-six generals and lieutenant generals. The findings suggest that rebuilding China’s military leadership “will take time,” a report co-author and MIT professor wrote.

JAPANESE DETAINEE IN IRAN. Tokyo today “strongly demanded” the release of a Japanese national detained in Iran since January, following a report by RFE/RL that Iranian authorities had arrested the Tehran bureau chief of the Japanese public broadcaster NHK World. The RFE/RL report cited unnamed sources. NHK said it was unable to provide further information.

AFGHANISTAN-PAKISTAN CLASHES. Troops from the two countries’ militaries exchanged fire across their shared border yesterday following Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan over the weekend. Pakistan said the strikes targeted groups responsible for recent militant attacks in Pakistan. Afghanistan’s Taliban government said the strikes killed and injured dozens, including women and children.

WHAT’S NEXT

Today (Wed), German Chancellor Friedrich Merz begins a visit to China.

Today (Wed), Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi begins a visit to Israel.

Tomorrow (Thurs), Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney begins a trip to India, Australia, and Japan.

ATTACHMENT “A” – FROM DONALD J. TRUMP via TIME

THE STATE of the UNION, 2026

Feb 25, 2026 4:00 AM ET

In his first State of the Union address of his second term, President Donald Trump on Tuesday faced down critics and broke a record for length—touching on everything from undocumented immigrants to Iran’s nuclear ambitions, and finding time to hand out awards in between.

Below is a full transcript of his remarks. It was prepared, using AI-powered software, and provided to TIME by Rev, and it was reviewed and edited for accuracy by TIME staff.

Well, thank you very much, everybody. It’s really an honor. 

Speaker Johnson, Vice President Vance, First Lady of the United States, Second Lady of the United States, members of Congress, and my fellow Americans: Our nation is back bigger, better, richer, and stronger than ever before. 

Less than five months from now, our country will celebrate an epic milestone in American history: the 250th anniversary of our glorious American independence. This July 4th, we will mark two and a half centuries of liberty and triumph, progress and freedom in the most incredible and exceptional nation ever to exist on the face of the earth, and you’ve seen nothing yet. We’re going to do better and better and better. This is the golden age of America. 

When I last spoke in this chamber 12 months ago, I had just inherited a nation in crisis, with a stagnant economy, inflation at record levels, a wide-open border, horrendous recruitment for military and police, rampant crime at home, and wars and chaos all over the world. But tonight, after just one year, I can say with dignity and pride that we have achieved a transformation like no one has ever seen before, and a turnaround for the ages. It is indeed a turnaround for the ages. And we will never go back to where we were just a very short time ago. We’re not going back.

[Audience: USA! USA! USA!]

Thank you. Today, our border is secure. Our spirit is restored. Inflation is plummeting. Incomes are rising fast. The roaring economy is roaring like never before. Our enemies are scared. Our military and police are stacked. And America is respected again, perhaps like never before. After four years in which millions and millions of illegal aliens poured across our borders, totally unvetted and unchecked, we now have the strongest and most secure border in American history, by far. In the past nine months, zero illegal aliens have been admitted to the United States. But we will always allow people to come in legally—people that will love our country and will work hard to maintain our country. 

The flow of deadly fentanyl across our border is down by a record 56% in one year. And last year, the murder rate saw its single largest decline in recorded history. This is the biggest decline—think of it, in recorded history—the lowest number in over 125 years, year 1900. In fact, substantially before my wonderful father—I had a wonderful father, Fred—before he was born, substantially before he was born, that’s a long time ago, he wouldn’t like me to say that, but that’s a long time ago.

The Biden Administration and its allies in Congress, gave us the worst inflation in the history of our country. But in 12 months, my Administration has driven core inflation down to the lowest level in more than five years. And in the last three months of 2025, it was down to 1.7%. Gasoline, which reached a peak of over $6 a gallon in some states under my predecessor—it was quite honestly, a disaster—is now below $2.30 a gallon in most states, and in some places $1.99 a gallon. And when I visited the great state of Iowa just a few weeks ago, I even saw $1.85 a gallon for gasoline.

Mortgage rates are the lowest in four years and falling fast. And the annual cost of a typical new mortgage is down almost $5,000 just since I took office. One year. And low interest rates will solve the Biden-created housing problem, while at the same time, protecting the values of those people who already own a house that really feel rich for the first time in their lives. We want to protect those values. We want to keep those values up. We’re going to do both, and we are going to keep it that way. The stock market has set 53 all-time record highs since the election—think of that, one year—boosting pensions, 401(k)s, and retirement accounts for the millions and millions of Americans, they’re all gaining. Everybody’s up—way up. In four long years, the last Administration got less than $1 trillion in new investment in the United States. And when I say less, substantially less. In 12 months, I secured commitments for more than $18 trillion pouring in from all over the globe. Think of it: much less than $1 trillion for four years versus much more than $18 trillion for one year. What a difference a President makes. 

A short time ago, we were a dead country. Now, we are the hottest country anywhere in the world. The hottest. 

As thousands of new businesses are forming and factories, plants and laboratories are being built, we have added 70,000 new construction jobs in just a very short period of time. Getting bigger and bigger and stronger. Nobody can believe what they’re watching. American oil production is up by more than 600,000 barrels a day, and we just received, from our new friend and partner Venezuela, more than 80 million barrels of oil. American natural gas production is at an all-time high because I kept my promise to “drill, baby, drill.” 

More Americans are working today than at any time in the history of our country. Think about that: any time in the history of our country, more working today. And 100% of all jobs created under my Administration have been in the private sector. We ended DEI in America. We cut a record number of job-killing regulations. And in one year, we have lifted 2.4 million Americans, a record, off of food stamps. And for all of these reasons, I say tonight, members of Congress, the state of our union is strong.

Our country is winning again. In fact, we’re winning so much that we really don’t know what to do about it. People are asking me, "Please, please, please, Mr. President, we’re winning too much. We can’t take it anymore. We’re not used to winning in our country until you came along. We’re just always losing, but now we’re winning too much.” And I say, “No, no, no, you’re going to win again. You’re going to win big. You’re going to win bigger than ever.” And to prove that point—to prove that point—here with us tonight is a group of winners who just made the entire nation proud: the Men’s gold-medal Olympic Hockey team, come on in. 

[Audience: USA! USA! USA!]

Go ahead.

[Audience: USA! USA! USA!]

That’s the first time I’ve ever seen them get up. [laughter] And actually, not all of them did get up. But they beat a fantastic Canadian team in overtime as everybody saw, as did the American women who will soon be coming to the White House. 

They were in the Oval Office before. And I just want to say a second, very big congratulations to Team USA. But I have to say that—and I told them this, and we took a vote of the team. I said, “Anybody votes no, I’m not doing it,” so they stood there and they weren’t about to say no, ’cause I’ve never seen a goaltender play as well as goalie Connor Hellebuyck.

Think of it, 46 shots on goal. And I asked him, “The one shot, the one where you put your stick in the back, and it hit the neck of your stick and bounced off. Did you practice that, or was that a little lucky? [laughter] He refused to answer that question. [laughter] But I just want to tell you that the members of this great hockey squad will be very happy to hear, based on their vote and my vote—and in this case, my vote was more important—that I will soon be presenting Connor with our highest civilian honor, which we will be given and which has been given to many athletes over the years. But when I say many, not too many, like 12, it’s called the highest civilian honor in our country, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Great athletes have gotten that—very great, the best—and I thought he deserved it. And I did take a vote, every single one of them. I said, “I’m not giving it if anybody goes no.” And every single one of them rapidly put up their hand. So I want to thank you all. What a special job you did, what special champions you are. Thank you very much.

I’m also pleased to say that the next time the Olympic torch is lit, it will be here in America for the 2028 Olympics. And it’s the summer version right in Los Angeles. We’re going to do a good job in Los Angeles. 

And Los Angeles is going to be safe, just like Washington D.C. is now one of the safest cities in the country. And this year—and I must say, I got ’em both. I got ’em in my first term. And I was disappointed because I didn’t think I’d be the President when this happened. But strange things took place. And now I’ve got ’em because I got the Olympics. I got the 2026 FIFA World Cup, and I wanted to claim the 250th, but I didn’t get away with that one. I couldn’t claim that one for myself. But we’re getting the World Cup. So we have the World Cup and the Olympics coming, and that is exciting news.

So this will be a year to celebrate our country and the heroes who have kept it free. Men like Buddy Taggart. At age 17, Buddy volunteered to defend America in World War II, serving in the Pacific under the great General Douglas MacArthur. He fought bravely in the famous Battle of Manila, worked so hard; he was badly wounded and almost killed by enemy machine guns in Luzon. And 81 years ago this month, he liberated the largest internment camp in the Philippines, one of the largest anywhere in the world. But he earned many honors, including a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star, came home, started a family. And tonight he is in the gallery, looking forward to July 4th, 2026, his 100th birthday. So Buddy, you’re a brave man. And we salute you. 

Even in times of challenge, setback, and immense heartache, the spirit of 1776 has always shown through very brightly. It was July 4th of last year when floodwaters tore through a girl's summer camp in central Texas—one of the worst things I've ever seen, I was there—rising 26 feet in a matter of minutes, tragically claiming many, many lives. You all remember that one? As the waters threatened to sweep her away, 11-year-old Milly Cate McClymond closed her eyes and prayed to God. She thought she was going to die. Those prayers were answered when Coast Guard rescue swimmer Scott Ruskan descended from a helicopter above—nobody knew where he came from. It was Scott’s first-ever rescue mission. Young guy, but very brave. Very, very top, always top in his class. And he lifted not just Milly Cate, but 164 others to safety.

People watched Scott from a distance, and they couldn’t believe what they were seeing. The winds were blowing, the rain was pouring, everything was going. And that rapid water—nobody’s ever seen anything like it. They said, “Wow, that’s something.” Tonight, Scott and Milly Cate are here together, reunited for the very first time. Thank you, Scott, Milly Cate.

And Petty Officer Ruskan, I’m pleased to inform you that I am now awarding you the Legion of Merit for extraordinary heroism. Which is what it was: extraordinary heroism. Thank you. And I’d like to have the military aid to please come down and take care of the service. Military aid. Thank you very much. Take care of that. Very important service. Thank you very much. 

From 1776 to today, every generation of Americans has stepped forward to defend life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And they’re really doing it for the next generation. But now it’s our turn. Together, we’re building a nation where every child has the chance to reach higher and go further, where government answers to the people, not the powerful, and where the interests of hardworking American citizens are always our first and ultimate concern. That is the debt we owe to the heroes who came before us. And that is the promise we must keep to America for our 250th year. 

Last year, I urged this Congress to begin the mission by passing the largest tax cuts in American history, and our Republican majorities delivered so beautifully. Thank you, Republicans. All Democrats, every single one of them, voted against these really important and very necessary massive tax cuts. They wanted large-scale tax increases to hurt the people instead. But we held strong and with the great Big, Beautiful Bill, we gave you no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, and no tax on Social Security for our great seniors. And we also made interest on auto loans tax-deductible the first time, but only if the car is made in America.

Recently in Pennsylvania, I met Megan Hemhauser, a devoted mom who homeschools her children, beautiful two children, during the day while waiting tables at night, as her husband works overtime operating very heavy equipment. Megan is here this evening, and she’s happy to tell you that she is so, so much richer. Because with no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, and our expanded child tax credit done again by Republicans, Megan and her husband will take home more than $5,000 extra just for the year, cutting her tax bill in more than half. Megan, please stand up. We’re fighting for you, Megan. Thank you. Thank you, Megan. We’re fighting for you, Megan. 

Under our bill, parents like Megan can also activate their children’s brand-new Trump accounts. And I didn’t name it that. I did not name that. Nobody believes me, but I did not name it. It was named by a very tall man sitting right there in the third row. Nice man. A good man. Tax-free investment accounts for every American child. This is something that’s so special, and has taken off and gone through the roof. Millions will be prefunded, courtesy of the U.S. Treasury and private individuals like Michael and Susan Dell who have donated $6.25 billion to fund the Trump accounts for 25 million American children. They’re great people.

When I asked Michael Dell, “How do you make all that money?” He said, “well, I just sat on my dorm in school and I made computers, and I’d sell ’em to people. And I just kept selling and selling and selling and…” Pretty amazing story. That’s called the American Dream. He sold a lot of computers, a lot of those laptops. So I congratulate him on that. But I really thank him and Susan, as well as others like Brad Gerstner, a very tremendous guy. He was behind it right from the beginning. Brad Gerstner. Thank you, Brad. So with modest additional contributions, these young people’s accounts could grow to over $100,000 or more by the time they turn 18. Think of it, how much money is that for somebody that started with nothing? Over $100,000—could be much more than that. To make this investment in our children’s future, go to trumpaccounts.gov, trumpaccounts.gov. And a lot of people are doing it. It’s setting every record in the book. It’s popular. They knew what was going to—what it was going to take. I’m so proud of them. I’m so proud of the people that got it started, and now it’s just taken off. 

One of the primary reasons for our country’s stunning economic turnaround, the biggest in history, where the Dow Jones broke 50,000 four years ahead of schedule, and the S&P hit 7,000 where it wasn’t supposed to do it for many years, were tariffs. I used these tariffs, took in hundreds of billions of dollars to make great deals for our country, both economically and on a national security basis. Everything was working well. Countries that were ripping us off for decades are now paying us hundreds of billions of dollars. They were ripping us so badly. You all know that. Everybody knows it. Even the Democrats know it. They just don’t want to say it. And yet, these countries are now happy, and so are we. We made deals. The deals are all done, and they’re happy. They’re not making money like they used to, but we’re making a lot of money. There was no inflation—tremendous growth. And the big story was how Donald Trump called the economy correctly and 22 Nobel Prize winners in economics didn’t—they got it totally wrong. They got it really wrong. And then just four days ago, an unfortunate ruling from the United States Supreme Court—it just came down. It came down. Very unfortunate ruling.

But the good news is that almost all countries and corporations want to keep the deal that they already made—right, Scott [Bessent]?—knowing that the legal power that I as President have to make a new deal could be far worse for them and therefore they will continue to work along the same successful path that we had negotiated before the Supreme Court’s unfortunate involvement. So despite the disappointing ruling, these powerful; country-saving—it’s saving our country, the kind of money we’re taking in; peace-protecting—many of the wars I settled was because of the threat of tariffs; I wouldn’t have been able to settle ’em without—will remain in place under fully-approved and tested alternative legal statutes. And they have been tested for a long time. They’re a little more complex, but they’re actually probably better, leading to a solution that will be even stronger than before. Congressional action will not be necessary. It’s already time-tested and approved. And as time goes by, I believe the tariffs paid for by foreign countries will, like in the past, substantially replace the modern-day system of income tax, taking a great financial burden off the people that I love. 

Moving forward, factories, jobs, investment, and trillions and trillions of dollars will continue pouring into the United States of America because we finally have a President who puts America first. I put America first. I love America.

For decades before I came along, we had the exact opposite: from trade to healthcare, from energy to immigration, everything was stolen and rigged in order to drain the wealth out of the productive, hardworking people who make our country great, who make our country run. Under Biden and his corrupt partners in Congress and beyond, it reached a breaking point with the “Green New Scam.” Open borders for everyone. They poured in by the millions and millions from prisons, from mental institutions. They were murderers—11,888 murderers, they came into our country. You allowed that to happen. And record-setting inflation that cost the typical family $34,000 in just a speck of time. Now, the same people in this chamber who voted for those disasters, suddenly used the word “affordability,” a word. They just used it. Somebody gave it to ’em, knowing full well that they caused and created the increased prices that all of our citizens had to endure. You caused that problem. You caused that problem.

They knew their statements were a lie. They knew it. They knew their statements were a dirty, rotten lie. Their policies created the high prices. Our policies are rapidly ending them. We are doing really well. Those prices are plummeting downward. The price of eggs is down 60%. Madam Secretary, thank you. The cost of chicken, butter, fruit, hotels, automobiles, rent is lower today than when I took office by a lot. And even beef, which was very high, is starting to come down significantly. Just hold on a little while; we’re getting it down. And soon you will see numbers that few people would think were possible to achieve just a short time ago. Nobody can believe when they see the kind of numbers, and especially energy, when they see energy going down to numbers like that, they cannot believe it. It’s like another big tax cut.

I’m also confronting one of the biggest rip-offs of our times, the crushing cost of healthcare caused by you. Since the passage of the “Unaffordable Care Act” sometimes referred to as Obamacare, big insurance companies have gotten rich. It was meant for the insurance companies, not for the people. With our government giving them hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars a year, as their stock prices soared 1,000, 1,200, 1400 and even 1700% like nothing else. That’s why I introduced the Great Healthcare Plan. I want to stop all payments to big insurance companies and instead give that money directly to the people so they can buy their own healthcare, which will be better healthcare at a much lower cost.

In addition, my plan requires maximum price transparency. That’s a big deal. Sounds so simple, so big. And I did that in my first term, and the Democrats immediately terminated it with full knowledge that they were doing a very bad thing for the people. Costs were going to go way up, and that’s what happened, and now I’m bringing them way down on healthcare and everything else. I’m also ending the wildly inflated cost of prescription drugs like it’s never happened before. Other presidents tried to do it, but they never could. They tried. Most didn’t try, actually. But they tried. They said they tried. They couldn’t do it. They didn’t even come close. They were all talk and no action. But I got it done. Under my just-enacted Most-Favored Nation agreements, Americans who have, for decades, paid, by far, the highest prices of any nation anywhere in the world for prescription drugs, will now pay the lowest price anywhere in the world for drugs, anywhere. The lowest price. So in my first year of the second term—should be in my third term, but strange things happen—I took prescription drugs, a very big part of healthcare, from the highest price in the entire world to the lowest. That’s a big achievement. The result is price differences of 300, 400, 500, 600% and more, all available right now at a new website called trumprx.gov. And I didn’t name that one either, by the way. 

And here tonight is the very first customer ever to get that big discount. And it is big. Catherine Rayner. For five years, she and her husband have struggled with infertility, and they turned to IVF. One drug has been costing Catherine $4,000 to purchase. But a few weeks ago, she logged onto the TrumpRX website and got that same drug that cost $4,000, got it for under $500, a reduction of much more actually than $3,500. Catherine, we are all praying for you and you’re going to be a great mom. 

So now I’m calling on Congress to codify my Most-Favored Nation program into law. Now, the one thing, I’m not sure it matters because it’s gonna be very hard for somebody that comes along after me to say, “Let’s raise drug prices by 700 or 800%.” But John [Thune] and Mike [Johnson], if you don’t mind, codify it anyway. They may do it. Codify it anyway, thank you. 

Many Americans are also concerned that energy demand from AI data centers could unfairly drive up their electric utility bills. Tonight, I’m pleased to announce that I have negotiated the new “ratepayer protection pledge”. You know what that is? We’re telling the major tech companies that they have the obligation to provide for their own power needs. They can build their own power plants as part of their factory, so that no one’s prices will go up. And in many cases, prices of electricity will go down for the community, and very substantially down. This is a unique strategy never used in this country before. We have an old grid. It could never handle the kind of numbers, the amount of electricity that’s needed. So I’m telling them they can build their own plant. They’re going to produce their own electricity. It will ensure the company’s ability to get electricity, while at the same time, lowering prices of electricity for you and could be very substantial. For all of you cities and towns, you’re going to see some good things happen over the next number of years. 

Another pillar of the American Dream that has been under attack is home ownership. With us tonight is Raysall Wiggins, a mom of two from Houston. She placed bids on 20 homes and lost all of those bids to gigantic investment firms that bypassed inspection, paid all cash and turned those houses into rentals, stealing away her American Dream. She was devastated. Stories like this are why last month I signed [an] Executive Order to ban large Wall Street investment firms from buying up, in the thousands, single family homes. And now I’m asking Congress to make that ban permanent because homes for people, really, that’s what we want. We want homes for people, not for corporations. Corporations are doing just fine. Raysall, thank you very much. Good luck with your home. You’ll get one soon. 

We’re also working to make it easier for Americans to save for retirement. And under this Administration, we will always protect Social Security and Medicare. They are not protecting it for our seniors. We will always protect Social Security. Medicare, Medicaid. Since I took office, the typical 401(k) balance is up by at least $30,000. That’s a lot of money. We have millions and millions of people because the stock market has done so well, setting all those records. Your 401(k)s are way up. Yet half of all of working Americans still did not have access to a retirement plan with matching contributions from an employer to remedy this gross disparity. I’m announcing that, next year, my Administration will give these oft-forgotten American workers, great people, the people that built our country, access to the same type of retirement plan offered to every federal worker. We will match your contribution with up to $1,000 each year as we ensure that all Americans can profit from a rising stock market. Let’s also ensure that members of Congress cannot corruptly profit from using insider information.

[to Democrats] They stood up for that. I can’t believe it. I can’t believe it. Did Nancy Pelosi stand up, f* she is here? Doubt it. Pass the Stop Insider Trading Act without delay. I wasn’t sure if anybody, even on this side, was going to applaud for that. I was. I’m very impressed. Thank you. I’m very impressed. 

But when it comes to the corruption that is plun— it really, it’s plundering America, there’s been no more stunning example than Minnesota where members of the Somali community have pillaged and estimated $19 billion from the American taxpayer. Oh, we have all the information. And in actuality, the number is much higher than that. And California, Massachusetts, Maine, and many other states are even worse. This is the kind of corruption that shreds the fabric of a nation. And we are working on it like you wouldn’t believe. So tonight, although started four months ago, I am officially announcing the war on fraud to be led by our great Vice President, J.D. Vance. He’ll get it done. And if we’re able to find enough of that fraud, we will actually have a balanced budget overnight. It’ll go very quickly. That’s the kind of money you’re talking about. We’ll balance our budget. The Somali pirates who ransacked Minnesota remind us that there are large parts of the world where bribery, corruption and lawlessness are the norm, not the exception. Importing these cultures through unrestricted immigration and open borders brings those problems right here to the USA. And it is the American people who pay the price in higher medical bills, car insurance rates, rent, taxes, and perhaps most importantly, crime. We will take care of this problem. We’re going to take care of this problem. We are not playing games.

Dalilah Coleman was only five years old in June 2024 when a 18-wheel tractor trailer plowed into her, stopped car traveling at 60 miles an hour or more. The driver was an illegal alien, led in by Joe Biden and given a commercial driver’s license by open-borders politicians in California. Doctors said Dalilah would never be able to walk or talk, have a good life. She wouldn’t even be able to eat again. But against all odds, she is now in the first grade, learning to walk. And she’s here this evening with her dad, Marcus, a fantastic man. Dalilah, please, you are a great inspiration. Please stand up. Thank you, Dalilah. Many, if not most illegal aliens, do not speak English and cannot read even the most basic road signs as to direction, speed, danger, or location. That’s why tonight I’m calling on Congress to pass what we will call the Dalilah Law, barring any state from granting commercial driver’s licenses to illegal aliens.

And yesterday, as you probably saw at the White House, I hosted a ceremony with Americans who lost their treasured loved ones to the scourge of illegal immigration. People came into our country—how we allowed this to happen with our open borders. These are the angel moms and families that for decades our government betrayed and our media totally ignored. Totally. It was terrible. Hard to believe, actually. In 2023, a 16-year-old high school cheerleader named Lizbeth Medina was supposed to perform in her town’s Christmas parade, but she never arrived. Her mother, Jacqueline, went home to look for her and she found her lying dead in a bathtub, bleeding profusely after being stabbed 25 times. Lizbeth’s killer was a previously arrested illegal alien who had broken in and brutally, just brutally extinguished the brightest light in her family’s life, violently and viciously. Her heartbroken mother is in the gallery to remind everyone in this chamber exactly why we are deporting illegal alien criminals from our country at record numbers. And we’re getting them the hell out of here fast. We don’t want ’em. Thank you very much, Jacqueline. Thank you. 

We can never forget that many in this room not only allowed the border invasion to happen before I got involved, but indeed, they would do it all over again. If they ever had the chance. If they ever got elected, they would open up those borders to some of the worst criminals anywhere in the world. The only thing standing between Americans and a wide-open border right now is President Donald J. Trump and our great Republican patriots in Congress. Thank you. 

As we speak, Democrats in this chamber have cut off all funding for the Department of Homeland Security. It’s all cut off. It’s all cut off. They have instituted another Democrat shutdown. The first one, costing us two points on GDP. Two points we lost on GDP, which probably made them quite happy, actually. Now they have closed the agency responsible for protecting Americans from terrorists and murders. Tonight I’m demanding the full and immediate restoration of all funding for the border security, homeland security of the United States, and also for helping people clean up their snow. We have no money because of the Democrats. And it would be nice. We’d love to give you a hand at cleaning it up, but you gave no money. Nobody’s getting paid. It’s a shame. So you have to think about it. We have, in case you didn’t know, pretty large snow storm out there. 

One of the great things about the State of the Union is how it gives Americans the chance to see clearly what their representatives really believe. So tonight I’m inviting every legislature to join with my Administration in reaffirming a fundamental principle. If you agree with this statement, then stand up and show your support. The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens. 

[to sitting Democrats] Ain’t that a shame. You should be ashamed of yourself, not standing up. You should be ashamed of yourself. That is why I’m also asking you to end deadly sanctuary cities that protect the criminals and enact serious penalties for public officials who blocked the removal of criminal aliens. In many cases, drug lords, murderers all over our country, they’re blocking the removal of these people out of our country. And you should be ashamed of yourselves.

[Audience: USA! USA! USA!]

And perhaps most importantly, I’m asking you to approve the SAVE America Act to stop illegal aliens and others who are unpermitted persons from voting in our sacred American elections. That cheating is rampant in our elections. It’s rampant. It’s very simple. All voters must show voter ID. All voters must show proof of citizenship in order to vote. And no more crooked mail-in ballots except for illness, disability, military, or travel. None. This should be an easy one. And by the way, it’s polling at 89%, including Democrats, 89%. And even the new Communist mayor of New York City—I think he’s a nice guy, actually. I speak to him a lot. Bad policy, but nice guy—just said they want people to shovel snow. They got hit hard. Wants them to shovel snow. But if you apply for that job, you need to show two original forms of ID and a Social Security card. 

Yet they don’t want identification for the greatest privilege of them all: voting in America. No, it’s no good, no good. Both Republicans and Democrats overwhelmingly agree on the policy that we just enunciated. And Congress should unite and enact this common-sense country-saving legislation right now. And it should be before anything else happens. 

And the reason they don’t want to do it—why would anybody not want voter ID? One reason: because they want to cheat. There’s only one reason. They make up all excuses. They say it’s racist. They come up with things. You almost say what imagination they have. They want to cheat, they have cheated. And their policy is so bad that the only way they can get elected is to cheat. And we’re gonna stop it. We have to stop it John [Thune].

And here is one more opportunity to show common sense in government. In the gallery tonight are Sage Blair and her mother, Michelle. In 2021, Sage was 14 when school officials in Virginia sought to socially transition her to a new gender, treating her as a boy and hiding it from her parents. Hard to believe, isn’t it? Before long, a confused Sage ran away from home. After she was found in a horrific situation in Maryland, a left-wing judge refused to return Sage to her parents because they did not immediately state that their daughter was their son. Sage was thrown into an all-boys state home and suffered terribly for a long time. But today, all of that is behind them because Sage is a proud and wonderful young woman with a full-ride scholarship to Liberty University. Sage and Michelle, please stand up. And thank you for your great bravery.

And who can believe that we’re even speaking about things like this? Fifteen years ago, if somebody was up here and said that, they’d say, “What’s wrong with them?” But now, we have to say it because it’s going on all over numerous states, without even telling the parents. But surely we can all agree: no state can be allowed to rip children from their parents’ arms and transition them to a new gender against the parents’ will. Who would believe that we’re talking about it? We must ban it and we must ban it immediately. 

[pointing to Democrats] Look, nobody stands up. These people are crazy. I’m telling you: they’re crazy. Amazing. Terrible Boy oh boy. We’re lucky we have a country with people like this. Democrats are destroying our country, but we’ve stopped it just in the nick of time, didn’t we? 

No one cares more about protecting America’s youth than our wonderful First Lady—now a movie star. She’s a movie star. Can you believe it? Who would’ve believed that? Over the past year, she has had an incredible impact championing AI legislation, advancing a landmark Executive Order on foster care, and helping secure $30 million to launch the Melania Trump Foster Youth to Independence initiative. It’s a tremendous—really, a tremendous thing that happened and had a lot of bipartisan support. She gets much better bipartisan support than I do. I get none. She gets a lot. Someday you’re going to have to tell me how you did that. And students and educators in every state have joined the First Lady’s efforts in the presidential AI challenge, keeping America’s next generation position to succeed, and strongly succeed in the future. Tonight, we welcome two young people whose lives reflect the First Lady’s impact: Sierra Burns and Everest Nevraumont. Thank you both. And Melania, thank you. I know how hard you worked on it. Thank you very much.

I’m very proud to say that during my time in office, both the first four years, and in particular this last year, there has been a tremendous renewal in religion, faith, Christianity, and belief in God. Tremendous renewal. This is especially true among young people. And a big part of that had to do with my great friend Charlie Kirk. Great guy. Great man. So last year, Charlie was violently murdered by an assassin and martyred, really martyred for his beliefs. That’s right. His wonderful wife Erika, is with us tonight. Erika, please stand. Thank you, Erika. Been through a lot. In Charlie’s memory, we must all come together to reaffirm that America is one nation under God, and we must totally reject political violence of any kind.

We love religion, and we love bringing it back. And it’s coming back at levels that nobody actually thought possible. It’s really a beautiful thing to see. 

Above all, unleashing America’s promise requires keeping our community safe. We have made incredible strides, yet dangerous repeat offenders continue to be released by pro-crime Democrat politicians again and again. We are honored to be joined tonight by a woman who’s been through hell, Anya Zarutska. In 2022, she and her beautiful daughter—so beautiful, what a beautiful young woman—Iryna fled wartorn Ukraine to live with relatives near Charlotte, North Carolina. And by the way, what’s going on with Charlotte? Last summer, 23-year-old Iryna was riding home on the train when a deranged monster who had been arrested over a dozen times and was released through no-cash bail, stood up and viciously slashed a knife through her neck and body. No one will ever forget—there were people on that train—no one will ever forget the expression of terror on Iryna’s face. As she looked up at her attacker in the last seconds of her life, she died instantly. She had escaped a brutal war, only to be slain by a hardened criminal, set free to kill in America, came in through open borders. Mrs. Zarutska, tonight I promise you, we will ensure justice for your magnificent daughter Iryna.

[pointing to Democrats]  How do you not stand? How do you not stand? 

I’m asking this Congress to pass tough legislation to ensure that violent and dangerous repeat offenders are put behind bars, and importantly, that they stay there. 

Starting last summer, I deployed our National Guard and federal law enforcement to restore law and order to our most dangerous cities, including Memphis, Tennessee—big success—New Orleans, Louisiana—big success, and our nation’s capital itself—Washington D.C., where we have almost no crime anymore in Washington D.C. How did that happen? In fact, crime in Washington is now at the lowest level ever recorded, and murders in D.C. this January were down close to 100% from a year ago.

They don’t like to hear that. One of the—Sick people. 

One of the brave service members who helped achieve this stunning turnaround was 20-year-old West Virginia Army National Guard specialist, Sarah Beckstrom. After a four-month deployment, she voluntarily extended her service. And her rank was going to be lifted. She was doing so well. They were so proud of her. But the very next day, she was on patrol near the White House when she was ambushed and shot in the head by a terrorist monster from Afghanistan. Shouldn’t have been in our country. And all because she wore the uniform of our nation, she was shot. He traveled here ’cause he didn’t like people wearing our uniform. He was sick and deranged—shouldn’t have been in our country. Sarah Beckstrom died in order to defend our capital. And we are honored to be joined by her wonderful parents. Gary and Evalea, your daughter was a true American patriot, and she will be greatly missed. She was a great person. I saw reports on her. They’ve never seen anything like it. So sorry. Thank you very much. A great young lady. I saw reports that were like—perfect, she’s perfect. 

Serving alongside Sarah that day was Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe. The terrorists shot Andrew in the head, and no one thought he could possibly make it. The two of them, Sarah and Andrew, both shot violently in the head. Neither was expected to make it. They weren’t even given a chance. 

Except his wonderful mother, named Melody, who I spoke to the same night, and she was so positive. The doctors thought that Andrew was gone, but his mother said, “No, no, Mr. President Andrew will be fine. He’s going to make it.” I’ve never seen anything like it. I mean he was given almost no chance. She said, “I have no doubt sir. He’s going to be okay.” This was a conversation I had with her that night with her son laying helplessly in bed, blood all over. Everybody is praying. She said, “Sir, he will be okay.” The doctors didn’t understand what she was saying and after looking at the results of the damage done, neither did I. She was so strong and conclusive that even Andrew’s great father felt she didn’t really understand the gravity of the situation. But she turned out to be right. Right Melody? She turned out to be right. Amazing, actually. I said, “Where does this woman come from?” She’s the most positive person I’ve ever met. With God’s help, Andrew has battled back from the edge of death—and we’re talking about the edge of death—on his way to a miraculous recovery. He’s got a little work to do, but he’s doing great. Nice to see you. He’s a good-looking guy. Nice to see you. Thanks, Andrew. Thank you very much. So, Andrew, while you’re up now, I’m going to ask a highly respected General James Seward to present Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe and the great family of Sarah Beckstrom with the award created by our late great President George Washington himself—it’s called the Purple Heart. We love you all. Love you. 

We’re proudly restoring safety for Americans at home, and we are also restoring security for Americans abroad. Our country has never been stronger. My first 10 months, I ended eight wars, including Cambodia—[to Democrats] Isn’t it funny, sick people—Cambodia and Thailand, Pakistan and India—would’ve been a nuclear war, 35 million people said the prime minister of Pakistan would’ve died if it were not for my involvement—Kosovo and Serbia, Israel and Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, the Congo and Rwanda. And of course, the war in Gaza, which proceeds at a very low level. It’s just about there. And I want to thank Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner for your help. Thank you, Steve. Thank you, Jared. And I also want to thank the man they report to: Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Thank you, Marco. People like you. You know, Marco got 100% of the votes when he was in confirm— I think our next one was about 54%. And some of the Democrats are now saying, “I can’t believe we approved that guy.” And he said, it’s an honor that they feel that way. Right? Marco, you have done a great job. Great Secretary of State. I think he’ll go down as the best ever.

Under the ceasefire I negotiated, every single hostage, both living and dead, has been returned home. Can you believe that? Nobody thought it was possible. Nobody thought that was possible. Both living and dead. And those parents who had a dead son, their boy, they’d always told me their boy, they wanted him as much as though he were living. That was an amazing period of time. And they came back and when we got all of the living hostages back and many, many before them. But I always said, those last 20 are gonna be very tough. But we got many, many more, hundreds. But I said, those last 20 are gonna be tough. We got ’em back. But we only got back 14 or 15 of the dead of the 28. And believe it or not, Hamas worked along with Israel. And they dug, and they dug, and they dug. It’s a tough—it’s a tough thing to do. Going through bodies all over, passing up 100 bodies sometimes for each one that they found. Tough job. And they finally got it back to 27. And then Steve and Jared, they got it back to 28. They found all 28. Nobody thought that was possible, but we did it. And I remember the family of the 28th, they were so grieved, but they were so happy—as happy as it’s possible to be. They had their boy back. The mother said, “Sir, we have our boy back.” What a period of time that was. But we got ’em all back. So thank you both very much.

And we’re working very hard to end the ninth war: the killing and slaughter between Russia and Ukraine, where 25,000 soldiers are dying each and every month. Think of that: 25,000 soldiers are dying a month—a war which would’ve never happened if I were President. Would’ve never happened. 

As President, I will make peace wherever I can, but I will never hesitate to confront threats to America, wherever we must. That’s why in a breakthrough operation last June, the United States military obliterated Iran’s nuclear weapons program with an attack on Iranian soil known as Operation Midnight Hammer. For decades, it had been the policy of the United States never to allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon. Many decades. Since they seized control of that proud nation 47 years ago, the regime and its murderous proxies have spread nothing but terrorism, and death, and hate. They’ve killed and maimed thousands of American service members and hundreds of thousands and even millions of people with what’s called roadside bombs. They were the kings of the roadside bomb. And we took out [Qasem] Soleimani. I did that during my first term, had a huge impact. He was the father of the roadside bomb. And just over the last couple of months, with the protests, they’ve killed, at least it looks like 32,000 protesters, 32,000 protesters, in their own country. They shot ’em and hung them. We stopped them from hanging a lot of ’em with the threat of serious violence. 

But this is… some terrible people. They’ve already developed missiles that can threaten Europe and our bases overseas. And they’re working to build missiles that will soon reach the United States of America. After Midnight Hammer, they were warned to make no future attempts to rebuild their weapons program, in particular, nuclear weapons. Yet they continue, starting it all over. We wiped it out and they want to start all over again and are at this moment again, pursuing their sinister ambitions. We are in negotiations with ’em. They want to make a deal. But we haven’t heard those secret words: “We will never have a nuclear weapon.” My preference, my preference is to solve this problem through diplomacy. But one thing is certain, I will never allow the world’s number one sponsor of terror, which they are, by far, to have a nuclear weapon. Can’t let that happen. 

And no nation should ever doubt America’s resolve: we have the most powerful military on earth. I rebuilt the military in my first term. We’re goin gto continue to do so. Also, we just approved a trillion-dollar budget. We have no choice. We have to be strong, ’cause hopefully we will seldom have to use this great power that we built together. It’s really called “peace through strength” that has been very, very effective. So thanks to Republican[s] in Congress, we’re investing that record number of dollars—have no choice—in the United States Armed Forces. Also creating a lot of jobs, but we’re not even doing it for that reason. ’Cause as I said, we have more jobs, more people working today than ever before in the history of our country. 

And NATO countries, our friends and allies—they are, they’re our friends and they’re our allies —have just agreed at my very strong request to pay 5% of GDP for military defense rather than the 2%, which they weren’t paying. We were paying for almost all of them. Now they’re paying 5% as opposed to not paying for it. And getting that 5% was something which everyone said would never be done, could not happen. We got it really easily with one meeting and, big difference between 2% that’s not paid. We were paying the freight of many of ’em. Very few were paid up. Now 5%, then they’re paid. And everything we send over to Ukraine is sent through NATO and they pay us in full. They pay us totally in full. 

Every branch of our armed forces is setting records for recruitment. This is so exciting. And every service member recently… and every servicemember recently received a warrior dividend of $1,776. You know, they put it in my desk. We got the money from tariffs and other things. A lot of money we have—we have much more money than people understand. Have to rebuild that program a little bit, but it won’t take long. But we got the money and it was $1,775. And I—they wanted my approval and I said, “What’s the number?” $1,775. I said, “Wait a minute. For one more dollar, we can have 1776. It’s going to—” I said, “We’re gonna figure that—” I never asked anybody if we could afford it. One more dollar. I said 1776. And I said, that’s good. And I’ll tell you what, our military, that was four months ago, our military, I’d never see a person in the military that doesn’t thank me for it. So we’re honored to do it. They deserve it. And, said we call it 1776. It was great. And, we love our military, we love our law enforcement, we love our firemen. You know, the firemen don’t get mentioned enough. We love our firemen. 

We’re also restoring American security and dominance in the Western hemisphere, acting to secure our national interests and defend our country from violence, drugs, terrorism, and foreign interference. For years, large swaths of territory in our region, including large parts of Mexico, really large parts of Mexico, have been controlled by murderous drug cartels. That’s why I designated these cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations. And I declared illicit fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction. And with our new military campaign, we have stopped record amounts of drugs coming into our country and virtually stopped it completely coming in by water or sea. You probably noticed that. We very seriously damaged their fishing industry. Also, nobody wants to go fishing anymore. We’ve also taken down one of the most sinister cartel kingpins of all. You saw that yesterday. 

In January, elite American warriors carried out one of the most complex, spectacular feats of military competence and power in world history. No one’s seen anything like it. Foreign leaders—I won’t tell you who called me—and they said “Very impressive, very good.” They couldn’t believe they all watched. They saw what happened. This is a different fighting force that we had years ago when we fought to tie. You know, it’s a great fighting force. I’m so proud of it. Look at Space Force. Space Force is my baby. ’Cause we did that, my baby. It’s becoming so important. 

And America’s Armed Forces overwhelmed all defenses and not only defeated an enemy—good fighters—to end the reign of outlawed dictator Nicolás Maduro and bring him to face American justice. And this was an absolutely colossal victory for the security of the United States. And it also opens up a bright new beginning for the people of Venezuela. We’re working closely with the new president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, to unleash extraordinary economic gains for both of our countries and to bring new hope to those who have suffered so terribly. They really did suffer. With us, tonight is Alejandra Gonzalez: she grew up in a tight-knit Venezuelan family and was especially close to her beloved Uncle Enrique. But after Enrique ran for office and opposed Maduro, he was kidnapped by Maduro’s security forces and thrown into the regime’s really infamous prison in Caracas. Alejandra feared she would never see her uncle again. She feared for her own life also. But since the raid, we have worked with the new leadership, and they have ordered the closure of that vile prison and released hundreds of political prisoners already, with more to come. Alejandra, I’m pleased to inform you that not only has your uncle been released, but he’s here tonight. We brought him over to celebrate his freedom with you in person. Enrique, please come down. Thank you, Enrique. Have a good time. Nice to have you back, Enrique.

There were many heroes on that January raid to capture Maduro, really great heroes. It was very dangerous. They knew we were coming. They were all set. 

But the deeds of one warrior that night will live forever in the eternal chronicles of military valor. Chief Warrant Officer 5 Eric Slover planned the mission and was the flight lead in the cockpit of the first helicopter—a big, beautiful, powerful helicopter, it was a massive Chinook carrying, as you can imagine, many, many American war fighters, wearing the dog tags his wife Amy had blessed with holy water before he left. She knew it was going to be a rough one. Eric steered the Chinook under the cover of night and descended swiftly upon Maduro’s heavily protected military fortress. This was a major military installation protected by thousands of soldiers and guarded by Russian and Chinese military technology. How did that work out? Not too good.

While preparing to land, enemy machine guns fired from every angle and Eric was hit—very badly in the leg and hip. One bullet after another. He absorbed four agonizing shots, shredding his leg into numerous pieces. And yet, despite the fact that the use of his legs was vital to successful helicopter flight—legs are the most important part of flying a helicopter—to deliver the many commandos who would capture and detain Maduro was the only thing Eric was thinking about. Then even as he was gushing blood, which was flowing back down the aisle— helicopter lands at a steep angle—the machine gun stood right in front of him. They were right in front of him, two machine gunners who escaped the wrath of the previous planes. Eric maneuvered his helicopter with all of those lives and souls to face the enemy and let his gunners eliminate the threat. Turned the helicopter around so the gunners could take care of business. Saving the lives of his fellow warriors from what could have been a catastrophic crash deep in enemy territory. 

Only after safely landing the helicopter with all the warriors aboard in the exact right spot, which was vital to the mission—we probably would’ve had maybe canceled the mission if that didn’t happen—Eric told his co-pilot, also wounded, but not as gravely, to “take over, I’m about ready to pass out.” The success of the entire mission and the lives of his fellow warriors hinged on Eric’s ability to take searing pain. It was unbelievable, what’s happened to his legs, of the bullets—and keep on flying and landing and people knew what was happening. Everybody in the back of the helicopter knew, ’cause they saw the blood pouring down the aisle. Chief Warrant Officer Slover is still recovering from his serious wounds, but I’m thrilled to say that he is here tonight with his wife Amy. Eric and Amy, come on in. 

So we have a surprise, Eric and Amy. In recognition of Eric’s actions above and beyond the call of duty, I would now like to ask Gen. Jonathan Braga to present Chief Warrant Officer Slover with our nation’s highest military award, the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Well, thank you very much Eric and Amy. Great to get to know you. I met with them and with a lot of their fellow warriors at Fort Bragg recently. You notice the name, Fort Bragg. We have it back. We brought it back. We won the First World War with it, the Second World War. And then they decided to change the name. But we changed it back. Everybody wanted to change back too. And 10 of Eric’s fellow warriors from that incredible night of victory will also be receiving medals at a private ceremony that will soon be held at the White House. And Eric will be there.

Thank you, Eric. That’s a big one. 

Tonight, we’ve celebrated many truly extraordinary American patriots, but there is one last living legend to honor before we go. He is one more heroic American aviator: Navy fighter pilot Royce Williams served in World War IIi, Korea, Vietnam, flying more than 220 missions. In the skies over Korea 1952, Royce was in the dog fight of a lifetime—legendary dog fight—flying through blizzard conditions. His squadron was ambushed by seven Soviet fighter planes. It was his first aerial combat of the war. And despite being massively outnumbered and outgunned, Royce led the takedown of four enemy jets and almost destroyed the others, vanquishing his adversaries while taking 263 bullets to his own plane and being seriously hurt. His story was secret for over 50 years. He didn’t even want to tell his wife, but the legend grew and grew. But tonight, at 100 years old, this brave Navy captain is finally getting the recognition he deserves. He was a legend long before this evening. Royce, please stand up and I will ask the First Lady of the United States to present Capt. Royce Williams with his Congressional Medal of Honor. Thank you Royce, and thank you Eric. 

I’ve always wanted the Congressional Medal of Honor, but I was informed I’m not allowed to give it to myself and I wouldn’t know why I’d be taking it, but if they ever open up that law, I will be there with you someday. But you know, that’s our highest honor: Congressional Medal of Honor. And that’s a big thing. And it’s an honor to be in the same room with you. Thank you both very much, Eric. Thank you. Thank you.

Two hundred and fifty years is a long time in the life of a nation. But in another sense, it’s really a mere moment in the eye of history. Two of the gentlemen we met in the gallery this evening took their first breaths one century ago. One hundred years before that, on July 4th, 1826, the author of the Declaration of Independence, brilliant Thomas Jefferson, drew his last breath. Just a single long human lifespan separates the giants who declared and won our independence from the heroes who stand among us tonight. Everything our nation has done, everything we have achieved, has been the work of those few great lifetimes. In those brief chapters, Americans built this nation from 13 humble colonies into the pinnacle of human civilization and human freedom, the strongest, wealthiest, most powerful, most successful nation in all of history. Americans ventured out across the daunting and dangerous continent. We carved past through an unforgiving wilderness, settled a boundless frontier, and tamed the beautiful but very, very dangerous Wild West.

From empty marshes and wide open plains, we raised up the world’s greatest cities. Together we mastered the world’s mightiest industries and shattered histories, monstrous tyrannies. And we liberated millions from the chains of fascism, communism, oppression, and terror. Americans lifted humanity into the skies on the wings of aluminum and steel. And then we launched mankind into the stars on rockets powered by sheer American will and unyielding American pride. We wired the globe with our ingenuity. We captivated the planet with American culture. And now we are pioneering the next great American breakthroughs that will change the entire world. 

All of this and so much more is the enduring legacy, unmatched glory of the hardworking patriots who built and defended this country and who still carry the hopes and freedoms on all of humanity's backs. For years, they were forgotten, betrayed, and cast aside. But that great betrayal is over, and they will never be forgotten again.

Because when the world needs courage, daring vision and inspiration, it is still turning to America. And when God needs a nation to work his miracles, he knows exactly who to ask. There is no challenge Americans cannot overcome. No frontier to have asked for us to conquer. No dream too bold for us to chase. No horizon too distant for us to claim. For our destiny is written by the hand of providence, and these first 250 years were just the beginning. From the rugged border towns of Texas to the heartland villages of Michigan, from the sun-kissed shores of Florida to the endless fields of the Dakotas, and from the historic streets of Philadelphia to right here in our nation’s capital, Washington, D.C.: the golden age of America is upon us. The revolution that began in 1776 has not ended. It still continues, because the flame of liberty and independence still burns in the heart of every American patriot. And our future will be bigger, better, brighter, bolder, and more glorious than ever before. 

Thank you. God bless you. And God bless America. 

ATTACHMENT “B” – TIMELINE and TAKEAWAYS FROM USA TODAY

STATE OF THE UNION REPLAY: TRUMP SAYS AMERICA 'IS BACK,' BUT BASHES DEMS

By: Zac Anderson, Karissa Waddick, Lauren Villagran, Rachel Barber, Sarah D. Wire, Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy, Zachary Schermele, Maureen Groppe, Bart Jansen, Rebecca Morin Francesca Chambers, and Jay Stahl Updated Feb. 25, 2026, 11:58 a.m. ET

President Donald Trump took the podium on Tuesday for his first official State of the Union address of his second term, touting the nation's economy and calling America "the hottest country anywhere in the world."

"Our nation is back," Trump told lawmakers, Supreme Court justices and other top officials as he started his speech, commemorating what he called the "golden age of America" as it celebrates its 250th birthday.

Trump largely promoted business and manufacturing growth in the country and his efforts to put the brakes on inflation. The president also lauded his immigration agenda, telling Democrats they should be "ashamed" of themselves over their opposition to his efforts and repeatedly discussing crimes committed by undocumented immigrants.

Still, the president is also facing a Supreme Court in revolt over tariffs, a U.S. armada pressing Iran and a 60% disapproval rating that threatens to hurt Republicans.

Trump's address – in which he also repeatedly bashed his predecessor former President Joe Biden – could be his last to a Republican-controlled Congress. The GOP holds the House of Representatives by just a few seats, and Democrats have won a string of off-year elections, including in districts Trump carried in 2024, since the president returned to office last year. Even the U.S. Senate, where Republicans have a stronger majority, is now in play.

TRUMP TEASES A NEW KIND OF RETIREMENT PLAN

Rachel Barber

During his address, Trump said he plans next year to offer Americans who don't have access to employer-sponsored retirement accounts the option of a plan similar to federal employees' Thrift Savings Plan.

Roughly 56 million Americans fall into that category, according to AARP.

“We will match your contribution with up to $1,000 each year as we ensure that all Americans can profit from a rising stock market,” he said.

An existing “Saver’s Match” enacted under the Secure 2.0 Act of 2022 may provide an avenue for the annual match up to $1,000, according to a source with knowledge of the president’s plans.

ANOTHER HONOR TRUMP COVETS? THE CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR.

Rebecca Morin

There’s another award Trump wants, but cannot have.

After honoring two service members with the Congressional Medal of Honor, Trump quipped that he always wanted that award. However, he’s not allowed to give himself the award.

“I’ve always wanted the Congressional Medal of Honor but I was informed I’m not allowed to give it to myself,” Trump said. “I wouldn’t know why I’d be taking it, but if they ever open up that law, I’ll be there with you someday. But you know that’s our highest honor, Congressional Medal of Honor, and that’s a big thing.”

Trump had also wanted to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. However, that award went to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado.

SPEECH SETS RECORD FOR LENGTH

James Powel

Trump's speech has surpassed the record for an address of a joint session of Congress, breaking his own record from last year.

The speech went past the 1 hour, 39 minutes and 32 second mark just before Trump awarded the Medal of Honor to E. Royce Williams. It ultimately lasted 1 hour and 48 minutes.

DEMOCRATIC REP. AL GREEN ADDRESSES 'APES' SIGN

Cybele Mayes-Osterman

Rep. Al Green, a Democrat from Texas, told USA TODAY the protest that caused him to be expelled from last year’s state of the union was “spontaneity,” but this year it was “intentionality.”

“We are not apes. And [Trump] needed to have somebody say this to him,” Green said outside the chamber after he was thrown out for holding a sign that read, “Black people aren’t apes.”

While Green’s protest was in reference to a post on Trump’s Truth Social that depicted former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama as apes, Trump “just simply creates another disturbance, and we move on.

“We never have the opportunity to finish dealing with the one that has caused some harm,” he added.

Green said he was prepared to protest alone. “I didn't ask anybody else to get involved. I didn't ask for permission, because on some issues, it's better to stand alone than not stand at all,” he said.

TRUMP ON IRAN: 'SECRET WORDS' AND 'SINISTER AMBITIONS'

Francesca Chambers

During his State of the Union address, Trump accused Iran of pursuing “sinister ambitions” and trying to restart their nuclear program.

“We wiped it out, and they want to start all over again,” Trump said, referring to the U.S. military attack last June on Tehran’s nuclear sites.

The president said Iran wants to make a deal with the United States. “But we haven’t heard those secret words: We will never have a nuclear weapon,” he said.

Trump said while “his preference” is to make a deal, "one thing is certain: I will never allow the world’s number one sponsor of terror, which they are by far, to have a nuclear weapon. Can’t let that happen.”

Trump said on Feb. 20 that he was considering a limited strike on Iran. He told reporters on Feb. 19 that Iran had 10 days to make a deal – 15 days maximum.

The next round of talks is scheduled for Feb. 26 in Geneva.

TRUMP AWARDS MEDAL OF HONOR TO 100 YEAR OLD NAVY PILOT

Sarah D. Wire

Trump awarded the Medal of Honor during the State of the Union to 100-year-old E. Royce Williams, who shot down four Soviet MiG-15 jets during a once-secret 35-minute confrontation during the Korean War.

In a 2023 news release, the military called it the "longest dogfight in U.S. military history."

“No other American fighter pilot has ever shot down four MiG-15s in one fight,” the release, from when Williams was awarded the Navy Cross, states.

Williams has said that he was told to keep the rare military faceoff between the two Cold War rivals a secret. The altercation became public decades after the fall of the Soviet Union.

ARE GROCERIES CHEAPER UNDER TRUMP?

Rachel Barber

Trump said the price of some grocery items are down, as high shelf prices remain a pain point for American consumers.

Without giving a time frame, he said egg prices are down 60%. While egg prices have fallen, they are down 34.2% from last year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

After rising sharply in 2022, grocery costs continued to climb. While the prices of some items, including butter and fresh whole chicken, have come down since last year, more than two-thirds of shoppers surveyed late last year said they struggled to afford their grocery runs.

TRUMP RAILS AGAINST DEMOCRATS’ SUPPORT OF GENDER TRANSITION FOR MINORS

Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy

Among Trump’s guests was Sage Blair of Virginia, whose legal case involves school counselors and staff in 2021 allegedly encouraging the then-14-year-old student to identify as a male, use a new name and pronouns and allowing the student to use the boys' restroom without informing her parents.

“Hard to believe, isn't it? Before long it confused Sage, who ran away from home after she was found in a horrific situation in Maryland,” said Trump. “But today, all of that is behind them because Sage is a proud and wonderful young woman with a full ride scholarship to Liberty University.”

The Trump administration has taken steps to restrict access to gender-affirming care for minors and limit recognition of transgender identities in federal and military spaces.

Trump has also cut federal funding, blocking Medicaid and Medicare from being used for gender-affirming care and issued an executive order saying the federal government will recognize only two sexes: male and female. Another executive order prohibited transgender girls and women from competing in female sports.

"Democrats are destroying our country, but we've stopped it just in the nick of time," Trump said.

The Human Rights Campaign called Trump's statements about transgender people "absurd and obsessive."

TRUMP BRIEFLY ACKNOWLEDGES RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR

Francesca Chambers

Trump said his administration was working “very hard” to end the Russia-Ukraine war, which hit its four-year mark today.

Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. Trump again argued that the war, which he used to say he could solve in one day, would have never happened had he been president.

"As president, I will make peace wherever I can, but I will never hesitate to confront threats to America wherever we must," Trump added, as he turned the topic to U.S. strikes last summer on Iran.

TRUMP TOUTS HEALTH CARE RECORD, PRESCRIPTION DRUG DEALS

Ken Alltucker

Trump touted his efforts to lower drug prices and help Americans take control of their own health care.

Trump said his “most favored nation” deals with large pharmaceutical companies and the launch of his administration’s direct-to-consumer website, TrumpRx.gov, helped lower drug costs for Americans.

“I took prescription drugs – a very big part of health care – from the highest price in the world to the lowest,” Trump said.

TrumpRx has launched with 43 brand-name fertility, insulin, weight loss and other medications from five pharmaceutical companies. But the website doesn't include generic equivalents that can be purchased elsewhere, often at lower prices.

During his speech, Trump urged Congressional Republicans to pass legislation to codify his administration's most favored nation deals negotiated with more than one dozen pharmaceutical companies.

Trump also took aim at the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama’s signature 2010 health care law.

Enhanced tax credits that made ACA insurance more affordable for millions of Americans expired at the end of 2025. Without the enhanced tax credits, average costs for 22 million Americans who got subsidized ACA insurance more than doubled in January, according to KFF, a health policy nonprofit.

Trump reiterated his plan to give consumers money directly instead of funding the enhanced tax credits that offset the costs of insurance premiums. Republican Sens. Mike Crapo and Bill Cassidy in December unveiled a bill that would deposit $1,000 to $1,500 into health savings accounts for eligible consumers. Trump endorsed the concept of sending money directly to consumers, but so far, the proposal hasn't advanced.

TRUMP BREAKS SOTU LENGTH RECORD

James Powel

Trump set the record for the longest State of the Union speech, taking the record from former President Bill Clinton.

The first formal State of the Union address of Trump's second term surpassed Clinton's final State of the Union in 2000, which lasted 1 hour, 28 minutes and 49 seconds, according to an unofficial timer kept by USA TODAY.

Trump's speech is approaching the 1 hour, 39 minutes and 32 second mark, the record for a speech to the joint session of Congress which he set last year.

TRUMP CALLS CHARLIE KIRK A MARTYR

Karissa Waddick

Trump described late conservative activist Charlie Kirk as a martyr while talking about a rise in religious participation among young people. The crowd erupted into chants of "Charlie."

"In Charlie's memory, we must all come together to reaffirm that we are one nation under God," Trump said. "And we must totally reject political violence of any kind."

Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, was fatally shot while speaking to students at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, as part of his "American Comeback Tour."

His widow, Erika Kirk, attended the address as Trump's guest.

HOW TO GET IN ON TRUMP ACCOUNTS

Rachel Barber

Trump gave a shoutout to billionaire businessman Michael Dell and his wife, philanthropist Susan Dell, who he said donated $6.25 billion to fund Trump accounts.

The federal savings program for American children under 18, launching July 5, 2026, will deposit $1,000 into savings accounts for every child born in the U.S. between 2025 and 2028 who is signed up with a Social Security number. Parents or legal guardians interested in setting one up for their child can do so by filing IRS Form 4547 online at trumpaccounts.gov or with their 2025 tax return.

The accounts don't require families to make contributions, but they can deposit up to $5,000 per year per account.

'IT’S ALL CUT OFF': TRUMP BLAMES DEMS FOR HOMELAND SECURITY SHUTDOWN

Michael Loria

Among issues the president blamed on Democrats, Trump blasted them for the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, an arm of the executive branch that oversees a range of agencies including Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Transportation Security Administration.

"Tonight I’m demanding the full and immediate restoration of funding for border security, homeland security of the United States and also for helping people clean up their snow," Trump said. "We’d love to give you a hand in cleaning it up."

Funding for the department expired after lawmakers could not agree on changes to how Homeland Security goes about immigration enforcement. Democratic lawmakers demanded ICE make changes after two U.S. citizens were fatally shot in Minnesota by immigration agents.

Despite the lapse in funding, ICE has enough money to continue operating through the end of Trump’s term due to funds allocated through the president's One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

DID TRUMP END DEI IN AMERICA?

Jessica Guynn

"We ended DEI in America," Trump proclaimed while touting his economic accomplishments – a reference to his administration’s aggressive moves to purge diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in the federal government and the private sector.

The anti-DEI push, which began under his first administration, accelerated in his second. Once in office, Trump issued a series of executive orders stripping DEI from the federal government and pressuring corporations to roll back their initiatives.

Over the last year, the Trump administration has intensified its efforts to eliminate DEI. His Justice Department is investigating diversity initiatives at major companies under the False Claims Act, a federal law used to take action against contractors that defraud the government.

While some of the most powerful companies that once championed their diversity policies have now backed away from them and most have scrapped references to DEI, diversity advocates say many of the core policies continue today.

TRUMP REFERS TO 'SOMALI PIRATES,' SAYS VANCE TO LEAD FRAUD ELIMINATION EFFORT

Sarah D. Wire

Trump singled out immigrants in announcing that Vice President JD Vance will lead an effort to identify government fraud.

Trump was talking about fraud in government programs in the Somali community that he used as a reason to send thousands of immigration officials to Minneapolis to conduct large-scale arrests.

Since 2022, the Department of Justice has charged more than 80 people, many of them U.S. citizens of Somali descent, in connection with fraud schemes targeting government-funded programs, including child nutrition and housing initiatives. At least 60 suspects have been convicted in multiple fraud cases in the state.

Fraud in government programs exists in all 50 states. Trump used the Minnesota case as justification for immigration enforcement.

"The Somali pirates who ransacked Minnesota remind us that there are large parts of the world where bribery, corruption and lawlessness are the norm, not the exception," he said. "Importing these cultures through unrestricted immigration and open borders brings these problems right here to the USA and it's the American people who pay the price."

Trump has frequently drawn criticism for what many see as derogatory and offensive language towards immigrant communities, such as calling Mexican immigrants rapists when he declared his run for president.

REP. OMAR CALLS PRESIDENT 'A MURDERER'

Lauren Villagran

During his address, the president questioned who would stand with him when he said: "The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens."

The comment was met with cheers from Republicans and jeers from Democrats. U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minnesota could be heard shouting, "You have killed Americans! You are the murderer!"

Two Americans were killedin her district during a major immigration operation in Minneapolis.

TRUMP SHADES NANCY PELOSI AFTER INSIDER STOCK TRADING COMMENT

Rebecca Morin

In a rare bipartisan response, Trump was met with applause after he said he wanted to stop lawmakers from profiting off insider information in the stock market.

“As we ensure that all Americans can profit from a rising stock market, let’s also ensure that members of Congress cannot corruptly profit from using insider information,” Trump said to applause and a standing ovation from both Republican and some Democratic lawmakers.

Trump commented on the applause, saying “they stood up for that, I can’t believe it.

“Did Nancy Pelosi stand up if she’s here?” Trump quickly quipped. Pelosi’s stock trading has been repeatedly tracked, but the retiring congresswoman has not been investigated for insider trading.

TRUMP PRAISES TARIFFS DESPITE SCOTUS RULING

Terry Collins and Rachel Barber

During his State of the Union speech, Trump praised his past work on tariffs, despite the Supreme Court on Feb. 20 striking down many of the tariffs he imposed throughout 2025.

Trump again said the high court's decision was a "very unfortunate ruling." The president has said he would immediately impose a 15% global temporary tariffs under the 1974 Trade Act and threatened to impose “obnoxious” new tariffs.

"I used these tariffs, took in hundreds of billions of dollars to make great deals for our country, both economically and on a national security basis," Trump said.

Tariffs have been at the center of the president’s economic and foreign policy in his second term. However, they aren’t too popular among businesses that pay the import tax and consumers who have shouldered some of the increased costs. A YouGov survey found 60% of U.S. adults supported the court’s ruling. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York found American consumers and companies paid 90% of the cost of Trump's tariffs.

Still, the president said during his speech that several countries want to keep their deals, pointing to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, adding that those nations will continue working "along the same successful path" they negotiated.

TRUMP SCOLDS DEMOCRATS: 'YOU CAUSED THAT PROBLEM'

Francesca Chambers

Trump ripped Democratic lawmakers and took a swipe at his predecessor in blistering remarks directed at the opposing party.

Trump referred to former President Joe Biden “and his corrupt partners in Congress" as he took aim at the previous administration’s immigration policies and green energy programs.

Bringing up the affordability crisis, Trump pointedly told them: "You caused that problem.”

After extended applause from Republicans in the chamber, he added, “They knew their statements were a lie. They knew it. They knew their statements were a dirty rotten lie.”

Trump also blamed his opponents for high healthcare costs as he tore into the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

'YOU'RE A LIAR'

Lauren Villagran

As Trump announced the "War on Fraud" to be led by his vice president, following a sprawling investigation into alleged fraud of social welfare programs in Minnesota, he claimed corruption was endemic in the Somali refugee community.

"This is the kind of corruption that shreds the fabric of a nation," he said.

"That's a lie and you're a liar," U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minnesota, who is of Somali descent, yelled as Trump made the comments.

As of January, the Justice Department has charged 98 defendants in Minnesota fraud-related cases, and 64 have been convicted. Eighty-five of the defendants are of Somali descent. The U.S. Treasury Department has also launched investigations into alleged money laundering and support for terrorism.

The focus on fraud within the Somali immigrant community came with a controversial deployment of some 3,000 federal immigration agents and officers into the city met with significant resistance from residents.

Tensions boiled over after the killings by federal agents of Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse, and Renee Nicole Good, a poet and mother of three. The Trump administration changed out leadership of "Operation Metro Surge," and the president promised "a softer touch," as public opinion turned on immigration enforcement.

TRUMP SAYS TECH COMPANIES WILL PRODUCE THEIR OWN ENERGY TO BRING DOWN ELECTRICITY COSTS

Rachel Barber

Trump said his administration reached a new agreement with major tech companies that would require them to take on a larger share of the energy costs tied to building and operating data centers.

“We have an old grid. It could never handle the kind of numbers – the amount of electricity that's needed,” he said. “They can build their own plant. They’re going to produce their own electricity. It will ensure the company’s ability to get electricity, while at the same time lowering prices for you.”

Rapid infrastructure expansion to support AI has put a strain on the nation’s electric grid, raising concerns it is to blame for consumers’ higher electricity bills. Household utility costs rose by a whopping 41% between 2020 and 2025, a JD Power analysis found.

TRUMP SOFTENS SUPREME COURT ATTACK

Maureen Groppe

With several of the justices sitting in front of him, Trump didn’t criticize last week’s Supreme Court decision striking down his tariffs as harshly as he did in his initial response.

Trump still called the ruling “disappointing” and “very unfortunate."

But that’s much milder than last week’s attack when he called the court “incompetent” and said they should be ashamed of themselves.

And in a social media post on Monday, Trump repeated those criticisms, adding that the decision was "ridiculous, dumb, and very internationally divisive ruling."

Ari Fleischer, who served as press sectary to President George W. Bush, said on social media that Trump was “really biting his tongue”

“The thought bubble above his head surely was saying something else,” Fleischer said, “but tonight especially, it’s good he was diplomatic."

TRUMP ASKS CONGRESS TO BAN INVESTORS FROM BUYING SINGLE-FAMILY HOMES

Rachel Barber

Trump said he is asking Congress to make a ban on large Wall Street investment firms from buying single-family homes, as many Americans struggle to afford homeownership.

"We want homes for people, not for corporations," Trump said. "Corporations are doing just fine."

Trump signed an executive order Jan. 20 directing federal agencies not to facilitate the purchase of single-family homes by large institutional investors when a property could otherwise be bought by individual owner-occupants.

The president said in January he wants to drive home prices up, not down, to benefit current homeowners, and suggested the Federal Reserve should lower rates to make homeownership more achievable for Americans.

TRUMP REPEATS COMMENTS ABOUT MIGRANTS AND MENTAL INSTITUTIONS

Lauren Villagran

During his State of the Union address, Trump repeated a talking point from his campaign, that the Biden administration "imported millions and millions" of people from "mental institutions."

The Trump administration has not provided evidence to support the remark.

USA TODAY has found no evidence that migrants who arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border to seek asylum during the Biden administration came from "mental institutions."

TRUMP SAYS HE SHOULD BE IN HIS 'THIRD TERM'

Karissa Waddick

Trump appeared to reiterate claims that the 2020 election was stolen during the address, saying that he should be in the middle of his "third term."

Trump lost the 2020 election to former President Joe Biden. He has long repeated false allegations vigorously repeated there was election-fraud.

WHO IS CONNOR HELLEBUYCK?

Jace Evans

Connor Hellebuyck has won a lot of things in his NHL career to date, but he will soon claim the United States' highest civilian honor.

Trump said during his State of the Union address that Hellebuyck, 32, will be receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The move comes in response to Hellebuyck's starring role in the United States winning the men's hockey gold medal for the first time since 1980. Hellebuyck made 41 saves in the final against Canada, a 2-1 overtime win.

Hellebuyck has been one of the best goalies in the NHL over his 11-year career all spent with the Winnipeg Jets and is on a Hall of Fame trajectory. He's won the Vezina Trophy, given to the NHL's best goaltender, three times.

Last season, he also earned the Hart Trophy, the NHL MVP Award. He's just the fourth goalie in the NHL's post-expansion era to capture the award.

ARE TRUMPRX DRUGS CHEAPER?

Rachel Barber

Trump said he is working to bring down the cost of prescription drugs while promoting TrumpRx.gov.

“Americans who for decades paid by far the highest prices of any nation anywhere in the world for prescription drugs, will now pay the lowest price anywhere in the world for drugs,” Trump said.

In December, Trump said nine pharmaceutical companies agreed to sell certain medications at lower costs as part of an effort to bring U.S. drug costs more in line with what patients in other countries pay. So far, TrumpRx includes brand-name fertility, insulin, weight-loss, and other medications. While the drugs are being offered at discounts off their list prices, nearly half have generic equivalents available elsewhere that often cost less.

A November survey by West Health-Gallup Center for Healthcare in America found that 90% of adults said Americans spend too much on health care for the quality they receive.

WILL REFUNDS BE LARGER AFTER TAX CUTS?

Rachel Barber

Trump seemed to thank the Republicans in the room for helping him pass tax cuts last year, saying they "delivered beautifully."

Many Americans can expect to see a higher tax refund this year thanks to several changes in tax rules last year. The average refund through Feb. 13 was $2,476, up 14.2% from $2,169 at the same time last year, according to the IRS.

The agency said it expects that average to rise further as tax season continues. Returns claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit or the Additional Child Tax Credit, which both can help boost refunds, are required by law to be held until Feb. 15.

DID THE US ADD CONSTRUCTION, MANUFACTURING JOBS IN 2025?

Rachel Barber

“We were a dead country. Now we are the hottest country in the world,” Trump said. "...We have added 70,000 new construction jobs in just a very short period of time."

While the sector added 33,000 jobs in January, employment in construction was essentially flat in 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

While employment in manufacturing remained little changed in January, the sector shed 8,000 jobs in December, the BLS reported. A Brookings analysis found payrolls in the industry shrunk by 72,000 positions between April, when Trump announced many new tariffs, and December.

TRUMP SLAMS DEMOCRATS ON TAX BILL

Zac Anderson

Republicans received a thumbs up, Democrats a presidential tongue lashing as Trump recounted passing the signature legislation of his second term, which extend tax cuts from his first term and cut health care spending.

“Our Republican majorities delivered so beautifully,” Trump said, before turning to Democrats and saying they “wanted large scale tax increases to hurt the people.”

Many Democrats and some Republicans opposed cuts to Medicaid in the legislation.

WHO IS THE DESIGNATED SURVIVOR DURING THE STATE OF THE UNION?

Fernando Cervantes Jr.

As Trump began his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, one member of the cabinet was absent.

Doug Collins, who currently serves as the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, was not spotted at the State of the Union on Tuesday. Collins has a history of being the designated survivor, as he was chosen by Trump as the designated survivor during the president's address to Congress in 2025.

Collins, 59, previously served in the U.S. House as a Georgia Republican and for two decades in the military, including in Iraq in 2008.

A top government official is typically chosen as the designated survivor as a way to maintain the presidential line of succession in case of a catastrophic event where multiple officials in line are unable to assume office.

The concept of a designated survivor has inspired intrigue and mystery for decades, even inspiring a show by the same name starring Keifer Sutherland.

U.S. MEN'S HOCKEY TEAM GREETED WITH 'U-S-A' CHANTS

Marcus D. Smith

Trump acknowledged the gold medal-winning U.S. men's hockey team during the State of the Union speech.

After talking about how much "winning" the United States has been doing, Trump introduced the U.S. men's hockey team, which entered to chants of "USA!" Trump also announced that the team's goaltender, Connor Hellebuyck will be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

All but five players on the men's team toured the White House, the 20 players who did go to DC also expected to attend the State of the Union.

IS GASOLINE CHEAPER UNDER TRUMP?

Rachel Barber

Listing a few of his economic achievements, Trump said gas is down to $2.30 a gallon “in most states.”

Seasonally adjusted gasoline prices fell 3.2% in January and are down 7.5% over the year. Regular unleaded averaged $2.95 per gallon Feb. 24, up from about $2.86 last month, and down from $3.14 last year, according to AAA.

‘OUR NEW FRIEND AND PARTNER VENEZUELA’

Francesca Chambers

Trump referred to longtime adversary Venezuela as “a friend” of the United States after the ouster and capture of its former leader Nicolas Maduro.

“We just received from our new friend and partner, Venezuela, more than 80 million barrels of oil,” Trump said.

The Jan. 3 military operation empowered Maduro’s second in command, acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez – who’s been cooperating with the United States – and allowed the Trump administration to take control of the Latin American nation’s oil sales.

TRUMP SAYS ECONOMY ‘ROARING LIKE NEVER BEFORE’

Zac Anderson

As Americans take an increasingly dim view of his economic stewardship, Trump offered a bullish view on the economy in opening his State of the Union address, declaring “the roaring economy is roaring like never before.”

Cost of living remains a big concern for many Americans, but Trump pointed to relatively low inflation, gas prices, lower mortgage rates and other positive signs in declaring progress on affordability.

IS INFLATION 'PLUMMETING'?

Rachel Barber

Trump kicked off his speech by lauding the U.S. economy.

“Inflation is plummeting. Incomes are rising fast,” he said. “The roaring economy is roaring like never before.”

Inflation cooled more than forecasters expected in January, with prices up 2.4% from a year earlier. When Trump re-entered office in January 2025, inflation was at 3%. It fell in the first few months of 2025 before climbing back to 3% in September, then declining again.

In June 2022, inflation peaked at 9.1%, the highest in four decades, after rising late in the prior year. It stayed elevated in 2022 and early 2023. Prices never came down, but they are rising at a slower pace. Since the start of 2021, consumer prices have risen 22.7%, while wages have grown 21.5%, a Bankrate analysis found in late 2025.

TRUMP’S FAMILY ATTENDS STATE OF THE UNION IN FULL FORCE

Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy

All five of Trump’s children were in attendance at the State of the Union address.

Last year, during Trump’s joint address to Congress, his youngest son, Barron, was conspicuously absent from the event.

This time, Don Jr., Eric, Tiffany, Ivanka and Barron all stood together, next to first lady Melania Trump.

BORDER CROSSINGS HAVE PLUNGED

Lauren Villagran

The president said there have been "zero illegal aliens admitted" at the border, repeating a key talking point of the Department of Homeland Security.

Illegal border crossings have plummeted in the past 12 months compared with the prior administration. They have been at historic lows – but not zero.

U.S. Border Patrol data show migrant encounters at the Southwest border hovering between 5,000 and 9,000 each month since February 2025, compared to between 40,000 and 50,000 during the final year of the Biden administration.

The right to seek asylum at the border has been suspended and most migrants apprehended by border agents are returned or placed in removal proceedings.

4 SUPREME COURT JUSTICES ARE IN TRUMP’S LINE OF SIGHT

Maureen Groppe

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts is attending the speech despite earning Trump’s ire after writing last week’s 6-3 decision striking down the president’s worldwide tariffs.

Justices Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett, who joined that decision, are also in Trump’s line of sight.

Sitting with them in a front row is Justice Brett Kavanaugh, whom Trump called a genius for writing the dissenting opinion on the tariffs case.

Those are the same four members of the high court who attended last year’s speech, which is an optional event for the justices. Kavanaugh and Coney Barrett were appointed by Trump, while Roberts was appointed by George W. Bush, a fellow Republican, and Kagan was appointed by Barack Obama, a Democrat.

A big question going into the night is whether Trump will lash out at the court as he did hours after the ruling.

YES, THE SECOND LADY IS PREGNANT

Sarah D. Wire

Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance areexpecting their fourth child, a boy, this summer.

The second couple issued a statement on Jan. 20 announcing Usha Vance's pregnancy.

The Vances currently have two sons and one daughter: 8-year-old Ewan; 5-year-old Vivek and 3-year-old Mirabel. The couple largely keeps their children out of the public view.

TRUMP TOUTS 'TURNAROUND FOR THE AGES'

Zac Anderson

Trump opened his State of the Union speech by blasting the state of the country under his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, and declaring a "turnaround for the ages."

"We will never go back to where were just a very short time ago," Trump said.

CONGRESSMAN HOLDS 'BLACK PEOPLE AREN'T APES' SIGN

Karissa Waddick

As Trump walked into the House Chamber, Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, held a sign behind him that read "Black people aren't apes."

The sign referenced a video Trump posted on social media in early February that depicted Barack and Michelle Obama as apes. The video was decried by many on the left and right as racist.

Green was ushered out of the chamber minutes after he held up the sign.

TRUMP SHAKES HANDS WITH SUPREME COURT JUSTICES AFTER TARIFF RULING

Zac Anderson

A pair of conservative justices who ruled against Trump on his signature tariffs still received a handshake from the president as he entered the House chamber for his State of the Union address.

Trump greeted all four justices in attendance and gave them a handshake, including Amy Coney Barrett and John Roberts, both of whom ruled against him in case involving the use of emergency powers to enact tariffs.

MORE THAN 80 DEMOCRATS BOYCOTT STATE OF THE UNION

Fernando Cervantes Jr.

More than 80 Democrats from both the House of Representatives and the Senate have announced they will be boycotting tonight's speech, according to a count by USA TODAY.

At least 30 representatives and senators will skip the address to attend the "People’s State of the Union" hosted by MeidasTouch, MoveOn Civic Action and other community organizing groups.

Some of the high-profile Democrats in attendance will be Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey, as well as Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego.

Rep. Mike Thompson, D-California, will not attend the address as he has been chosen as the Democrats' designated survivor, and Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-NH, will also not be in attendance due to a family health emergency, according to The Boston Globe.

TRUMP ENTERS CHAMBER

Zachary Schermele

The president entered the chamber flanked by congressional Republican leadership.

SOTU EXCERPTS: TRUMP SAYS AMERICAN REVOLUTION ‘CONTINUES’

Zac Anderson

With the 250th anniversary of the country’s founding approaching, Trump plans to portray his administration as continuing the work of the American Revolution in his State of the Union address.

“From 1776 to today, every generation of Americans has stepped forward to defend life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for the next. Now, it is our turn,” Trump will say, according to speech excerpts released by the White House, adding “The Revolution that began in 1776 has not ended—it still continues.”

Trump’s speech will range from efforts to reduce the cost of living, including targeting prescription drug prices and calling for a ban on Wall Street firms buying single family homes, to “restoring American security and dominance in the Western Hemisphere.”

The president also will blast Democrats over the lapse in funding for the Department of Homeland Security and return to a familiar theme that American society has been “rigged” against “hardworking people.”

FETTERMAN SWAPS OUT BASKETBALL SHORTS FOR SUIT

Zachary Schermele

The most notoriously underdressed lawmaker in Congress spiffed up for the occasion.

Sen. John Fetterman, the blue-collar former mayor of Braddock, Pennsylvania, typically sports basketball shorts and a hooded sweatshirt around the Capitol. He entered the House chamber donning a suit and tie instead.

EMPTY SEATS, FLASHES OF WHITE CLOTHING ON DEMOCRATIC SIDE

Zachary Schermele

As congressional leaders filed into the House chamber, many seats on the Democratic side were notably empty. Dozens of Democrats opted to boycott Trump's speech rather than sit through the historically bipartisan tradition.

Many women on the Democratic side, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, also chose to wear white. It was a suffragette nod to protest a new election integrity bill and also harkened back to previous State of the Union speeches when their party still held the gavel.

TRUMP HEADS TO CAPITOL FOR STATE OF THE UNION

Zac Anderson

The president's motorcade left the White House for the Capitol at 8:33 p.m. as he prepares to deliver the State of the Union address.

The president was wearing a red tie and holding hands with first lady Melania Trump as they got into the presidential limousine.

JD VANCE ARRIVES IN HOUSE CHAMBER

Cybele Mayes-Osterman

Vice President JD Vance entered the House chamber on Tuesday evening, greeting reporters as he passed, ahead of President Trump’s State of the Union address.

Senators filed in behind him, waiting in line to enter.

Trump pushes Iran to say the 'magic words'

Francesca Chambers

Trump provided TV anchors with insight into his thinking on Iran during a White House luncheon on Tuesday.

“Iran desperately wants a deal. But Iran just can’t say the sacred phrase ‘we won’t build nuclear weapons,’” Trump said, according to Fox News “Special Report” anchor Bret Baier.

ABC News’ Jon Karl offered a similar report coming out of the annual event with anchors that’s held on the afternoon of the president’s speech to Congress. Trump told them Iran wants a deal more than he does, Karl said in a video, but it hasn’t said the “magic words.”

The president told reporters last week that he was considering a limited strike on Iran. Trump said he’d know in the next 10 days if a deal was possible.

TRUMP TO TALK TAX CUTS, DATA CENTER ELECTRIC USE IN STATE OF THE UNION

Zac Anderson

Trump told journalists who gathered with him for lunch ahead of his State of the Union address that he plans to “advocate for a form of tax cuts, corporate and mostly personal,” CNN anchor Jake Tapper said after attending the event.

Tapper said Trump will also “announce deals with A.I. and tech firms for data centers that consume so much electricity from local communities.” Data center electricity usage has become a contentious issue in many parts of the country.

WHO ARE MELANIA TRUMP’S GUESTS AT THE STATE OF THE UNION?

Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy

First lady Melania Trump will bring two guests to President Trump’s State of the Union address. They each represent two platforms she has focused on: foster care and improving American children's understanding of artificial intelligence.

Sierra Burns, 24, of Greenville, South Carolina, who participated in Trump’s Foster Youth to Independence Program, and Everest Nevraumont, 11, an AI-advocate from Austin, Texas, will watch the address from the first lady’s box.

Burns, a graduate of Winthrop University who is currently pursuing her master’s in advocacy and social policy, testified in support of extending foster care in South Carolina and helped develop training resources for caseworkers statewide.

Nevraumont, a student at the Alpha School in Austin, delivered a TedX speech about how she uses artificial intelligence in her education.

“Sierra and Everest embody my ongoing mission to uplift America’s foster youth and expand opportunity for our next generation through education and technology,” said Melania Trump.

SPEAKER JOHNSON TO DISPLAY, BUT NOT USE, GEORGE WASHINGTON'S GAVEL DURING ADDRESS

Sarah D. Wire

House Speaker Mike Johnson will display George Washington’s gavel during the State of the Union address, according to the U.S. Capitol Historical Society.

The gavel was first used in 1793 to lay the cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol building. It was also used in other cornerstone ceremonies, including the Washington Monument, National Cathedral, and Smithsonian Institution, according to the society.

Potomac Lodge No. 5, the oldest Masonic Lodge in Washington, D.C., has had possession of the gavel since 1793. The U.S. Capitol Historical Society coordinated with the Lodge and Johnson's office to allow the gavel to rest on the rostrum − where the speaker sits behind the president − to mark the 250th anniversary of America’s founding.

Along with being the nation's first president, Washington was a master mason and the laying of the Capitol cornerstone reflected that.

According to the U.S. Capitol Historical Society, on the morning of Sept. 18, 1793 Washington stepped into a dug trench at the Capitol site. He laid a silver plate onto the ground, and set the cornerstone atop it. He was accompanied by Masons who conducted a Masonic ritual with corn (a symbol of nourishment), wine (a symbol of refreshment), and oil (a symbol of joy). Witnesses then chanted and celebrated until night.

SENATE (AGAIN) BLOCKS BILL TO END HOMELAND SECURITY SHUTDOWN

Zachary Schermele

With just a few hours before President Trump's speech, Democrats in the Senate again blocked a bill to reopen the Department of Homeland Security amid an impasse over immigration enforcement.

THE SHUTDOWN OF THE AGENCY STRETCHED INTO ITS 11TH DAY ON TUESDAY, WITH NO MAJOR PUBLIC MOVEMENT IN NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN THE WHITE HOUSE AND DEMOCRATIC LAWMAKERS.

Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy

President Trump has said his State of the Union address will be a “long speech,” as he has a lot to discuss.

Two people heavily involved in crafting that speech are Ross Worthington, the White House director of speechwriting, and Vince Haley, director of the Domestic Policy Council, according to Politico.

Worthington, who also served as one of Trump’s speechwriters during his first term as president, was deputy communications director for former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s 2012 presidential campaign.

Haley served as director of policy and speechwriting on Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign and was one of his speechwriters during his first term. During Trump’s first administration, both Worthington and Haley served under then-White House director of speechwriting Stephen Miller.

Before joining Trump’s first campaign in 2016, Haley, a lawyer by profession, ran for a Virginia Senate seat, losing in the Republican primary in 2015.

EPSTEIN ACCUSERS ATTENDING SPEECH DEMAND MORE TRANSPARENCY, FILES

Sarah D. Wire

Some of the women who have accused Jeffrey Epstein of abuse will be among the hundreds of guests watching President Trump's State of the Union.

More than a dozen Democrats invited survivors as their guests to the State of the Union speech, including Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Rep. Suhas Subramanyam of Virginia, who are hosting Sky and Amanda Roberts, the brother and sister-in-law of Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who died by suicide last year.

"Today is monumental. Today we say to this administration and to the nation that survivors deserve to be seen," Amanda Roberts said at the news conference hours before the speech, adding that she expects Trump to say again that it is time to move on. "Don't look away from us. Do not look away from Virginia and do not leave survivors behind once again."

OLYMPIC HOCKEY TEAM RIDES AIR FORCE PLANE AT TRUMP'S REQUEST

Cybele Mayes-Osterman

The Air Force flew the U.S. Olympic Men's Hockey team from Miami to Joint Base Andrews before they were seen on social media touring the White House ahead of President Trump's State of the Union address on Tuesday.

"At the request of the President, the U.S. Air Force proudly supported the safe transport of U.S. Olympic athletes Feb. 24 aboard a C-32 aircraft assigned to the 89th Airlift Wing, flying from Miami" to the Maryland military base, the Air Force said in a statement to USA TODAY.

GAMES TO PLAY DURING 2026 STATE OF THE UNION

James Powel

The first formal State of the Union of President Trump's second term could be a long affair, after he set the record for the longest speech to a joint session of Congress last year.

If you would like to add a bit of entertainment to the evening, USA TODAY has options for you.

Download and play State of the Union bingo and, if you are of appropriate age, check out our drinking games for the 2026 State of the Union address.

30 LAWMAKERS SKIPPING TRUMP ADDRESS FOR 'PEOPLE'S STATE OF THE UNION'

Sarah D. Wire

As President Trump speaks in the Capitol on Tuesday night, dozens of lawmakers and activists will attend a "People's State of the Union'" event on the other end of the National Mall, livestreamed as a counter to Trump's address.

Read more about the event – and who's skipping the president's speech.

TRUMP WILL SELL HIS ECONOMIC AGENDA

Zac Anderson

President Trump will try to sell Americans on his economic agenda as he works to counter increasingly dim views of his economic stewardship.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a Fox News interview that Trump will unveil new policies to tackle affordability concerns and plans to highlight “the positive metrics we have seen” on the economy.

The speech will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding and “declare the State of Our Union is strong, prosperous, and respected,” Leavitt said in a statement.

GUENTZEL, OTHER MEN’S HOCKEY CHAMPIONS WILL SKIP SOTU

Mark Giannotto and Jay Stahl

Some members of the Olympic champion U.S. men's hockey team will skip the State of the Union, according to pubished reports. While most members of the team are expected to attend Trump’s address, a handful of players have opted to return for practice or spend time with family as the NHL schedule resumes on Wednesday, Feb. 25.

The Denver Post reported Colorado Avalanche center Brock Nelson didn't go on the White House trip to be with his family before the team plays in Utah on Thursday. Team USA forward Kyle Connor was also back on the ice with the Winnipeg Jets for Tuesday's skate, according to The Athletic.

Jake Guentzel of the Tampa Bay Lightning is also in Tampa despite not being on the ice for the Lightning's practice on Tuesday, the Tampa Bay Times reported. Jackson LaCombe and Jake Oettinger were also not in attendance at the White House on Feb. 24, per NBC News.

Related: USA women's hockey team declines invitation to State of the Union

PARENTS OF SLAIN NATIONAL GUARD MEMBER AMONG TRUMP'S SOTU GUESTS

Zac Anderson

The parents of Sarah Beckstrom, a West Virginia National Guard member who was killed in Washington during President Trump's deployment of troops to the capital, are among Trump's State of the Union guests, according to the White House.

Beckstrom, 20, died after being ambushed and shot outside a DC Metro station on Nov. 26. Another West Virginia National Guard member, 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe, is recovering after being seriously injured in the attack.

Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national from Washington state, is facing multiple charges related to the shooting. He has pled not guilty. Trump cited crime concerns in deploying the National Guard in D.C. and other cities, often over the objection of local officials.

TRUMP APPROVAL RATING DOWN FROM A YEAR AGO

Francesca Chambers

Four major surveys released ahead of Trump’s address showed warning signs for the president and his party, as Americans expressed pessimism about the economy and the direction of the country.

In a Marist poll released on the eve of the president’s speech, 57% of Americans said the state of the union is not strong. That’s four points higher than when he gave his 2025 address weeks after returning to office.

A survey from Reuters/Ipsos, released on Feb. 24, showed six in ten Americans saying Trump, 79, has become erratic as he ages – with 64% of independents describing him that way.

Trump’s favorability rating stood at 39% in a Feb. 20 Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos survey, with roughly four in 10 Americans saying they approved of his handling of the economy. At this point last year, he had a 45% approval rating.

A CNN survey released Feb. 23 showed Trump with a 36% approval rating – and 32% of Americans saying he had his priorities right. His approval rating in that poll was 48% a year ago.

ERIKA KIRK WILL BE TRUMP'S GUEST AT STATE OF THE UNION

Jay Stahl

Charlie Kirk's widow, Erika Kirk of Turning Point USA, is set to be President Trump’s guest at that State of the Union address tonight, The Daily Wire reported. The mom-of-two has become one of the conservative movement’s most recognizable figuressince her husband's September assassination on the campus of Utah Valley University.

According to the right-leaning outlet’s report, Kirk will be present in the audience during Trump’s address which will reference both Kirk and her husband, who founded Turning Point when he was 18. The organization mobilizes college students across the country to support conservative causes.

“President Trump has been a source of strength for Erika, constantly checking in with her over the last five months, and Erika is incredibly honored to be invited by the president to attend tonight’s State of the Union,” Turning Point USA spokesperson Matt Shupe told The Daily Wire.

KLOBUCHAR INVITES 'ROADKILL' BREWER BATTERED BY TRUMP TARIFFS

Bart Jansen

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, invited a brewer from Moorhead near the Canadian border to the State of the Union speech to illustrate the harm to American businesses from Trump’s tariffs.

Brewers like Sean Syverson, owner of Swing Barrel Brewing, have suffered from higher aluminum costs under Trump tariffs that make packaging their products more expensive, she said.

“He’s been walloped by these tariffs – walloped – and can barely stay in business,” Klobuchar said of Syverson. “Those are the people who are having to be roadkill for all of these policies that really don’t put the American people first.”

The Supreme Court on Feb. 20 overturned Trump’s emergency tariffs. But his other types of tariffs remain, such as those on aluminum and steel.

SEN. KELLY TO NEEDLE TRUMP OVER FAILED CRIMINAL CHARGES

Bart Jansen

Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Arizona, said he would attend Trump’s State of the Union speech to remind the president that he failed to jail the former naval pilot and astronaut for telling troops to reject illegal orders.

The Justice Department tried to indict Kelly and a handful of other Democratic lawmakers for making a video about refusing illegal orders, but the grand jury refused. Trump called the video seditious − "punishable by DEATH!" he fumed on social media − and Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth has sought to punish Kelly militarily.

“I will be sitting there to make sure that he knows that so far he has failed,” Kelly told reporters at the Capitol.

“I’m not looking forward to this speech,” he added. “But I’ll be in that chamber tonight.”

More: Judge blocks Pentagon from punishing Sen. Mark Kelly over free speech video

SQUEEZING OLYMPIC HOCKEY CHAMPS INTO A FULL HOUSE

Bart Jansen

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, said a full house is expected for Trump’s State of the Union speech but the president called late Feb. 22 asking if they could squeeze in more guests.

Trump invited members of the U.S. men’s and women’s gold-medal winning hockey teams to the speech, although the women declined because of previous academic and professional commitments.

“We’re going to work out logistics,” Johnson told reporters Feb. 24. “Somehow, some way we’ll work out room for hockey players tonight.”

More: Trump jokes about impeachment if he doesn't invite USA women’s hockey team to White House

Johnson called the overtime victories of both teams “a great moment for America.”

“You couldn’t have scripted it better,” Johnson said.

TRUMP'S SOTU COMES AFTER STINGING SUPREME COURT TARIFF DEFEAT

Democrats invite Jeffrey Epstein accusers

Bart Jansen

Democratic lawmakers invited more than a dozen women who have accused Jeffrey Epstein of abuse to Trump’s State of the Union speech.

The advocates aim to pressure the administration into releasing more Justice Department documents from the criminal investigation into the well-connected convicted sex offender.

The department has said it has halted the review of Epstein documents after releasing about 3 million out of 6 million pages. Trump, who was friends with Epstein during the 1990s and early 2000s − before Epstein was criminally charged with wrongdoing − has said the country should move on.

The guests include Dani Bensky, Marina Lacerda, Annie Farmer, Liz Stein, Lisa Phillips, Jess Michaels, Marijke Chartouni, Sharlene Rouchard, Lara Blume McGee, Haley Robson, Jena Lisa Jones and Teresa Helm. A seat will be held in memory of Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who died by suicide in 2025.

NEXT STOP: TEXAS

Francesca Chambers

President Trump will hit the road after Tuesday’s speech to sell his economic agenda, a senior official said, with Texas as his expected first stop.

The Texas event will be centered on energy policy and the economy, the official said, casting the trip as part of a continuing push to raise awareness about the president's efforts to reduce costs for average Americans.

State of the Union addresses often serve as springboards for presidents to barnstorm the country and drive home their visions. Trump’s address hits at an important moment, when he has lost traction on the economy, the issue that is expected to dominate the 2026 midterm elections.

The White House also is eying presidential trips to Ohio and Tennessee in the coming weeks.

More: Trump plans Texas trip to tout economy ahead of GOP primary clash

WHO IS TRUMP'S 'DESIGNATED SURVIVOR'?

Francesca Chambers

One member of the president’s Cabinet will be ordered to skip tonight’s address and spend it in an undisclosed location in the unlikely event of a catastrophic attack on the Capitol Complex. This person is known as the “designated survivor.”

The White House has not yet revealed who from the presidential line of succession was tapped to act as this year’s designated survivor. When he delivered his joint address to Congress in 2025, Trump selected Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins.

Democratic Rep. Mike Collins of California said on Xthat he’d been selected by his party to miss the speech and would act as their designated survivor.

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE STATE OF THE UNION SPEECH?

Bart Jansen

Why do the president and Congress bother with a State of the Union every year there’s not a new chief executive? The Constitution requires it.

But the presentation has changed over the years and become a lot more showy, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. George Washington and John Adams each delivered what were called "annual messages" in person. At 1,089 words, Washington’s first message on Jan. 8, 1790, was the shortest on record.

But Thomas Jefferson abandoned the personal appearance as “monarchical” and sent his in writing. That custom held for more than a century until Woodrow Wilson appeared before Congress on Dec. 2, 1913. The personal appearance has become an annual tradition since Franklin Delano Roosevelt adopted it.

Ronald Reagan started the trend of inviting guests to reinforce policy points in the speech. That’s why guests are nicknamed "Lenny Skutnicks," after Reagan’s first guest in 1982.

TRUMP FOE ROBERT DE NIRO TO HEADLINE LIVE SOTU REBUTTAL

Nicole Fallert

Some frogs are gathering in the "swamp."

While President Trump delivers his State of the Union address, a roster of Hollywood actors, elected officials, cultural figures, journalists and veterans will assemble just a few minutes away in Washington to deliver a live rebuttal.

The "State of the Swamp" counter-address, headlined by actor Robert De Niro, a longtime opponend of the president, is set to take place at the same time the president speaks to a joint session of Congress. Invoking the frog as a symbol of opposition to Trump, the event's title references the swampy terrain of the nation's capital.

Read on: Robert De Niro headlines 'State of the Swamp' counter-address to Trump's SOTU

TRUMP ‘WILLING TO USE LETHAL FORCE’ ABROAD IF NECESSARY: LEAVITT

Bart Jansen

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt denounced “sensational” and “untrue” reporting based on anonymous sources that the U.S. military is reluctant to potentially attack Iran, which Trump had already denied on social media.

“President Trump’s first option is always diplomacy, but as he has shown, he is willing to use the lethal force of the United States military if necessary,” Leavitt told reporters. “The president is always the final decision-maker around here.”

She said Trump would talk in his State of the Union speech about threats abroad and what is needed to protect America.

HOW MANY DEATHS IN IRAN? EXPERTS SAY TOLL IS HIGH BUT HIDDEN IN SECRECY

“You’ll hear the president tout the accomplishes overseas of the United States military over the past year under his leadership,” Leavitt said, including Operation Midnight Hammer that bombed three of Iran’s nuclear facilities. “You will hear him talk about the threats that remain abroad.”

“Iran chants death to America − so you tell me if that’s a threat,” she added.

WHAT HAPPENED TO TRUMP'S 'ONE DAY' UKRAINE PEACE PROMISE?

Francesca Chambers

Trump has taken extraordinary action when it comes to confronting authoritarians in places like Venezuela, where U.S. forces captured leader Nicolas Maduro, and Iran, where he bombed nuclear sites in June and is now threatening a new attack.

But there’s one strongman Trump has consistently refused to accost: Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose intellect and iron grip the former reality TV star has long admired.

The Russian leader has convinced Trump and U.S. negotiators, including presidential envoy Steve Witkoff, that he wants to cut a deal to end his long war – even as Moscow rains missiles and drones on Ukrainian cities, cutting heat, water and power to thousands.

The war that Trump repeatedly swore he could end in a single day is now 4 years old, and on the eve of the anniversary of Russia’s invasion Feb. 24 – and his coinciding State of the Union address – there is still no peace deal.

Read on: Trump's Ukraine peace deal stalled as bloody war hits 4-year mark

HOUSE SPEAKER DODGES OVER WHETHER TRUMP WILL CONFRONT JUSTICES

Bart Jansen

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, dodged a question about whether he expected Trump to criticize Supreme Court justices during his speech for overturning his emergency tariffs.

The court voted 6-3 against Trump's emergency tariffs last week, inccluding two justices he appointed. Trump called them “fools and lapdogs,” and said he was ashamed of them after the decision was announced Feb. 20.

More: Supreme Court justices will be at Trump's SOTU. Will sparks be flying?

Johnson said he didn’t know what was in Trump's speech but that he expected a positive statement about his accomplishments for the country’s 250th anniversary.

“The president, you know, of course was frustrated by the Supreme Court decision but we’re sorting out the fallout from that and what it means for us,” Johnson told reporters Feb. 24. “I think tonight is going to be a great celebration of America and all that we’ve achieved together so we’re looking forward to that.”

ABOUT THAT OLYMPIC LOCKER ROOM CALL...

Meghan L. Hall

Olympian Jack Hughes and his mom recently responded to the fallout from the U.S. men's hockey team's viral call with President Donald Trump.

During the locker room call with the team, President Trump invited the players to the State of the Union address. He briefly mentioned the U.S. women's hockey team, who also won gold during the Olympics, beating Canada in an overtime thriller, saying he had to invite them too, or he would be "impeached." The men's hockey team laughed at the president's remark.

"People are so negative out there, and they are just trying to find a reason to put people down and make something out of almost nothing,"Jack Hughes told the Daily Mail.

"People are so negative about things. I think everyone in that locker room knows how much we support them, how proud we are of them, and we know the same way we feel about them, they feel about us."

Read on, from USA TODAY For The Win: Jack Hughes, mom address U.S. men's hockey backlash over Trump call

A YEAR SINCE TRUMP'S LAST ADDRESS TO CONGRESS

President Trump was five weeks into his second term when he last addressed a joint session of the U.S. Congress, on March 4, 2025.

HOW IS THE TRUMP ECONOMY DOING?

Andrea Riquier

President Trump will likely point to a strong economy as a key indicator of how America is faring.

Indeed, inflation has fallen, more than most analysts expected. Job growth accelerated in January, also topping forecasts. And, perhaps more importantly, the economy is about to get an additional boost this spring, as consumers receive bigger tax refunds than in the past thanks to Trump's signature tax and spending legislation.

But that picture is at odds with another one, and Democrats may choose to highlight it instead.

Even if inflation has cooled, prices are at levels that make necessities such as groceries unaffordable to many Americans. Growth has been concentrated in a few narrow segments of the economy: health care and social assistance made up essentially all the jobs gained in January, and AI equipment spending is one of the biggest drivers of GDP.

In January, meanwhile, a measure of consumer confidence slid to its lowest level since 2014 – worse than even during the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read on: Ahead of State of the Union, what is the state of the US economy?

WHITE HOUSE POSTS VIDEOS OF PAST TRUMP SPEECHES

Bart Jansen

The White House began posting videos Feb. 24 of past Trump’s past speeches, promotional videos and testimonials from supporters as a prelude to the first State of the Union address of his second term.

The videos included his second inaugural speech in the Capitol Rotunda on Jan. 20, 2025; a promotion for the TrumpRx.gov prescription drug portal; supporters giving testimonials for his enforcement of immigration laws; and his speech to sailors aboard the USS Harry S. Truman on Oct. 5, 2025, for the 250th anniversary of the Navy.

TRUMP PROMISES 'OBNOXIOUS' TARIFFS AFTER SUPREME COURT LOSS

Bart Jansen

Trump has vowed to impose "obnoxious" new tariffs after the Supreme Court overturned his signature economic policy, teasing more measures and different tools.

"The court has also approved all other Tariffs, of which there are many, and they can all be used in a much more powerful and obnoxious way, with legal certainty, than the Tariffs as initially used," Trump said Feb. 23 on social media.

'OBNOXIOUS': TRUMP THREATENS NEW TARIFFS AFTER SUPREME COURT LOSS

The post was Trump’s latest salvo against the Supreme Court, where two of the three justices he appointed – Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett – voted against him. He praised the three other conservative justices – Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh – who opposed the court’s decision and sided with him.

“Our incompetent supreme court did a great job for the wrong people, and for that they should be ashamed of themselves (but not the Great Three!)," Trump wrote.

TRUMP TO CALL FOR REOPENING DHS: LEAVITT

Bart Jansen

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump will call on Democrats to support reopening the Department of Homeland Security, which is partially shuttered because of a dispute about funding for immigration enforcement.

DHS staffers in the Transportation Security Administration at airports, the Federal Emergency Management Agency responding to the Northeast blizzard and the Secret Service continue to work without paychecks during the funding dispute.

Democrats have blocked funding for the department while demanding changes in policies, such as requiring immigration officers not to wear masks on duty and to obtain warrants to arrest suspects. The Democratic demands are in part a response to the separate fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by immigration agents last month in Minneapolis.

“It’s despicable that they’ve shut down this agency,” Leavitt told reporters.

TWO U.S. HOCKEY GOLDS, ONE TRIP TO SOTU

Mike Brehm

The gold medal-winning United States women's hockey team has declined an offer by the White House to attend Tuesday's State of the Union address, citing "timing and previously scheduled academic and professional commitments."

The women's team beat Canada for the gold medal in a come-from-behind 2-1 overtime victory in which Hilary Knight broke U.S. Olympic scoring records and Megan Keller scored the winning goal.

The USA men's team made it 2-for-2 when it beat Canada for a gold medal on Sunday.

President Trump called the men's team afterward and invited those players to the State of the Union and a White House visit, offering to transport them on a military plane.

More: USA women's hockey team declines invitation to State of the Union

ATTACHMENT “C” – TIMELINE and TAKEAWAYS FROM A.P. NEWS

Highlights: Trump casts a rosy vision of America while chastising his political enemies at State of the Union

President Donald Trump has started his State of the Union address which is likely to be a test run of the message Republicans will give to voters in November’s elections for control of the House and the Senate.

By CURTIS YEE

Updated 12:30 AM EST, February 25, 2026

PHOTOS, TAKEAWAYS and URL REFERENCES FROM TONIGHT’S STATE OF THE UNION (In, as customary, reverse order)

11:59 PM EST (2/24)

How Trump’s overall approval has (and hasn’t) changed in his second term

11:47 PM EST

Takeaway: Trump wrapped himself in the flag

11:45 PM EST

Takeaway: Trump’s ‘roaring economy’ is at odds with sour public sentiment

11:42 PM EST

Spanberger’s response clocks in at around 13 minutes

11:41 PM EST

Trump makes scant mention of his aggressive moves on immigration

11:36 PM EST

Spanberger calls immigration crackdown a drain on law enforcement

11:31 PM EST

Trump’s retirement account match? Biden signed it into law

11:29 PM EST

‘Is the president working for you?’ Spanberger says no

11:27 PM EST

Spanberger slams ‘poorly trained’ immigration officers

11:24 PM EST

Spanberger poses questions about Trump’s second term in Democratic rebuttal

11:21 PM EST

Spanberger takes on affordability message in Democratic response to Trump

11:07 PM EST

First lady presents Medal of Honor to 100-year-old veteran

11:05 PM EST

Lawmakers leap to their feet with starkly divided responses as Trump concludes his address

11:03 PM EST

Trump wraps up record-length speech

11:02 PM EST

Trump highlights new relationship with Venezuela after Maduro capture

11:00 PM EST

Army pilot wounded in Maduro raid awarded Congressional Medal of Honor

10:56 PM EST

Trump has now exceeded the longest previous joint annual address

10:55 PM EST

JUST IN: Trump breaks record for longest State of the Union, speaking for more than 1 hour and 41 minutes

10:53 PM EST

Rep. Al Green leaves an empty chair after being escorted out

10:52 PM EST

Trump says Iran has not ‘said the magic words,’ to make a deal despite repeated statements by officials

10:51 PM EST

Trump mentions killing of Mexican drug lord

10:49 PM EST

Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib exit House chamber after shouting condemnations of Trump

10:45 PM EST

Trump comments on foreign allies and NATO spending draw mixed reaction from Democrats

10:43 PM EST

Trump touts desire for peace, but threatens war

10:42 PM EST

‘Nobody thought it was possible': Trump touts shaky ceasefire deal in Gaza

10:40 PM EST

Trump administration restricted immigration after National Guard shootings

10:38 PM EST

Trump says Homeland Security shutdown is impacting snow cleanup

10:36 PM EST

Trump praises Marco Rubio, says he’ll go down as among the ‘best’

10:34 PM EST

Trump lashes out at Democrats who don’t applaud his gender transition remarks

10:33 PM EST

Trump honors West Virginia Guard members attacked in DC

10:32 PM EST

Trump repeats false claim that he has ended 8 wars

10:30 PM EST

Trump highlights case of Ukrainian woman killed on North Carolina train

10:25 PM EST

Girl who survived car crash honored as Trump calls for limits on commercial licenses

10:22 PM EST

Trump falsely claims voter fraud is ‘rampant’

10:21 PM EST

A bipartisan round of applause for Trump’s call to end ‘political violence of any kind’

10:19 PM EST

Trump pushes Thune on SAVE Act

10:14 PM EST

Rep. Rashida Tlaib shouts that Trump is ‘killing Americans’ in pushback at president’s vows for to defend immigration enforcement

10:13 PM EST

Trump blasts Somali involvement in Minnesota social service fraud

10:13 PM EST

Trump calls on Congress to reinstate Homeland Security funds

10:12 PM EST

Stock market return under Trump in line with other presidents

10:12 PM EST

Trump announces ‘war on fraud’

10:11 PM EST

Trump says he’ll have government give $1,000 to retirement accounts

10:06 PM EST

Trump’s calls for insider trading ban for members of Congress receives bipartisan applause, followed by partisan squabbling

10:05 PM EST

Trump quips about a third term

10:04 PM EST

Trump highlights Minnesota fraud crackdown

10:02 PM EST

Trump says he is protecting consumers from higher utility bills tied to AI development

10:02 PM EST

Trump pitches savings plan for workers without retirement accounts

10:01 PM EST

Trump tells Democrats they’re responsible for high costs

10:00 PM EST

Drug prices can’t be cut by more than 100%

10:00 PM EST

Broadcast network newbies leading State of the Union coverage

9:59 PM EST

Trump touts his health care proposal, which hasn’t made headway in Congress yet

9:58 PM EST

Tariffs won’t replace income taxes

9:58 PM EST

House Democrat leaves chamber shaking head during Trump’s speech

9:52 PM EST

Trump misleadingly claims that tariff revenues are ‘saving’ the US

9:52 PM EST

Tariffs have been paid by US firms and consumers

9:51 PM EST

Trump’s big tax breaks bill divides the Congress

9:49 PM EST

Trump repeats claim that tax law contains ‘no tax on social security’

9:49 PM EST

Trump promises to allow migrants who ‘love our country’

9:48 PM EST

Trump investment accounts for kids get a shoutout

9:47 PM EST

Trump touts falling fentanyl seizures as sign of policy success

9:47 PM EST

Trump says he will make LA safe as he made Washington

9:45 PM EST

Outside of the Capitol, Democratic lawmakers respond to Trump’s address

9:44 PM EST

Trump touts Republicans’ massive tax and spending law

9:43 PM EST

Trump says he’ll give Medal of Freedom to Team USA hockey goalie

9:41 PM EST

US Men’s Olympic Hockey team receives standing ovation and chants of ‘USA’ after Trump shoutout

9:38 PM EST

Trump touts record low numbers of migrants at southern border

9:37 PM EST

Trump invites the USA women’s hockey team to the White House

9:36 PM EST

Trump says US has received over 80 million barrels of Venezuelan oil

9:34 PM EST

Trump misstates gas prices, again

9:34 PM EST

Who’s the designated survivor?

9:33 PM EST

Trump inflates foreign investment

9:31 PM EST

Trump’s claim that U.S. is ‘the hottest country’ misses context

9:28 PM EST

Trump claims $18 trillion in investments — but it’s unclear where the numbers come from

9:27 PM EST

Trump touts drop in murder rate

9:24 PM EST

Trump says the economy is doing great. Most Americans disagree

9:23 PM EST

“Income growth has slowed in the past year, not ‘rising fast’

9:22 PM EST

Rep. Al Green is escorted from the chamber as Republicans chant ‘USA’

9:20 PM EST

Trump didn’t inherit a ‘stagnant economy’

9:19 PM EST

Trump briefly greets Supreme Court justices

9:19 PM EST

Trump is less popular on immigration than when he took office last year

9:18 PM EST

Trump begins speech

9:15 PM EST

Trump begins State of the Union address

9:13 PM EST

JUST IN: President Donald Trump begins delivering State of the Union address

9:12 PM EST

Rep. Al Green unfurls sign of protest that reads ‘Black People Aren’t Apes!’

9:10 PM EST

Trump arrives at the State of the Union

9:07 PM EST

Trump’s Cabinet enters

9:01 PM EST

First lady Melania Trump receives a standing ovation as she enters the chamber

9:00 PM EST

Special guests arrive

8:59 PM EST

Justices of the Supreme Court arrive for State of the Union after Trump’s criticism

8:56 PM EST

Obama’s chief speechwriter: State of the Union speeches are a ‘relic’

8:52 PM EST

Joint Chiefs of Staff speak with lawmakers ahead of State of the Union

8:43 PM EST

Trump has arrived at the Capitol

8:42 PM EST

Trump to go after Democrats on Homeland Security shutdown

8:39 PM EST

Vice President JD Vance and US senators enter House chamber

8:36 PM EST

Rep. Al Green, congressman removed from chamber during Trump’s last speech to Congress, arrives

8:31 PM EST

Paramount CEO David Ellison has arrived

8:29 PM EST

‘Left or right, we’re all on the same team’ — at least for a minute

8:29 PM EST

Reaction in the room could matter as much as Trump’s words

8:27 PM EST

Sen. Padilla to look toward the future in Spanish-language response to SOTU

8:25 PM EST

Lawmakers begin arriving

8:20 PM EST

Members of Trump’s Cabinet are arriving

8:17 PM EST

The George Washington Gavel has entered the Capitol

8:10 PM EST

Most don’t think the country is headed in the right direction

7:50 PM EST

Democrats use invitations to highlight Trump’s immigration crackdown

7:19 PM EST

Epstein survivor attending State of the Union hopes for acknowledgment from Trump

7:16 PM EST

How long were other presidents speaking?

7:03 PM EST

Senate Democrats vote to block DHS funding ahead of Trump’s address

6:59 PM EST

Trump says his State of the Union will be long — and that’s his normal

6:10 PM EST

Melania Trump’s guests include a young history buff and AI advocate

5:40 PM EST

Expect Trump to blame everything on Biden

5:36 PM EST

A behind-the-scenes look at AP’s State of the Union live show

5:04 PM EST

Democrats have a historically sour outlook after Trump’s first year, Gallup poll finds

4:56 PM EST

Speaker Johnson will display Washington’s gavel during speech

4:54 PM EST

No. 2 ranked House Democratic leader won’t attend Trump’s address

4:33 PM EST

Schumer’s State of the Union guest, victim of Epstein’s abuse, calls on Trump to ‘release the damn files’

4:29 PM EST

Democratic leader says Trump should apologize to Americans for the high cost of living

4:27 PM EST

Leading Democrat on Senate Intel committee calls on Trump to explain Iran strategy

4:22 PM EST

Trump adds 3 outlets to SOTU anchors lunch

4:21 PM EST

Trump and Wilson speeches have parallels and contrasts

4:09 PM EST

Trump owes his State of the Union platform to a Democratic predecessor

3:53 PM EST

The TV era gave rise to the opposition response — with plenty of disadvantages

3:51 PM EST

US hockey team members meet Trump in the Oval Office

3:39 PM EST

Technology has meant State of the Union firsts for presidents and voters

3:16 PM EST

Democrats say negotiations over DHS shutdown are stalled as Trump blames them for funding lapse

3:14 PM EST

Stay or go? Democratic leaders say it’s up to each member to decide

3:03 PM EST

The 20th century changed the State of the Union

2:40 PM EST

Trump to say that tech companies will pay more for electricity linked to AI development

2:30 PM EST

US men’s Olympic hockey team members arrive at the White House

2:08 PM EST

House Democratic leader invites Jackson family among SOTU guests

1:57 PM EST

Schumer to bring an Epstein survivor and mom of ICE-detained teen to State of the Union

1:49 PM EST

Ukraine ambassador plans to attend State of the Union address

1:25 PM EST

An Oregon representative will send an Epstein survivor to tonight’s event in her place

1:06 PM EST

Minnesota Democrats use invitations to protest immigration crackdown

1:03 PM EST

Several Trump lieutenants could be in the spotlight after recent scrutiny

1:02 PM EST

State of the Unions have short shelf lives

12:55 PM EST

Erika Kirk will be among Trump’s guests in the House chamber, press secretary says

12:54 PM EST

Melania Trump’s speech guests represent her focus on AI education and foster youth

12:50 PM EST

Spanberger to deliver Democratic rebuttal to Trump from Virginia historical site

12:48 PM EST

Democratic women and their guests wearing ‘suffragette white’ to confront Trump

12:47 PM EST

Speaker calls boycotts of Trump’s speech ‘shameful’

12:46 PM EST

A phone call, a scramble and Men’s Olympic hockey team to attend, House speaker says

12:44 PM EST

After confronting Noem in Los Angeles, Sen. Padilla to deliver Democrats’ Spanish-language response

12:42 PM EST

Trump and Wilson speeches have parallels and contrasts

12:39 PM EST

Trump owes his State of the Union platform to a Democratic predecessor

12:38 PM EST

Congress asserts itself, at times

12:34 PM EST

Trump will urge Democrats to fund the Department of Homeland Security

12:32 PM EST

Kansas City Mayor says urban crime is dropping ‘in spite of Trump’

February 25, 2026

12:30 AM EST

Takeaway: Sometimes what’s not said is as notable as what is

12:18 AM EST

Takeaway: Trump took aim at Democrats

12:10 AM EST

Takeaway: Trump’s drumbeat for war gets louder

Today’s live updates have ended. Read what you missed below and find more coverage at apnews.com.

President Donald Trump declared during Tuesday’s marathon State of the Union that “we’re winning so much,” saying he’d sparked a jobs and manufacturing boom at home while imposing a new world order abroad — hoping that offering a long list of his accomplishments can counter approval ratings that have been falling.

What to know:

· How to watch: The Associated Press is live-streaming the event on APNews.com and on YouTube.

· Americans are still anxious: Trump’s rosy portrayal of the nation collided with the sentiment of Americans who remain concerned about their finances and feel they haven’t benefited from Trump’s policies.

· Democrat response: Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger gave the Democratic Party response following Trump’s speech. California Sen. Alex Padilla, who made national headlines last year after being forced to the ground and handcuffed by federal agents, delivered the party’s response in Spanish.

9:57 PM EST

Photos from tonight’s State of the Union

By MATT ROURKE, MARK SCHIEFELBEIN, ALEX BRANDON, CLIFF OWEN, JOSE LUIS MAGANA

12:30 AM EST

Takeaway: Sometimes what’s not said is as notable as what is

By STEVEN SLOAN, STEVE PEOPLES

Trump has highlighted immigration since the very first speech in which he announced his 2016 presidential campaign. And on Tuesday night, he revived much of the same language he’s used throughout the past decade, blasting “criminal aliens” and warning of “drug lords, murderers all over our country.”

What he didn’t mention: the most aggressive immigration enforcement tactics that threatened to bring the U.S. to the brink earlier this year. Nor did he remark on the deaths of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis last month at the hands of federal agents.

Instead it was Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., who shouted that “Alex wasn’t a criminal,” referring to Alex Pretti, one of the citizens killed in Minneapolis.

▶ Read more

12:18 AM EST

Takeaway: Trump took aim at Democrats

By STEVEN SLOAN, STEVE PEOPLES

The president soon took aim at Democrats and blamed them directly for much of the nation’s ills.

Trump said rising health care premiums are “caused by you,” suggested Democrats “are not protecting” Social Security and blamed them for the nation’s affordability crunch. “You caused that problem. You caused that problem,” Trump said as he glared at the Democratic side of the room.

He seemed to get angrier as the speech progressed. “These people are crazy, I’m telling you, they’re crazy,” he said. “Democrats are destroying this country.”

Trump’s MAGA base loves such aggression. It’s unclear, however, if the rest of the country feels the same.

▶ Read more

12:10 AM EST

Takeaway: Trump’s drumbeat for war gets louder

By STEVEN SLOAN, STEVE PEOPLES

The president has already built up the largest U.S. military presence in the Middle East in decades. And in his speech, he outlined a rationale for using those forces to launch a major military strike against Iran.

Trump said Iran and its proxies have “spread nothing but terrorism, death and hate,” adding that its leaders have killed at least 32,000 protesters in recent weeks. He also warned that the nation has developed missiles that can threaten Europe and is working on ones “that will soon reach” the U.S.

Trump’s MAGA base has long cheered his promise to end costly wars abroad. It’s unclear how they might respond to another major military action in the Middle East.

▶ Read more

11:59 PM EST

How Trump’s overall approval has (and hasn’t) changed in his second term

By AMELIA THOMSON-DEVEAUX

About 36% of U.S. adults approve of the way Trump is handling his job as president, according to an AP-NORC poll conducted in early February. That’s down slightly from last March, when 42% of Americans approved of his job performance.

That stability underscores just how difficult it is to change Americans’ minds about Trump, more than a decade after he launched his first presidential run.

He remains largely unpopular among the vast majority of Democrats and independents, but Republicans are still strongly behind him — even if there were some signs in a January AP-NORC poll that his second term might not be living up to their expectations yet.

11:47 PM EST

Takeaway: Trump wrapped himself in the flag

By STEVEN SLOAN, STEVE PEOPLES

For a president who always seems to be spoiling for a fight, Trump also tried to summon Americans’ innate patriotic impulses.

In addition to the hockey team, he singled out war heroes and those who had taken brave stands in other countries, using the moment to bestow numerous presidential medals in an effort to give the address a more positive gloss.

In one revealing moment, Trump lamented why he couldn’t give a congressional medal to himself.

▶ Read more

11:45 PM EST

Takeaway: Trump’s ‘roaring economy’ is at odds with sour public sentiment

By STEVEN SLOAN, STEVE PEOPLES

Much of the nation is worried about the direction of the economy, but Trump says the good times are here.

The president insisted repeatedly that the economy is roaring and rising costs are no longer a problem.

“The roaring economy is roaring like never before,” he said. He also cheered the cost of gasoline, mortgage rates, prescription drug prices and the stock market: “Millions and millions of Americans are all gaining. Everybody’s up, way up.”

Every president uses the State of the Union to promote policies. But such optimism as so many Americans are feeling economic strains risks painting Trump as out of touch. Just 39% of U.S. adults approved of Trump’s handling of the economy in February, according to AP-NORC polling.

▶ Read more

11:42 PM EST

Spanberger’s response clocks in at around 13 minutes

By ALI SWENSON

In response to Trump’s record-length address, the Virginia governor gave a response that lasted around the same amount of time as rebuttals in past years.

Regardless of party, the opposition rebuttal is routinely much shorter than the president’s remarks.

11:41 PM EST

Trump makes scant mention of his aggressive moves on immigration

By ELLIOT SPAGAT

Immigration helped carry Trump to victory in 2024, and it has long been a signature issue for him. But he barely discussed the aggressive and highly consequential steps he took to reshape the immigration system during his first year in office.

He didn’t talk about key initiatives under his $170-billion immigration enforcement package, which Congress approved: vastly expanding immigration detention, doubling the size of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and building out the border wall.

Nor did he talk about major policy changes like attempting to end birthright citizenship, denying bond to people in immigration custody, suspending asylum at the border and revoking legal status for hundreds of thousands of people who are in the United States on humanitarian grounds.

And he didn’t discuss his mass deportation campaign, weeks after Minnesota’s largest cities turned into battlegrounds between immigration officers and protesters and resulted in the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens by authorities.

11:36 PM EST

Spanberger calls immigration crackdown a drain on law enforcement

By TIM SULLIVAN

The flood of immigration agents into cities like Minneapolis is unnecessary, is wasteful and spreads fear, Spanberger said in her response.

“Every minute spent sowing fear is a minute not spent investigating murders, crimes against children or the criminals defrauding seniors of their life savings,” she said.

“Our broken immigration system is something to be fixed, not an excuse for unaccountable agents to terrorize our communities.”

11:31 PM EST

Trump’s retirement account match? Biden signed it into law

By JOSHUA BOAK

Trump said in his speech that he’s announcing a new $1,000 match from the government for people saving for retirement who don’t get a matching contribution from their employers.

But that’s not quite how it would work.

Trump’s proposal is not actually new, as it’s based on the 2022 law Secure 2.0 that establishes a retirement account match for eligible accounts starting in 2027, according to the White House. This means Trump would be taking advantage of a law signed by then President Joe Biden, who he routinely attacks.

Under the law, there would be a match of $1,000 in the form of a credit for annual retirement savings of $2,000 by an individual.

11:29 PM EST

‘Is the president working for you?’ Spanberger says no

By ALI SWENSON

Spanberger framed her remarks around asking Americans whether Trump is actually working for them — or whether he is working in his own self-interest.

She made the case for the latter, saying, “We all know the answer is no.”

She pointing to various actions by the president including “cozying up” to billionaires to fund a new White House ballroom.

“This is not what our founders envisioned,” Spanberger said. “Not by a long shot.”

11:27 PM ESTSpeech annotations

Spanberger slams ‘poorly trained’ immigration officers

By REBECCA SANTANA

“Our president has sent poorly trained federal agents into our cities, where they have arrested and detained American citizens and people who aspire to be Americans.”

Spanberger criticized how Trump’s mass deportation agenda is being carried out in places like Chicago and Minneapolis.

Her comments came a day after a whistleblower told Congress about how new ICE recruits are being trained and problems with that training.

Ryan Schwank accused the Department of Homeland Security of dismantling the training program for new deportation officers and lying about what they were doing.

DHS has said there has been no compromise or corner cutting when it comes to preparing new officers.

11:24 PM EST Speech annotations

Spanberger poses questions about Trump’s second term in Democratic rebuttal

By JOEY CAPPELLETTI

“Is the president working to make life more affordable for you and your family? We all know the answer is no.”

Throughout her Democratic response to Trump’s address, Spanberger posed a series of questions to Americans, asking whether they feel life has improved since he returned to office.

The Democrat, who flipped a Republican-held office last year, is hoping voters across the country will share that assessment in November’s midterm elections.

11:21 PM EST

Spanberger takes on affordability message in Democratic response to Trump

By JOEY CAPPELLETTI

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger is arguing in her Democratic rebuttal that costs remain high for many Americans more than a year into Trump’s second term.

Her message — that families are still struggling under the president’s policies — is one Democrats plan to take nationwide ahead of the midterm elections.

Party leaders point to Spanberger’s double-digit victory in Virginia last November as validation of a disciplined, cost-focused campaign they now hope to replicate across the country.

11:07 PM EST

First lady presents Medal of Honor to 100-year-old veteran

By FARNOUSH AMIRI

The president asked first lady Melania Trump to present the medal to Royce Williams for his actions in a secret mission during the Korean War.

A military aide was seen bringing the esteemed award down the stairs of the House gallery, where Melania Trump and Williams were sitting. She placed it around his neck, to a standing ovation in the chamber.

“He didn’t even want to tell his wife. But the legend grew and grew,” Trump said of the clandestine mission. “But tonight, at 100 years old, this brave Navy captain is finally getting the recognition he deserves.”

END – TRUMP↓ BEGIN SPANBERGER ↑

11:05 PM EST From the chamber

Lawmakers leap to their feet with starkly divided responses as Trump concludes his address

By MATT BROWN

Republicans gave the president their final standing ovation of the night as he concluded his remarks. GOP lawmakers then proceeded to mingle in the chamber. Some walked up to congratulate Trump on the celebratory mood in the chamber,

Democrats also rose, though with no fanfare. The caucus almost immediately turned and streamed out of the chamber, without applause. Some could be seen scoffing and shaking their heads shortly after Trump wrapped up his remarks and descended from the dais.

11:03 PM EST

Trump wraps up record-length speech

By JONATHAN J. COOPER

Trump’s 108-minute speech broke his own record for longest presidential address to Congress.

The previous longest was his 100-minute speech last year.

Before 2025, President Bill Clinton had the record with speeches clocking in at 89 minutes in 2000 and 85 minutes in 1995.

11:02 PM EST

Trump highlights new relationship with Venezuela after Maduro capture

By REGINA GARCIA CANO

Following last month’s capture of then-President Nicolás Maduro by elite U.S. military forces, Trump said Tuesday, his administration is working with acting President Delcy Rodriguez to “unleash extraordinary economic gains for both of our countries and to bring new hope to those who have suffered so terribly.”

Among those who have suffered for years in Venezuela are thousands of people who have been detained for months or years for political reasons. Venezuela’s ruling party denied holding people for their political beliefs, but it began releasing hundreds of them following Maduro’s capture.

They included former presidential candidate Enrique Márquez, whom Trump’s administration invited to the State of the Union address to surprise a relative who was sitting in the gallery.

11:00 PM ESTFrom the chamber

Army pilot wounded in Maduro raid awarded Congressional Medal of Honor

By KONSTANTIN TOROPIN

U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer Eric Slover receives a Medal of Honor during President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Trump presented a helicopter pilot who was wounded in the raid that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro with the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Trump said that Army Warrant Officer 5 Eric Slover was the pilot of the lead CH-47 Chinook helicopter during the raid.

“Eric steered the Chinook under the cover of night and descended swiftly upon Maduro’s heavily protected military fortress,” Trump said.

“Eric was hit very badly in the leg and hip, one bullet after another. He absorbed four agonizing shots, shredding his leg into numerous pieces,” Trump added before explaining that Slover still piloted his helicopter back to safety before telling his copilot that he was about to pass out from his wounds.

Trump also said that ten other servicemembers will also be receiving medals at a private ceremony that will soon be held at the White House.

10:56 PM EST

Trump has now exceeded the longest previous joint annual address

By BILL BARROW

President Donald Trump has set a record by delivering the longest-ever State of the Union speech or joint address to Congress, speaking for more than 1 hour and 41 minutes Tuesday night.

Trump set a record last year for the longest address to a joint session of Congress, speaking for 1 hour, 39 minutes and 32 seconds. That speech was technically not a State of the Union address because it occurred only six weeks into his term.

The previous record for a state of the Union was set by President Bill Clinton in 2000: 1 hour, 28 minutes and 49 seconds.

That’s according to the American Presidency Project at the University of California at Santa Barbara, which has tracked speech length since President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.

10:55 PM ESTBREAKING NEWS UPDATES

JUST IN: Trump breaks record for longest State of the Union, speaking for more than 1 hour and 41 minutes

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

10:53 PM EST

Rep. Al Green leaves an empty chair after being escorted out

By PABLO MARTINEZ MONSIVAIS

Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Ga., listens to President Donald Trump deliver the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026.

10:52 PM ESTSpeech annotations

Trump says Iran has not ‘said the magic words,’ to make a deal despite repeated statements by officials

By FARNOUSH AMIRI

“We are in negotiations with them. They want to make a deal, but we haven’t heard those secret words: We will never have a nuclear weapon.”

The president said that he would prefer a deal with Iran but they haven’t said what U.S. officials want to hear, which is that they will not build a nuclear weapon.

But over series of negotiations between Tehran and Washington, Iranian officials have repeated said that their nuclear program is peaceful and that they vow not to create a weapon. Earlier Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said it again. “Our fundamental convictions are crystal clear: Iran will under no circumstances ever develop a nuclear weapon,” he wrote on X.

10:51 PM EST

Trump mentions killing of Mexican drug lord

By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN

The president appeared to reference the killing of Jalisco New Generation Cartel leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, better known as “El Mencho.”

The Mexican army killed Oseguera Cervantes on Sunday during an attempt to capture him in the western state of Jalisco. Both Mexico and the United States confirmed that there was U.S. intelligence support for the operation.

“We’ve also taken down one of the most sinister cartel kingpins of all. You saw that yesterday,” Trump said.

Some 70 people died in the operation and violence that erupted after it.

10:49 PM ESTFrom the chamber

Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib exit House chamber after shouting condemnations of Trump

By MATT BROWN

The lawmakers, the first two Muslim women ever elected to Congress, exited together as the president recounted his administration’s military operations in Venezuela and the Middle East.

Omar and Tlaib mocked and shouted condemnations at the president during his remarks.

10:45 PM ESTFrom the chamber

Trump comments on foreign allies and NATO spending draw mixed reaction from Democrats

By MATT BROWN

While Republicans gave repeated standing ovations to the president’s claims that he had successfully pushed NATO allies to increase their military spending to the 5% mandate outlined in the NATO charter, Democrats gave a more mixed reaction.

Some foreign policy stalwarts, including Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, repeatedly clapped at the president’s comments on NATO. Other Democrats had muted responses to Trump’s comments on the war in Ukraine and false claims that he brokered peace deals in conflicts around the world.

10:43 PM ESTSpeech annotations

Trump touts desire for peace, but threatens war

By STEPHEN GROVES

“As president, I will make peace wherever I can. But I will never hesitate to confront threats to America, wherever we must.”

Trump bragged that he is ending conflicts around the world, then in the next breath bragged how the U.S. last year carried out strikes on Iranian nuclear sites.
Trump is again threatening war against the Middle Eastern nation, building up the largest naval force in the region in decades. He said that he preferred to solve the conflict through diplomacy, but said he would absolutely not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon.

“No nation should ever doubt America’s resolve. We have the most powerful military on earth,” the president added.

10:42 PM EST

‘Nobody thought it was possible': Trump touts shaky ceasefire deal in Gaza

By FARNOUSH AMIRI

Among highlighting the several conflicts he claims to have ended, the president mentioned the ongoing, fragile ceasefire deal in Gaza: “I negotiated every single hostage, both living and dead, has been returned home. Can you believe that? Nobody thought it was possible.”

While the U.S.-brokered deal between Israel and Hamas has halted major military operations, freed the last hostages held by Hamas and ramped up aid deliveries to Gaza, a lasting resolution remains elusive for the two-year war ignited by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack into Israel.

10:40 PM ESTSpeech annotations

Trump administration restricted immigration after National Guard shootings

By REBECCA SANTANA

“She was ambushed and shot in the head by a terrorist monster from Afghanistan, shouldn’t have been in our country.”

After the shooting of two National Guard soldiers in Washington DC last November, the Trump administration announced a flurry of decisions aimed at making it harder for some foreigners to come to or stay in the U.S. The administration announced it was halting visas for Afghans in late November, reexamining Green Cards for people from countries “of concern,” and pausing asylum applications.

The administration said it was necessary to take those steps to make sure people coming into the country or who were already here don’t pose a security threat.
But immigrants’ rights groups and humanitarian organizations said that the administration’s actions were collective punishment for people who had nothing to do with the shooting.

10:38 PM ESTSpeech annotations

Trump says Homeland Security shutdown is impacting snow cleanup

By GABRIELA AOUN

“We’d love to give you a hand at cleaning it up, but you gave no money. Nobody’s getting paid.”

Trump said the DHS shutdown is preventing the federal government from “helping people clean up their snow,” referring to the massive snowstorm that impacted much of the Northeast this week.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, housed under DHS, rarely helps states with snow cleanup, except in some instances of record or near-record snowfall, or when an ice storm causes catastrophic damage. States first request a disaster declaration, which the president must approve.

A government shutdown also doesn’t necessarily stop FEMA disaster response: The more than 10,000 staff who make up the bulk of FEMA’s disaster response and recovery force continue to work and be paid during a government shutdown, and disaster spending can continue for as long as the agency’s non-lapsing Disaster Relief Fund has money.

10:36 PM ESTFrom the chamber

Trump praises Marco Rubio, says he’ll go down as among the ‘best’

By FARNOUSH AMIRI

In a special shoutout to his top diplomat, Trump made a special mention to Marco Rubio, his secretary of state, who has been in charge of Trump’s ‘America First’ mandate for the last year.

“You have done a great job, great secretary of state,” Trump said as Republicans gave Rubio a standing ovation.

10:34 PM ESTSpeech annotations

Trump lashes out at Democrats who don’t applaud his gender transition remarks

By JONATHAN J. COOPER

“These people are crazy. I’m telling you. They’re crazy.”

The president called for a ban on states transitioning the gender of children against their parents’ wishes.

“Surely we can all agree, no state can be allowed to rip children from their parents’ arms and transition them to a new gender against the parents’ will,” Trump said. “Who would believe that we’re even talking about it? We must ban it, and we must ban it immediately.”

Trump then gestured to the Democratic side of the room, saying, “look, nobody stands up.”

10:33 PM ESTFrom the chamber

Trump honors West Virginia Guard members attacked in DC

By GARY FIELDS

Trump announced that he had awarded the family of Spec. Sarah Beckstrom and her colleague, Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe with the Purple Heart.

The announcement prompted several minutes of bipartisan clapping as he honored Evalea and Gary Beckstrom, the mother and father of Beckstrom, 24, and Wolfe.

The West Virginia Army National Guard member was fatally wounded Nov. 26 in an ambush that also critically wounded Wolfe, as they patrolled a subway station blocks from the White House. Beckstrom died Thanksgiving Day. The two were among the National Guard members deployed to Washington as part of Trump’s executive order last August to battle what he said was rampant crime.

Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who was wounded in the attack, has been charged with an array of offenses in the shooting. He has pleaded not guilty and remains in custody. Authorities say he drove across country from his home in Washington state to execute the attack.

10:32 PM ESTSpeech annotations

Trump repeats false claim that he has ended 8 wars

By MELISSA GOLDIN

“My first 10 months I ended eight wars.”

This statistic, which Trump frequently cites as one of his accomplishments, is highly exaggerated. Although he has helped mediate relations among many nations, his impact isn’t as clear-cut as he makes it seem. In at least two instances of peace he claims credit for achieving, there were no wars to end.

The conflicts Trump counts among those he has solved are between Israel and Hamas, Israel and Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia, India and Pakistan, Serbia and Kosovo, Rwanda and Congo, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and Cambodia and Thailand.

10:30 PM ESTSpeech annotations

Trump highlights case of Ukrainian woman killed on North Carolina train

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER

“We will ensure justice for your magnificent daughter, Iryna.”

Among those in the audience was the mother of 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska, a Ukrainian refugee who was fatally stabbed by a man on a North Carolina commuter train last August.

The killing, captured on camera in Charlotte, sparked intense criticism over why the suspect, Decarlos Brown Jr., was on the street despite 14 prior criminal arrests.

The Trump administration has pointed to the killing to argue that local leaders, judges and policies in Democratic-led cities are failing to protect residents from violent crime.

Brown has been charged with a federal crime that could carry the death penalty.

10:25 PM EST From the chamber

Girl who survived car crash honored as Trump calls for limits on commercial licenses

By COLLIN BINKLEY

Delilah Coleman, who was injured in a 2024 car crash, is recognized during President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Trump called on Congress to pass a bill barring states from granting commercial driver’s licenses to immigrants in the country illegally. He wants to call it “Dalilah’s law,” to be named after Dalilah Coleman, a young girl who survived critical injuries from a 2024 car crash and was in the audience.

Dalilah drew applause when she smiled and waved in her father’s arms. Trump called her a “fantastic inspiration.”

The Department of Homeland Security highlighted Dalilah’s story in a September news release, saying she was 5 when she was injured in a multi-car pileup caused by a tractor trailer driven by an immigrant from India who came to the country illegally. DHS officials said the man was released into the country by the Biden administration.

10:22 PM ESTSpeech annotations

Trump falsely claims voter fraud is ‘rampant’

By MELISSA GOLDIN

“I’m asking you to approve the Save America Act to stop illegal aliens and other who are unpermitted persons from voting in our sacred American elections. The cheating is rampant in our elections.”

Experts say voter fraud is extremely rare, and very few noncitizens ever slip through the cracks.

For example a recent review in Michigan identified 15 people who appear to be noncitizens who voted in the 2024 general election, out of more than 5.7 million ballots cast in the state.

Of those, 13 were referred to the attorney general for potential criminal charges. One involved a voter who has since died, and the final case remains under investigation.

10:21 PM ESTFrom the chamber

A bipartisan round of applause for Trump’s call to end ‘political violence of any kind’

By MATT BROWN

Erika Kirk gestures as President Donald Trump delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Trump introduced Erika Kirk, the widow of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who received cheers from Republicans in the chamber.

“America is one nation under God, and we must totally reject political violence of any kind,” Trump said in remarks that received a bipartisan standing ovation.

10:19 PM EST

Trump pushes Thune on SAVE Act

By MARY CLARE JALONICK

The president urged Senate Majority Leader John Thune to bring up legislation that would impose new proof-of-citizenship requirements ahead of the midterm elections.

Trump said the bill is “country-saving” and “it should happen before anything else happens.”

Thune has said he supports the bill but has not yet put it on the Senate floor, where it is likely to be rejected because of a lack of Democratic support. Some Republicans have urged him to bypass Senate procedure to try and pass it.

Trump said “this should be an easy one” and called out Thune directly.

“We have to stop it John,” Trump said.

10:14 PM ESTFrom the chamber

Rep. Rashida Tlaib shouts that Trump is ‘killing Americans’ in pushback at president’s vows for to defend immigration enforcement

By MATT BROWN

Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., gestures as President Donald Trump delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

“They saw the videos, Mr. President. They saw the videos. You’re killing Americans!,” Rep. Rashida Tlaib yelled at Trump as the president defended his immigration policies. “Not shooting them!”

Republicans gave a standing ovation to Trump’s comments on immigration enforcement and calls to fund the Department of Homeland Security.

“You should be ashamed of yourself not standing up,” Trump said to Democrats.

“Alex wasn’t a criminal” Tlaib yelled at the president, referencing to the killing of Alex Pretti, a Minneapolis nurse, by federal agents during an enhanced immigration enforcement operation. “You’re killing Americans!” she shouted repeatedly.

10:13 PM ESTSpeech annotations

Trump blasts Somali involvement in Minnesota social service fraud

By TIM SULLIVAN

“The Somali pirates who ransacked Minnesota remind us that there are large parts of the world where bribery, corruption and lawlessness are the norm, not the exception.”

Trump said members of the state’s large Somali community “have pillaged an estimated $19 billion from the American taxpayer.”

It’s not clear where Trump found the $19 billion figure.

Dozens of people have been charged in a series of overlapping social service fraud schemes in Minnesota, costing taxpayers well over $200 million. Prosecutors have said the total could end up being $9 billion, an estimate state officials say is overblown.

Of nearly 100 defendants in the three main fraud cases — one for Covid-era food aid, one centered on housing and one for autism assistance — prosecutors say the vast majority are of Somali descent. Roughly 66 people have been convicted.

10:13 PM ESTFrom the chamber

Trump calls on Congress to reinstate Homeland Security funds

By LISA MASCARO

Routine funding for the department has been shutoff for more than a week as Democrats demand changes to rein in Trump’s immigration deportation operations.
“I’m demanding the full and immediate restoration of all funding,” Trump said to cheers. But Democrats have made it clear the bill will not move forward without changes they are demanding.

10:12 PM ESTSpeech annotations

Stock market return under Trump in line with other presidents

By CHRIS RUGABER

“The stock market is doing so well, setting all those records.”

Trump has repeatedly touted the stock market’s rise during the first year of his second term, and it has done well. But other presidents have seen larger gains.

The S&P 500 rose 16.4% in 2025, a solid return. Yet it jumped 26.9% in Biden’s first year in office in 2021, when it also reached record highs dozens of times. It rose 19.4% in 2017, the first year of Trump’s term. And it rose by more in 2013, the first year of Obama’s second term when it climbed nearly 30%.

10:12 PM EST

Trump announces ‘war on fraud’

By GEOFF MULVIHILL

The president said he’s appointing Vance to run the effort, a familiar theme.

Trump and his administration have been talking about fraud for months in several government programs, saying it’s far worse than previous government reports have found. It has not detailed data showing that to be the case.

The administration has already tried to cut off funding for child care subsidies, cash assistance and job training for low-income families and other social programs for five states where it says there was “reason to believe” benefits were going to people in the country illegally.

So far courts have sided with the states and the money has continued to flow.

10:11 PM ESTSpeech annotations

Trump says he’ll have government give $1,000 to retirement accounts

By JOSHUA BOAK

“We will match your contribution with up to $1,000 each year, as we ensure that all Americans can profit from a rising stock market.”

Trump is pitching a new plan for the government starting next year to provide up to $1,000 to people without employers who match contributions to retirement accounts.

It’s not clear how the president would fund this match or what it would cost.

Many workers who already have 401(k) retirement plans receive some level of matching investments from their employers.

10:06 PM ESTFrom the chamber

Trump’s calls for insider trading ban for members of Congress receives bipartisan applause, followed by partisan squabbling

By MATT BROWN

Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and other Democratic members, react as President Donald Trump gives his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

His calls for legislation that would ban lawmakers from stock trading based on insider information received bipartisan cheers, followed by some laughing and partisan tension.

“How about you first!” Rep. Mark Takano, a California Democrat, yelled after the president expressed surprise that the Democrats joined in the standing ovation.

“You’re the most corrupt president!” Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat, also yelled.

“They stood up for that,” Trump remarked. “Did Nancy Pelosi stand up?” the president quipped, drawing a collective “Woah!” from the Republican side of the aisle.

10:05 PM ESTSpeech annotations

Trump quips about a third term

By NICHOLAS RICCARDI

“It should be my third term”

Trump made the aside during a discussion of health care when he began to talk about creating the Trump RX web site “in the first year of my second term – it should be my third term. But strange things happen.”

There was a lot going on in that aside. Trump is, of course, limited to two presidential terms but has repeatedly mused about seeking a third. He also continues to claim he didn’t really lose the 2020 election – but, of course he did.

So far, in the first hour of his speech, it was the closest Trump’s come to mentioning his longtime obsession about explaining away his 2020 loss.

10:04 PM ESTSpeech annotations

Trump highlights Minnesota fraud crackdown

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER

“But when it comes to the corruption that is plundering America, there has been no more stunning example than Minnesota — where members of the Somali community have pillaged an estimated $19 billion dollars from the American taxpayers.”

Federal prosecutors have been scrutinizing staggering amounts of fraud in Minnesota for years. But the allegations have come under an intense spotlight during the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

A massive $300 million pandemic fraud scheme involving the nonprofit Feeding Our Future resulted in charges against 47 people in 2022 during the Biden administration. Most of the defendants are of Somali descent, and dozens have been convicted.

The investigation has since expanded, including new fraud allegations focused on child care centers. A federal prosecutor alleged that half or more of the roughly $18 billion in federal funds that supported 14 programs in Minnesota since 2018 may have been stolen.

The federal prosecutor’s office in Minnesota, however, has been gutted by resignations amid mounting frustration with the Justice Department’s response to fatal shootings of civilians by federal agents. Among those who have resigned in recent weeks is Joseph Thompson, the prosecutor who had been leading the massive fraud investigation.

10:02 PM ESTSpeech annotations

Trump says he is protecting consumers from higher utility bills tied to AI development

By JOSHUA BOAK

“We’re telling the major tech companies that they have the obligation to provide for their own power needs. They can build their own power plants as part of their factory, so that no one’s prices will go up.”

Trump is announcing what he calls a “new ratepayer protection pledge” regarding tech companies that are building data centers for developing artificial intelligence.

His idea here is that companies will cover the cost of additional electricity demand, rather than consumers with monthly utility bills and a dependence on the existing grid.

Trump didn’t provide more details on how any of this would work, but he claimed — without evidence — that “in many cases” electricity prices would drop because of this plan.

10:02 PM EST

Trump pitches savings plan for workers without retirement accounts

By FATIMA HUSSEIN

“I’m announcing that next year my administration will give these often forgotten American workers great people, the people that built our country access to the same type of retirement plan offered to every federal worker. We will match your contribution with up to $1,000 each year, as we ensure that all Americans can profit from a rising stock market.”

Roughly 56 million Americans lack access to a retirement plan through their employer, according to the AARP.

Lawmakers have proposed several pieces of federal legislation intended to improve retirement security for American workers, including the bipartisan Retirement Savings for Americans Act and the Automatic IRA Act.

10:01 PM ESTFrom the chamber

Trump tells Democrats they’re responsible for high costs

By JONATHAN J. COOPER

“You caused that problem.”

Trump directly addressed Democrats, blaming them for the high costs that are troubling voters. This has been a major theme of Trump’s speech tonight and is also an argument he makes frequently when talking about the economy.

Recent polling shows rising frustration with Trump’s approach to the economy.

He went on to directly blame Democrats for health care costs, a problem he told them is “caused by you.” He cited the Affordable Care Act, former President Barack Obama’s health care law that Republicans have tried and failed to repeal.

10:00 PM ESTSpeech annotations

Drug prices can’t be cut by more than 100%

By MELISSA GOLDIN

“I took prescription drugs, a very big part of health care, from the highest price in the entire world to the lowest. That’s a big achievement. The result is price differences of 300%, 400%, 500%, 600% and more.”

This is impossible. Although the Trump administration has taken steps to lower drug prices, cutting them by more than 100% would theoretically mean that people are being paid to take medications.

Geoffrey Joyce, director of health policy at the University of Southern California’s Schaeffer Center, said in August that this claim is “total fiction” made up by the president. He agreed that it would amount to drug companies paying customers, rather than the other way around.

10:00 PM EST

Broadcast network newbies leading State of the Union coverage

By DAVID BAUDER

Showing the rapid pace of change in legacy media, two of the three broadcast networks covering the president’s speech were led by chief anchors on duty at the event for the first time.

Tom Llamas led NBC News’ live coverage, with Tony Dokoupil was in the lead at CBS News. Llamas has replaced Lester Holt at the helm of “NBC Nightly News,” while Dokoupil was the “CBS Evening News” replacement for the short-term team of John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois.

They’re both chasing ABC News veteran David Muir, whose “World News Tonight” leads in the ratings.

9:59 PM ESTSpeech annotations

Trump touts his health care proposal, which hasn’t made headway in Congress yet

By ALI SWENSON

“That’s why I introduced the Great Healthcare Plan. I want to stop all payments to big insurance companies and instead give that money directly to the people so they can buy their own health care.”

Trump is referring to a health care proposal he pitched to congressional Republicans in January, in hopes that they would turn it into legislation to make health care more affordable. No such legislation has gotten enough momentum to pass yet.

His pitch, a general outline of ideas he wants turned into law, calls for sending money directly to Americans in health savings accounts so they can handle health costs as they see fit.

Democrats have rejected the idea as a paltry substitute for Affordable Care Act tax credits that had helped lower monthly premiums for many people before the Republican-led Congress let them expire in the new year.

9:58 PM ESTSpeech annotations

Tariffs won’t replace income taxes

By PAUL WISEMAN

“Tariffs paid for by foreign countries will, like in the past, substantially replace the modern day system of income tax.’’

Not likely. Under Trump, tariff revenues have swelled — to $195 billion in the budget year that ended Sept. 30 from $77 billion the year before.

But the import taxes accounted for less than 4% of federal revenue. Income taxes and payroll taxes that finance Social Security and Medicare account for 84%.

9:58 PM ESTFrom the chamber

House Democrat leaves chamber shaking head during Trump’s speech

By MATT BROWN

Rep. Lauren Underwood, the head of the House Democrats’ campaign arm’s candidate recruitment efforts, left the chamber during Trump’s speech. Underwood shook her head as she stood with her purse and coat.

The Illinois Democrat waved goodbye to some of her Democratic women colleagues. The women, who were each wearing white as an homage to the suffragist movement, exchanged chuckles before Underwood quietly darted out the back.

9:52 PM ESTSpeech annotations

Trump misleadingly claims that tariff revenues are ‘saving’ the US

By JOSHUA BOAK

“It’s saving our country, the kind of money we’re taking in.”

Trump has imposed massive tax hikes on imports, but they’re not sizable enough to make a dent in the government’s annual budget deficits. Nor have the tariffs corresponded with manufacturing job gains.

Before the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s tariffs based on an emergency declaration, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that his new taxes would raise $3 trillion over 10 years, or $300 billion annually.

That’s not enough to cover the cost of his $4.7 trillion in tax cuts, including additional interest cuts, that favored companies and the wealthy. Nor is it enough to pay down an annual budget deficit that last year was $1.78 trillion.

9:52 PM ESTSpeech annotations

Tariffs have been paid by US firms and consumers

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER

“The tariffs, paid for by foreign countries ... “

Nearly every study finds otherwise.

The Congressional Budget Office, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the Kiel Institut in Germany and two economists from Harvard and the University of Chicago have looked at who is paying the tariffs, and all have concluded that nearly all the costs have been paid by U.S. firms and consumers.

U.S. importers write the checks to pay the tariffs. The only way overseas companies could pay is if they cut their prices to make up for the cost of the duties, but all the studies cited above find that that’s not happening.

“This nonsense has lasted long enough and no one should tolerate any further discussion of the notion that foreigners are paying the tariff bill,” Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the right-leaning American Action Forum and a top economist in George W. Bush’s White House, said last week.

9:51 PM ESTFrom the chamber

Trump’s big tax breaks bill divides the Congress

Republicans jumped to cheer on their side of the aisle when Trump praised the GOP majority in Congress that “delivered so beautifully” in passing the bill last year.

And when Trump criticized Democrats for voting against it, they too stood and cheered.

The bill that became law is the most significant legislative achievement for the president and his party, so far, in his second term.

It extended many tax cuts that had been approved during Trump’s first term and were about to expire. The package also offered new tax breaks including no taxes on tips, overtime pay and others.

9:49 PM ESTSpeech annotations

Trump repeats claim that tax law contains ‘no tax on social security’

By FATIMA HUSSEIN

“And with the great big beautiful bill, we gave you no tax on tips, no tax on overtime and no tax on Social Security.”

Trump frequently says his big tax cut bill means no tax on Social Security.

But that’s not true for everyone. Not all Social Security beneficiaries will be able to claim the deduction, which lasts four years until 2029. Those who won’t be able to do so include the lowest-income seniors who already don’t pay taxes on Social Security, those who choose to claim their benefits before they reach age 65 and those above a defined income threshold.

The deductions also phase out as income increases.

9:49 PM EST Speech annotations

Trump promises to allow migrants who ‘love our country’

By REBECCA SANTANA

“We will always allow people to come in legally, people that will love our country and will work hard to maintain our country.”

Trump has actually taken steps to restrict who can emigrate to the U.S. often in the name of protecting national security.

He suspended the refugee program on his first day in office and in October resumed the program but only in limited numbers for white South Africans.

Trump has also placed restrictions on who can travel or emigrate to the U.S. from nearly 40 countries. Many of those countries are in Africa.

9:48 PM ESTSpeech annotations

Trump investment accounts for kids get a shoutout

By FATIMA HUSSEIN

“Tax free investment accounts for every American child. This is something that’s so special. It has taken off and gone through the roof.”

Part of Trump’s tax legislation, Trump Accounts are meant to give $1,000 to every newborn, so long as their parents open an account.

That money is then invested in the stock market by private firms, and the child can access the money when they turn 18.

Parents can contribute up to $2,500 annually in pretax income, and yearly contributions are capped at $5,000. Some of the country’s wealthiest businesspeople have contributed tens of billions of dollars to the initiative, including billionaires Michael and Susan Dell and hedge fund founder Ray Dalio and his wife Barbara.

Several major companies announced plans to add Trump Accounts contributions to their benefits packages, including Uber, Intel, IBM, Nvidia and Steak ’n Shake.

9:47 PM ESTSpeech annotations

Trump touts falling fentanyl seizures as sign of policy success

By ELLIOT SPAGAT

“The flow of deadly fentanyl across our border is down by a record 56% in one year.”

Trump appears to be referring to fentanyl seizures, not the amount of fentanyl that got through undetected, which is unknown.

Fentanyl seizures at U.S. land borders and airports started dropping in 2023 and have continued to fall during Trump’s first year in office. Fentanyl seizures on the Mexican border dropped at 50% annual clip in October and at a 22% annual clip in January, the latest data available.

Monthly seizures were regularly above a half-ton before Trump took office but fell below that mark for 10 of his first 12 months as president. Trump has heavily pressured Mexico to increase enforcement but it’s unclear what is driving the decline.

Adam Isacson, a policy analyst at the Washington Office of Latin America, has said other possible explanations include less demand in the United States, infighting among Mexican cartels and new scanners that were installed at border crossings during Joe Biden’s presidency.

9:47 PM ESTSpeech annotations

Trump says he will make LA safe as he made Washington

By GARY FIELDS

“We’re going to do a good job in Los Angeles. And Los Angeles is going to be safe, just like Washington, D.C., is now one of the safest cities in the country.”

Trumpdeclared a crime emergency in Washington in August 2025 and has credited it with lowering crime to historic lows.

Crime did go down after a surge of federal authorities and national guard members onto the streets. But Mayor Muriel Bowser maintained it was already trending down at the time. Trump and Republicans argued that local police were cooking the books and not giving the surge the true credit it merited.

A House Committee and U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro issued reports supporting the fixed crime data claim. Bowser challenged those findings and asked for an inspector general review, which is underway.

Overall violent crime fell 29% in 2025 from 2024. It is currently down 29% so far this year from the same time in 2025. Federal authorities and more than 2,200 Guard members are still on the streets.

9:45 PM EST

Outside of the Capitol, Democratic lawmakers respond to Trump’s address

By JOEY CAPPELLETTI

A number of Democratic lawmakers chose to skip the president’s address, with some gathering just outside the Capitol on the National Mall for a “People’s State of the Union.” Standing alongside activists, they argued that Trump’s speech would not offer an accurate portrayal of the state of the nation.
“We know our state of the union. We know it is under attack,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland. Democrats held other counterprogramming as well, including a “State of the Swamp” event. The party’s formal rebuttal, however, was scheduled to come from Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger following Trump’s address.

9:44 PM ESTSpeech annotations

Trump touts Republicans’ massive tax and spending law

By FATIMA HUSSEIN

“I urged this Congress to begin the mission by passing the largest tax cuts in American history, and our Republican majorities delivered so beautifully. Thank you Republicans.”

Republicans’ tax and spending package that Trump signed into law last summer includes various provisions that eliminate federal income taxes on tips for people working in jobs that have traditionally received them, a deduction for older Americans and the creation of Trump accounts.

9:43 PM ESTSpeech annotations

Trump says he’ll give Medal of Freedom to Team USA hockey goalie

By JONATHAN J. COOPER

“I will soon be presenting Connor with our highest civilian honor.”

Trump announced that he will award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Team USA hockey goalie Connor Hellebuyck. Trump said the award has been given to “many athletes over the years.”

Hellebuyck made 41 saves, many of them spectacular, during the United States’ 2-1 victory over Canada for the gold medal at the Milan Cortina Games.

In his first term, Trump honored athletes including golfer Tiger Woods and football players Alan Page and Roger Staubach with the Medal of Freedom. He also awarded it posthumously to baseball great Babe Ruth.

9:41 PM ESTFrom the chamber

US Men’s Olympic Hockey team receives standing ovation and chants of ‘USA’ after Trump shoutout

By MATT BROWN, MATT ROURKE

In a rare bipartisan standing ovation, members of the Men’s Olympic Hockey team received a standing ovation as they entered the House chamber after a shoutout from Trump.

The players received multiple rounds of applause, chants of “USA” and pumped fists from lawmakers. Rep. Lisa McClain, the Republican House Conference Chair, shouted “Love you!”

Members of the team stood in the gallery seats overlooking the House floor after Trump praised them. Several smiled and waved at the crowd.

Trump then gave a shoutout to the women’s team, who also received a standing ovation despite not being in attendance. Both teams won gold at the Winter Olympics in Milan.

9:38 PM ESTSpeech annotations

Trump touts record low numbers of migrants at southern border

By REBECCA SANTANA

“In the past 9 months, zero illegal aliens have been admitted to the United States.”

Arrests for illegal crossings have plummeted to their lowest levels since the mid-1960s under Trump’s watch.

Republicans including Trump constantly criticized President Joe Biden for the number of migrants arriving at the southern border.

Arrivals hit a peak of 250,000 in December 2023. Then they started to fall to less than 50,000 in December 2024, Biden’s last full month in office.

They’ve plummeted even further under Trump.

The January tally of 6,070 arrests along the Mexican border translates to the lowest annualized rate since 1967.

Critics say the drop has carried big moral and humanitarian costs by ending asylum at the border.

9:37 PM EST

Trump invites the USA women’s hockey team to the White House

By SEUNG MIN KIM

The USA women’s hockey team — who, like their male counterparts were champions at the recent Olympics in Milano-Cortina — will get their due from Washington soon.

The women’s team had declined an invitation from Trump to attend Tuesday’s State of the Union, due to the timing of the address.

As the gold medal-winning men’s team made their appearance during the speech, Trump announced that the women’s team “will soon be coming to the White House.”

9:36 PM EST

Trump says US has received over 80 million barrels of Venezuelan oil

By REGINA GARCIA CANO

The president said the U.S. has received more than 80 million barrels of oil from its “new friend and partner, Venezuela.”

That exceeds what his administration had initially projected in the days after the U.S. military carried out a stunning raid in Venezuela’s capital last month and captured then-President Nicolás Maduro.

Venezuela’s oil industry produces roughly 1 million barrels a day. The country has the world’s largest proven oil reserves.

Trump vowed to turn around Venezuela’s crippling oil industry after Maduro was captured and taken to New York to face drug trafficking charges.

9:34 PM EST

Trump misstates gas prices, again

By MATTHEW DALY

Trump said gas prices now are below $2.30 per gallon in most states, which overstates the price drop since last year.

According to AAA, the national average was $2.95 per gallon as of Tuesday.

That’s below the $3.14 average as one year ago, but not nearly as low as Trump claims.

9:34 PM EST

Who’s the designated survivor?

By WILL WEISSERT

Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins arrives before Ireland’s Prime Minister Michael Martin and President Donald Trump speak during an event in the East Room of the White House in Washington, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, file)

They typically start the day as low-profile Cabinet secretaries. They end it that way, too, God willing.

But when the rest of the government is gathered together for a big event, like President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday night, a designated survivor is kept away to ensure someone in the line of leadership succession stays alive.

The president’s pick to sit out this time appeared to be Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins, who was also chosen as the designated survivor last year for the president’s address to a joint session of Congress. Collins was not seen in the chamber. The White House did not immediately confirm he was chosen.

▶ Read more

9:33 PM EST

Trump inflates foreign investment

By CAL WOODWARD

“I secured commitments for more than $18 trillion pouring in from all over the globe.”

Trump has presented no evidence that he’s secured this much domestic or foreign investment in the U.S. Based on statements from various companies, foreign countries and the White House’s own website, that figure appears to be exaggerated, highly speculative and far higher than the actual sum. The White House website offers a far lower number, $9.6 trillion, and that figure appears to include some investment commitments made during the Biden administration.

A study published in January raised doubts about whether more than $5 trillion in investment commitments made last year by many of America’s biggest trading partners will actually materialize and questions how it would be spent if it did.

9:31 PM ESTSpeech annotations

Trump’s claim that U.S. is ‘the hottest country’ misses context

By MELISSA GOLDIN

“Now we are the hottest country anywhere in the world, the hottest.”

The U.S. economy has generally performed strongly in Trump’s second term — after getting off to a bumpy start.

GDP shrank for the first time in three years during the first quarter of 2025. Growth rebounded in the second half of the year — from April through June, the economy expanded at a healthy 3.8% pace. And from July through September, it grew even faster — 4.4%. It slowed in the fourth quarter, increasing at only a 1.4% annual rate.

A key measure of inflation fell to nearly a five-year low in January. However, according to the Fed’s preferred measure, it remains elevated as the cost of goods such as furniture, clothes and groceries increase. Companies have also sharply reduced hiring.

The U.S. stock market did well last year, and yet it underperformed many foreign markets. The benchmark S&P 500 index climbed 17% — a nice gain but short of a 71% surge in South Korea, 29% in Hong Kong, 26% in Japan, 22% in Germany and 21% in the United Kingdom.

9:28 PM ESTSpeech annotations

Trump claims $18 trillion in investments — but it’s unclear where the numbers come from

By PAUL WISEMAN

“I secured commitments for more than $18 trillion pouring in from all over the globe.’’

It’s unclear where that number comes from. The White House has published a figure of $9.7 trillion, which includes private and public investment commitments from other countries.

Researchers at the Peterson Institute for International Economics last month calculated the investment pledges at $5 trillion from the EU, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and the Persian Gulf states of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.

9:27 PM ESTSpeech annotations

Trump touts drop in murder rate

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER

“Last year, the murder rate saw its single largest decline in recorded history.”

Homicide rates did drop sharply in many cities last year. But violent crime has been trending downward for years in the U.S. after a spike during the coronavirus pandemic. And experts say the historic drop in violence defies easy explanation despite elected officials at all levels rushing to claim credit.

A study from the Council on Criminal Justice — a nonpartisan think tank — released in January showed a more than 20% drop in the homicide rate between 2024 and 2025 in 35 cities that reported data. Some cities, including Denver and Washington, reported a 40% decrease.

FBI reports for 2023 and 2024 also showed significant reductions in violent crimes. Violent crime dropped to near pre-pandemic levels around 2022 when Biden was president.

9:24 PM EST

Trump says the economy is doing great. Most Americans disagree

By AMELIA THOMSON-DEVEAUX

Trump has praised the U.S. economy tonight, but AP-NORC polling shows that most Americans don’t think the country is doing well economically.

About two-thirds of U.S. adults continue to say the country’s economy is “poor.” That’s unchanged from recent months, and it’s broadly in line with views throughout Biden’s last year in office.

Republicans are the exception. About 6 in 10 say the economy is good. But even within Trump’s own party, a significant share — about 4 in 10 — describe it as poor.

9:23 PM ESTSpeech annotations

“Income growth has slowed in the past year, not ‘rising fast’

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER

“Incomes are rising fast, the roaring economy is roaring like never before.”

After-tax incomes, adjusted for inflation, rose just 0.9% in 2025, down from 2.2% in 2024. That is the smallest annual gain since 2022, when inflation soared and caused Americans’ inflation-adjusted income to drop.

Wages and salaries are the largest component of incomes, and their growth has slowed as companies have sharply slowed hiring. Workers typically command smaller wage gains in such an environment.

9:22 PM ESTFrom the chamber

Rep. Al Green is escorted from the chamber as Republicans chant ‘USA’

By MATT BROWN, MATT ROURKE

Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, is escorted out President Donald Trump delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026, as Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, watches. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

The House Sergeant at Arms approached and escorted Green, who stood as Trump began speaking with a sign reading “Black People Aren’t Apes!” from the chamber barely two minutes into the address.

Two Trump allies, Rep. Troy Nehls of Texas and Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, had approached the area where Green was sitting before Capitol Police escorted him out.

Before Green exited, some Republicans began chanted “USA.”

9:20 PM ESTSpeech annotations

Trump didn’t inherit a ‘stagnant economy’

By JOSH BOAK

“When I last spoke in this chamber 12 months ago, I had just inherited a nation in crisis, with a stagnant economy.”

Not quite.

Voters were unhappy with high inflation in the 2024 election, but the U.S. economy was far from stagnant.

U.S. gross domestic product rose 2.8% in 2024 after adjusting for inflation. That’s a stronger pace of growth than the 2.2% achieved last year during the start of Trump’s second term.

9:19 PM ESTFrom the chamber

Trump briefly greets Supreme Court justices

By JOSH BOAK

The president briefly greeted the four Supreme Court justices, shaking their hands before quickly moving on.

Representing the court were Chief Justice John Roberts, Elena Kagan and two of Trump’s appointees, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.

The greetings were notable because Trump angrily lashed out at the court after the justices in a 6-3 opinion Friday struck down his tariffs, a signature element of his economic policy.

Roberts, Coney Barrett and another Trump appointee, Neil Gorsuch, joined the court’s three liberal justices in voting down the tariffs.

9:19 PM EST

Trump is less popular on immigration than when he took office last year

By AMELIA THOMSON-DEVEAUX

Although Trump’s overall presidential approval has remained largely steady in his first year, he’s lost support on his handling of immigration. An AP-NORC poll conducted in early February found that about 4 in 10 U.S. adults approve of the way he’s handling immigration, down from 49% last March.

That shift means that immigration is no longer a strength for Trump. In his first few months, his approval on immigration exceeded his overall approval, but now they’re indistinguishable.

The February poll suggested that political independents, in particular, are increasingly uncomfortable with the president’s aggressive immigration enforcement tactics.

9:18 PM ESTSpeech annotations

Trump begins speech

By JONATHAN J. COOPER

“Our nation is back — bigger, better, richer and stronger than ever before.”

Trump opened with a triumphant assessment of his first year back in the White House, declaring, “this is the golden age of America.”

9:15 PM ESTFrom the chamber

Trump begins State of the Union address

By MATT BROWN, MATT ROURKE

“USA!” chants erupted in the chamber after House Speaker Mike Johnson introduced the president.

The president immediately acknowledged first lady Melania Trump and second lady Usha Vance, who both received standing ovations from Republicans.

TRUMP BEGINS SPEECH

President Donald Trump delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

9:13 PM ESTBREAKING NEWS UPDATES

JUST IN: President Donald Trump begins delivering State of the Union address

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

9:12 PM ESTFrom the chamber

Rep. Al Green unfurls sign of protest that reads ‘Black People Aren’t Apes!’

By MATT BROWN

Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, holds up a sign as President Donald J. Trump walks by on his way to deliver the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (Kenny Holston/The New York Times via AP, Pool)

The congressman stood in silence as Trump walked past him after he unfurled the sign.

It appeared to refer to a video the president posted that spread false claims about the 2020 election and included a racist caricature of former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama depicted as apes.

9:10 PM ESTFrom the chamber

Trump arrives at the State of the Union

By MATT BROWN, MARK SCHIEFELBEIN

President Donald Trump arrives to deliver the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

The president received a standing ovation from across the chamber. Congressional Republicans, Supreme Court justices and the Joint Chiefs of Staff all clapped, and cheers could be heard from the crowd and gallery overlooking the House floor.

9:07 PM ESTFrom the chamber

Trump’s Cabinet enters

By MATT BROWN

Most members of the Cabinet chatted with lawmakers. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Attorney General Pam Bondi shook hands with legislators, Supreme Court Justices and members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff before taking their seats.

Hegseth chatted and laughed with generals. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick mingled with senators. Transportation Secretary Scott Duffy enthusiastically shook the hand of Rep. Al Green, a frequent Trump critic, approaching and speaking with a group of Democratic senators.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner struck up conversations with lawmakers.

9:01 PM ESTFrom the chamber

First lady Melania Trump receives a standing ovation as she enters the chamber

By MATT BROWN

Republicans and attendees in the gallery overlooking the House floor cheered and whistled for the first lady as she waved to her fellow attendees.

Democrats stood, but few clapped.

9:00 PM ESTFrom the chamber

Special guests arrive

By MARK SCHIEFELBEIN, MATT ROURKE, ROD LAMKEY

8:59 PM ESTFrom the chamber

Justices of the Supreme Court arrive for State of the Union after Trump’s criticism

By MATT BROWN

From left, Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Elena Kagan, Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Justice Amy Coney Barrett stand before President Donald Trump delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (Kenny Holston/The New York Times via AP, Pool)

Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justices Elena Kagan, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett took their seats directly in front of the dais where the president is set to speak.

Trump last week called justices “disloyal” after the high court delivered a ruling that struck down his tariff regime on imported goods.

“I couldn’t care less if they come,” he later said on whether the justices should attend tonight’s address.

8:56 PM EST

Obama’s chief speechwriter: State of the Union speeches are a ‘relic’

By BILL BARROW

Jon Favreau was lead writer for several Barack Obama addresses. He says the whole thing is relatively pointless.

“It’s become a relic of a speech that barely matters,” Favreau said on the social platform X. He argued that “the people who are paying attention tend to be politically engaged types who’ve already made up their minds.”

There is little political effect “when the speech is a success” and “when it’s a disaster,” Favreau said.

There are rare occasions, of course, when it matters.

Democrat Joe Biden used his 2024 speech to calm his party’s concerns about his age as he sought reelection — only to have a disastrous debate performance months later that led to him dropping out.

Republicans are hoping Trump can achieve the same kind of stabilizing effect ahead of the November elections. And since it’s a midterm year, there’s no debate stage later for him to give voters another look.

8:52 PM EST

Joint Chiefs of Staff speak with lawmakers ahead of State of the Union

By MATT BROWN

Members of Congress from both parties shook hands with the nation’s top military brass, including Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

8:43 PM ESTFrom the chamber

Trump has arrived at the Capitol

By SEUNG MIN KIM, MANUEL BALCE CENETA

The president left the White House at 8:33 p.m. and arrived at the Capitol at 8:41 p.m. His address is scheduled to begin at 9 p.m.

8:42 PM EST

Trump to go after Democrats on Homeland Security shutdown

By SEUNG MIN KIM

As lawmakers sit in the House chamber, the Department of Homeland Security remains shuttered, with its funding having run out Jan. 30.

Trump will use his address to blame the shutdown on Democrats, who have been insisting on changes to law enforcement practices by federal immigration agents before agreeing to fund the agency.

“As we speak, Democrats in this chamber have cut off all funding for the Department of Homeland Security. They have closed the agency responsible for protecting Americans from terrorists and murderers,” Trump will say in his address, according to excerpts released by the White House. “Tonight, I am demanding the full and immediate restoration of all funding for the border security and homeland security of the United States.”

White House officials have been trading policy offers with top Democratic leaders, but both sides have indicated they are not close to an agreement on ending the shutdown.