Election Showdown: Trump’s Fiery Patriotic Push
From tariffs to immigration, 8 fiery moments defined Donald Trump’s State of the Union, sharpening his midterm election strategy.
Donald Trump delivered a powerful State of the Union speech on Tuesday night, declaring that America is "long overdue for change."
At a time when polls show that many in the US are unhappy with the current state of the country—and with Trump's leadership—the president offered no hint of change.
Instead, with crucial midterm elections coming later this year, he delivered a sales pitch to the nation, offering patriotic platitudes to his loyal supporters and taunting his political opponents.
The speech was full of theatrics—the kind of moments tailored for the cameras that a man who once hosted a reality television show loves.
At the start, he welcomed the US Olympic men's hockey team to the gallery. They raised their gold medals, as Republicans chanted "USA!" and Democrats stood and applauded.
Later, Trump mentioned military heroes, a 100-year-old World War II veteran, and a Coast Guard swimmer who rescued 165 people stranded in last year's Texas floods. The latter received the Congressional Medal of Honor, and the former received the Legion of Merit Award for Extraordinary Heroism.
Although his speech set a record for length, these moments accelerated the evening's pace and fit with the president's larger theme of American patriotism and success.
His speech began with familiar lines. He declared, "Our country is back," saying it was the "hottest" country in the world. At one point, after accusing Democrats of creating an "affordability" crisis, he added: "We're doing really well."
He pointed to rising incomes, a rising stock market, low gasoline prices, a significant decrease in undocumented migrant crossings at the southern border, and controlled inflation.
He concluded, "Our country is winning again."
The challenge for the president is that his public approval rating hovers around 40 percent, and the American public wants him to do more to address their concerns.
Last month, he delivered a national address from the White House, touching on similar topics and citing similar statistics—but it didn't convince the public. The president and his aides are hoping that the larger audience at the State of the Union, expected to number in the millions, will have different results.
However, Trump didn't elaborate on new policies in the speech.
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He offered a few ideas in his nearly two-hour speech, including new retirement savings accounts for working-class Americans and a deal with AI companies to provide enough electricity for their plants so consumers don't face high bills.
He also offered new pitches for other, older ideas, such as a healthcare plan that makes direct payments to Americans to help cover insurance premiums, a law requiring all voters to prove their citizenship, and a ban on commercial driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants.
He also promised to continue pursuing his massive tariff system, even after the Supreme Court struck down many of his measures last Friday.
The three judges who ruled against the president remained expressionless, watching from the front row. Earlier, Trump and Chief Justice John Roberts—who wrote the court's tariff opinion—briefly shook hands, but neither smiled.
In a speech repeatedly interrupted by cheering Republicans in the crowd, Trump's tariff discussion prompted murmurs from Democrats and an uneasy silence from Republicans, many of whom were worried about their economic costs and the threat their unpopularity poses to their electoral prospects.
If tariffs had energized the chamber, anger erupted when Trump turned to immigration.
Trump's statements about the threat of "illegal aliens" provoked the loudest applause from Republicans in the chamber, and angry shouts and cold stares from Democrats.
The immigration issue had been one of Trump's political strengths, but his crackdown on law enforcement in Minneapolis, which led to the shooting and killing of two American citizens by federal agents, has significantly eroded his credibility.
The president made no mention of those fatal shootings—or of the "softer approach" to law enforcement that he had said might be needed in the aftermath. Instead, Trump's speech, which focused on crimes committed by undocumented immigrants—murders, accidents, and corruption—was an attempt to revive the issue.
He said, "Right now, the only things standing between Americans and open borders are President Donald J. Trump and our great Republican patriots in Congress."
This was a tacit acknowledgement of the fact that in just eight months, Americans will vote in midterm elections that will determine the composition of both houses of Congress.
As is common in these speeches to Congress, foreign policy took a back seat regardless of the president. Despite the massive deployment of US troops near Iran, Trump did little to convince the American public that sustained US military action was necessary.
He said, "My preference is to resolve this problem through diplomacy, but one thing is certain: I will never allow the world's number one sponsor of terror to possess nuclear weapons," and then moved on.
At present, the political winds are blowing against the president. But Trump likely believes the public mood will change.
Perhaps he believes Americans will begin to feel the economic benefits of his policies. Or perhaps he believes the mood will change with a renewed sense of patriotism during the country's 250th birthday celebrations this summer.
His speech, which included military heroes and gold medal-winning hockey players in the audience, could indicate that this is a political gamble.
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