- Trump touts economic record in marathon State of the Union address.
- President seeks reset ahead of midterms amid low approval ratings.
- Speech highlights deep partisan divide, Democrats boycott address.
In his marathon State of the Union address, US President Donald Trump described his administration's achievements to what he called a "golden age" for America, pondering heavily on economic achievements, trying to reset his presidency ahead of high-stakes midterm elections ahead.
Speaking for nearly one hour and 47 minutes in the House chamber on Tuesday night, Trump devoted the opening stretch of his speech almost entirely to the economy, touting record stock market levels, sweeping tax cuts, lower prescription drug prices and progress in taming inflation. Throughout his speech, the president remained focused on positive narrative, with recent polls showing his approval ratings sliding fast.
"Our nation is back -- bigger, better, richer and stronger than ever before," Trump declared to loud chants of "USA, USA" from Republicans, but several rows of empty seats on the Democratic side reflected a clear boycott with many lawmakers showed up outside the Capitol staging protests.
Trump's claim that inflation is "plummeting," quick response hit social media listing how everyday costs continue to weigh on Americans. Prices for groceries, housing, insurance and utilities remain well above levels seen a few years ago, while data released last Friday showed the economy slowed more than expected in the last quarter even as inflation picked up again.
In a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll found that only 36% of Americans approve of Trump's handling of the economy, a vulnerability Democrats are keen to exploit as they seek to reclaim control of both chambers of Congress in November mid-term elections, when all 435 House of Representatives' seats and roughly one-third of the Senate seats are up for grabs.
Trump Managed to Stay Unusual Restraint
Despite giving a long historically longer State of the Union speech, Trump kept himself in an unusually restrained manner, largely sticking to prepared text and avoiding the free-wheeling digressions that often he makes in his daily public appearances. Still, flashes of confrontation surfaced when he touched on the controversial issue of his administration's immigration crackdown.
When Trump repeated his claims that undocumented migrants are driving violent crime and scolded Democrats for opposing funding for the Department of Homeland Security, saying
"You should be ashamed," sharp reactions from the Democratic side sprung into chaos. Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar shouted, "You have killed Americans!" from the chamber.
Even opinion polls show a majority of Americans believe Trump's immigration crackdown has gone too far, particularly after two U.S. citizens were fatally shot by masked federal agents in Minneapolis.
The president tried to gauze the situation and brought forward his long-standing claims of widespread election fraud, accusing Democrats of opposing voter ID laws because "they want to cheat." Democrats kept their stand that the measures would suppress voter turnout.
On the judiciary, Trump kept a markedly softer tone. Just days after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down his signature tariff regime, and after previously lashing out at the justices, he simply described in his State of the Union that the ruling was "unfortunate" and shook hands with the four justices present.
Claims Ended Eight Wars
On Foreign Policy, Trump paid comparatively little attention for much of the address, though he repeated his claim that he had "ended" eight wars, an assertion critics say exaggerates reality as India never reacted so far over stopping India-Pakistan war by him. And he barely cited the Russia-Ukraine war, even though the day is remarkable marking the fourth anniversary of Ukraine-Russia war.
Iran emerged only briefly toward the end of the speech. "My preference is to solve this problem through diplomacy," Trump 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."
Several Democrats staged strong protests. Representative Al Green was ejected for the second time after holding up a sign reading, "Black people aren't apes," hinting at a social media video Trump shared earlier this month that depicted Barack and Michelle Obama as apes. The White House later removed the video, blaming a staffer instead.
Other gestures remained quiet protests. Representative Jill Tokuda wore a jacket bearing words like "affordability" and "healthcare," while some Democratic women wore tags which read: "Release the Files," pointing to the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. Incidentally, about a dozen Epstein accusers attended the Union Speech as guests of Democrats.
Closing the night with his characteristic flair, Trump boasted of America's "winning" streak before inviting the US men's ice hockey team for inning a gold medal at the Winter Olympics, to the spotlight.
The speech, heavy on achievements and light on policy details, underscored both Trump's strengths with his base and the deep political divides that will entail the events leading into November.
(With inputs from agencies)
