In Combative State of the Union, Trump Heralds Economic and Border Policies

 

In Combative State of the Union, Trump Heralds Economic and Border Policies

 

The president derided Democrats and said the United States was “winning.” In the Democratic response, Gov. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia accused the president of sowing fear.

 

Published Feb. 24, 2026

Updated Feb. 25, 2026, 3:41 a.m. ET

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/02/24/us/trump-state-of-the-union

Tyler Pager

Luke Broadwater

Tyler Pager and Luke BroadwaterReporting from Washington

 

Here are six takeaways from Trump’s State of the Union address.

 

President Trump delivered the longest State of the Union address in American history on Tuesday night, insisting that he had overseen a “turnaround for the ages” during his first year back in office, even as voters lose confidence in his handling of the economy.

 

In his remarks, which clocked in at one hour and 47 minutes, Mr. Trump introduced few new policies and instead appeared to relish the theatrics of the moment. He used the opportunity to berate Democrats as “crazy” for not standing or applauding for his priorities, especially on crime, immigration and the economy.

 

Mr. Trump’s tone shifted throughout his address, seesawing between soaring descriptions of the country’s gains, including gold medals at the Olympics, and strikingly graphic stories of overseas conflicts and crime in the United States.

 

It was all a preview of his arguments ahead of this year’s midterm elections.

 

Mr. Trump has never had a short speech to Congress. Every time he has addressed the chamber, he has talked for more than an hour, including last year’s defiant, 100-minute speech, which was the longest in modern history — until Tuesday.

 

Here are six takeaways from Mr. Trump’s State of the Union address.

 

Trump tried to define Democrats on his own terms.

Throughout the night, Mr. Trump taunted the Democrats in the chamber, and tried to portray them as anti-American and unelectable. On nearly every issue, he tried to bait his opponents into showing support for his priorities.

 

He deployed the tactic early in the speech, telling lawmakers to stand if they agreed with his declaration that the “first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens. Not illegal aliens.”

 

When they declined, he went in for the attack.

 

“Isn’t that a shame?" he said. “You should be ashamed of yourself, not standing up. You should be ashamed of yourself.”

 

Mr. Trump repeated the approach throughout the evening, saying: “These people are crazy, I’m telling you. They’re crazy.”

 

As Republicans gear up for the midterms, Mr. Trump was trying to bolster his party’s political prospects by painting the Democrats as extreme. Historical trends and recent polling suggest Republicans are at risk of losing control of at least one chamber of Congress — a result Mr. Trump is desperately trying to avoid — and so he spent much of the speech attacking Democrats.

 

The former reality TV star put on a show.

Mr. Trump is well-aware of the power of images, and he filled his speech with surprises and dramatic moments.

 

The president welcomed the Olympic champion U.S. men’s ice hockey team — who emerged from behind doors at the balcony above Mr. Trump — and announced he would be awarding the team’s goalie the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

 

He invited Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, one of the two National Guard members who was shot in Washington, D.C. last year, to make an appearance. After describing Mr. Wolfe’s injuries in graphic terms, Mr. Trump surprised him with the Purple Heart.

 

He recognized a former prisoner of the Nicolas Maduro regime and reunited him with his niece, Alejandra Gonzalez.

 

“After Enrique ran for office and opposed Maduro, he was captured 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,” Mr. Trump said, adding for dramatic effect: “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.”

 

He then appeared in the House chamber, too.

 

Trump struggled to acknowledge Americans’ economic pain.

Mr. Trump boasted that he has resuscitated the American economy after inheriting “a nation in crisis.” For weeks, Mr. Trump’s aides and allies have been encouraging him to tackle voters’ affordability concerns head-on, and so he dutifully ticked off a list of economic indicators — the stock market, price of gas, mortgage rates, job growth — as evidence of the “roaring economy.”

 

But he appeared less willing to acknowledge that Americans were still struggling.

 

He railed against Democrats who “suddenly use the word affordability,” continuing his argument that his political opponents have weaponized the word to harm him politically.

 

“They knew their statements were a dirty, rotten lie,” Mr. Trump said.

 

Polling shows voters remain concerned about the economy, and Republicans know that voters’ attitudes about affordability will be crucial to November’s elections. And yet, the president has often shown little discipline when it comes to addressing these worries.

 

Trump did not spend much time talking about Iran.

Mr. Trump has kept the world on edge as he weighs launching strikes against Iran, but he didn’t even get to the subject until about 90 minutes into the speech. He then spent three minutes talking about the country before moving on.

 

Mr. Trump did little to explain why he had amassed the largest amount of U.S. military firepower in the Middle East since the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Instead, he said Iran wants to make a deal with the United States, and he prefers to solve the tensions through diplomacy.

 

But he said the United States has not heard Iran say “those secret words: we will never have a nuclear weapon.”

 

Iran has, in fact, often made that promise, although evidence gathered over the years has shown that the country has repeatedly appeared to be testing the components that would go into a nuclear weapon.

 

Mr. Trump said Iran has started to reconstitute its nuclear program after the United States dropped bombs on the country last June.

 

U.S. officials, including Steve Witkoff, the president’s special envoy, and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, are scheduled for another round of negotiations with Iran on Thursday in Geneva.

 

Just days after lashing out at the Supreme Court as “fools and lap dogs” over its ruling against his signature tariffs program, Mr. Trump was face-to-face with several justices who decided against them.

 

But on Tuesday, Mr. Trump was more measured in his criticism of the high court. He called it a “very unfortunate ruling” and a “disappointing ruling” while also vowing that he could move forward with other tariffs without Congressional approval.

 

It was a fairly cordial encounter, all things considered, and Mr. Trump shook hands with the justices on his way to the podium.

 

Only four justices attended the speech: Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Elena Kagan, Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Justices Roberts, Barrett and Kagan were among the six members of the court who ruled against Mr. Trump.

 

The four justices sat stone-faced throughout the speech, showing little emotion as Mr. Trump criticized the ruling.

 

Trump talked of others’ fraud, but not his own ethical issues.

Mr. Trump repeatedly railed against what he portrayed as widespread fraud in government programs around the country. And he suggested members of Congress were profiting off their offices through insider stock trading.

 

He claimed billions of dollars have been stolen through fraud in Minnesota, that “California, Massachusetts, Maine and many other states are even worse,” and tasked Vice President JD Vance to lead a “war on fraud.”

 

But Mr. Trump made no mention of how his family has profited off the presidency. Past presidents often went to great lengths to avoid monetizing the White House, but Mr. Trump has seemed to have little issue with it.

 

Mr. Trump is also the only president to have been found liable in a civil fraud case, and he has pardoned several individuals who were convicted on fraud charges.