Trump defends policies, attacks Democrats during State of the Union address

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Tuesday night used his State of the Union address to repeatedly attack congressional Democrats as they objected to his immigration policies, while also arguing that his policies were putting more money in the pockets of Americans who have soured on the economy.

The annual address to a joint session of Congress — the longest in U.S. history at 1 hour, 47 minutes and 43 seconds — featured some of the most partisan moments in recent memory, with the chief executive calling Democratic lawmakers “sick people.” Trump and some Democrats raised their voices, pointed fingers at one another and traded insults. The scenes were, in many ways, just another example of the country’s increasingly toxic politics.

“These people are crazy, I’m telling you,” he said, pointing a finger at the Democratic side of the House chamber as he reiterated his opposition to pro-transgender policies. “Democrats are destroying our country, but we’ve stopped it just in the nick of time.”

Many Democrats opted to sit in silence as the president spoke, until several broke out in shouted protests. The president, meanwhile, accused the opposition party and his predecessor, Joe Biden, of creating the affordability crisis.

“You caused that problem,” he said, raising his voice. “Their policies created the high prices. Our policies are rapidly ending them.”

Partisan rancor broke out as Trump made his way through the immigration section of his address, drawing loud protests from Minnesota Democrat Ilhan Omar and others. As he described his immigration enforcement actions, Omar yelled, “You’re shooting them” — an apparent reference to the two American citizens shot and killed by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis last month.

Trump urged Congress to pass legislation that would “end deadly sanctuary cities” and “enact serious penalties for public officials who block the removal of criminal aliens, in many cases, drug lords, murderers all over our country.” Above audible shouts, he said: “They’re blocking the removal of these people out of our country — and you should be ashamed of yourself.”

GOP strategist Ford O’Connell, in a Tuesday evening email, credited Trump with “smartly reframing the argument as the first duty of the American government is to protect their citizens, not illegal aliens,” saying the stance “will poll well with independents.”

In touting his economic record, Trump ticked off a long list of statistics that have been questioned by Democratic lawmakers and analysts. He boasted about a record-setting stock market, rising retirement account balances, trillions in foreign investment dollars, new factories and construction jobs created under his watch.

At one point, he chided Democrats for voting against Republicans’ sprawling 2025 tax and spending measure — prompting some to yell, “Shame on you.”

Despite Trump’s rosy rhetoric, most Americans have been in a dismal economic mindset for some time. Gallup’s “economic confidence index” last was in the positive in June 2021, and had a Trump second-term high of -14 in June. It has since dropped to -33.

Despite that public mood and the made-for-television moments of partisan acrimony, around the 17-minute mark Trump declared, “I say tonight, members of Congress, the state of our union is strong. Our country is winning again.”

That came after he began his address, saying that the nation was “back, bigger, better, richer and stronger than ever before” and that his administration had achieved “a turnaround for the ages.”

Still, even one former GOP Senate leadership aide, G. William Hoagland, called Trump’s promise of a balanced federal budget “unlikely” in a Tuesday evening email.

And when he touted his health plan, which has gotten little traction among even GOP lawmakers, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., posted this on the social platform X, “Here’s the truth: Trump made the largest cut to Medicaid in history and ripped health care away from millions of Americans to gave tax cuts to billionaires. He’s not helping working families. He’s Robin Hood in reverse.”

Even before the president entered the House chamber, Sen. Christopher S. Murphy, D-Conn., wrote on X that “no matter what Trump talks about tonight, remember he only cares about 3 or 4 things: covering up the Epstein scandal, convincing people he won the 2020 election, stealing the 2024 election, and sometimes his ballroom.”

Most House Democrats remained seated or turned their backs as Trump entered the House chamber via the center aisle. The House Democratic leadership team did not stand. They did not applaud when he made asks of Congress that most Democrats likely oppose, such as one to codify his health care plan and another to pass legislation “barring any state from granting commercial driver’s licenses to illegal aliens.”

‘Unfortunate’ ruling

Trump’s speech from the dais came at a pivotal moment for his second term as Republicans fight to maintain their Senate and House majorities. The president, after a break-neck first year back in power, has suffered a number of setbacks in recent months, causing his poll numbers to plummet and raising fears about big GOP losses in November.

The Supreme Court on Friday nixed many of his global tariffs, the centerpiece of his economic plan, prompting calls from a list of Republican lawmakers for the president to end uncertainty around his cherished import duties by working with Congress to codify duties into law. Trump opted for civility, shaking hands with all four high-court jurists in attendance, including three who voted down his tariffs.

As those justices looked on from the front row, Trump called the ruling “unfortunate” and vowed to replace the nixed import duties with ones based on other statutes. “Congressional action will not be necessary,” he contended. “It’s already time-tested and approved.”

More than half of registered voters, 57%, graded the state of the union as not very strong or not strong, according to an NPR/PBS News/Marist University survey conducted late last month. Forty-two percent of registered voters called the economy very strong or strong. Among the key independent bloc, 32% replied very strong or strong, with 68% calling it not very strong or not strong.

For months, Trump has been shedding support among independents, a group that propelled him to victory in all seven swing states in the 2024 election. A Feb. 20-23 Economist/YouGov poll found 66% of independents disapproving of Trump’s job performance, while 25% approved.

The president and his team have brushed off such numbers, with Trump during a Monday event at the White House slamming what he called “fake polls.” But aides have acknowledged the slumping poll numbers have frustrated their boss — and he came out swinging on Tuesday night.

“All Democrats, every single one of them, voted against these really important and very necessary massive tax cuts,” he said. “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.”

In a preview of a big part of his midterm election stump speech, Trump boasted that his administration has been “deporting illegal alien criminals from our country at record numbers — and we’re getting them the hell out of here fast.”

‘Sinister ambitions’

The president tied that initiative to an attempt to blame the ongoing Department of Homeland Security shutdown solely on Democratic members.

“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,” he said. “Tonight, I am demanding the full and immediate restoration of all funding for the border security and homeland security of the United States, and also for helping people clean up their snow. We have no money because of the Democrats.”

(DHS received a substantial spending plus-up in Republicans’ massive tax and spending measure last year. Hoagland said in another email that the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which comes under DHS, had monies to help with snow removal in the Northeast and other such tasks.)

Meantime, lawmakers from both parties have been leery of Trump’s massive military build up around Iran, with war drums pounding anew over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.

Trump has vacillated between warning Iranian officials of a second round of military strikes and suggesting on-again-off-again negotiations could soon produce a deal. His press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, on Tuesday morning told reporters the president would prefer a diplomatic solution.

“As president, I will make peace wherever I can,” Trump said Tuesday. “But I will never hesitate to confront threats to America wherever we must.” He repeated his contention that the Iran strikes he ordered last year “obliterated” the country’s nuclear weapons program but then proceeded to make the case for a new round of strikes there.

“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,” Trump said. “After [Operation] Midnight Hammer, they were warned to make no future attempts to rebuild their weapons program, in particular nuclear weapons. … 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 them,” he said of senior Iranian officials. “They want to make a deal, but we haven’t heard those secret words, ‘We will never have a nuclear weapon.'”

Nearly half (49%) of Americans somewhat or strongly opposed a second American round of strikes on Iran, while more than one-quarter (27%) supported another attack, according to the Economist/YouGov survey. There was more support for an operation to oust Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (39%) with 29% opposed.

The president wrapped up the lengthy speech Tuesday night just as he’d begun it, speaking of the nation’s founding year and revolution.

“The Revolution that began in 1776 has not ended,” he said. “It still continues, because the flame of liberty and independence still burns in the hearts of every American patriot.”

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—Valerie Yurk contributed to this report.