WASHINGTON : US President Donald Trump declared that “this is the Golden Age of America” at the start of his State of the Union address on Tuesday, seeking to project an aura of success at a fraught moment for his presidency and his Republican Party.
“Our nation is back – bigger, better, richer and stronger than ever before,” he said after taking the stage to cheers of “USA, USA” from his party’s members of Congress, while Democrats stood in stony silence.
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 was a reference to a social media video Trump posted this month that included a clip depicting former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as apes.
The White House eventually took down the video, and Trump said a staffer posted the video. The 78-year-old Green, who is Black, was also ejected last year after shouting at Trump during his address to Congress.
The annual speech carried enormous stakes for the president, with his approval ratings slumping, anxieties rising over Iran and Americans struggling with the cost of living as the campaign for November’s midterm elections for Congress gets under way.
The televised prime-time speech to Congress, his second in the 13 months since returning to the White House, offered Trump a chance to persuade voters to keep his fellow Republicans in power.
Trump began his speech by touting the economy, declaring that inflation is “plummeting” even though prices for groceries, housing, insurance and utilities remain significantly higher than they were a few years ago. White House aides and Republican campaign advisers had urged Trump to focus on Americans’ economic worries.
Trump’s victory in the 2024 election was based in large part on his promises to ease the cost of living, but voters are largely unconvinced by his efforts so far. A Reuters/Ipsos poll found only 36% of Americans approve of his handling of the economy.
Befitting a former reality television star with a penchant for the dramatic, Trump bragged about all the “winning” the country was experiencing before introducing some other “winners”: the US men’s ice hockey team, which won a gold medal at the Winter Olympics on Sunday.
POLITICAL HEADWINDS
The president is facing stiff political headwinds at home and abroad.
Just days ago, the Supreme Court invalidated his signature global tariffs regime, and new data showed the economy slowed more than expected while inflation accelerated.
The Department of Homeland Security is mostly shut down due to a dispute between congressional Republicans and Democrats over the administration’s aggressive immigration tactics, following the fatal shootings of two US citizens in Minneapolis.
Meanwhile, Trump has struggled to turn the page on the scandal surrounding convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Opposition Democrats have invited several people who accuse Epstein of abusing them to the speech.
Trump, who has openly coveted the Nobel Peace Prize and set up his own “Board of Peace,” also appears to be inching closer to a military conflict with Iran over its nuclear program.
Tuesday’s speech could offer Trump a chance to mount for the first time a public case for military intervention. Two White House officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Trump will discuss his plans but did not offer details.
He will also tout his record of brokering peace deals, they said. Tuesday marked the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a reminder that he has yet to resolve the war he once said he could end in 24 hours.
The president was expected to address the Supreme Court’s decision on tariffs, arguing that the court erred and outlining alternative laws he can use to reconstitute most of the levies.
Trump shook hands with the four justices in attendance on Tuesday, including Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a Trump appointee whom he attacked in surprisingly personal terms last week for voting to strike down the tariffs.
Trump, who has a propensity for ad-libbing, said on Monday his address would be lengthy. His 100-minute speech last March – technically not a State of the Union speech, but otherwise similar – was the longest presidential address to Congress in modern history.
The White House officials said this year’s edition was crafted with room for unscripted moments.
“We are planning around it,” one official said.
Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger, whose decisive victory in November was seen as an early midterm warning sign for Republicans, will deliver the official Democratic response to the speech.