He might have closed the speech with message of unity ahead of America’s 250th anniversary, but Donald Trump used much of the runtime of his 2026 State of the Union address to attack his opponents.
In a rambling speech that included cameos from the U.S. men’s hockey team, several military commendations and numerous shout-outs to conservative cause célèbre crime stories, Trump railed against his detractors in the Democratic Party and his allies at the Supreme Court.
The president repeatedly squabbled with Democrats in attendance, saying they spread a “dirty rotten lie” about the cost of living in the United States and accusing them of “ripping children from their parents’ arms” while decrying trans-affirming care for minors.
He spoke over heckles from Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib when he claimed that the country was being “pillaged” by Somali-Americans in Minnesota. He accused the Democrats of opposing voter ID laws because “the only way they can get elected is to cheat.” Trump also took a moment to attack Rep. Nancy Pelosi directly, after floating legislation that would bar stock trading on “insider information.”
“Did Nancy Pelosi stand up? I doubt it,” he said, gesturing toward the Democrats. “I wasn’t sure if anyone on this side was going to stand up.”
Trump engineered a red meat moment early in his long-winded address, asking lawmakers to stand up if they believe “the first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.” When no one on the Democrats’ side of the aisle stood, he chastised them.
“You should be ashamed of yourself,” he said.
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With several Supreme Court justices in attendance on Tuesday, Trump decried the high court’s “very unfortunate ruling” on his ability to impose blanket tariffs on U.S. trading partners. He promised that many U.S. trading partners would continue on under their trade agreements “despite the Supreme Court’s unfortunate involvement.”
After briefly alluding to his belief that the 2020 election was rigged against him, and offering that he should be in the first year of his “third term,” Trump went off-script to lay into Democrats one more time.
“These people are crazy, I’m telling you. We’re lucky we have a country with people like this,” he said, over audible heckling about the Epstein files. “Democrats are destroying out country but we stopped it, just in the nick of time.”
