By Zo Terrana
Staff Writer
In his 2026 State of the Union address on Feb. 24, President Donald Trump spoke on key topics such as immigration and the economy, while taking aim at his Democrat counterparts.
Trump’s speech bested his own record for 1 hour and 48 minutes making this address one of the longest by recent memory, according to NPR.
After Trump addressed fellow members of Congress and made opening remarks, he declared that “our nation is back: Bigger, better, richer and stronger than ever before,” according to AP News.
The president began his address slowly, speaking on his thoughts about the direction of the nation, with claps in between his beginning remarks. Many Republicans stood and applauded the president's statements during the address.
The president then took aim at the Biden administration stating, “The Biden administration and its allies in Congress gave us the worst inflation in the history of our country. But in 12 months, my administration has driven core inflation down to the lowest level in more than five years.”
This statement by the president has been reported as false according to Yahoo!news. In fact, the president with the worst inflation rate was president Jimmy Carter with a staggering average inflation rate of 9.9%.
Using this attack on the previous administration, Trump focused the spotlight on his administration, touting the economy as a key talking point. Stating that his economy is “roaring,” according to AP News.
However this runs counter to the American people's perspective, according to a poll conducted by ABC News/Washington Post.
About two-thirds of Americans disapprove of how Trump is handling inflation, while over 6 in 10 disapprove of how he is handling tariffs on imported goods and U.S. relations with other countries. 58% disapprove of how he is handling immigration and 57% disapprove of how he is handling the economy.
Transitioning to immigration, the president boasted of lower border crossing and spoke on his administration’s immigration policy.
Taking aim at specific immigrant communities like Minnesota's Somali population, Trump said, “The Somali pirates who ransacked Minnesota remind us that there are large parts of the world where bribery, corruption and lawlessness are the norm, not the exception. Importing these cultures through unrestricted immigration and open borders brings us problems right here to the USA,” Ap News reported.
The most heated moment of the address came as Trump and various Democrats exchanged words. Trump, asking lawmakers to stand if they agreed that "the first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens,” instigated a verbal confrontation after Trump stated that anyone who didn't stand “should be ashamed of themselves,” according to ABC News.
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., who is of Somali descent shouted, “You have killed Americans,” a reference presumably connected to the fatal shootings in Minnesota of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by ICE federal agents.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., chimed in during the verbal spar shouting, “you’re the most corrupt president,” according to ABC News.
Four Supreme Court justices were present during the address as Trump criticized the Supreme Court's ruling on the administration's global tariffs which resulted in the tariffs being struck down, according to AP News.
