WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump began his State of the Union address on Tuesday, a speech where he plans to declare his policies have the job market and domestic manufacturing booming — hoping to convince increasingly wary Americans that the economy is stronger than many believe and that they should vote for more of the same by backing Republicans during November’s midterm elections.
Republicans chanted “USA! USA!” as Trump, wearing a long red tie and a blue suit, stepped to the lectern in the House. Most Democrats remained seated without applauding. Some of the party’s lawmakers registered their opposition by refraining from attending the speech.
“It is indeed a turnaround for the ages,” Trump said early on.
Excerpts released by the White House before he began Tuesday's address said Trump will vow that, “Moving forward, factories, jobs, investment, and trillions of dollars will continue pouring into the United States of America."
Trump is set to use his speech to champion his immigration crackdowns and slashing of the federal government, as well as his push to preserve widespread tariffs that the Supreme Court just struck down and his ability to direct quick-hit military actions around the world, including in Iran and Venezuela.
“We have achieved a transformation like no one has ever seen before, and a turnaround for the ages,” Trump plans to say, according to the excerpts. “We will never go back to where we were just a short time ago.”
The balancing act of celebrating his whirlwind first year back in the White House while making a convincing case for his party in midterm races in which he personally won't be on the ballot could be a tall order.
It might prove especially delicate for Trump, given how happy he is to veer off script and ignore carefully crafted messaging.
A main theme will be that the country is booming with a rise in domestic manufacturing and new jobs, despite many Americans not feeling that way. “It’s going to be a long speech because we have so much to talk about," said Trump, who promised a heavy dose of talk about the economy.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump will argue that Republicans are best suited to continue tackling the public's concerns about the cost of living.
“The president's going to make the case that three more years with him in the White House and with Republicans on Capitol Hill we can finally achieve the American dream in this country again that we had in his first term but was lost because of Joe Biden and the Democrats over the past four years,” Leavitt told reporters at the White House.
The Olympic gold-medal-winning U.S. men’s hockey team visited the White House and was i nvited by Trump to attend his address. The U.S. women's hockey team, who also won the gold medal, declined an invitation to the White House.
In it, the president plans to announce that tech companies involved in artificial intelligence are agreeing to pay higher electricity rates in areas where their data centers are located, according to a White House official who insisted on anonymity to discuss the speech. Data centers tend to use large volumes of electricity, potentially increasing the cost of power to other consumers in the area.
Trump is also expected to decry the Supreme Court ruling against his signature tariff policies and talk about his attempts to maneuver around that decision without depending on Congress or spooking financial markets.
The Supreme Court justices in attendance were the same as those who came to Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress last March: Chief Justice John Roberts, as well as Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett and Elena Kegan.
Trump shook hands before his speech began with Coney Barrett, after previously slamming her for siding with the majority against Trump's tariffs — despite him appointing her to the high court in his first term.
Trump is also expected to urge lawmakers to increase military funding and tighten voter identification requirements, while defending immigration operations that have drawn bipartisan criticism following the shooting deaths of two American citizens.
Jeff Shesol, a former speechwriter for Democratic President Bill Clinton, said Trump has typically used State of the Union addresses to offer more conventional tones than his usual bombast — but he's still apt to exaggerate repeatedly.
“His job, for the sake of his party, is to show the silver lining,” Shesol said. “But if he’s going to insist that the silver lining is gold, no one’s buying it. And it will be a very difficult position on the campaign trail for Republicans to defend.”
Before Trump's speech, Senate Democrats blocked a bill to restore funding to the Department of Homeland Security, pressing for new limits on immigration enforcement that Republicans have opposed.
“Tonight, I am demanding the full and immediate restoration of all funding for the Border Security and Homeland Security of the United States,” Trump plans to say, according to the excerpts.
Michael Waldman, Clinton's former chief speechwriter, said second-term presidents "have a tough job because what they all want to say is, ‘Hey, look what a great job I’ve been doing — why don’t you love me?’”
Affordability questions loom large
No matter what his prepared remarks say, Trump relishes deviating into personal grievances, meaning Tuesday will probably feature topics like denying that he lost the 2020 presidential election.
His lack of messaging discipline has been on display after concerns about the high costs of living helped propel Democratic wins around the country on Election Day last November. The White House subsequently promised that the president would travel the country nearly every week to reassure Americans he was taking affordability seriously. But Trump has spent more time blaming Democrats and scoffing at the notion that kitchen table issues demand attention.
Trump instead boasts of having tamed inflation and says he has the economy humming, given that the Dow Jones Industrial Average recently exceeded 50,000 points for the first time.
Such gains don't feel tangible to those without stock portfolios, however. There also are persistent fears that tariffs stoked higher prices, which could eventually hurt the economy and job creation. Economic growth slowed in the last three months of last year.
It is potentially politically perilous ahead of November elections that could deliver congressional wins to Democrats, just as 2018’s blue wave created a strong check to his administration during his first term.
Democrats' response to Trump's speech will be delivered by Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, whose affordability-focused message helped her flip a Republican-held office in November. Several congressional Democrats, meanwhile, plan to skip Trump's speech in protest, instead attending a rally known as the “People's State of the Union” on Washington’s National Mall.
Foreign policy in focus
Trump's address comes as two U.S. aircraft carriers have been dispatched to the Middle East amid tensions with Iran.
The president will recount how U.S. airstrikes last summer pounded Tehran's nuclear capabilities, and laud the raid that ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Nicolás Maduro, as well as his administration's brokering of a ceasefire in Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza.
But he also strained U.S. military alliances with NATO, thanks to his push to seize Greenland from Denmark and his failure to take a harder line with Russian President Vladimir Putin in seeking an end to its war in Ukraine. Tuesday was the fourth anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine war.
