Name: CNN’s first reactions to Trump’s State of the Union 2026
Uploaded: 2026-02-25T23:01:11.000Z
Duration: 9 min 11 s
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The President of the United States, Donald J.

Adverbs of degree

Trump, giving the longest State of the Union address on record, clocking in at something like 1 hour, 48 minutes, beating his own previous record, set last year at what was not officially a State of the Union, was a joint address to Congress, giving a rousing description of the United States of America that he sees when he looks out the window, if, even if it isn't the one that most Americans, according to polls, see in terms of the economic prosperity.

In addition to some very sharp, very partisan, even nasty attacks on Democrats and some populist economic proposals, the president taking time to make healthy use of stories both sad and illustrative and inspiring stories of fellow Americans.

two Congressional Medals of Honor awarded, one to a 100-year-old Navy fighter pilot from World War II, Korea and Vietnam, the other one to Chief Warrant Officer Eric Slover, injured during the Maduro raid just last month.

I do not doubt that his supporters will absolutely love his speech and his critics will find much to hate about it, but

there were definitely moments that I think any American would appreciate.

And what Americans wanted to hear more than anything else was about the economy.

And the president certainly did what we hear a lot on a daily basis about how he thinks it's the greatest economy in the world and, you know, all of the sort of hyperbole that is classic vintage Trump.

But he did put in some specifics, as you said, populist economic proposals in there that will please the Republicans who are sitting in that chamber right now, who are all up for re election and are very worried about that re election.

He talked about things that really are hitting hard Americans, hard energy costs, said that he is going to try to get the AI companies to pay for the tech companies to pay for how much energy they are using, which American consumers are now paying for, largely housing costs.

Is that going to make people feel better tomorrow?

a lot of the concern that people who are going to go out and vote or not vote this election year is that they don't think that he's paying attention to that.

at least they all have clips and some talking points that they can go back on the campaign trail and start talking about.

And I just want to note, there was Thomas Massie standing over as the president was exiting.

Of course, the president and Thomas Massie feuded.

He was not happy with him and he got to lose his job as a member of Congress.

I think what stood out to me as we were watching this is.

This is not unfamiliar territory for the President.

He has delivered many of these addresses.

He's now broken his own records on how long he has spoken.

But these moments, as he was in there and at the beginning, obviously getting started, he was largely looking over to the left side of the chamber where a lot of the Republicans were sitting.

Then he began looking at the right side, as Democrats obviously were not standing for what he believed should be applause lines during his speech.

And he was getting increasingly irritated by it, at one point stopping and saying, these people are crazy.

You know, I can't believe they're not standing for this.

The one thing that I saw them all standing for was when they were talking about insider trading and banning, that he made an offhand joke about Nancy Pelosi.

Well, not all of them were standing, but a handful of them were.

Yeah, well, yeah, but that got more applause when Senator Elizabeth Warren was standing, and

that obviously stood out to the President himself.

But obviously, these other moments, the guests that they invite, this happens with every president, as you all know, they bring them for these moments.

I think, to Dan's point, the question is, if there's voters at home, how do they feel about this?

Does it make them feel better about making their mortgage payments and paying down their credit card bills?

That remains to be seen ahead of the midterms, but they certainly had those moments.

of course, you know, big picture, we have to remember, I mean, this is a president who's been under immense pressure, right?

His polling, his approval rating is lower than it's ever been.

He was speaking to a room full of Republican members of Congress who, many of whom stand to lose their seats.

The President stands to lose part of the power that he currently has in Washington.

And I think the speech reflected the way this president often deploys the strengths that he has.

Yes, he spent some time defending his own record.

He spent some time blaming his predecessor.

He spent some time, at least one of my Republican sources pointed out to me, trying to convince people it wasn't as bad as maybe they feel that it was.

But he spent far more time during this speech on offense, Right.

Ticking through places that are culturally inflammatory.

In some cases, he put Democrats on the spot repeatedly.

I mean, he almost goaded Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar at one point into shouting back at him when he asked the crowd to stand and clap if they supported American citizens.

That is where this president often tries to project Strength, and he did it again tonight.

And for those at home who are wondering what exactly happened when Congressman Al Green, Democrat of Texas, why he was ejected, he was holding a sign saying, quote, black people aren't apes, an allusion to the video that President Trump tweeted a few days ago in which President Obama and first Lady Michelle Obama were in fact depicted as apes.

I think it's important to remember that sadly, in my view, most Americans live in their silo.

And so people watch this from their perspective, choir practice, the most part.

President had a lot of challenges coming into this speech.

His approval rating in the economy is down.

I mentioned early on one of the big glaring problems for Republicans because it's a midterm year, is approval rating among Republicans is down Some, too, from 90% to 82% in the most recent poll.

I would not be surprised at all if he helped himself there.

One speech is not going to change anything.

But the Republican Party needs its base enthusiastic heading into the midterm election year.

And there was a lot in the speech from the president, both from a policy perspective of what he's done and what he's trying to do and the few skirmishes he had with the Democrats that if you're trying to get your base to say, okay, I've been sort of pulled back, Washington's too loud.

I don't like a lot of Latino Republicans I talk to.

I don't like seeing ice in the streets of America.

You might get a little bit of them back in the fight.

And that is what was so important about tonight.

He, he nailed the Republican base, brought them back in the fold with a solid message on the economy, on immigration, on his foreign policy, that is the work he had to do.

And that also brings over a lot of independents that are similarly minded to what Republicans believe.

Mr. Not sure about that part, but we'll see.

That's actually how the presidential election modeled out and will be very instructive and important for the midterms.

But between now and the midterms, he has to maintain his control of Republicans on the Hill.

Well, he also basically kept control of himself, which I think will be a great relief to his strategists and aides there.

I think he did well from their perspective, for the reasons that you say, John.

And he used the gallery very skillfully to kind of simulate empathy, which is a thing that he's been lacking, and

The question is, he started off the speech by saying, we've gone.

And as you know, because you're traveling around the country, people don't think the direction is right.

But I don't think a lot of the people who needed to be persuaded probably were watching this speech.

I also just want to quickly point out, in about a minute or so, we're going to be hearing the Democratic response from Governor Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, newly elected.

Yeah, I mean, I think stylistically this speech really told us where the President is, which is that the way that he wants to see the country may not be where the country actually is or where the country sees itself, but

he utilized almost like these game show type moments where you're seeing awards being presented to really bring these moments of togetherness that otherwise might not have been there.

I actually thought it was very skillfully done.

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CNN’s first reactions to Trump’s State of the Union 2026

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