Good morning. President Trump’s State of the Union speech last night ran for an hour and 47 minutes. It was the longest address since people began keeping records of such things, in 1964. Here’s what you need to know.
Trump’s spectacleThe United States is in its “golden age,” President Trump said during his State of the Union address last night. In a speech that sought to reverse sliding approval ratings and discontent with his approach to the economy and immigration, he did not introduce much in the way of new policy. Instead, he told a story of a country that has turned around under his leadership, with an excellent economy, immense military strength and a plummeting crime rate. “We’re the hottest country anywhere in the world,” he said. The evidence for that was sometimes dubious. Trump praised his own foreign policies, called for legislation that would address his frequent claims — frequently debunked — of widespread election fraud and introduced his audience to a cast of heroes. Here came, among others, wizened veterans, a rescue swimmer, Erika Kirk, members of the National Guard, a pilot wounded during the raid on Venezuela and a political dissident recently freed from a Caracas prison. And he goaded Democrats with deft stagecraft. At one point he asked representatives to stand if they agreed with the statement: “The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.” Republicans rose, while many Democrats did not, creating an image the administration will surely use against them. “You should be ashamed of yourself, not standing up,” Trump pronounced. The president’s tactic shifted the energy in the Capitol. “At that point, what had been a mostly dutiful State of the Union address morphed into full-blown political theater. It was part game show, part cage match — which is just how Mr. Trump likes it,” my colleague Shawn McCreesh wrote. There was plenty of spectacle, including standing ovations and chants of “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!” — particularly when Trump introduced the gold medal-winning United States men’s hockey team and promised to confer the Presidential Medal of Freedom on its goaltender, Connor Hellebuyck. But it was not altogether a rapturous crowd. Congress, like the country, is badly divided. What else Trump said
Tariffs: Trump said he believed that tariffs would eventually “substantially replace the modern-day system of income tax.” Justices from the Supreme Court, which recently invalidated his tariff system, did not react to his comments. Iran: Trump said he would not let Iran develop a nuclear weapon. “My preference is to solve this problem through diplomacy,” he said, though he added: “No nation should ever doubt America’s resolve. We have the most powerful military on Earth.” Affordability: The president mocked Democrats’ focus on affordability while claiming that the prices of groceries and gas were dropping and that his tax cuts were helping workers. Still, recent polls show that most Americans are not pleased with the economy. Voting: Trump pressed Congress to advance stalled legislation related to his unsubstantiated claims of widespread election fraud. “They want to cheat,” he said of Democrats, adding, “And their policy is so bad that the only way they can get elected is to cheat.” In the room
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