Trump defends a "stronger and richer" America to combat his unpopularity in his longest speech to Congress

WashingtonA year ago, Donald Trump addressed Congress with the airs of someone who almost believed himself untouchable: he controlled the legislature and had the Supreme Court on his side; he enjoyed high approval ratings; and the grace period that every leader experiences upon taking office. Tonight's Trump was a Caesar angrily gripping the reins that were beginning to slip through his sweaty fingers: he is at his lowest approval rating since returning to the White House; he knows he will likely lose control of one of the chambers of Congress; and five days ago the high court struck down his reciprocal tariffs. "Our nation is back, bigger, better, richer, and stronger than ever. [...] And you haven't seen anything like it, we still have to do better and better and better. This is America's golden age," the Republican began tepidly, but after the first hour of his speech, he reverted to his characteristic aggressiveness in the cities.

The tycoon has once again broken the record by delivering the longest State of the Union address in history since it began being timed in 1964. Last year it was an hour and thirty-nine minutes of Trumpian rhetoric. This year, it was an hour and forty-one minutes in which he listed the policies that are supposedly lowering the cost of living, defended the executive branch's right to override the legislature, stoked hatred against migrants despite the fact that in Minnesota it led to the killing of two citizens by ICE, and awarded himself medals as a peacemaker while boasting of his military might. "I will choose peace whenever I can, but I will never hesitate to confront threats to America," the president said, citing Operation Midnight Hammer, with which he bombed Iran, now besieged by US ships and aircraft carriers. Trump is considering a controlled attack, but insisted that his "preference is to resolve the problem" of the nuclear program "diplomatically."

While Trump received applause from his supporters at the Capitol, outside, rising rents and the cost of living were not obeying the president's orders. Despite inflation cooling to 2.7%, food, gas, and rents continue to climb, and the price for consumers is 25% higher than it was five years ago. "We're making so much, we really don't know what to do with it. People keep telling me, 'Please, Mr. President, we're making too much. We can't make any more,'" Trump said. The people the tycoon is referring to are certainly not the 60% of citizens who disapprove of his performance, according to the latest poll published this week. the ABC and the Washington Post.

"Today, our border is secure, our spirit has been restored. Inflation is plummeting, incomes are rising rapidly. The booming economy is roaring like never before, and our enemies are afraid. Our armed forces and police are strengthened, and America is respected again," he said. The president turns a deaf ear to the Pentagon, which advises against any kind of attack against Iran due to the risk of regional war, and a blind eye to the latest GDP data. The latest report from the Commerce Department shows that economic growth cooled in the last quarter of 2025: gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 1.4% in the fourth quarter, well below the 4.4% recorded between July and September, and 3.8% in the second quarter of last year.

Trump has boasted about having banned large investment funds from buying family homes to rent them out. What he hasn't mentioned is the fine print of the decree, which gives these same funds the green light to carry out new construction focused solely on rental properties, a model that has gained much more traction among large companies and a market that appears to be more profitable.

In this alternative United States that Trump has long been painting with his speeches, he has also referred to Venezuela as a "friendly partner" in oil exploitation. All this, after Washington intervened militarily, decapitated the Chavista regime, and turned the Latin American country into a kind of US protectorate under threat of further attacks.

The specter of electoral fraud

Just in case the message of supposed improvements to the cost of living failed to convince voters, Trump has once again played the card of voter fraud. In addition to attacking former President Joe Biden—who has been out of office for over a year—he has dusted off another campaign slogan: the idea that Democratic states bring undocumented immigrants to vote in order to gain votes. "They want to cheat. They have, and their politics are so bad that the only way they have to win the election is by cheating, and we're going to stop it. We must stop it, John," the tycoon said, referring to the Save the Citizenship Act, the bill he wants to pass in Congress to require proof of citizenship from voters. A large number of Democratic members of Congress boycotted Trump's speech and did not attend the event. Texas Representative Al Green repeated his protest. Last year he was reprimanded for interrupting Trump's speech, and today he was expelled from the chamber again. Greene carried a handmade sign that read, "Black people are not apes!" The phrase refers to the racist video the president posted on Truth Social featuring Barack and Michelle Obama's faces superimposed on the bodies of monkeys. The Democrats, who endured the nearly two-hour speech, remained seated and did not applaud. Annoyed, the president lashed out at them. "Nobody's standing up," he said, pointing at them. "These people are crazy, I'm telling you. They're crazy. The Democrats are destroying this country, but we stopped them just in time."

In a reminder of Trump's relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the Democrats had invited some of the billionaire's victims. But the Republican administration managed to defuse the Epstein case with the release of more than three million documents. A controlled explosion that has not further damaged Trump's already tarnished image, while in Europe it has triggered a wave of resignations and scandals.

Criticisms of the Supreme Court

The presence of the Supreme Court justices at this year's State of the Union address was more than just a perfunctory gesture. Trump's anger, fueled by his five-day tirade against the high court over its ruling on tariffs—which he intends to circumvent with new global tariffs—has made them collateral figures in the presidential spectacle. The president called the ruling "unfortunate" and asserted that, given the legal precedent, "congressional action will not be necessary." The high court itself struck down the tariffs, ruling that the president was abusing emergency powers and needed congressional approval first. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Elena Kagan, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett maintained impassive expressions in the face of the Republican's words. The delegation of the three justices—all nine have not attended the address for years—is the same as last year, another sign of their resistance to executive pressure. Roberts and Barrett are two of the conservative justices who voted to overturn the tariffs, while Kavanaugh is one of the "Big Three" whom Trump has praised for opposing the decision. Sombrero is also one of the three justices the Republican appointed during his first term. In one of his many attacks in recent days, the president has said that Barrett's action is an "embarrassment" to his family.

Not a single mention of the ICE killings

When it came time to talk about Minnesota, Trump didn't even mention the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti at the hands of ICE agents. The president, oblivious to the wave of outrage across the country sparked by the police violence in Minneapolis, once again brandished hatred against the city's Somali community under accusations of alleged fraud. "As far as the corruption that is looting America is concerned, there is no more shocking example than Minnesota, where members of the Somali community have looted approximately $19 billion of American taxpayers' money," the Republican said, calling them "pirates." Trump, in fact, announced the start of a new "war": the "war on fraud." "Although it began four months ago, tonight I am officially announcing that the war on fraud will be led by our great Vice President, JD Vance," he said. The parallel with the war on drugs, which Washington has used to bring its backyard back onto the path of imperialism, is unavoidable.