Closing Summary
Donald Trump delivered a historically long State of the Union address on Tuesday evening in which he made a series of claims about his policy successes, despite his approval rating being at 36%, according to latest polling figures. Here’s a wrap-up of key moments from his speech, as well as reactions:
He introduced the US men’s Olympic hockey team at the beginning of his speech, saying: “Here with us tonight is a group of winners who just made the entire nation proud.” The move came shortly after Trump stirred controversy by joking to the men’s team that he “guesses” he would have to invite the women’s team – which also won gold – to the White House as well.
Democratic representative Al Green, held up a sign that said “Black people aren’t apes!”, a reference to Trump recently sharing a racist video depiction of Barack and Michelle Obama. Green ultimately left the chamber after being confronted by several Republicans.
Trump bemoaned the supreme court’s ruling that he exceeded his presidential authority by implementing many global tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The president called the supreme court’s ruling “unfortunate”, as the four justices attending the address sat right in front of him.
The president repeated his xenophobic comments that the “Somali pirates ransacked Minnesota” through “bribery, corruption and lawlessness” during his speech. Democratic representative Ilhan Omar from Minnesota called the president a “liar” from her seat in the audience.
More than an hour and a half into his address, Trump mentioned the escalating tensions with Iran. “My preference is to solve this problem through diplomacy. But one thing is certain, I will never allow the world’s No 1 sponsor of terror, which they are by far, to have a nuclear weapon,” he said.
Trump announced new “ratepayer protection pledges”, claiming they will protect Americans from rising electricity costs driven by increased demand from AI datacenters. “We’re telling the major tech companies that they have the obligation to provide for their own power needs,” he said.
Abigail Spanberger, Virginia’s Democratic governor, delivered the party’s response to Trump’s State of the Union address. She went on to admonish the Trump administration for the violent immigration crackdown throughout the country – particularly in Minnesota, and also criticized him for his “reckless trade policies.”
Annie Farmer, one of Jeffrey Epstein’s survivors and a guest of the representative Robert Garcia at the State of the Union address, issued a pointed rebuke after Donald Trump’s address, saying she and other survivors in the chamber were “met with silence”. Farmer said Trump had pledged to bring Epstein’s network of abuse into the open, yet “powerful individuals remain shielded” and basic questions – including why authorities failed to act when her sister, Maria Farmer, reported Epstein in 1996 – remain unanswered.
Several speakers at the People’s State of the Union rally encouraged Americans to exercise their right to vote, looking ahead to November’s midterm elections. “Voting is our superpower,” one attendee shouted as California senator Adam Schiff explained how voting and elections are under threat.
Fact check: Trump makes false claims about prescription drug prices
One of Trump’s most prized policies is his “most favored nation” drug pricing with several pharamceutical companies.
The president claimed in his speech: “I took prescription drugs, a very big part of health care, from the highest price in the entire world to the lowest.”
Trump also flaunted his new TrumpRx website where people can obtain discounts for certain medications.
However, as my colleague Melody Schreiber reported earlier this month, Trump’s new website lists only a limited number of medications, with many of them costing less in generic form elsewhere.
Moreover, across the US, healthcare is set to be even more expensive amid the expiration of the Affordable Care Act tax credits, as well as Republican proposals in Congress that seek to slash nearly $1bn in Medicaid funds.
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