Trump threatens countries who \u2018play games\u2019 will be forced to pay higher tariffs<\/a><\/p>\nThe Department of Homeland Security is largely shut down due to a dispute between congressional Republicans and Democrats over the administration\u2019s aggressive immigration policies, following the fatal shootings of two US citizens in Minneapolis. At the same time, Trump has struggled to move past the controversy surrounding the government\u2019s release of files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.<\/p>\n
Trump, who has openly coveted the Nobel Peace Prize and established his own \u201cBoard of Peace,\u201d appears to be edging closer to a potential military confrontation with Iran over its nuclear programme, moving warships to the Middle East and weighing options that could include regime change, according to US officials.<\/p>\n
Building a public case on Iran<\/p>\n
Tuesday\u2019s address could provide Trump his first major platform to publicly make the case for military intervention in Iran.<\/p>\n
Two White House officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Trump will discuss his Iran plans but offered no details.<\/p>\n
They added he will also highlight his record of brokering peace agreements. The speech comes on the fourth anniversary of Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, a reminder that Trump has yet to resolve the conflict he once said he could end \u201cin 24 hours.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump is also expected to address the Supreme Court\u2019s tariff ruling, arguing the court erred and outlining alternative legal avenues to reinstate most of the levies.<\/p>\n
The president reacted angrily to last week\u2019s decision, launching personal attacks against several justices. Any repeat could create awkward moments, with at least some of the court\u2019s nine justices expected to attend the address.<\/p>\n
White House aides and Republican campaign strategists, mindful of a challenging midterm environment, have urged Trump to focus on voters\u2019 economic concerns. His 2024 victory was driven largely by promises to ease the cost of living, but opinion polls suggest many Americans remain unconvinced.<\/p>\n
Trump has often struggled to stay on message, at times shifting from economic themes to personal grievances, while at other moments insisting the problem has already been solved.<\/p>\n
One White House official said Trump will \u201cclaim victory on the economy,\u201d a message that could complicate Republican efforts in competitive races. He is expected to argue he inherited a weak economy from Democratic predecessor Joe Biden and that Democrats have overstated affordability concerns.<\/p>\n
The president will likely point to stock market gains, private sector investment and his tax cut legislation as evidence of economic progress. He is also expected to defend his hardline border policies and deportation campaign, despite polls indicating many Americans believe the administration has gone too far in targeting undocumented immigrants.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the one opportunity the president has where the whole world is looking at what he has to say, and this is his opportunity to summarise everything that he\u2019s done and not go off script,\u201d said Republican strategist Amanda Makki.<\/p>\n
Trump, known for ad libbing, said on Monday his speech would be lengthy. His 100 minute address last March, technically not a State of the Union but otherwise similar, was the longest presidential speech to Congress in modern history.<\/p>\n
White House officials said this year\u2019s address has been prepared with room for unscripted moments.<\/p>\n
Read More: What does Trump want in Iran?<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cWe are planning around it,\u201d one official said.<\/p>\n
Some Democrats to boycott<\/p>\n
Last year, some Democrats interrupted Trump\u2019s speech with jeers before staging a walkout. This time, more than 20 Democrats in the House and Senate plan to skip the address and instead hold an outdoor rally on the National Mall.<\/p>\n
Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon, among those opting out, said the alternative event would offer a more \u201chonest description\u201d of Trump\u2019s record rather than what he called the speech\u2019s \u201cpropaganda push.\u201d<\/p>\n
Virginia Governor Abby Spanberger will deliver the official Democratic response.<\/p>\n
Democratic Senator Alex Padilla of California, who was shoved to the ground and handcuffed last year after attempting to question Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem at a press conference, will present the Spanish language rebuttal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US President Donald Trump speaks during a Working Breakfast with Governors at the White House in Washington, DC,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307566,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,5345,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-307565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-latest","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}