{"id":122837,"date":"2026-02-25T06:28:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T06:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/122837\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T06:28:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T06:28:07","slug":"fettermans-handshake-and-other-pennsylvania-moments-from-trumps-sotu-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/122837\/","title":{"rendered":"Fetterman’s handshake and other Pennsylvania moments from Trump’s SOTU speech"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump<\/a> ended his historically long State of the Union address Tuesday night with how he began it \u2014 talking about the United States\u2019 250th birthday this summer<\/a>. <\/p>\n

He mentioned the \u201chistoric streets of Philadelphia,\u201d Thomas Jefferson\u2019s final breath, and the FIFA World Cup<\/a> games, some of which will take place<\/a> in the city this summer. <\/p>\n

But his talk of the 250th celebrations served as bookends to what was otherwise a speech in which he railed against immigrants, spread falsehoods<\/a> and lashed out at political opponents. <\/p>\n

During the speech, Trump took credit for ending DEI programs across the country<\/a>, doubled down on his push to end sanctuary cities<\/a>, falsely suggested his opponents cheat during elections and called for proof of citizenship in order to vote. <\/a><\/p>\n

The president chastised Supreme Court justices for their recent ruling against his tariffs<\/a>. And he frequently lambasted Democrats<\/a>, bristling when they would not stand to applaud. <\/p>\n

\u201cThese people are crazy,\u201d Trump said. <\/p>\n

\u00bb READ MORE: Stacy Garrity will be a guest at Trump\u2019s SOTU address. Here\u2019s who else from Pa. will (and won\u2019t) be there.<\/a><\/p>\n

Pennsylvania popped up throughout the evening as Trump leaned on the 250th as a framing device for his speech and pointed to a woman from the Poconos to promote his economic agenda. <\/p>\n

Trump talks of \u2018epic milestone\u2019 250th celebrations<\/p>\n

The United States\u2019 upcoming 250th anniversary in July was an undercurrent of Trump\u2019s speech Tuesday night. He mentioned this \u201cepic milestone\u201d just moments in his remarks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis July 4, we will mark two and a half centuries of liberty and triumph, progress and freedom, in the most incredible and exceptional nation ever to exist on the face of the earth and you\u2019ve seen nothing yet, we\u2019re going to do better and better and better,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n

Philadelphia will be at the center of 250th anniversary celebrations this year, especially during the warmer months when the city is expected to see an influx of tourism which by one estimate could bring in as much as $2.5 billion to the city and region<\/a>. <\/p>\n

But when visitors stop by Philly\u2019s iconic sites, it\u2019s unclear whether they\u2019ll be seeing the full picture of U.S. history. <\/p>\n

Last month, the Trump administration ordered the takedown of every educational panel from the President\u2019s House at Independence National Historical Park<\/a>. The site serves as a memorial to the nine people that George Washington enslaved at his Philadelphia residence. <\/p>\n

The incident has sparked outrage from Philadelphians who have rallied to protect the site<\/a> and spurred Mayor Cherelle L. Parker<\/a>\u2019s first major confrontation with Trump. <\/p>\n

After a lawsuit from the Parker administration<\/a> and tireless community activism, a federal judge last week ordered the site to be restored<\/a>. The panels were mostly reinstalled<\/a> Thursday and Friday before a federal appeals judge ordered park employees to pause<\/a> while the Trump administration\u2019s appeal remains pending. <\/p>\n

Trump did not address the controversy in his speech even as he touted the city\u2019s history and the founding fathers in his speech. <\/p>\n

The Philadelphia case is the most high-profile battle over the Trump administration\u2019s broader effort to sanitize U.S. history ahead of the 250th. The National Park Service has removed content from parks throughout the country, including the Grand Canyon, under order from Trump forbidding displays that \u201cinappropriately disparage Americans past or living.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump gives a shoutout to working mom from Pa.<\/p>\n

The president brought Megan Hemhauser, a waitress and mom of two from Cresco, Pa., a town in the Poconos, as one of his guests to his address Tuesday night, saying in his speech that because of his \u201cNo Tax on Tips\u201d and \u201cNo Tax on Overtime\u201d policies she is \u201cso, so much richer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hemhauser was also featured<\/a> at Trump\u2019s rally in Mount Pocono in December<\/a> when the president invited her to speak. She shared that these policies have helped her invest in her family. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt saves us and it\u2019s for the future of our children,\u201d she said at the time. <\/p>\n

Under Trump\u2019s One Big Beautiful Bill<\/a> Act, tipped workers can deduct up to $25,000 of certain tips per year, but the lowest earners and some tipped workers won\u2019t be eligible for the tax break, CNBC reported<\/a>. For overtime, certain individuals can deduct up to $12,500 for single filers or $25,000 for married couples<\/a> filing their taxes jointly each year from 2025 through 2028. <\/p>\n

Both tax breaks are available from 2025 through 2028 and decreases in size when earnings exceed $150,000 for single filers or $300,000 for married couples filing jointly. <\/p>\n

Democrats have pointed out the same legislation also included cuts to SNAP and Medicaid, two programs heavily relied by low-income Americans. They\u2019ve blamed other Trump policies, including his signature tariffs and his opposition to extending health care policies, for exacerbating the cost of living for Pennsylvanians. <\/p>\n

\u201cTrump promised to lower costs for Pennsylvania families on Day One, but he\u2019s done the exact opposite,\u201d said DNC chair Ken Martin in a statement ahead of the speech. <\/p>\n

Protesting with a pin<\/p>\n

U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean (D., Montgomery) attended Trump\u2019s State of the Union, but ended up leaving the event once Trump announced that Vice President JD Vance<\/a> would be leading a \u201cwar on fraud.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI just had had enough of the lies,\u201d Dean said in an interview after the address.<\/p>\n

The Pennsylvania lawmaker joined other members of the House Democratic Women\u2019s Caucus in wearing white as an homage to the suffragettes. She also wore a pin and scarf showing her support for Ukraine, as Tuesday marks four years since Russia waged its attack on the country. <\/p>\n

\u201cHow I would have wished the president would have said \u2018I am dismayed that I have not been able to bring an end to that brutal war and that is going to be my singular focus,\u2019\u201d said Dean, a member of the Ukraine caucus. \u201cBut, of course, he doesn\u2019t say that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other Democrats showed their opposition to Trump by boycotting his speech, including several from the region. <\/p>\n

U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D., Delaware) and U.S. Rep. Summer Lee (D., Allegheny) both attended \u201cPeople\u2019s State of the Union,\u201d an alternative event hosted by progressive groups instead of the president\u2019s address. <\/p>\n

Other Democrats who skipped Trump\u2019s speech include retiring U.S. Reps. Dwight Evans of Pennsylvania and U.S. Sen Cory Booker of New Jersey. <\/p>\n

John Fetterman wears a suit and shakes hands with Trump<\/p>\n

Known to seldom wear dress clothes, U.S. Sen. John Fetterman<\/a> traded his usual hoodie for a suit Tuesday evening when he shook hands with Trump during the president\u2019s entrance to the House chamber. <\/p>\n

Fetterman\u2019s greeting of Trump comes in contrast to many of his Democratic colleagues and underscores the senator\u2019s willingness to embrace the other side of the political aisle, often earning him ire from his own party.<\/p>\n

U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle (D., Philadelphia) criticized Fetterman in a post on X Tuesday night<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not surprised PA Senator John Fetterman finally got dressed up for once and so warmly greeted Donald Trump tonight,\u201d wrote Boyle, who has been floated as a potential primary challenger <\/a>to Fetterman in 2028. \u201cAfter all, as the White House has previously stated, John Fetterman is Trump\u2019s favorite Democrat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Summer Lee\u2019s Working Families Party response <\/p>\n

Lee, a Pittsburgh progressive in her second term, delivered a response to Trump\u2019s address on behalf of the Working Families Party<\/a>, a grassroots progressive party that often endorses Democratic candidate. <\/p>\n

The Pennsylvania lawmaker criticized Trump\u2019s tariffs, Medicaid cuts, escalation of federal immigration agents, and mass layoffs of federal employees. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe state of the union is dire,\u201d Lee said. \u201cWe can\u2019t afford to believe Trump\u2019s lies, and we have to pay attention to his actions. This is not a normal time, and our response to it can\u2019t be politics as usual.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Donald Trump ended his historically long State of the Union address Tuesday night with how he began…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":122838,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29,57745],"class_list":{"0":"post-122837","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pennsylvania","8":"tag-pennsylvania","9":"tag-pennsylvania-headlines","10":"tag-pennsylvania-news","11":"tag-trump-pennsylvania-sotu-union-250th"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122837\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}