{"id":485789,"date":"2026-02-23T14:16:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T14:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/485789\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T14:16:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T14:16:10","slug":"what-to-watch-for-in-trumps-state-of-the-union-address","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/485789\/","title":{"rendered":"What to watch for in Trump’s State of the Union address"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump\u2019s<\/a> State of the Union address on Tuesday is likely to be a test run of the message Republicans will give to voters in November\u2019s elections<\/a> for control of the House and the Senate.<\/p>\n

The president and his party appear vulnerable<\/a>, with polls showing much of America distrusts how Trump has managed the government in his first year back in office. In addition, the Supreme Court last week struck down one of the chief levers of his economic and foreign policy by ruling he lacked the power to impose many of his sweeping tariffs. <\/p>\n

Though Trump is expected to focus on domestic issues, his intensifying threats about launching military strikes on Iran over its nuclear program cast a shadow over the address<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here are a few things to watch as Trump tries to make his case:<\/p>\n

Economy and immigration are no longer strengths for Trump<\/p>\n

Trump swept back into the White House on promises to bring down prices and restore order to immigration in America. But on both issues, public sentiment has turned against him.<\/p>\n

Only 39% of U.S. adults approve of his economic leadership<\/a> and just 38% support him on immigration, according to the latest Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey. Those low numbers show the country is still fretting about the costs of groceries, housing<\/a> and utilities, a problem compounded by Trump\u2019s whipsawing use of tariffs<\/a>. They also show how the public was disturbed by videos of violent clashes with protesters<\/a>, including two U.S. citizens killed by federal agents.<\/p>\n

Since his party passed a massive tax cut bill<\/a> last year, Trump has yet to unveil major new policy ideas on the economy. In recent speeches, he has largely offered the public reruns about his tax cuts, plans to reduce mortgage rates and a new government website for buying prescription drugs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court ruling against many of Trump\u2019s far-reaching global tariffs on Friday and the president vowing to use other means to forge ahead with import taxes will only prolong the economic turmoil over trade and prices. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think it makes it even more important that the speech really focus on the economy,\u201d said Alex Conant, a Republican strategist. <\/p>\n

Conant said between the tariff ruling and a Commerce Department report on Friday that showed U.S. economic growth slowed in the final three months of last year, \u201cthe president needs to bolster his economic message.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blame everything on Biden<\/p>\n

The administration is trying to make the case that despite Trump\u2019s rewiring of global trade and tax cuts, the economy is still struggling<\/a> because of choices made in 2021 and 2022 by his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden. But Trump is also seeking to take credit for positive signs in the current economy, such as recent stock market gains. <\/p>\n

\u201cWatch the State of the Union. We\u2019re going to be talking about the economy. We inherited a mess,\u201d Trump said at the White House on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Of course, Trump made the same kind of argument in his address to a joint session of Congress<\/a> last year, invoking the Biden name 13 times.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s focus on foreign policy has yet to resonate politically<\/p>\n

Despite Trump\u2019s America First credo, his aggressive approach abroad over the past year has sparked concerns among some of his supporters<\/a> about whether he should spend more time focusing on voters at home.<\/p>\n

Trump, who\u2019s made it clear he covets a Nobel Peace Prize<\/a>, is likely to use the speech to remind Americans of his attempts to try to broker peace accords in global conflicts.<\/p>\n

But in many respects, the president hasn\u2019t been extending olive branches. Within the past year, his administration has launched strikes in Yemen, Nigeria and Iran, along with an ongoing campaign of lethal military strikes on alleged drug-trafficking vessels<\/a> near South America. Trump also shocked the world in January with a surprise raid to capture Venezuela\u2019s then-leader, Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/a>, and floated the idea of using force to seize Greenland<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In recent weeks, as he pressures Iran<\/a>, Trump has bolstered the U.S. military\u2019s presence in the Middle East. But he has yet to make a clear case to voters about what his actions overseas mean for their lives. <\/p>\n

He might even minimize foreign policy in his State of the Union despite his belief that it\u2019s been a major success.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor as much as foreign policy has dominated his last year in office, this speech will mostly focus on the economy,\u201d Conant predicted.<\/p>\n

Vice President JD Vance offered a similar prediction, saying in an interview Saturday on Fox News Channel that in the speech, \u201cyou\u2019re going to hear a lot about the importance of bringing jobs back into our country, of reshoring manufacturing, of all these great factories that are being built.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said Trump would also speak about lowering energy costs.<\/p>\n

Trump has made the State of the Union his own<\/p>\n

The State of the Union used to be about recapping accomplishments and seeking to unite the country, but it increasingly reflects divisions in society.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat you\u2019re going to expect is some version of a campaign speech in which the Democrats are the villains, the Republicans he likes are the heroes, and he is the savior not only of the nation but of the globe,\u201d said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, a communications professor at the University of Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

Trump supporters might cherish the moment in 2020 when the president midspeech reunited a military family<\/a>. He also bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom<\/a> on Rush Limbaugh, the conservative radio host and author who died in 2021. But that moment turned off Democrats who saw Limbaugh as a destructive figure in political media.<\/p>\n

Reaction in the room could matter as much as Trump\u2019s words<\/p>\n

Trump is delivering the speech, but his audience sitting in the House chamber has a big role, too. When Trump delivered his 2020 State of the Union, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi theatrically ripped up a copy of the speech<\/a> afterward, overshadowing much of what Trump said.<\/p>\n

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York has said in a letter to colleagues \u201cit is important to have a strong, determined and dignified Democratic presence in the chamber,\u201d indicating some members might choose not to attend in protest to Trump. But there\u2019s also the possibility of Democrats razzing Trump as Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, did in 2025, leading him to be removed from the chamber<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If Trump in his speech lays out a fuller case for why he\u2019s using other mechanisms in federal law to continue his tariffs, Conant said it\u2019ll be interesting to see the reaction from lawmakers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that any House Republicans that don\u2019t applaud his tariffs are going to be featured prominently on the telecast,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

State of the Unions have short shelf lives<\/p>\n

While some presidential phrases endure, much of the rhetoric in State of the Unions is forgettable. And with Trump \u2014 who\u2019s known for veering off-script<\/a> \u2014 there\u2019s a good chance a stray comment or a social media post could step on his message.<\/p>\n

Matt Latimer, a former Republican speechwriter for then-President George W. Bush, noted in an email that people hear the president talk all of the time, so the State of the Union has lost much of its luster.<\/p>\n

A State of the Union \u201conly matters in moments when the country is undergoing a great trauma \u2014 a war, an attack, a global crisis \u2014 and a president and Congress want to speak in a (mostly) united voice to the country,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s not what we are experiencing now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump\u2019s State of the Union address on Tuesday is likely to be a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":485790,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[223486,41359,23,1930,12,109,1070,793,12805,962,12481,3139,801,6009,3319,223487,223485,28859,3,18231,1577,111,15887,8638,3438,192706,21,19,22,20,25,24,8647,800],"class_list":{"0":"post-485789","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-al-green","9":"tag-alex-conant","10":"tag-america","11":"tag-diplomacy","12":"tag-donald-trump","13":"tag-economic-policy","14":"tag-elections","15":"tag-general-news","16":"tag-george-w-bush","17":"tag-government-policy","18":"tag-hakeem-jeffries","19":"tag-international-trade","20":"tag-iran","21":"tag-jd-vance","22":"tag-joe-biden","23":"tag-kathleen-hall-jamieson","24":"tag-matt-latimer","25":"tag-nancy-pelosi","26":"tag-news","27":"tag-nicolas-maduro","28":"tag-nuclear-weapons","29":"tag-politics","30":"tag-public-opinion","31":"tag-u-s-democratic-party","32":"tag-u-s-republican-party","33":"tag-u-s-venezuela-conflict","34":"tag-united-states","35":"tag-united-states-of-america","36":"tag-unitedstates","37":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","38":"tag-us","39":"tag-usa","40":"tag-voting","41":"tag-washington-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=485789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485789\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}