Rosy Predictions, Angry Attacks: Trump’s State of the Union

From New York Times, I'm Michael. Barbaro. This is The Daily. >> [music]. >> Today, in President Trump's first State of the. Union of his second term, >> [music]. >> he offered a rosy portrait of a country. that has lost confidence in his. leadership. and relentlessly baited [music]. Democrats as they try to win back. control of Congress this fall. >> [music].

>> My colleague, chief Washington. correspondent David Sanger, takes. [music] us inside the room. >> [music]. >> It's Wednesday, February 25th. >> [music]. >> David, good evening. Hey, Michael. We're back again. We're back again. This is your second. episode, I think, in 2 days. Uh it's about 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

night, and the president just wrapped. his State of the Union address, and it. was a very long State of the Union. address. Oh, yeah. It was an hour and 47 minutes. You know, for years we thought that Bill. Clinton set the record at 99 minutes. >> Right. And people couldn't believe how. verbose he was. But Donald Trump has shown consistently. he can go longer.

>> [laughter]. >> And he did go longer. This was the. longest. by New York Times calculations State of. the Union in history. Yep. Well, David, as you know well, every. State of the Union, no matter its. length, feels deeply grounded in the. moment in which it is delivered. And I. want to start there with you, with the. stakes of this speech for President. Trump as we went into this speech on. Tuesday night. Well, he had a lot to get done because a. year ago he was coming in fresh from a.

big electoral victory. People were kind of tired of the Biden. years. Now he came into this one with polls. showing that voters have turned on. President Trump pretty severely. That more than 60% are saying that his. priorities are not their priorities. They're concerned about affordability. and inflation. They're worried about tariffs and were a.

little bit relieved when the Supreme. Court seemed to step in and say the. president overstepped his authority. They're concerned that we've put a good. percentage of our navy and air force. off the coast of Iran for what may be an. invasion that people are still pretty. apprehensive about. And there's a midterm election looming. and a lot of very nervous Republicans. who have backed President Trump sitting.

in that audience worried about what it. is that they'll be stuck with come. November. So, he had a lot of hurdles to go across. tonight. Right. I would say that an. economy Americans are extremely anxious. about, a tinderbox potential war in the. Middle East, a tariff ruling that went. against him, all in an election year. makes for about as high stakes a State. of the Union as you can really imagine. So, take us into the room as this speech.

gets underway. Mr. Speaker, the President OF THE UNITED. STATES. SO, THE PRESIDENT walked in with the. usual introductions each one of which. leads to a burst of applause. There are protests among some of the. Democrats. But you know, he immediately diffused. the big issue, which was how would he. deal with the Supreme Court that he had. denounced as unpatriotic.

just days before. >> Right. >> [applause]. >> He went up and shook the hands of a. couple of the justices, the ones who he said a few days ago. their families would be ashamed of them. Well, thank you very much, everybody. It's really. an honor. And then, after that brief moment of. surprise diplomacy, he takes to the. podium. Less than 5 months from now, our country. will celebrate an epic milestone in. American history, the 250th anniversary.

of our glorious American independence. He does. And, you know, he opens up with. a an immediate reference to the 250th. anniversary of the United States. This. July 4th, we will mark 2 and 1/2. 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've seen nothing yet. We're going to. do better and better and better. This is.

the golden age of America. And I thought. for a minute there, well, he's going to. really go do a unifying speech here. built around that theme. >> Mhm. The theme of a country that was in. the throes of revolution has had. divisions before and came together. When. I last spoke in this chamber about 12. months ago, I had just inherited a. nation in crisis. with a stagnant economy, inflation at. record levels, a wide-open border.

It's not quite what we got. >> Mhm. Rampant crime at home, and wars and. chaos all over the world. And then, he. launched into what turned out to be. a play in three parts, right? The first. part was a familiar recitation of what. he thinks his accomplishments were. The. middle was a highly partisan attack on. Democrats. And the end was sort of a. return to these unifying themes, the. 250th anniversary, war heroes, and.

America that can do anything it wants to. do. Okay, well, let's start with the first. of those, Trump's accomplishments in his. telling. Well, in his telling, America has come. back from being basically dead on. arrival in the emergency room. But. tonight, after just 1 year, I can say. with dignity and pride that we have. achieved a transformation like no one. has ever seen before.

and a turnaround for the ages. It is. indeed a turnaround for the ages. >> [applause]. >> And not surprisingly, Michael, he ran through a number of inflated. claims that are pretty familiar to. anybody who listens to Donald Trump at. rallies or at press conferences. The. roaring economy is roaring like never. before. He talked about economic growth. And 100%. of all jobs created under my.

administration have been in the private. sector. He talked about how many jobs were. created in the private sector without. mentioning the fact that those cut many. in the public sector and overall job. growth is pretty low. He talked about. winning, particularly winning new. investment in the United States. In 12. months, I secured commitments for more. than $18 trillion pouring in from all. over the globe. Well, nothing close to that has come in.

in the past year. It looks like he is. adding together and maybe inflating. commitments that came from different. chief executives talking about their. investment over the next decade or two. And most importantly, >> months my administration has driven core. inflation down to the lowest level in. more than 5 years. And in the last 3. months of 2025, it was down to 1.7%.

>> [cheering]. >> He made his case that inflation was. finally under control. And that was the closest he got to the. affordability argument that we know he. hates making because he thinks it's a. nonsense argument, but that every one of. his aides tells him he's got to address. It's the one thing that the polls show. anger Americans of all stripes. A short time ago, we were a dead. country. Now, we are the hottest country.

anywhere in the world, the hottest. >> [cheering]. >> What was really striking about this was. if you compare his claims to the way. people feel, what they tell pollsters, there was an element of unreality to. this. One of the primary reasons for our. country's stunning economic turnaround, the biggest in history, where the Dow. Jones broke 50,000 4 years ahead of. schedule, and the S&P hit 7,000.

where it wasn't supposed to do it for. many years, were tariffs. And it's around this. point, David, that Trump formally turns. to a subject we knew he would need to. address, the tariff ruling by the Supreme Court. justices. Like you said, he had shaken. their hands as he walked in, but then it. seemed like he kind of unshook their. hands in this actual speech. And then. just 4 days ago, an unfortunate ruling. from the United States Supreme Court. It. just came down. Came down. Very.

unfortunate ruling. Well, I actually thought, Michael, that. compared to what he said last week. when he was making specific accusations. against the individual justices. who had ruled against him. He was pretty moderate. So, despite the. disappointing ruling, this powerful. country saving is saving our country the. kind of money we're taking in. But, this didn't last long. Congressional action will not be.

necessary. It's already time tested and. approved. And he basically made the. argument, "I'm going to reimpose all of. those tariffs under different. authorities.". And he moved on. Moving forward, factories, jobs, investment, and trillions and trillions. Right. I did think it was notable that. the president, when he said he was going. to reimpose the tariffs. said he didn't feel like he needed. congressional action to do that because. the context, of course, is that he's in.

a room filled with members of Congress. who, in theory, should covet the ability. to influence this decision. The Supreme. Court said it's their job, not the. president's. And instead, the president. looks at all these members of Congress. and basically says, "I don't need you. I'm going to do this anyway.". You know, that's a theme throughout his. presidency. This is not a president who. wakes up in the morning and thinks about. bills he's going to go push through. Congress. This is a president who wakes up in the. morning and thinks about what.

authorities he has or can claim to have. so that he can do things by executive. order. Because we finally have a president who. puts America first. Put America first. I. love America. And then, the president. turns to what David you have termed the. second act of this speech, the partisan. act. For decades before I came along. we had the exact opposite. Especially as. he turns to the topic of immigration.

Well, you know, Michael, if you think. that the first part was sort of. delivered by the good Donald Trump, the. one who seemed sort of jovial, the tone changed as soon as he got into. this middle section. Under Biden and his corrupt partners in. Congress and beyond, it reached a. breaking point with the green new scam, open borders for everyone. They poured in by the millions and. millions from prisons, from mental.

institutions. They were murderers He. immediately goes into setting up this. kind of rhetorical motif in which he. attacks Democratic cities and he begins. to run through his now familiar list of. ills he thinks Democrats have brought to. the United States. But when it comes to the corruption that. is plundering it really. it's plundering America. There's been no. more stunning example than.

Minnesota. So, he blamed the Somalis in Minnesota. for fraud. This is the kind of. corruption that shreds the fabric of a. nation and we are working on it like you. wouldn't believe. He went after sanctuary cities. He. defined his immigration effort as an. effort to get the worst of the worst out. and we're getting them the hell out of. here fast. We don't want them. >> [cheering]. >> Skimming over right away others with no.

criminal record who have been deported. and of course the shootings of two. American citizens in Minneapolis. The only thing standing between. Americans and a wide open border right. now is President Donald J. Trump and our. great Republican patriots in Congress. Thank you. >> [applause]. >> Right, I kind of feel like he was trying. to reclaim the topic of immigration. which has gone from being a strength. into being a vulnerability for him, but. in the process. he did not represent what's actually. unfolded under his leadership.

But he had a deeper goal here, which was. to set up the Democrats, who of course. were sitting on their hands while the. Republicans were applauding each one of. these. One of the great things about the State. of the Union is how it gives Americans. the chance to see clearly what their. representatives really believe. And then, at one point, after he has. built up to this crescendo, So tonight, I'm inviting every legislator to join.

with my administration in reaffirming a. fundamental principle. If you agree with this statement, then. stand up and show your support. The first duty of the American. government is to protect American. citizens, not illegal aliens. He asked everyone to stand if they agree. with him, knowing that he would get the image of. Republicans who were standing and. Democrats who remained sitting.

Isn't that a shame? You should be. ashamed of yourself not standing up. You. should be ashamed of yourself. So if you ever wanted a moment where you. could sort of capture the division. between the Trump Republicans and the. Democrats, President Trump was creating it right. there for the cameras. And then, eventually, the Democrats take. the bait. To end deadly sanctuary cities. that protect the criminals and enact.

serious penalties for public officials. who block the removal of criminal. aliens. In many cases, drug lords And. not surprisingly, Representative Ilhan. Omar, who he has attacked repeatedly, begins yelling at him, and he has a few. exchanges with her. Right, at one point. she says. "You killed American citizens." She. wants to distinguish between what he's. arguing, which is there's a problem with.

illegal immigration, and what she says. is the problem, which is "You guys are. so overzealous that you're hurting. American citizens." Right. This was. exactly the contrast that I think. President Trump wanted to bring up. This. was the moment he wanted for the. cameras. Because what he was building toward once. the yelling laid down was this one line. that may. remain as the one that people remember.

from the speech. These people are crazy. I'm telling you. They're crazy. >> [cheering and applause]. >> "These people are crazy, I'm telling. you." And of course, he's thinking of. that as the theme for the midterm. elections. Right. Instead of trying to. justify all of his administration's. conduct in places like Minneapolis, for. example, where ICE enforcement has. become a real liability for him, he is.

attempting to turn this around and make. it a liability for Democrats. It's. deeply unclear whether that will work, but he's saying "They remain out of the. mainstream. This is not about me, this. is about them in an election year.". That's right, Michael, but it's also. where the disconnect shows up again. Because polls will show. that Americans are largely sympathetic. with the idea of throwing out illegal.

immigrants who are violent, who have. criminal records, and so forth. It tapers off pretty fast when you have. people who've been in the United States. for a long time, no criminal record, built their own businesses, or students, or something like that. And it. completely falls off when you ask about. the ICE enforcement activity that we've. seen take place including the killings. of American citizens. And the way he. dealt with the last was simply not to.

mention it. Okay, David, we're going to take a quick. break. When we come back, we're going to. talk about how the president eventually. gets to that third act of this speech. by way of. a journey through foreign affairs. So, we'll be right back. >> [music].

>> We're proudly restoring safety for. Americans at home and we are also. restoring security for Americans abroad. Our country. >> So, David, about an hour into the. speech, President Trump turns to. international affairs. and his role in bringing about the end. to a whole lot of conflicts. as he puts it.

Well, yes, that's right, Michael, because Our country has never been. stronger. My first 10 months, I ended. eight wars. including Of course, he repeats the. somewhat dubious claim that he has. single-handedly ended eight wars. And there are a couple he can take. credit for, but what's important here is the. Democrats kind of laughed at him. They're sick people. And the Republicans all applauded him on. it.

He then turned to what was clearly his. biggest success. Under the ceasefire I negotiated, every. single hostage, both living and dead, has been returned home. Can you believe. it? >> [applause]. >> He talked about the agreement that. brought all the hostages, living and. dead, out of the hands of Hamas. That. was a truly remarkable accomplishment. Nobody thought it was possible. >> [applause]. >> And then overstated the ceasefire that.

has followed, which has been pretty. rocky. Mhm. Then he just glided by what. 4 years ago was the dominant subject of. the State of the Union. And we're. working very hard to end the ninth war, the killing and slaughter between Russia. and Ukraine, where 25,000 soldiers are. dying each and every month. The Russian. invasion of Ukraine, which happened 4. years to the day before this speech. A. war which would have never happened if I.

were president. Would have never. happened. And while President Biden was out there. 4 years ago getting bipartisan applause. for his promise to stick with Ukraine. thick and thin, in this case the. president simply said he's working on. it. That there have been awful. casualties and he just wants to bring. the war to an end. Right, he steadfastly. refused to offer any real support to. Ukraine. Which was the one thing the.

Ukrainians were looking for today on the. fourth anniversary. Just the message. [clears throat] that we're with you. >> Mhm. And they didn't get it. As president, I will make peace wherever. I can, but I will never hesitate to. confront threats to America. wherever we must. And then the president pivots to the. international subject that all of us. were wondering whether he would get to, and if he got to it, how thoroughly.

he would broach it, which is Iran. >> [applause]. >> For decades it had been the policy of. the United States never to allow Iran to. obtain a nuclear weapon. Many decades. That's right. And I'd say. this was in some ways. the lost opportunity of the speech. Hmm. Just explain that. Well, he brushed by the topic of Iran so. quickly that if you were a casual. listener, you would never have known.

that we've got something like a third of. the US Navy and a good deal of the. American air power that's available. around the globe parked off the Middle. East and that within a few days we could. well be in a situation where we're in an. enduring conflict with Iran. They were. warned to make no future attempts to. rebuild their weapons program in a. particular. nuclear weapons, yet they continue. to starting it all over. We wiped it out. and they want to start all over again.

So, he ran through Iran's offenses over. the many years. He raised the. possibility that they were trying to. reconstitute their nuclear program. Which was pretty remarkable because 8. months ago he was saying he obliterated. the nuclear program and they wouldn't be. able to restart it for years. Right, in. a previous attack. That's right. That. was in the June attack on the three. major enrichment sites. They've already developed missiles that.

can threaten Europe and our bases. overseas and they're working to build. missiles that will soon reach the United. States of America. He talked about their. missile developments. He talked about. 32,000. Iranian protesters who had been killed. during the uprisings last month. We. stopped them from hanging a lot of them. with the threat of. serious violence but this But what was. strange about this, Michael, was. he never used the moment to explain what.

he was trying to accomplish with all of. that military firepower sitting off of. Iran. Was he trying to stop the nuclear. program or overthrow the regime or. protect the protesters? He simply did. not say. And that's the one thing that. everybody was listening for the most. He. said the Iranians had not given him the. one thing he wanted to hear. with them. They want to make a deal, but we haven't.

heard those. secret words. We will never. have a nuclear weapon. We will never. have a nuclear weapon. Well, of course, the Iranians have said that many times. In fact, their foreign minister tweeted. it out a few hours before the speech. But the problem isn't what the Iranians. say, it's what they've been caught doing. at various points over the past few. years. I have to say, David, I had a. slightly different reaction to hearing. this section of the speech, and I almost.

never. differ with you. But I heard what felt. like a. all the above rationale from the. president in stating his disgust with. Iran. And taken together, it did feel. like the beginning of a rationale for. military action against Iran. He came up. with a casus belli, or actually four or. five. Mhm. But he never told us how the. application of. military power, how bombing the Iranians.

would change this. And as we've talked. about before, you know, you might be able to destroy. some facilities, but it's not clear how. you protect protesters, for example, by. dropping bombs in Tehran. We're also. restoring American security and. dominance in the Western Hemisphere, acting to secure our national interests. >> It's interesting, at least it was to me, that the president chose to juxtapose. his implicit threats against Iran with.

his. already very explicit actions against. Venezuela. That's right. And America's armed forces overwhelmed. all defenses and utterly defeated a. enemy. He talked about that operation. And this was an absolutely colossal. victory for the security of the United. States and it also opens up a bright new. beginning for the people of Venezuela. He then brings into the hall Chief.

Warrant Officer 5, Eric Slover. The helicopter pilot who was part of the. Maduro raid. While preparing to land, enemy machine guns fired from every. angle. and Eric was hit very badly in the leg. and hip, one bullet after another. He observed. >> And who took incredible amounts of fire, his leg was shattered. >> Then even as he was gushing blood, which. was flowing back down the aisle,

helicopter lands at a steep angle. >> He lands the helicopter despite the fact. that he's bleeding and the president. describes this in somewhat gory detail. So we have a surprise. Eric and Amy. In recognition of Eric's actions above. and beyond the call of duty. And then of course they give the pilot. the Medal of Honor right there in front. of all of Congress and everybody who's. watching. >> nation's highest military award, the.

Congressional Medal of Honor. >> [applause]. >> So that was a little bit of a brilliant. turn because how could the Democrats not. stand for the awarding of a medal to. somebody that courageous? And how could they not stand when he did. similar awards for elderly veterans some. 100 years old. Navy fighter pilot Royce Williams served.

in World War II, Korea, Vietnam flying. more than 220. who had fought in World War II and Korea. and Vietnam. But tonight at 100 years old, this brave. Navy captain is finally getting the. recognition he deserves. He was a legend. So, at that moment, he. sort of matched his martial tendencies. Mhm. with a celebration of great.

heroism. I'm curious, David, as a veteran of. State of the Unions and also as someone. who's covered military affairs in your. day, how you thought about all of the. military awards that the president. bestowed during this speech. I tend to. think of those as awards typically given. in solemn, much more intimate. ceremonies. This is the most public possible venue, a president's State of the Union, and. thus has a bit of a partisan tinge. A.

Purple Heart was given out, Congressional Medals of Honor were given. out. Was that celebrating American heroism? Was that in some ways exploiting it? I. think there was an element of. showmanship and an element of. exploitation to it as well because what. he was doing. was combining the experiences of these. people in. just wars, World War II, you know, and. so forth. Korea, where we were fighting for a.

nascent democracy. and. managing to try to merge that with what. many would argue were less clear uses of. American power And potentially even. illegal. And potentially illegal and. we're headed to that debate about Iran. for sure if he went ahead. So, this is sort of taking the Ronald Reagan. idea of putting prominent guests and. heroes in the State of the Union. audience and moving it to the next level.

by awarding them these medals in front. of the entire Congress. So, David, take us to the end of this. speech, the third act, when. President Trump takes a stab. at unity. Michael, the third act? 250 years is a long time in the life of. a nation, but in other sense, it's really a mere. moment in the eye of history.

Picked up on the 250th anniversary of. America. Everything our nation has done, everything we have achieved, has been. the work of those few great lifetimes. So, he talked about America as a young. nation. Americans lifted humanity into. the skies on the wings of aluminum and. steel. Then he talked about America as. an innovative nation. All of this and so much more is the. enduring legacy, unmatched glory, of the hardworking patriots who built.

and defended this country, and who still carry the hopes and. freedoms. on all of humanity's backs. Then he. talked about Americans as people. who could never be defeated, whose ideas. and spirit sort of carried through and. could do anything in the world. There is. no challenge Americans cannot overcome. No frontier too vast for us to conquer. No dream too bold for us to chase.

No horizon too distant for us to claim. For our destiny is written by the hand. of providence, and these first 250 years were just the. beginning. Who did that sound like? Joe Biden, who used to say it every. speech. >> Right. There's nothing Americans can't. accomplish. And in some ways, it was not. like Donald Trump, but he delivered it. with some passion.

And it made you realize that he has. within him. the ability to talk in unifying terms. He just can't help himself. And our. future will be bigger, better, brighter, bolder, and more glorious than. ever before. Thank you. God bless you. And God bless. America. >> [applause]. >> So, in the end, thinking back to the.

stakes of this all, at this moment in the economy, at this. moment in the immigration battles in the. country, and potentially at the start of. a new war, did he meet the moment? You know, I. don't think, Michael, that he moved the. needle. He had to go convince Americans in this. speech. that the evidence indicated that they. didn't need to feel this economically. insecure. I don't think he met that.

He had to go lay out a rationale for why. we may be at war in the next couple of. days. He certainly didn't do that. He had to go make the case. that the Republican Party had a full. policy agenda that was ready to go. between now and the midterm elections. And there was very little policy in this. speech. So, my overall sense is President Trump.

talked about how he believes the country. should view him, >> [music]. >> rather than how it does view him. And that raised the question of whether. or not he is yet in tune. with the rest of the nation. >> [music]. >> Well, David, it is now. almost 1:00 a.m. It's time for you to go to bed. It. certainly is. Thank you very much.

Appreciate it. Thanks much, Michael. >> [music]. >> Shortly after President Trump's speech, the newly elected governor of Virginia, Abigail Spanberger, delivered the. Democratic Party's rebuttal. You have to. ask who benefits from his rhetoric, his. policies, his actions, the short list of. laws he's pushed through this Republican. Congress. Spanberger portrayed the.

president as a self-dealing egomaniac. Somebody must be benefiting. He's enriching himself, his family, his. friends. The scale of the corruption is. unprecedented. Cozying up to foreign princes for. airplanes and billionaires for. ballrooms, putting his name and face on. buildings all over our nation's capital. This is not what our founders. envisioned, not by a long shot.

And said that at the end of the day, both the president and his agenda are. deeply out of touch with regular. Americans. Is the president working for. you? [snorts]. We all know the answer is no. We'll be right back.

Here's what else you need to know. [music]. On Tuesday, House Republicans voted down. a bill that federal regulators said. could prevent deadly midair collisions. like the one last year in Washington. D.C. >> [music]. >> that killed 67 people. The bill, which would have required. planes to carry advanced [music]. location tracking technology, was. originally endorsed by the Defense. Department and adopted by the Senate in. December. But the Defense Department has since. withdrawn its support [music].

citing concerns over national security. and costs. That prompted just enough House. Republicans to vote [music] against the. bill to block its passage. And. I'm coming on to say it is day 24. [music]. since our mom. was taken. in the dark of night from her bed. And every hour and minute and second. and every long night has been an [music].

agony. In her latest plea with the. public, Savannah Guthrie, the Today show. co-host, said that her family was. offering up to $1 million. >> [music]. >> for information that leads police to. find her mother, Nancy. Someone out there knows something that. can bring her home. Somebody knows. And we are begging [music] you. to please come forward now. Despite a. massive more than 3-week [music] long. investigation, police appear to have few.

leads about who abducted Nancy Guthrie. on February 1st in Arizona [music]. or where she is. In the video, Savannah Guthrie. acknowledged that her mother may already. be dead. We also know that. she may be lost. She may already be. gone. But we need to know where she is. We need her to come home.

Today's episode was produced [music] by. Ricky Nvetsky, Olivia Nat, Mary Wilson, and Austa Chaturvedi. It was edited by Rachel Quester [music]. and Liz Obelin. Contains music by Diane Wong and Dan. Powell and was engineered by Chris. [music] Wood. Special thanks to Afi. Shapiro.

>> [music]. [music]. >> That's it for the daily. I'm Michael Barbaro. See you tomorrow.