Five Takeaways From Trump’s Plodding, Scattered, and at Times Eerie State of the Union

President Donald Trump’s first official State of the Union back in office was deemed “long” and he lived up to expectations. And although it was the longest ever, listeners will wonder what exactly justifies this length. The evening was a slow progression of Trump through his first year back in office, with very little basis in fact, punctuated by moments that Trump clearly enjoyed more than reciting politics: introducing various guests, game show style, to praise their accomplishments or detail the horrors inflicted on them.

Large parts of the speech focused on these bizarre theatrics. One involved a grimacing helicopter pilot who received a medal of honor for his actions during the Venezuela raid last month; another saw the U.S. men’s Olympic hockey team spend seemingly endless amounts of time in front of the press.

The Democratic members of Congress who were actually present in the room at the time of the speech refused to stand, applaud, or, except for a few moments, even protest. The silence seemed to get under Trump’s skin. He repeatedly chastised the group for not applauding things he said should be applauded, like its campaign to terrorize blue cities as part of its mass deportation operation.

The speech ended on a sweet note. Trump read lines about the country’s founding, the moon landing, westward expansion — all in flowery language tied to the country’s 250th anniversary this year. It was largely devoid of attempts to define America as belonging to an old white settler stock, a theme that runs through many other Trump administration speeches and that his administration continues through its attempt to end birthright citizenship and through the continued employment and existence of Vice President J.D. Vance. But it was, in a way, appropriate: there wasn’t just one theme tonight. It was scattered fire; two hours of going from grievance to accomplishment to applause.

Here are five takeaways from the evening.

ICE’s violent spree dominated the night

One of the most dramatic moments of the evening came when Trump began a lengthy monologue on immigration with several complaints about the Department of Homeland Security being shut down. The Democrats present began to object. “You killed Americans,” Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) shouted.

Trump did not acknowledge this point directly, saying only: “You should be ashamed of yourselves.” »

The murders of U.S. citizens Alex Pretti and Renee Good, both observers of his administration’s violent immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in January, remained in the background of much of the speech. Trump declared a new “war on fraud” directed against the Somali community in Minneapolis, and did not explain why DHS was closed. Rep. Omar gave the answer.

Navigating the Affordability Twist

Much of the first hour of the speech was a guided tour of a series of statements misrepresenting Trump’s record on affordability issues, including plugging the Don Jr.-linked “TrumpRX” website.

Although he told lies about the impacts of his tariffs, Trump’s rant on tariffs was relatively tame compared to his reaction last week after SCOTUS blocked numerous tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA.

“We’re making a lot of money,” Trump said of the tariffs. “There was no inflation, but tremendous growth. »

In fact, there has been inflation and growth, particularly in employment, is stagnating miserably.

Trump portrayed himself as superior to Nobel Prize-winning economists and falsely claimed that tariffs were paid for by foreign countries. Multiple studies have shown that U.S. businesses and consumers are footing the tariff bill.

Regarding the SCOTUS decision, Trump made only a few minor lines. “The most important thing is how Donald Trump correctly characterized the economy,” he said, before adding: “Then, just four days ago, an unfortunate ruling from the Supreme Court of the United States just came down.”

The ‘big lie’ emerges as Trump touts the SAVE Act

Repeating part of the big lie, Trump falsely claimed that undocumented voting in elections was “rampant.” He took the opportunity to plug the SAVE America Act. Trump called this a voter ID law, but it’s much more than that. This is proof of citizenship that would require, among other things, registered voters to present a passport or valid ID as well as a birth certificate.

The law actually risks disenfranchising millions of voters across the political spectrum, with voters in red states in Central America least likely to have a passport, according to a study by the left-leaning think tank the Center for American Progress.

Democrats Destroyed the Country and Are Destroying It Again, Trump Insists

If you had chosen to drink every time Trump name-checked former President Joe Biden tonight, you should have left earlier. Trump mentioned the former president early and often as the source of America’s woes, attempting the impossible feat of remaining a populist-outsider while holding power.

Democrats writ large have been accused of even more. At one point, the president blamed Democrats’ shutdown of DHS on the blanket of snow on the East Coast, saying a lack of funding meant there was no money to clean it up.

Now that peace is assured, war?

After telling Congress he had ended eight wars last year, Trump moved on to one war he could start: Iran.

He advances a new claim, without proof: that Iran is working on “missiles that could reach the United States.” He claims that the country is doing the unspeakable, by returning to its “sinister” nuclear ambitions. (Trump claimed over the summer that last year’s strike put a permanent end to all that – what’s changed?)

Trump adds that he would prefer to resolve this problem “through diplomacy. But one thing is certain, I will never allow the world’s number one sponsor of terrorism to possess nuclear weapons.”

The mix of vague threats, unsubstantiated claims about foreign threats, and police officers insincere about diplomacy are all extremely reminiscent of Bush-era war on terror rhetoric. And his threatening tone toward Iran shed a different light on last night’s emphasis on patriotism and the military.