Rabat – While tensions rise over Iran and international tariffs, Trump’s one-hour-47-minute State of the Union address painted a picture of a thriving second term with an economy “roaring like never before.”
The most recent polls show Trump’s approval rating at 40%, with 64% of Americans disapproving of how the president is handling tariffs. More than 60% of Americans believe Trump’s priorities are different from theirs, specifically criticizing the president for prioritizing immigration over the economy.
Republicans worry about Americans’ opinions approaching the US midterm elections, and the State of the Union represents an important opportunity for the president to address the public’s concerns.
Trump entered to applause and shook the hands of Supreme Court Justices he had called “fools and lapdogs” and of whom he had said he was “absolutely ashamed” after they struck down his administration’s global tariffs on Friday.
The US president opened his speech heralding the approaching 250th anniversary of US independence and promising the “golden age of America.” Despite indications of what could have been a unifying speech, he quickly took on his familiar boasting of personal accomplishments and hostility toward democrats, claiming he “inherited a nation in crisis.”
Personal praise
Trump called his first year back in office as “a turnaround for the ages.” He ran through a series of inflated claims, notably alleging: “More Americans are working today than at any time in the history of our country.”
This is technically true, as there is also the biggest population on record. However, the percentage of Americans employed is down slightly at 59.8% compared to 60.1% when President Biden left office a year ago.
Despite rising prices, hiring slowdowns, and a turbulent economic year, Trump maintained that the country was in shambles a year ago. “A short time ago we were a dead country, now we are the hottest country anywhere in the world,” Trump said.
Addressing an unavoidable tension – tariffs – he returned attention to the supreme court’s ruling against him. He gave a much tamer acknowledgement of the “dissappointing” ruling and simply asserted that he would reimpose the tariffs under different authorities.
Partisan attacks
Trump continued the narrative that Biden let immigrants pour in by the millions. He blamed “plundering” corruption on democratic policies around immigration. Apprehensions of illegal border crossings did fall significantly from 124,215 in January 2024, to 6,070 in January 2026.
The president skimmed over the legal residents who had been targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as well as the American citizens that were killed by ICE Agents in Minneapolis.
With the apparent goal of baiting Democrats, he asked everyone who agreed that “the first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens” to stand. This created a clear partisan divide on the floor with republicans standing and democrats sitting.
Trump exclaimed: “You should be ashamed of yourself, not standing up!”
The democrats took the bait with several shouting at the president, including Representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib.
As tension rose during the nearly two-hour speech, Senator Omar shouted, “You killed American citizens!”
The back and forth culminated with Trump saying: “These people are crazy.”
Rather than addressing his administration’s misconduct, specifically in places like Minneapolis where ICE enforcement is becoming a liability for him, the president diverted attention to democrats.
Whether this will work is uncertain, as 65% of Americans believe ICE has gone too far in enforcing immigration laws.
Trump says he ‘ended eight wars’
About an hour into the speech, Trump shifted focus to international affairs and claimed: “In my first 10 months, I ended eight wars.”
Democrats laughed and jeered while Republicans applauded.
According to the White House, Trump has ended the wars between Israel and Hamas, Pakistan and India, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Thailand and Cambodia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, Egypt and Ethiopia, as well as Serbia and Kosovo.
The “war” between Egypt and Ethiopia regarded a dispute over building a dam and there never was any actual fighting.
There has been ongoing fighting between the DRC and Rwanda-backed M23 rebels even following the peace agreement signed in Washington in late 2025.
In fact, that intensifying war entered a new phase this week, with converging reliable sources reporting that Willy Ngoma, a senior official and recognizable spokesperson for the Rwanda-backed rebels, was killed in a drone attack in eastern Congo.
Trump also took credit for retrieving all of the hostages from Hamas while exaggerating the effectiveness of his “ceasefire,” which has seen at least 603 deaths since declared in October 2025.
The president glazed over the Russian invasion of Ukraine and argued that it was a “war that would have never happened if he was president” at the time. He acknowledged the awful casualties but offered no steadfast support for Ukraine on the 4th anniversary of the war.
As Trump discussed the highly anticipated tensions with Iran, he listed a series of offenses by the country. He said that Iran was “pursuing their sinister nuclear ambitions” despite previously saying he had obliterated the nuclear program in the June attacks and they wouldn’t be able to reconstitute it for years.
Trump claimed 32,000 people were killed in anti-government protest crack downs, when Human rights groups estimate at least 7,000 and Iranian authorities claim a number closer to 3,000. The US president also said Iran has “already developed missiles that can threaten Europe” and will “soon reach the United States of America.”
Esmaeil Baqaei, a spokesperson for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said, “No one should be fooled by these blatant falsehoods.”
250th anniversary of America
Trump came full circle after self-praise and partisan attacks, finishing his historically long speech on a unifying note: “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.”
While Trump did not thoroughly address many of the issues concerning voters, analysts say this likely won’t have a significant impact as views of the president are “so baked in.”
