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Welcome to a special edition of our newsletter. A summary of President Donald Trump’s record-length State of the Union address.
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— Adam Wollner
Lessons learned from President Trump’s State of the Union address
Written by Sahil Kapur
President Donald Trump delivered a triumphant State of the Union address tonight, mocking Democrats in the House of Representatives and declaring that he has ushered in a “Golden Age of America” while blaming them for the country’s problems.
The speech came at a critical time for Trump, whose approval ratings are declining. Broad polling shows Americans have lost faith in him on the economy for the first time in his career, creating difficulties for his party ahead of November’s midterm elections.
Still, President Trump gave no indication that he would adjust his domestic or foreign policy accordingly. On issues ranging from immigration to the economy to foreign policy, President Trump’s speeches focused on highlighting existing policies and light on proposing new ones.
Here are three takeaways from his speech, which was recorded at 1 hour and 47 minutes.
Celebrating the economy: President Trump shamelessly celebrated the economy, touting the stock market as being at an “all-time high.”
“We have achieved a transformation unlike anything anyone has seen before. It is a shift in time,” he said. “We can never go back to where we were a little while ago.”
President Trump gave little acknowledgment to the economic pain and pessimism that many Americans report feeling about wages and costs, instead declaring that prices are falling. To the extent that he acknowledged there was a problem, he blamed it on his predecessor and the Democrats in Congress.
Trump touted his immigration crackdown: Trump took credit for his immigration crackdown, boasting that it had reduced illegal immigration and resulted in “the strongest border ever in American history.”
With some of the victims’ families seated in the audience, he gave lengthy remarks that focused on victims of violence and crimes committed by people living in the United States illegally.
President Trump did not mention Americans Alex Preti and Renee Goode, who were killed by federal agents in Minneapolis. But Rep. Norma Torres, D-Calif., held up a sign with their photo on it. Reps. Ilhan Omar, D-Minnesota, and Rashida Tlaib, D-Michigan, repeatedly shouted at Trump, “You’re killing Americans.”
Clash with Democrats: Trump has not extended any olive branches to Democrats, instead repeatedly ridiculing them and accusing them of paying too much. He expressed anger at what he perceived to be a failure to deliver on promises to bring prices down quickly.
He accused former President Joe Biden and “corrupt partners in and outside of Congress” of inflation and the “Green New scam” and accused them of supporting “open borders to all.”
“The same people in this chamber who voted for that disaster suddenly started using the word ‘affordable.’ One word — they just used it, somebody just gave it to them,” a clearly irritated Trump said. “You caused the problem,” he added, gesturing to Democrats.
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More from NBC News’ State of the Union coverage
That’s all from the political desk for now. Today’s newsletter was edited by Adam Wollner.
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