State of the Union 2026 – February 25, 2026

Another State of the Union has come and gone. This one from Trump, another of his second term, in front of most of Congress, Supreme Court, and various guests the speech was filled with opinions, an occasional lash out or swipe of the prior Biden Administration, and largely filled with distortions if not outright falsehoods.

Par for the course, increasingly rare for a SOTU from any President to not have some degree of self-rewarding and self-congratulatory statements on achievements that take a bit of reading between the lines.

While plenty of mainstream media commentary called this important, “critical,” headed into the midterms what we should consider for this conversation is how often we find ourselves questioning what was said and where the nation stands.

Have we made America great again?

Another answer determined by it depends on who you ask.

From the speech it was “our nation is back… bigger, better, richer and stronger than ever before” and “this is the golden age of America.” Not the first President to say things are wonderful because of them, and certainly will not be the last. Our collective challenge is understanding why we are hearing what was said.

Main themes were expected, economic success mixed with immigration and crime reductions, a mixed bag of distortions and half-truths.

Example, “when I spoke in this chamber 12 months ago, I had just inherited a nation in crisis, with a stagnant economy, inflation at record levels.” The truth is inflation did peak in 2022 during Biden’s time, the demand-pull inflation we had a conversation about weeks ago, but reduced to around 3% by the time Trump took office, and while 2.4% is about what we see now the idea that “inflation is plummeting” during Trump’s second term is a wild exaggeration.

Another example, “the annual cost of a typical new mortgage is down almost $5,000 just since I took office, one year.” Turns out to not even be close, something more like $2,200 at best depending on source. And by the way, interest rates are also higher than they were 4 years ago despite the claim of driving down interest rates. That swipe may be more about the long term feud with the Federal Reserve over something benefitting home owners.

Makes other outlandish claims seem like oddball comedy, even with cheers from the Republican faithful, like Trump’s repeated exaggeration that “my first 10 months, I ended eight wars, including Cambodia.”

Then what is the state of our union?

Given that a few Democrats did not go, a few others took opportunity to protest or say something from the crowd. And also given that Trump took plenty of opportunity to swipe at Democrats calling them “communists” and suggesting “are destroying our country,” both the prior Administration and those in Congress now, it is all too easy to conclude we are as divided as ever. Seems to be very little end in sight to the hostilities and frankly, irrational behavior of everyone on the hill.

The men’s Olympic gold-medal winning hockey team was in attendance, enjoying an invite from Trump who also took swipe at the gold-medal winning women’s team. You could argue it was in jest Trump pretending to be one of the guys, and speaking of it looked that way from the men’s team response. You could also argue Trump cannot help himself but let out every misogynistic attitude possible at any opportunity.

Several others also there in attendance, for one political window dressing reason and motive or another.

So what now?

With everything else going on in the news, domestic and international, the answer is very little in terms of follow up to the State of the Union speech last night.

Sure, Speaker Mike Johnson had plenty of criticism of Democrats all of which was expected given that need to stay in Trump’s good graces. And the Democratic response from Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger was largely content and delivery expected as we watch the midterm campaign season get well underway. The general message from Democrats is well framed now. All boiling down to criticism of Trump’s handling of immigration and affordability.

But overall, very little appears or feels different today vs. yesterday.

One touching moment thou, a good one

A Coast Guard rescue swimmer credited with saving 165 people during the deadly July 4 flooding in the Texas Hill Country was awarded the Legion of Merit for “extraordinary heroism.” Arguably the one moment the entire chamber jumped to its feet as Petty Officer Scott Ruskan was reunited for the first time with an 11-year-old girl he saved.

That deadly flood claimed 27 campers, counselors, and others in Texas just this past summer. One determined swimmer, apart of a team of people looking to save lives, became the one unifying moment on the hill. It should be remembered as such, a brief moment everyone felt the same thing.

Have a review of the speech, plenty of sources have the transcript of, and perhaps review all the fact-checking.

The nation is not that far away from a 250 year celebration, marked by Trump during the speech, that could mean any number of feelings for us all. Pride in our nation down to contempt for some of the darker parts of our history, perhaps an interest in looking across the party lines or the exact opposite in seeing new shocking levels of division.

Since the speech focused on divisions and negativity of everyone, literally everyone, outside of the MAGA Republican Party it seems odd to look at a 250 celebration to be bipartisan. Consider all these things as we see the festivities in a few months, that will also be a few months before we all determine the next Congress.

A parting thought, it sure seems like there is a very intentional effort to keep the nation divided and awfully angry at one another. Might not just be Trump, something to consider in the coming days and weeks.