Dem
47
GOP
53
Tonight, Donald Trump will give a speech to a joint session of Congress. It is happening at the same time, on the calendar, as a State of the Union speech. It will be a rundown of what's going on with the country, as Trump sees it, just like a State of the Union speech. However, since Ronald Reagan's presidency, the first such speech of each president's term is not called a State of the Union Speech, it's called a Joint Address to Congress.
Before anyone asks, it's not entirely clear why St. Ronnie of Reagan made a point of bestowing a different name on the speech the first time he spoke to a joint session of Congress. However, it was that pinko commie FDR who first used the name "State of the Union," for the address in which he laid out some major New Deal goals in 1934. And, in 1981, that pinko commie Jimmy Carter delivered a (written) SOTU just less than a month before Reagan made his first speech to Congress. So, it's a pretty good guess that The Gipper was trying to distance himself from one Democrat, or the other, or both. In any event, every president since has declined to describe their first speech to Congress as a State of the Union address, even though it clearly is one.
So, what is Trump going to talk about? Undoubtedly, there will be much bragging about DOGE, and the efforts to cut government "waste." Elon Musk will presumably be in the audience, and will likely be asked to stand up and take a bow. Everyone will be watching to see if he's wearing a suit, for once, and if he's wearing one of those black MAGA hats. It would be great theater if he were to whip out his gold-accented chainsaw and wave it around, but tolerating that is probably asking a bit much of Capitol security. If you'd like a wild prediction with no reporting whatsoever to back it up, well, it's not impossible that Trump will do what he did with Rush Limbaugh and surprise Musk with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Another major topic will be immigration, and Trump will brag about how great a job he and his team are doing of combating the brown-skinned hordes. If you decide to watch, just remember that during this part of the speech, he will be lying through his teeth. Thus far, the administration has been considerably less successful than either the Biden or Obama administrations were at expelling undocumented immigrants from the country. Since Trump lambasted both of those presidents' immigration policies as failures then, by transitive property, Trump's immigration policies are worse than a failure. It is entirely possible that the current administration will have greater success in the future, but Trump never says: "We haven't done great so far, but wait until you see what's coming." No, he always brags about what he's already done, and how amazing it is. Certainly he's not going to break with precedent tonight.
Certainly, the President will also give some attention to Ukraine (and see below). There will be some amount of virtue signalling, in which Trump presents himself as the victim, and Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a big meanie. It is always remarkable how, for someone who is ostensibly so strong and manly, Trump is constantly whining about those who "bullied" him. And here's another wild prediction with no reporting whatsoever to back it up: The Donald loves to make a big splash, and he hates NATO, so he could use this occasion to announce that he's formally withdrawing the U.S. from that alliance. Should Trump make such an announcement, we only hope the feed immediately cuts to the senators sitting in the audience, so we can see the blood drain from the faces of Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and at least a dozen of his GOP colleagues.
Trump will also talk about tariffs (again, see below for more). What he will say about the tariffs, we don't have the faintest idea. It would be in character for him to present them as the biggest and most beautiful tariffs in American history, and to talk about how he's struck a blow for truth, justice and the American Way. Or, he might talk about how if Canada really wants to avoid tariffs, it should immediately agree to become the 51st state. Or... well, who knows?
As to the Democrats, they have largely decided that dramatic acts—like Nancy Pelosi tearing up Trump's SOTU back in 2020—do not serve their current goals. We're not sure they're right about that—Democratic voters seem to be thirsting for something that shows that the Party is resisting the President. Nonetheless, led by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), the Democrats' approach is going to be pretty passive, and will involve things like inviting fired federal employees to sit in the gallery.
In addition, once Trump is done speaking, there will be three responses from the Democratic side of the aisle.
Giving the first,
and main, response is newly minted Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), who is about as middle-of-the-road as it gets in the Democratic Party.
In case you are wondering what the Party leaders' strategy is going to be in 2026 and 2028, this is a pretty good clue.
Ostensibly, delivering the response to the State of the Union Joint Address to Congress is an honor that allows
an up-and-coming member of the minority party to burnish their national brand. We can't think of too many folks who
actually managed to use it in this way, while we can think of plenty—e.g., Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL)—who
managed to make themselves into the butt of jokes with clumsy, poorly delivered responses. Slotkin is a more experienced
public speaker than Britt, though, so maybe the Michigander will surprise us.
If you prefer your response en Español, then that duty will fall to Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY). Or, if you like your response with a dash of class warfare, then the Working Families Party response will be proffered by Rep. Lateefah Simon (D-CA). For those who care to watch, Trump will begin speaking at 9:00 p.m. ET. All of the major news networks are set to carry the address, and so is Fox. If you prefer your spin, outright lies, braggadocio and posturing in streaming form, then C-SPAN will have Trump's address, followed by those of the Democrats, here. (Z)