Updated February 24, 2026 at 10:42 PM EST
President Trump opened his State of the Union by putting his presidency in grand historic terms – acknowledging the nation's 250th anniversary while also declaring the "golden age of America."
"Tonight, after just one year, I can say with dignity and pride that we have achieved a transformation like no one has ever seen before, and a turnaround for the ages," he said. "We will never go back to where we were just a short time ago."
Americans may see that as a celebration or a threat, depending on their party. Trump's speech is delivered before an intensely divided public. The president's policies and actions in the first year of his second term have reinforced those divisions – from foreign policy to immigration to the economy.
The president faces negative approval ratings, including on immigration, the topic that twice helped propel him to the White House. The speech also comes just days after the Supreme Court delivered a blow to his tariff policy, and weeks after federal agents the administration sent into Minneapolis shot and killed two U.S. citizens.
Amid those challenges, Trump celebrated what he counts as his achievements, especially on the economy.
Trump defended the many tariffs he imposed over the last year, despite the Supreme Court ruling last week that found a swath of those import taxes to be unconstitutional. He repeated his vow to impose replacement tariffs, authorized under different laws from those the Supreme Court struck down.
"As time goes by, I believe the tariffs paid for by foreign countries will, like in the past, substantially replace the modern day system of income tax, taking a great financial burden off the people that I love," he said.
This isn't the first time Trump has said tariffs could replace income taxes. Experts have repeatedly disputed that this is either possible or advisable.
Trump also touted the tax cuts Republicans passed last year in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, but not without attacking Democrats for opposing them.
"All Democrats, every single one of them voted against these really important and very necessary massive tax cuts," he said.
While Trump spent much of his speech celebrating his first year in office, he also announced policies he wants to put into place, including "ratepayer protection pledges." These would require tech companies building new data centers, which use massive amounts of energy, to pay more for electricity to mitigate price spikes for the communities where those centers are built.
He also said he wants to create retirement accounts for people without access to retirement plans with matching employer contributions. The government, he added, would match up to $1,000 per year in these accounts.
More than half the country — 55% — think President Trump is changing the nation "for the worse," according to the latest NPR/PBS News/Marist poll. That's a marked increase from around this point in his first presidency, when 42% of Americans believed the same.
Recent polls also show the president has a deeply negative approval rating, including negative numbers on immigration and the economy. Those numbers are highly partisan – Republicans still overwhelmingly approve of the president, while Democrats overwhelmingly disapprove. Multiple polls show that a majority of independents disapprove of the job Trump is doing.
On economic issues, Trump has been making the case to Americans for months – especially since Democratic wins in November's elections – that he is working to ease the cost of living.
Trump also leaned into the administration's ongoing message that former president Joe Biden is to blame for any current cost-of-living problems. However, more than one year into Trump's second term, this raises the question of how long the administration can blame economic problems on Biden.
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