SOURCE :- THE AGE NEWS
February 23, 2026 — 11:30am
US President Donald Trump never retreats, never recants, never apologises, never concedes. To preserve, protect and defend all that he stands for, Trump will go to war in his State of the Union address.
Trump refuses to be smacked down by the Supreme Court. He is already escalating his trade wars. Australia has been hit again – with even higher tariffs. For the midterm elections in November, Trump will intensify his war of hatred with Democrats. Trump believes that the only elections Democrats win are rigged. Trump will demand from the podium that Republicans pass Trump’s bill to depress Democratic votes by requiring birth certificates or passports to permit a citizen to vote.
Trump will wage war to Make America Great Again: more massive and aggressive deportations of immigrants with ICE and the national guard on the streets of American cities. More war on woke, globalism, renewable energy. Commander-in-chief Trump will herald that the Americas are under his command, from Latin America to Cuba to Greenland. Canada will be in his crosshairs, and he will cheer the USA hockey team’s Olympic victory.
The State of the Union address is political theatre. Trump will talk for at least 90 minutes to an expected audience of more than 30 million. He will drift from his text to his disjointed wanderings. Republican members will crowd the aisle to shake his hand as he approaches the podium. They will get their cardio workout by rising and cheering more than a dozen times the killer lines Trump will deliver. The gallery will be filled with heroes Trump will call out for their deeds and accomplishments that illustrate all that Trump stands for as their president. The First Lady will receive huge applause as Trump lauds her Hollywood stardom from her eponymous documentary. The Democrats will jeer throughout the speech, and several will boycott it.
Members of the Supreme Court, who decided by a 6-3 margin that Trump’s tariffs are illegal, will be seated below him. Trump called them “fools and lap dogs” who were “unpatriotic and disloyal” for shredding his tariffs. Trump will again lash those justices, who are a co-equal branch of government, for ruling against him. It will be ugly.
In several of his previous addresses to Congress, Trump has told the American people, after recounting all he is doing and delivering for the country that “the state of our union is strong”. Trump will go further in this address to say that the state of the union has never been stronger – that the state of the union under Trump is the strongest it has ever been throughout America’s history. Trump will declaim that America has the hottest economy in the world, is the most powerful and most envied, that trillions of dollars are pouring into the country for new factories and jobs, that the borders are secure and crime is down to the lowest levels ever, and that this is the magnificent state of America under Trump as the country celebrates America’s 250th birthday on July 4. Which Trump will preside over.
But what Trump will say is not the lived experience of most Americans. The economy is still the major driver in national elections. Last week in Georgia, Trump claimed victory. “What word have you not heard over the last two weeks? Affordability. Because I’ve won. I’ve won affordability.”
Most voters are dissatisfied with his performance and do not buy it. On the eve of this speech, 60 per cent disapprove of his performance. There is deep pessimism about the economy. Most Americans believe the country is worse off than a year ago. Most Americans support the Supreme Court’s striking down of tariffs, but Trump immediately brought them back with a vengeance. Except for the sealing of the border with Mexico, all of Trump’s major policies – including healthcare, immigration, foreign policy, Greenland, Russia, Ukraine, Iran and Venezuela – are underwater (less than 50 per cent) in approval.
For Republicans to keep control of the House and Senate in the midterm elections in November, Trump must win on the economy. But where is he spending his time? On foreign policy. Trump’s recent headlines were on the failed negotiations with Putin over Ukraine, what he will do with Iran on its nuclear program, and the Board of Peace meeting in Washington to bring recovery to Gaza.
Iran is a wildcard in this speech. If there is no deal by Wednesday, Trump will threaten war with Iran and will reject any effort by Congress to require its approval for use of force against Iran. But after all the “forever wars”, another war in the Middle East is a hard sell.
Trump remains the divider-in-chief. As Trump speaks, the Department of Homeland Security is closed down due to a deadlock over funding. Democrats are demanding that, following the murder of two Americans in Minneapolis, ICE agents remove their masks, wear body cameras, and get judicial warrants before seizing people and taking them away. Trump’s bad polls on ICE will not stop his demagoguery on immigrants and the urgency of deportations.
Trump covets the exercise of absolute power. But as Trump delivers this speech, overall public opinion is clear: he is post-peak. Trump will not betray for a moment that his power is ebbing. With his presidency on the line in the midterm elections, the greatest threat to how Trump completes his term is how he wields his power.
Bruce Wolpe is a senior fellow at the University of Sydney’s United States Studies Centre. He has served on the Democratic staff in the US Congress and as chief of staff to former prime minister Julia Gillard.
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Bruce Wolpe is a senior fellow at the University of Sydney’s United States Studies Centre. He has served on the Democratic staff in the US Congress and as chief of staff to former prime minister Julia Gillard.
