SOURCE :- THE AGE NEWS
Now the President’s address is over, let’s look back at some key moments we might’ve missed in the chaos.
The first thing that comes to mind is Trump’s tribute to the late Charlie Kirk, who was killed at a rally in September, 2025. Kirk was a close ally of the president.
Kirk’s widow Erika Kirk was in the crowd as the US President turned to honour her late husband.
“I’m very proud to say that during my time in office, both the first four years and in particular this last year, there has been a tremendous renewal in religion, faith, Christianity and belief In God, tremendous,” Trump said.
“This is especially true among young people, and a big part of that had to do with my great friend, Charlie Kirk, great guy. Last year, Charlie was violently murdered by an assassin and martyred, really for his beliefs. His wonderful wife, Erika, is with us tonight.
“Thank you, Erika. In Charlie’s memory, we must all come together to reaffirm that America is one nation under God, and we must totally reject political violence of any kind.
“We love religion, and we love bringing it back, and it’s coming back at levels that nobody actually thought possible. [It’s] really a beautiful thing to see.”
Erika was tearful in the crowd as she thanked the president and those standing around her.
Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger was giving the Democratic Party response following Trump’s speech.
She offered a sharp contrast to Trump’s depiction of the nation as being in a “golden age” during his State of the Union, arguing that costs remain high for many Americans more than a year into his second term.
Her message, that families are still struggling under Trump’s policies, is one Democrats plan to carry nationwide ahead of the midterm elections. Party leaders point to Spanberger’s double-digit victory in Virginia last November as validation of a disciplined, cost-focused campaign they now hope to replicate across the country.
“Democrats across the country are laser-focused on affordability in our nation’s capital and in state capitals and communities across America,” said Spanberger. “In the most innovative and exceptional nation in the history of the world, Americans deserve to know that their leaders are focused on addressing the problems that keep them up at night.”
She had far less time than the Republican president to make her case. Trump’s address to Congress stretched for just over an hour and 48 minutes, during which he described a nation with lower costs than when he took office, declaring, “This is the golden age of America.”
As viewership tends to drop the longer the speech runs, the response has become one of the more perilous assignments in politics. Now–Secretary of State Marco Rubio was widely mocked for reaching for a water bottle during the GOP response in 2013. Other rebuttals have quickly faded from memory.
Even with the time disadvantage, Democrats argue the political winds are shifting in their favour. Spanberger’s win in Virginia was followed by other high-profile Democratic victories, including a special election earlier this month in Texas, where a Democrat flipped a reliably Republican state Senate district that Trump carried by 17 percentage points in 2024.
Some Democrats chose to make their point by skipping Trump’s address. Counterprogramming events are planned, including a “State of the Swamp” featuring Democratic lawmakers alongside state and local leaders and celebrities.
And to wrap up this mammoth speech, Trump is turning to the 250 years of America.
In closing, Trump said:
250 years is a long time in the life of a nation, but in other sense, it’s really a mere moment in the eye of history.
Americans built this nation from 13 humble colonies into the pinnacle of human civilization and human freedom: the strongest, wealthiest, most powerful, most successful nation in all of history.
Americans ventured out across the daunting and dangerous continent. We carved paths through an unforgiving wilderness, settled a boundless frontier and tamed the beautiful but very, very dangerous Wild West. From empty marshes and wide open plains, we raised up the world’s greatest cities. Together, we mastered the world’s mightiest industries, shattered histories, monsters, tyrannies, and we liberated millions from the chains of fascism, communism, oppression and terror.
When the world needs courage, daring, vision and inspiration, it is still turning to America. And when God needs a nation to work his miracles, He knows exactly who to ask. There is no challenge Americans cannot overcome, no frontier too vast for us to conquer, no dream too bold for us to chase, no horizon too distant for us to claim.
Our future will be bigger, better, brighter, bolder and more glorious than ever before.”
His final words after a record-length address? A simple “thank you, God bless you, and God bless America”.
On his way out, he’s told it was the best speech ever. He’s also asked for a dozen selfies. One man is heard telling the President he “should take the rest of the day off”.
This is now officially the longest State of the Union address ever given.
It has ticked over an hour and 40 minutes. Of course, there were quite a few diversions, including a long interlude for the men’s hockey team.
And just now there was sustained applause for legendary aviator and Korean War veteran Royce Williams, 100, who will receive the Congressional Medal of Honour.
A number of Democrats including hecklers Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib have left the chamber, and a few others are looking a little restless.
We’ve been live with President Trump’s State of the Union speech for over 90 minutes now, which is close to the record for the longest speech in the SOTU history.
That record is, without much surprise, also held by Trump, who set it during his address to Congress last year.
The current record is 1:39:32. We’re getting very close.
We’re talking wars now, and Trump is boasting of his achievements in ending them. He said the war between Ukraine and Russia would have never happened if he was president four years ago.
He said:
In my first 10 months, I ended eight wars, including Cambodia and Thailand. Pakistan and India would have been a nuclear war … people said the prime minister of Pakistan would have died if it were not for my involvement. Kosovo and Serbia, Israel and Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, the Congo and Rwanda and, of course, the war in Gaza, which proceeds at a very low level, it’s just about there.
Under the ceasefire I negotiated, every single hostage, both living and dead, has been returned home.
We’re working very hard to end the ninth war, the killing and slaughter between Russia and Ukraine, where 25,000 soldiers are dying each and every month. A war which would have never happened if I were president, would have never happened.
As president, I will make peace wherever I can, but I will never hesitate to confront threats to America wherever we must. That’s why, in a breakthrough operation last year, the United States military obliterated Iran’s nuclear weapons program with an attack on Iranian soil known as Operation Midnight Hammer.”
Trump has used his speech to ask Congress to pass a new law, one he will call the Delilah Law, that will bar any state from granting a commercial driver’s licence to “illegal aliens”.
This is a topic that is sure to divide the room, but sitting at the back is a guest with a harrowing story that Trump has used to push this legislation.
“In 2023, a 16-year-old high school cheerleader name Lizbeth Medina was supposed to perform in her town’s Christmas parade, but she never arrived,” he said. “Her mother, Jackie, went home to look for her, and she found her lying dead in a bathtub, bleeding profusely after being stabbed 25 times.
“Lizbeth’s killer was a previously arrested illegal alien who had broken in and brutally, really, just brutally, extinguished the brightest light in her family’s life.
“Her heartbroken mother is in the gallery to remind everyone in this chamber exactly why we are deporting illegal alien criminals [from] our country at record numbers, and we’re getting them the hell out of here fast. We don’t want you here.”
He then pivoted to the Democratic side of the room, telling them they “not only allowed the border invasion to happen before I got involved, but indeed they would do it all over again if they ever had the chance”.
“If they ever got elected, they would open up those borders to some of the worst criminals anywhere in the world,” he said. “The only thing standing between Americans and a wide open border right now is President Donald J Trump.”
Trump was seriously heckled by some Democrats as he praised ICE and the Department of Homeland Security for removing illegal immigrants who have committed crimes.
“They’re killing Americans,” shouted Michigan congresswoman Rashida Tlaib.
Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar, whom Trump has called “garbage”, then repeatedly yelled at the president: “You are killing Americans.”
Earlier, Omar called out something that sounded a lot like “you’re a liar and a sick f—” – which is what some other reporters in the gallery heard as well.
