State of the Union Address: Polarization and Perspective ?

Donald Trump’s fifth State of the Union address, the longest presidential speech to Congress in American history, was in many ways a companion to his inaugural speech just over forty days ago. Instead of treating the occasion - as presidents typically do - as an opportunity to lay out before the nation a precise legislative agenda for the coming year, Trump was light on the details in an address that focused on highlighting a litany of actions taken during the early days of this administration, reiterating his view of America’s place in the world, doubling down on domestic social issues, and taunting his Democratic opposition. The 2025 State of the Union was a highly partisan address, aimed more at Trump supporters than at building a bipartisan political coalition to carry out the presidential agenda.

Donald Trump is as Combative as Ever

Donald Trump has called for unity with Democrats in the past, no matter how illusory those calls may have proven. Such an attitude was nowhere on display on Tuesday evening, which was characterized by deep acrimony between both parties. Between Republican jubilation and Democratic protest, the gulf between the two political parties could not be wider. Rather than feigning a desire to build bridges across the aisle and seek legislative compromise, Donald Trump railed against Democrats and more specifically, against Joe Biden. Calling him the worst president in history and blaming him for "woke" excesses in US society, for an incoming flood of illegal and criminally dangerous migrants, for the high price of eggs, and for being weak abroad, Trump’s focus on his predecessor, categorically blaming him for America’s ills - and Trump’s ongoing relitigating of an election he won - was unusual for an address of this kind.

The President Doubles Down on his Inaugural Promises

Donald Trump took the floor on Tuesday to praise the early orientations of his administration, even those that have been received with the most controversy: Elon Musk’s DOGE (which is supported by just over a third of Americans), declaring both a national energy emergency and a national migration emergency at the southern border, making English the US’ official language, ending DEI initiatives and recognizing two genders as federal policy among the examples. Donald Trump likened these executive orders, much as he did on January 20, to a "common sense" revolution in American society. He was short on details to demonstrate the tangible results of these initiatives - no numbers on the drop in border crossings, or on exactly how much government waste has been found by Musk and his team -, but that did not prevent Trump from declaring early victory on those fronts.

Tariff Talk is Here to Stay

On the day of his State of the Union, large scale tariffs went into effect on imports from Canada, China, and Mexico. That evening, Donald Trump repeated his intention to use tariffs as a tool to reassert America’s primacy. Accusing other countries - including friends of the US - of unfair tariff practices against the US, Trump announced his intention to impose reciprocal tariffs. His talk on tariffs underscores a larger shift in how the US president perceives the place of his country in the world. Rather than embrace the free trade ethos that characterized several decades of US policy, Trump considers that the US is treated unfairly by these practices. The economic prism is only one angle of his worldview that more American engagement with the world hinders its interests. Indeed, Donald Trump praised his decision to leave the Paris accords, the World Health Organization, and the UN Human Rights Council.

By Trump’s estimation, the US too often reaps far less than it contributes in the globalized world it helped to fuel.

If observers may have expected substantive announcements on ending the war in Ukraine or in Gaza, Trump offered little. He reaffirmed his goal to bring the fighting to an end in both places without giving any indication about his administration’s efforts to do so. And apart from reopening the door to a US acquisition of Greenland, Trump was notably quiet on geopolitical issues. Even mention of China, considered to be the US’ most significant global rival, was limited to a handful of criticisms of its tariffs on American products. Overall during his State of the Union, Trump mentioned tariffs 14 times, Ukraine 8 times, China 6, and Europe 3.

Democrats, Lacking Strategy, Choose Disruption

Early in the speech, Texas representative Al Green repeatedly interrupted the president, causing him to be removed from the House floor. At other times during the speech, Democrats booed, shouted to contradict the president, and held up signs in defiance of his words ("Musk steals", "False"). More than ten Democratic representatives left the speech in protest, an unprecedented occurrence in American politics.

They have occupied considerably less media space than Trump and have provided no cohesive or unifying rallying call to those voters who are now looking to build a post-Trump America starting with the 2026 midterms. Democrats, facing strong headwinds, may simply bet on the hope that Trump’s actions drive voters away. But the lack, at this stage, of an alternative and convincing Democratic position against Trumpism serves to make their symbolic acts of opposition, like those seen on Tuesday, appear insufficient during this particularly divisive political moment.

Glimpses of a New Generation of Democratic Leadership?

The official Democratic rebuttal to the State of the Union, delivered by Michigan Senator Elissa Slotkin, may have offered a roadmap of the issues on which Democrats should focus - and the approach they should take - as they seek to rebuild after their loss in November. The daughter of a Republican father and Democratic mother, a former CIA officer, and senator in a swing state won by Trump, Slotkin appealed firmly to the center. Slotkin evoked the need to rebuild America’s middle class, warned against Trump tax cuts for billionaires, argued that change could happen without chaos, and criticized the president’s handling of his recent Oval Office meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. On a night when symbolic Democratic opposition to Trump took center stage, Slotkin is a reminder that much of the American electorate is situated around the center of the political spectrum. And if these voters, exhausted by polarization and the frenetic nature of partisan American politics, begin to look for new faces to embody their aspirations, performative opposition will not suffice.

Donald Trump in Congress, March 4, 2025
Copyright image : Win McNamee / POOL / AFP