Trump Delivers 2026 State of the Union, the Longest in U.S. History at 1 Hour 47 Minutes
On the evening of February 24, 2026, President Donald Trump delivered his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington. It was his first State of the Union address since returning to the White House, presided over by House Speaker Mike Johnson, with Vice President JD Vance attending in his capacity as president of the Senate. The speech began at 9:12 p.m. Eastern and ran 1 hour, 47 minutes and 40 seconds, the longest State of the Union address in American history, surpassing Bill Clinton's 2000 record by about 20 minutes. About 32.6 million viewers watched, according to ratings figures.
Trump opened by declaring that “our nation is back: bigger, better, richer and stronger than ever before,” called his first year back in office “a turnaround for the ages,” and noted that the United States will celebrate the 250th anniversary of its independence in less than five months. He listed what he described as his first-year record: the border is secure and, in his words, zero illegal aliens had been admitted in the past nine months; the flow of fentanyl across the border is down 56 percent in one year; the murder rate saw its largest decline on record, to the lowest level since 1900; core inflation fell to its lowest in more than five years, at 1.7 percent in the last three months of 2025; the annual cost of a typical new mortgage is down almost $5,000 since he took office; the stock market has set 53 all-time record highs since the election and the Dow Jones broke 50,000; he said he had secured more than $18 trillion in investment commitments from around the globe; American oil production is up by more than 600,000 barrels a day; and 2.4 million Americans were lifted off food stamps in one year.
On tariffs, Trump called the Supreme Court's ruling four days earlier, which held that he had overstepped in imposing tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, an “unfortunate ruling,” but said the tariffs would remain in place under other legal statutes. He also promoted the new tax-free “Trump Accounts” investment accounts for American children, and a plan to give workers without employer retirement plans access to a federal-style plan with a government match of up to $1,000 a year starting next year.
Midway through the address, Trump welcomed the newly crowned Olympic champion U.S. men's hockey team into the chamber and announced that he would award its goaltender, Connor Hellebuyck, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. He also presented Medals of Honor and other military decorations during the speech. The address came during a partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security that began on February 14; Trump called on Congress to end the shutdown and to pass legislation requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections. He concluded, “for all of these reasons, I say tonight, members of Congress, the state of our Union is strong.”
Related: Supreme Court Rules 6-3 That IEEPA Does Not Authorize the President to Impose Tariffs
Source: The White House
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于美国华盛顿的美国国会大厦西立面全景，国情咨文在此发表（资料照片）。Noclip 摄，公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Full view of the west front of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., where the address was delivered (file photo). Photo by Noclip, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
