Trump State Of The Union: trump state of the union leaned on military spectacle

In a performance that some called showmanship, the trump state of the union gave average Americans little reason to back the GOP brand, John Bowden writes. Some Republicans believe his foreign-heavy focus still leaves 'America First' behind.

Showmanship over domestic policy

President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address was presented as his best chance to capture a national audience and sell Americans on the strength of his administration’s accomplishments so far, but members of both parties emerged from Tuesday evening’s address wondering whether the president had found his focus for the midterm elections or whether the night was more of a last hurrah for a presidency that most experts in Washington now agree will likely be hampered by one or more Democratic congressional majorities after the year concludes.

Trump State Of The Union focus

Many observers said the president highlighted accomplishments, but those accomplishments were largely lost in a sea of boasting about America’s might and prestige. Trump promised, “You’ve seen nothing yet, ” and added, “We’re going to do better, and better, and better. This is the golden age of America. ” The address was light on specifics detailing how he was easing the financial burdens on American families.

Guests and emotional appeals

The president made heavy-handed and often very graphic attempts to pull on viewers’ heartstrings with shoutouts to guests including the mother of a woman slain on a bus in Charlotte, North Carolina, the victorious U. S. men’s Olympic hockey team, and members of the U. S. military to whom he gave out Medals of Honor on the spot.

Heavy military and foreign emphasis

Overall, the president’s address focused heavily on the American military and repeated beratings of Democrats. Critics noted reverent boastings of American military might and an in-depth description of the raid to capture Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro. Some argued the address emphasized foreign interventions over domestic relief and policy detail.

Limited domestic specifics and programs

Domestic policy specifics were isolated to a few topics where the White House gained ground in 2025, despite an inability to pass legislation even with twin GOP majorities in Congress. Those specifics centered around drug pricing and the president’s efforts to lower prescription costs through his “most favored nations” program. On the right, critics such as former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene have yearned for Trump to refocus his agenda on economic policy and bringing down costs rather than touting attempts to reach a double-digit number of “wars ended. ”

Critics’ reactions and key quotes

Curt Mills, of the American Conservative magazine, texted after Trump’s opening declaration: “Doubtless tens of millions of Americans hope that that is true. ” Mills argued that it seemed the president suffered from an “extreme lack of conviction” around the declaration that America was re-entering an age of prosperity. A longtime skeptic of Trump’s military interventions in Iran, Venezuela and elsewhere, Mills panned the president’s reverent boastings of American military might, including the raid to capture Nicolas Maduro, as an embrace of “Hegsethism, ” a might-makes-right ideology he sees embodied by the president’s neoconservative defense secretary.

Mills added: “The fetishization of the military is more pernicious, pointless (so what is this for?) and low IQ than in term 1. It venerated and exalted the military with no clear rationale why. Pure Hegsethism. We got no answer on Iran. ”

Democrats, meanwhile, remained laser-focused through the ev — unclear in the provided context.

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Closing: The address concentrated on military strength and high-profile moments more than on comprehensive plans to ease costs for American families, drawing criticism from both the right and the left and leaving questions about focus ahead of the midterm elections.