David Frum

Thank you, David.

Appreciate it.

Thanks so much to Tim Miller for joining me today on The David Frum Show.

As I mentioned at the top of the program, my literary discussion this week will be an evaluation, an assessment of the State of the Union address as a ritual.

Now, as you know, the Constitution requires that the president from time to time give information to Congress on the State of the Union and make recommendations to Congress about the State of the Union.

That constitutional injunction has become the basis of a ritual that commands the attention of the world.

The President of the United States standing in front of two houses of Congress, House and Senate, with the Supreme Court in attendance, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, other distinguished people, senior representatives of his administration, the cabinet,

It's a statement that whatever partisan divisions Americans may have on this day for this ritual, Americans are united.

Now, not everybody claps at the same thing, but there's an expectation of decorum.

Even people who are strongly opposed to the president's programs or policies are supposed to sit quietly and listen to what the president has to say.

And it's considered quite shocking.

if there's an outburst of dissent or interruption or heckling from anybody in the room.

It's happened before and has always been regarded as a grave scandal.

You're supposed to sit there and listen politely as the president speaks.

Well, as I said before, I'm recording this before we know what President Trump did on his 2026 State of the Union.

But there's a pretty high likelihood he's going to do something untoward.

I mean, the Supreme Court is supposed to be there.

Trump has called them all kinds of names for the tariff decision and said they should be ashamed of themselves and their family should be ashamed of them, has even suggested that he might be in some kind of thrall to a foreign power.

The House and Senate will be there.

President Trump recently tried to indict four members of the House and two senators for things they said in violation not only of the First Amendment, but of the speech and debate rights of members of Congress, House, and Senate.