Michael Barbaro

So take us into the room as this speech gets underway.

It's really an honor.

And then, after that brief moment of surprise diplomacy, he takes to the podium.

Okay, well, let's start with the first of those Trump's accomplishments in his telling.

And it's around this point, David, that Trump formally turns to a subject we knew he would need to address—

The tariff ruling by the Supreme Court justices, like you said, he had shaken their hands as he walked in, but then it seemed like he kind of unshook their hands in this actual speech.

I did think it was notable that the president, when he said he was going to reimpose the tariffs...

said he didn't feel like he needed congressional action to do that because the context, of course, is that he's in a room filled with members of Congress who, in theory, should covet the ability to influence this decision.

The Supreme Court said it's their job, not the president's.

And instead, the president looks at all these members of Congress and basically says, I don't need you.

I'm going to do this anyway.

And then the president turns to what, David, you have termed the second act of this speech, the partisan act.

Especially as he turns to the topic of immigration.

Right.

It kind of felt like he was trying to reclaim the topic of immigration, which has gone from being a strength into being a vulnerability for him.

But in the process, he did not represent what's actually unfolded under his leadership.

Right.

At one point she says, you killed American citizens.

She wants to distinguish between what he's arguing, which is there's a problem with illegal immigration, and what she says is the problem, which is you guys are so overzealous that you're hurting American citizens.

Right.