Trump’s defiant message: US is ‘hottest country anywhere in the world’
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What is the main theme of Trump's State of the Union address?
After a tumultuous start to his second term, President Donald Trump is looking to reset the reigning narrative about his leadership with Americans. In his first State of the Union address of his second term, the president tried to sell the country on his economic agenda, working to counter increasingly dim views of his economic stewardship. Did he succeed? Hello and welcome to USA Today's The Excerpt. I'm Dana Taylor. Today is Wednesday, February 25th, 2026. Here to help me break down Trump's message to the American people, I'm now joined by USA Today Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page. Susan, thank you so much for joining me.
It's great to be with you, Dana.
Susan, the bulk of Tuesday night's speech was really all about the economy. While Trump has been boasting about how he's transformed the economy, Americans really aren't feeling it. What did the president say to try to shift the narrative here?
Dana, what an interesting speech this was. I mean, put aside the fact it's the longest State of the Union in recorded history. You know, he broke his own record from last year's speech to a joint session of Congress. But he also did something he almost never does. He stuck to his script. There were a few asides. He made fun of Nancy Pelosi at one point, for instance. But generally, he was reading from the teleprompter, something he almost never does. And he did that with a very carefully crafted economic message. And his message was, the economy is great. I inherited a mess and I've turned it around. And he cited some positive economic statistics to make his case. Now, there wasn't a sort of I feel your pain kind of moment that would have maybe made Americans who feel uncertain about the economy feel better.
And he kind of dismissed the idea of affordability as a word that Democrats had concocted. But he did make sort of his best case. Now, will it be good enough? You know, the history of presidents trying to convince Americans the economy is better than they think it is, that is not a promising one. You can just ask Joe Biden. But I did think it was a more disciplined speech than we've seen President Trump give before. And that, I think, was a little bit of a surprise to congressional Democrats in the audience.
The president also brought up tariffs, a sore spot for him, given the high court's rare rebuke of his exercise of power just last week. Let's give a listen to what he said.
I believe the tariffs paid for by foreign countries will, like in the past, substantially replace the modern day system of income tax, taking a great financial burden off the people that I love.
Americans broadly don't like the tariffs, and there's still a lot of uncertainty on whether these will also be struck down, which businesses don't like. Does this statement about tariffs potentially replacing income tax hold water?
Well, I mean, time will tell, but that would be a surprise. And of course, tariffs are essentially a tax and a regressive tax, unlike income taxes that are less regressive. So it seems unlikely that any time in the foreseeable future we're going to see income taxes replaced by tariffs. But the president's devotion to tariffs, his belief in tariffs as the right economic sword for him to use, is clearly unshaken. It hasn't been shaken by Americans in polls saying that tariffs are doing more to hurt the economy than help it, and not shaken by the Supreme Court. You know, we were sort of waiting to see what the president would say to the justices of the Supreme Court who were seated in the front row of the hall.
Four of them attended the speech. Three of them had voted with the majority in that decision and against Trump. But his words to them were pretty temperate. He said it was disappointing. But then he said it wouldn't make much difference because he could impose tariffs using other legal mechanisms. So clearly, Americans may not be sold on tariffs, but it is clear that Donald Trump still is.
Susan, Trump also brought up health care, an issue he and Republicans repeatedly vowed to fix following the introduction of Obamacare, which made health care affordable for millions or tens of millions of Americans.
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