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The Five

Presidential Knockout Punch

26 Feb 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?

0.031 - 30.207 Unknown

Hello, everyone. I'm Kaylee McAdinney, along with Jessica Tarlow, Jesse Waters, Dana Perino and Greg Gutfeld. It's five o'clock in New York City, and this is The Five. While our president packs a punch, Trump came out swinging in his first State of the Union address of his second term, taking a blowtorch to left-wing policies and the Democrats who support them as well.

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30.747 - 38.297 Unknown

Now, while touting one policy win after another and buckle up, the whole thing ran about an hour and 48 minutes.

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39.579 - 45.326 Kayleigh McEnany

Our nation is back bigger, better, richer and stronger than ever before.

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45.666 - 77.364 Greg Gutfeld

This is the golden age of America. Today our border is secure, our spirit is restored, inflation is plummeting, incomes are rising fast, the roaring economy is roaring like never before, and our enemies are scared, our military and police are stacked, and America is respected again. They caused and created The increased prices that all of our citizens had to endure. You caused that problem.

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78.225 - 86.416 Greg Gutfeld

You caused that problem. They knew their statements were a lie. They knew it. They knew their statements were a dirty, rotten lie.

87.177 - 93.906 Unknown

But here was the biggest moment. President Trump sending the squad into a frenzy by simply asking the Democrats to stand for this.

95.128 - 111.888 Greg Gutfeld

If you agree with this statement, then stand up and show your support. The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.

Chapter 2: What are the highlights of Trump's State of the Union address?

111.908 - 125.306 Greg Gutfeld

You should be ashamed of yourself not standing up. You should be ashamed of yourself. They're blocking the removal of these people out of our country, and you should be ashamed.

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125.326 - 129.752 Unknown

And it gets worse for the Democrats. They would not even stand for this 80-20 issue.

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130.357 - 139.687 Kayleigh McEnany

But surely we can all agree no state can be allowed to rip children from their parents' arms and transition them to a new gender against the parents' will.

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139.727 - 154.002 Greg Gutfeld

Who would believe that we've been talking about this? We must ban it, and we must ban it immediately. Look, nobody stands up. These people are crazy, I'm telling you. They're crazy.

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155.534 - 161.543 Unknown

You know, Jesse, I wish the Democrats would have taken the Fetterman approach. Suit up, stand up when appropriate, sit and listen.

163.046 - 192.013 Greg Gutfeld

But even if they sit, Trump still owns them. I love State of the Union Trump. I think it's better than rally Trump, better than sit down, interview Trump, even better than Gigi show Trump. This guy owns this format. Because there's a physical division right in the middle of the chamber. So he creates a moment and then exploits the moment to get a reaction from the Democrats.

192.193 - 224.071 Greg Gutfeld

And the reaction proves his point. He accentuates it so deliciously that the Democrats are baited into going where they don't want to go. And then he says, see, I told you so. You're having government officials transition children behind parents back and the Democrats aren't saying no. And so. They fall for it because he has them there. There's no moderator. There's no media filter.

224.471 - 227.574 Greg Gutfeld

It's the Trump show, and he is in total control.

Chapter 3: How does Trump frame his achievements in the address?

227.874 - 248.912 Greg Gutfeld

Kayleigh, that's why they didn't go. That's why 70 played hooky, because they don't want to be a part of it, because he merchandises their faces or their yelling or their canes or whatever the hell they do. It's also a great format for the president because the Republicans are just better looking. All of the cutaways to these Democrats, it's sad.

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249.112 - 271.453 Greg Gutfeld

It is a sad look that our cabinet's more attractive. The Trump family is more attractive. I'm sorry. It's just the truth. Also, Trump loves awards. It's become an award show now. You get a Medal of Freedom. You get a Medal of Honor. This person got a tax refund. She got fertility drugs. It's like him hosting an award show now, which is great.

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271.613 - 295.826 Greg Gutfeld

And that's why it's so fun, because he's a great storyteller. This is the kind of speech that gives a president momentum. This is the speech that gives the president legs because the distinction between him and the Democrats was so clear. And now you can see for the first time all of these wins that he can now take this momentum and then drive it home over and over and over again.

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295.946 - 320.015 Greg Gutfeld

Everyone's talking about the speech, the hockey, the Democrats going crazy. Their problem is, is if they do clap for common sense stuff. then Trump looks powerful and persuasive on television, and then their base gets angry. And if they sit there like this, when Trump's saying normal things that everybody agrees with, everybody watching at home thinks the Democrats are crazy.

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320.356 - 328.185 Greg Gutfeld

So that's the problem. He just makes the points so forcefully. The Democrats are just sitting ducks.

328.317 - 343.152 Unknown

Yeah, it's catch 22 for them. Dana, the CNN Snap poll showed that at the beginning of the speech, 54 percent of viewers thought that we were heading in the right direction. Now, 64 percent by the end. So does he make that shift that then carries over into the midterms? I mean, I don't know.

343.172 - 352.722 Unknown

I think that for a lot of people, nobody even remembers that he gave a primetime address from the Oval Office about affordability two months ago. It just like it's he talks. Exactly.

352.702 - 353.924 Jesse Watters

He did.

355.666 - 375.756 Unknown

Yeah. So but for tonight, for a few days, for maybe momentum going forward, for ideas like there wasn't a lot of legislative ideas put forward. And that's fine. What he did do is he spotlighted people rather than policies so much. The policy, of course, sprinkled in. But that doesn't make for a good show.

Chapter 4: What controversial statements did Trump make about immigration?

418.429 - 434.988 Unknown

I don't know how long it lasts in terms of the good vibes. because what really matters after State of the Union, I believe, is the follow through. So the cabinet now has a lot of work to do. So he gave them a few things that were of suggestion, like on prescription drugs, for example. So can you go out and sell that?

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435.008 - 453.227 Unknown

But I think the big thing that they're going to continue to talk about is the big, beautiful bill. That was the one big, huge piece of legislation that is starting to take hold now. And people will really start to see that in April when the tax returns start to come in and they will be bigger than they have been before. And you really can't win the midterms in February.

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453.368 - 470.954 Unknown

You have to kind of assess that more in, like, April or May. Yeah, and no tax on tips, no tax on overtime. That will all be very telling. You know, one moment that will last, and I can assure you, Jessica, because Republicans will make it last, is when this statement was made, the first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.

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471.735 - 474.559 Unknown

Stan, if you agree with this, why didn't Democrats stand?

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474.978 - 493.662 Dana Perino

Well, I think to Jesse's point that they didn't want to play into the Trump show and you're between a rock and a hard place. And I was thinking about if I was in that room, my quads would have gotten the most insane workout because I'd be like halfway between. And I mean, I think the State of the Union is. Has far less impact than it used to. I mean, these things happen.

493.682 - 513.186 Dana Perino

And as Dana said, then we kind of move on past them. I mean, the last State of the Union for Joe Biden mattered a lot because it was the proof of life video. Right. So we had that for a little bit. But in general, it was kind of any other night, which I think is why so many Democrats felt like they had. leeway to go and do something else. And Leader Jeffrey said that that was fine.

513.687 - 533.571 Dana Perino

I think that we should institute a rule that any guest of either party, as long as it's not a totally partisan pick, you stand for them and you applaud. If it's someone who served the country, if it's someone who something terrible happened to them or their family, no matter what the president has said about them, like it's

533.551 - 546.128 Dana Perino

There was no reason that President Trump had to lie about who killed that poor Ukrainian refugee on the North Carolina train, said that she was killed by someone who's here illegally. She was killed by an American citizen who's from Charlotte, North Carolina.

Chapter 5: How do the panelists react to Trump's address?

546.448 - 563.319 Dana Perino

That's unnecessary. But does that family deserves applause no matter what's going on? And I think that we should institute that. In terms of Jesse's analysis of the evening, there are a lot of people who did not feel the same way. Navigator Research was doing dials throughout the whole thing.

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563.88 - 581.932 Dana Perino

President Trump went out there, went through his greatest hits, and did not do what his advisors had hoped that he would do, which is to say, I feel your pain. This is a work in process. We've had some wins, but there's more to do. So they showed that the dials went down when Trump mentioned the golden age, that prices are down.

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581.992 - 600.278 Dana Perino

America is winning tariffs, which are just a big illegal tax on American consumers. CNN did their poll of the State of the Union viewers, which you mentioned going up 10 percent. That was tilted plus 13 Republican. But they only 38 percent had a very positive reaction to it. That's less than Trump got.

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600.258 - 625.185 Dana Perino

In his 2018 State of the Union, 41 percent for Biden in 2022, 48 percent for Obama in 2020 and 2010, then 48 percent for Trump in 2018. Lots of lies, you know, about the amount of investment and what the costs are doing. More Americans working today, et cetera. But the most important thing that he said, and Democrats are laser focused on this, is that he said Democrats cheat.

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625.165 - 640.947 Dana Perino

The cheating is rampant in our elections. Their policy is so bad that the only way they can get elected is to cheat. That is laying the groundwork for subverting a free and fair election. He's already said, I'm sending ICE to the polls. They're going to have poll watchers. There are teams of lawyers.

640.967 - 642.87 Greg Gutfeld

I thought there wasn't going to be an election.

643.21 - 666.169 Dana Perino

That's what Gavin Newsom said. It doesn't, Jesse, it just doesn't matter. It will be a January 6th. It doesn't matter. We're going to have the midterms. Democratic. Right, but if it is close, if it is not the 30 seats that some people think is possible, if it's just a few seats. Mike Johnson held Congresswoman Grijalva out of her seat for two months. He was an architect of January 6th.

666.369 - 672.881 Dana Perino

You think that that man is going to seat these people when Trump is out there saying now that we can only win if we cheat.

672.981 - 674.984 Greg Gutfeld

It is ridiculous. Why we need voter ID.

Chapter 6: What is the significance of the Democrats' response?

1232.938 - 1260.717 Dana Perino

I was glad to see the bipartisan clapping. I remain super excited about the men and women's hockey teams. I do think that that phone call and the... joke as if we're still in the 1950s did not hit right. And I think that it is your job as the most important person in the world, the leader of our country, to congratulate all the winners and to not single out one team for it.

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1260.737 - 1278.898 Dana Perino

He said that they're coming. I don't think there's been any official confirmation that they will. But it's clear that there's having a There is a real impact on the players themselves. Jeremy Swayman, who was on the team, he said we should have reacted differently. We know that we are so excited for the women's team. We have so much respect for the women's team.

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1279.578 - 1297.399 Dana Perino

And women won more gold medals at this Olympics than the men did. They won eight of the 12 gold medals and 61 percent of all the medals overall. And it's the sixth consecutive Olympics where female athletes have won more medals than the men. So there is a reason that they should have been up there with that, that they should have gotten a congratulatory call.

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1297.499 - 1302.306 Dana Perino

But the women themselves said they're not offended. Why are you white knighting for strong women?

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1302.326 - 1304.99 Greg Gutfeld

Why do you have to white knight for strong women?

1305.17 - 1313.922 Dana Perino

I'm just explaining to you how people could be offended by this. And there are women who I think it's completely fake.

1313.902 - 1320.448 Greg Gutfeld

losers, if they're not themselves the actual athletes, people who are offended by something that happens to somebody else, is a loser.

1320.468 - 1325.273 Dana Perino

Have you listened to every interview with athletes? Because I saw one of them where she didn't sound too happy about it.

1325.293 - 1327.295 Greg Gutfeld

I'm too busy helping the poor.

Chapter 7: How did the media portray the State of the Union address?

1339.066 - 1355.629 Unknown

They're not supposed to clap for the Republicans or the Democrats, but I feel bad for, like, They could have clapped for the hockey team. Stand and clap. I mean, presumably they're not clapping because they don't want to be perceived as on the left or the right. Right. But presumably you're all on Team USA if you're an American reporter. So stand and clap.

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1355.649 - 1371.212 Unknown

But the press that's surrounding them, and I'm not saying all of them because some of them were probably following, you know, longstanding tradition and didn't want to stand. But for some of them, like the New York Times headline writer, what are you doing? You've politicized these young men. These young men, think about the 48 hours they've had. They win the gold.

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1371.192 - 1381.363 Unknown

They're chugging beer in the locker room with the FBI director, which they think is amazing until the press swoops in and criticizes them. Then they go to Miami and they're singing courtesy of the red, white and blue Toby Keith.

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1381.383 - 1398.704 Unknown

Then they go to the White House and they're criticized because they walk out to Freebird and go into the Oval Office and meet the commander in chief, the leader of the free world. These guys have been having fun. And I love what one of them said when approached. He said, why are you all so negative? Why? I mean, they're just stunned by the press. They're having fun. It's contagious. It's joyful.

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1398.785 - 1403.352 Unknown

It's exciting. Stand and clap. And they are back to work tonight. I think there's games happening.

1403.452 - 1408.56 Greg Gutfeld

Isn't that become the reoccurring narrative in the last couple of years? Fun versus people who don't want to have fun.

1408.6 - 1419.998 Unknown

Yes. Bingo. All right. And girls just want to have fun. Coming up next, giraffes, frogs and Abigail Spanberger. What? The Democrats response to the State of the Union was all over the place.

1420.906 - 1430.153 Greg Gutfeld

If you got a chance, take it. Take it while you got a chance.

1430.173 - 1432.721

If you got a dream, change it.

Chapter 8: What was the public's reaction to Trump's speech according to polls?

1717.552 - 1745.723 Greg Gutfeld

Oh, no, these are objective journalists. They're professionals. But then when you strip away the actual power that they have, oh, man, they're as left-wing as you'll come. And then on to Spanberger. I will take a giraffe or a frog over Spanberger, and I'll tell you why. Their costumes are obvious. You know, she pulled off a Biden. She won by wearing the costume of the sensible moderate.

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1746.004 - 1766.043 Greg Gutfeld

You know, but once she got in, she stripped off the Joe Manchin skin suit and revealed a 2026 wokester. There's nothing she objects to, from trancing kids to targeting ICE. You know, I'd rather have a frog for governor than her. At least you can kiss a frog and maybe it'll turn into something else.

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1766.343 - 1791.366 Unknown

A prince for you. or a princess straight as they come dana i somehow feel though you you were responsible yes abigail spanberger a little bit a little bit i don't know okay so i gave jesse credit the other night yes last night was that just last night um it's so true they find these democratic women who served in the military or served in the she was a cia officer

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1791.346 - 1806.251 Unknown

And then they say, like, oh, this is the person we should run because this is a person who could win enough Democrats and win independents so they could pull a coalition together. And on day one in office, they'll do things like say we will not cooperate with ICE. We're going to raise your taxes.

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1806.591 - 1826.002 Unknown

We're going to do X, Y and Z. So the best thing that happened to her last night is it was utterly forgettable. A lot of these things go badly, and you remember them. And it's hard to recover from them. Some people do very, very well in recovering from... Like Rubio? Yeah, like Rubio. That's a good one. She had no major gaffes, but it wasn't a home run.

1826.423 - 1838.78 Unknown

And literally nobody will remember that it happened. It'll be like a trivia contest in the future. We'll see. Who gave the response in 2026? And then I'll win that contest because I will remember.

1838.82 - 1852.956 Unknown

But the underlying dynamic for all of these things that we're talking about is that the Democrats are torn between doing normal things like going to the State of the Union and standing for the hockey team and saying, yes, we agree that you should protect American citizens. But then they're torn with their online base that wants to watch dancing frogs.

1853.897 - 1873.671 Unknown

And so this is all happening at the time when in this past week has been very interesting to see these pieces from Democrats saying, yes, Mayors and governors in blue cities and states have got to get their act together. Your governance is terrible. The pensions aren't working. The trash isn't being picked up. People don't want to live there, et cetera.

1874.233 - 1878.164 Greg Gutfeld

This guy licked the toad. Whoa, what is that?

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