C-SPAN’s Washington Journal (02/25/2026) dissects President Trump’s divisive State of the Union, where he touted 60% lower egg prices and blamed Democrats for $34K family inflation, 11,888 immigrant-linked murders, and sanctuary city policies while awarding medals to veterans like Erica Slover (Maduro raid pilot) and Royce Williams (100-year-old Navy vet). Critics—from Rep. Al Green’s "apes" protest to Sen. Chris Murphy’s dismissal of the speech as a "lie-fest"—clash over immigration, tariffs ($1.3T U.S.-Canada trade), and Epstein files, with 70+ Democrats boycotting. Ultimately, the episode reveals stark partisan divides, with Trump’s claims facing skepticism over accuracy, economic reality, and credibility amid ongoing controversies like fraud investigations and foreign policy contradictions. [Automatically generated summary]
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State Of The Union Highlights00:03:00
unidentified
For their annual issues conference, where they'll discuss issues the party will focus on for the year.
The theme for 2026 is fighting for an affordable America, as Democrats plan to focus on an affordability agenda.
From Leesburg, Virginia, watch live at 1:45 p.m. Eastern on C-SPAN 3.
C-SPAN now, our free mobile video app, and online at c-span.org.
Democracy.
It isn't just an idea, it's a process.
A process shaped by leaders elected to the highest offices and entrusted to a select few with guarding its basic principles.
It's where debates unfold, decisions are made, and the nation's course is charted.
Democracy in real time.
This is your government at work.
This is C-SPAN, giving you your democracy unfiltered.
Coming up on Washington Journal this morning, along with your calls and comments live, we're getting your reaction to President Trump's State of the Union address, along with analysis and discussion from Wisconsin Republican Congressman Glenn Grothman, a member of the Oversight and Government Reform and Judiciary Committees, Virginia Democratic Congressman Suhasu Ramanyam, ranking member of the Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee, New York Democratic Congressman Tim Kennedy of the Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs Committees,
and Wisconsin Republican Congressman Tony Weed, member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
President Trump used his first State of the Union speech in his second term, the longest such speech in modern history, to highlight his view of the economy, discuss some foreign policy concerns, and at times call out Democrats over issues such as immigration.
In the next two hours, we'll show you highlights from the speech, talk to legislators for their reaction, and mostly hear from you on your reaction to last night's State of the Union speech by President Trump.
Here's how you can call us this morning, Republicans 202-748-8001, Democrats 202-748-8000, and Independents 202-748-8002.
You can text us your thoughts about last night's speech at 202-748-8003.
If you want to post on our social media sites, you can do that too at facebook.com/slash C-SPAN and also on X at C-SPANWJ.
The president last night using his speech largely to talk about economic issues.
Here's how some of the papers across the United States captured last night's speech and their headlines.
The Dallas Morning News picking up on an Associated Press story, but here is the headline: Trump touts turnaround.
The subhead, president aims to convince wary Americans that the economy is stronger than many believe.
The Chicago Sun-Times, state of defiance, highlighting some of those Democrats who did not attend this speech last night, around 70 Democrats deciding not to do so.
The subhead says, six Illinois Democrats boycott address.
One walks out as the president declared the quote golden age during the State of the Union.
And the New York Post playing off the men's USA gold team being part of the activity last night.
Their headline, Trump wins gold.
Again, the economy, a major driving force of last night's speech.
Here's a portion of the president talking about what he sees are the accomplishments in his first year.
For decades before I came along, we had the exact opposite.
From trade to health care, from energy to immigration, everything was stolen and rigged in order to drain the wealth out of the productive, hardworking people who make our country great, who make our country run.
Under Biden and his corrupt partners in Congress and beyond, it reached a breaking point with the Green News scam, opened borders for everyone.
They poured in by the millions and millions from prisons, from mental institutions.
They were murderers, 11,888 murders.
They came into our country.
You allowed that to happen.
And record-setting inflation that cost the typical family $34,000 in just a speck of time.
Now, the same people in this chamber who voted for those disasters suddenly used the word affordability, a word.
They just used it.
Somebody gave it to them, knowing full well that they caused and created the increased prices that all of our citizens had to endure.
You caused that problem.
You caused that problem.
They knew their statements were a lie.
They knew it.
They knew their statements were a dirty, rotten lie.
Their policies created the high prices.
Our policies are rapidly ending them.
We are doing really well.
Those prices are plummeting downward.
The price of eggs is down 60 percent, Madam Secretary.
Thank you.
The cost of chicken, butter, fruit, hotels, automobiles, rent is lower today than when I took office by a lot.
And even beef, which was very high, is starting to come down significantly.
Just hold on a little while.
We're getting it down.
And soon you will see numbers that few people would think were possible to achieve just a short time ago.
That's a portion of the president from last night.
You can still watch the speech on our app at C-SPANNOW, our website at c-span.org, your reaction to it during this time.
The House coming in at 9 o'clock today.
And we'll take your reaction till then.
202-748-8001 for Republicans.
202-748-8,000 for Democrats.
Independents, 202-748-8002.
The Wall Street Journal this morning highlighting the analysis of last night's speech, adding, while the inflation has cooled, they cite, U.S. economic growth slowed at the end of last year.
The economy created only 181,000 jobs in all of 2025, though job gains rebounded in January.
Let's hear from Vicki, Vicki in Seattle, starting us off on our line for independence on last night's State of the Union speech.
Vicki, go ahead.
unidentified
Thank you for taking my call, Pedro.
I just want to say, and I mean this in all sincerity, this man is mentally unfit to be president.
He doesn't live.
Everything comes out of some weird thing in his head, but he is not living in reality, honestly.
We will go to Veronica in Florida, Republican line on last night's State of the Union speech.
Hello.
unidentified
Yes, thank you for taking my call.
I'm calling to say that these people who are denigrating our president are crazy.
First of all, for the speech, he showed that Democrats are not for the American people.
And also for Governor Spanberger, who was the person that spoke after the speech to give the Democrat highlights, the woman who ran as a moderate to a very short time after she became governor became a truly progressive woman.
So what does that mean as far as the speech and the response she gave last night specifically?
unidentified
She's talking about affordability.
How can you talk about affordability when you raise taxes on everything?
When you tell people that President Trump talked about the immigration that Democrats put illegals over citizens, she put into effect that they are not going to cooperate with ICE.
Mike on our line for independence in Ohio reacting to the State of the Union speech.
Mike, good morning.
unidentified
Good morning, Pedro.
Listen, there's going to be a lot of fluctuation as far as our economy goes because we've been sold out since NAFTA, which means no American factory taking applications.
People don't realize Trump is not a politician.
We have a two-party system that's created the mess that we're in right now.
We still have a lot of old rhinos in the Congress and in the House that are still for the old Democratic guard.
I mean, they're both working the same.
Trump is not a politician.
He's a businessman.
He is bringing trillions of dollars back into our country to restructure it, which we've been sold out by them people that are sitting there on their butts doing nothing.
The Democratic Party has shown us their true face.
They want to destroy America, bring in a whole new generation of illegals, and that way we can be a one-world order position.
The Wall Street Journal has a snapshot of the first year of the president's accomplishments on the economy.
Economic growth is one of those things they highlight under a category of acceptable.
They give it.
The economy has managed to keep growing despite hiring slowdowns, but the pace has slowed.
Gross domestic product in 2025 expanded from 2.2%, measured from the fourth quarter of the prior year, down from 2.4% in 2024, and at the slowest pace since 2022.
That is hardly the, quote, new golden age the president promised on the campaign trail, but it is also better than what many anticipated after last spring's tariff rollout, where economists surveyed by the Wall Street Journal expected growth of just 0.8% last year.
Sarah is up next in California, Independent Line.
Go ahead.
unidentified
Hi there.
So I just want to say that coming from both sides, I don't think the Republicans are happy in the way that the immigration thing was handled in Minnesota.
Two Americans are dead.
I don't think that the Democrats are happy in the speech that was given afterwards and the response of just vote.
I think in the big picture, all of us Americans have seen some of the Epstein files that have been given to us.
I think there needs to be accountability on both sides.
And I think that us as American people need to open our eyes and see who's actually running the government.
And all these little things that they're throwing at us, whether it's immigration issues, whether it's trans issues, whatever the hell it is, is taking away from the big picture that the people who are running us don't have our best interests at heart.
Sarah in California giving her response to last night's State of the Union.
You can do the same.
You can give us a call on the lines, reach out to us and post if you want on our various social media sites.
In fact, if you go to the social media sites, when it comes to the length of the president's speech, we hinted this morning that it was the longest when it comes to technical state of the unions.
There's a history.
An hour, a minute, an hour and 47 minutes, 107 minutes total.
Back in 2025, that was 99 plus minutes, 78 plus in 2020.
It goes all the way back and including an average length of a State of the Union speech, 78 minutes or 79 minutes plus.
Can see that for yourself when it comes to the length there.
And always watch the speeches from last night on our app and the website too.
Mark is next.
Minnesota Independent Line.
Hello, Mark.
unidentified
Good morning, Pedro.
Thanks for taking my call.
I love C-SPAN, and I hate C-SPAN for the same reason.
You let people say anything and you don't push back.
But I would like to ask an independent question.
Is C-SPAN going to do a fact check on Donald Trump's speech last night?
I think it's certainly better than it was a few years ago.
We still have a situation in which we have an employee shortage, relatively easy to find jobs.
The inflation, you know, we haven't had a decrease after the big cost increases of the Biden economy, but inflation recently is down considerably.
I know gas prices have been the lowest.
It's been a long time, at least in my district.
So I felt the economy was good and it's going to get better, particularly as the deregulation hits and energy costs, the lower energy costs ripple through the economy.
Like I said, I think we have to lay out that the things that people are disappointed in are very difficult to undo, say the inflation of the Biden years.
And that's got to be explained to people.
I think we can do a better job of highlighting the labor shortage and how much money is available out there for people who want to work.
I'll tell you, I've spoke several times with Walmart, for example.
Now, they only hire the best, but you've got truck drivers for Walmart now making $140,000 a year.
I think it's good because it was such a positive speech that if he sticks with that, it will help us get another two or three points we may need to hold on to our majority.
And of course, the Democrats last night, they weren't speaking, but their performance, their refusal to stand up for lines that anybody should have stood up for, I think that says a little bit about them as well.
When he talked about dealing with a transgender issue, again, kind of sitting down.
So I think for people who are really paying close attention last night, I think their kind of their anti-Trump childishness, the refusal to stand up at times where they should have stand up, I think it will hurt the Democrats.
On some other things going on currently in light of this speech, how long do you think before there's a resolve in the partial funding stopping at DHS?
You know, we went through this thing a couple years ago where so many Democrats wanted to defund the police.
Well, if you want to have any immigration law at all, ICE is the people who enforce it.
And the Democrats really don't want immigration laws.
It goes back to a couple presidential campaigns ago when they promised free medical care for all illegals coming here, which they had under Joe Biden.
But It continues to be a problem, and that if the Democrats don't want to fund ICE and they don't want to, it sends the message all around the world that we are enforcing immigration laws.
And as Donald Trump pointed out, as soon as you get a different president or even a different congress in there, I think the Democrats are going to want to go back to the days in which you get three million, maybe four million illegals coming here every year, which would be horrific.
But that really is their goal.
They're one world government type of people who don't know why I need a board at all.
I think one of the things we ought to be doing is looking for other people who can give us more information.
You know, I'm going to be present, I intend on Friday when we depose President Clinton.
I don't think he's the most honest person in the world, so I don't expect to get a lot of breaking news out of him.
But perhaps some of the other characters who are around Epstein Island, the other characters who staffed Jeffrey Epstein's airplane, will be more forthcoming and tell us a little bit more that's out there.
You know, we've heard of a lot of famous people who've already been caught in this net.
We know who the problems are.
But I think there are a lot of people I'd like to yet know.
I do think that perhaps early on some of those files disappeared.
But, you know, it says something about the elite of this country, and it seems largely we're dealing with liberal elite, though not exclusively.
Their sexual worries are very different than that of the average American.
Well, I think early on, some I think early on, and I'm saying going back over 10 years ago, I think when they went into Jeffrey Epstein's, I can't remember what it was, apartment or offices or whatever, I think things were left unattended for a while and that was wrong.
And before we let you go, back to your deposition of President Clinton, which you highlighted, you said you didn't think you were going to get a whole lot out of it.
Well, I think we have to continue to clamp down on excessive government spending.
I was glad that we're going to be looking into more of the spending abuses that's been assigned to Vice President Vance.
I also hope they look at the welfare because, of course, our welfare system is almost designed to keep the man out of the family, so many fatherless homes.
Back to your calls on the State of the Union in Pennsylvania Democrats line.
Martha is next.
Thanks for waiting.
Go ahead.
unidentified
Hey, good morning, Pedro.
Let me fact-check something Donald Trump said last night.
I wasn't going to, I didn't want to watch his speech, but just out of curiosity, I tuned in for a couple minutes, and I tuned in right at the right time.
He was talking about prescription drug prices.
He said he was going to lower prescription drug prices by 300 to 500%.
And he said no one else could do it, but he's going to do it.
Then he gave the example of a couple spending $4,000 a month on fertility drugs.
And because of his reduction, they were only going to pay $400 a month.
So, Pedro, that is a 90% reduction in price.
I don't know why his staff continues to let him say that he's going to reduce prices by 300, 500, even 1,000% when that is mathematically impossible.
I don't know why they let him continue to make a fool out of himself.
Maybe his staff doesn't know how to do math.
But if you pay $4,000 for a prescription drug and it gets cut down to $400, that is a 90% reduction.
Maybe Donald Trump relies on the fact that his own supporters don't know any better, and they'll believe him when he says he can reduce drug prices by 300, 500.
And at one time, he even said he was going to reduce prices by 1,000%.
Well, the Washington Examiner in the lead up to the State of the Union posted this on their website, a profile of Ross Worthington, who they describe as the speechwriter behind the state of the union, saying that the chief speechwriter has spent weeks huddled with other top aides drafting and redrafting the state of the union speech.
But Worthington does it from behind the scenes in a White House where Mr. Trump is acknowledged as his own best communicator, throwing out social media posts around the clock, delivering speeches largely off the cuff, or even highlighting the lighting during interviews.
There are no prizes for claiming credit for putting words in the president's mouth.
But it also highlights that the 37-year-old speechwriter monitors the president's troop social fee for useful nuggets, runs a, quote, double-blind fact-checking process to scrutinize key elements, liaises with other top officials, including the deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, and domestic policy chief Vince Healy, while deciphering the president's own feedback in form of notes scribbled on computer printouts.
There's more there if you want to see some of the behind-the-scenes work behind the last night's speech.
And the main reason why I thought it was great was because he really called out the Democrats on a lot of issues that a lot of Americans agree with him on.
You know, and I guess one of the biggest examples is asking everybody to stand up who are for the American people as opposed to illegal immigrants.
And you saw all the Democrats sitting on their rears, and they just but and then the Nancy Pelosi thing with the legislation about them being able to invest in stocks behind, I guess, insider trading type situations.
He called her out on that.
So to me, the speech was good, but it was entertaining too.
And then calling them crazy, which I thought was, I mean, it's not typical presidential type language that you use.
But we're talking about Donald Trump, and I thought it was hilarious.
But he had a lot of good points in the speech, and I agree with him on a lot of stuff.
But I think the biggest thing is just calling Democrats out on.
And then you have Omar and that other lady from Michigan, you act like idiots the whole time, talking the whole time.
And he just basically didn't acknowledge him because how idiot of a person or people they are.
And then Al Green doing his deal with the blacks aren't apes or something like that.
That's just ridiculous.
So that's part of the reason why I tuned into the speech because I was wanting to see Democrats would react to what he was saying.
And they were right on the money doing what they were doing.
Sam in Mississippi, he highlights what several reports from this morning highlighted from last night's speech during about an hour in the president asking people to stand when it comes to this idea of sanctuary cities.
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.
Isn't that a shame?
You should be ashamed of yourself not standing up.
You should be ashamed of yourself.
That is why I'm also asking you to end deadly sanctuary cities that protect the criminals and enact serious penalties for public officials who block the removal of criminal aliens, in many cases, drug lords, murderers all over our country.
They're blocking the removal of these people out of our country.
You can see a whole lot more when you watch that speech from last night.
And if you choose to watch the whole speech, you can do it on our app at C-SPANNOW and our website at c-span.org.
In Maryland, Independent Line, let's hear from Ron.
unidentified
Hey, good morning.
Good morning, C-SPAN.
Good morning.
I think that your Democratic party should replay that every single election, because that right there is the reason why they lost.
Specifically, just immigration.
And the fact that they didn't say it when you're talking about letting in murderers and rapists and all types of people unvetted, that's why you lost.
And unfortunately, I'm going to go off my little notes here.
Unfortunately, they're going down the same path.
When you're talking about Newsom and the face of the Democratic Party now is AOC and Newsom, here they go again.
So hopefully they will learn from what you all just played as far as the applause.
And that was genuine applause.
Okay.
And thank you, Donald Trump, for doing that.
Now, I am not a Trump supporter.
I think that speech last night was actually probably one of the best speeches that he's given.
But I do have some concerns, though.
Until we can get the true results from that Epstein file, whether it's in his favor or not in his favor, I'm truly concerned.
When he was walking in, you had people applauding and shaking his hand.
And if his name, well, we know his name is in the Epstein file, but if he is found to have done some criminal things towards those females and males, then history will go down to show these people shaking his hand and applauding a criminal and somebody that's probably, I don't know, could possibly be quite an evil person.
Another concern that I have here is his net worth.
When he talks about, you know, prices have gone down.
One thing that has definitely not gone down, Donald Trump, we know that he listens.
I think he called in, what, last week or over the weekend.
But one thing that has not gone down is his net worth.
Just a couple of days ago, I actually read that he signed a deal with some place in Australia to build a $1 billion hotel.
So those are just some concerns I have.
I think overall, if I would say, give him a great right now, I should give him a C.
Another viewer, this is Audrey in Philadelphia, who texts us this morning.
Say, I'm not a Trump fan, but I thought the speech was good.
Disappointed.
It started with the usual bluster and belligerence, but he was mainly coherent and on point.
The pressure has now come on Congress to enact the legislation he asked for.
I noticed he avoided ICE, Epstein, and Iran, and he still told quite a few lies.
Overall, a B-plus.
That's independent Audrey in Philadelphia.
Carolyn joins us from Missouri, Democrats line.
unidentified
Yes, I watched the program last night.
I watched the State of the Union.
And I just have a couple of questions about it because I want to know what stores do Republicans shop at.
I'd like to know what prices are they being given?
Because I tell you, I'm paying out the yin-yang for everything.
I'm 71 years old, and I was hoping that he spoke on the fraud, saying more, because he's been using the mortgage fraud thing against other people.
I have a mortgage fraud claim where my property was stolen from me seven years ago when Trump was in office.
I didn't get any help from him.
I wrote to the DOJ, the FBI.
I still have not gotten any help from the banks to anyone who has not reached out about the fraud that was perpetrated on the blacks, where their properties were being stolen.
I was looking for a little bit more, but he's not capable of giving us anything more.
It's not in him.
He goes over in Iran and threaten those people and tell us that he's going to protect them.
But he sends a militia out on American streets to kill American people.
Carolyn there in Missouri, this is she referenced the fraud, and another viewer referenced it too, saying that the president officially declared a, quote, war on fraud during the address.
He named the Vice President JD Vance as the leader of the task force to fight fraud.
The president claimed Somali fraud is up to $19 billion in Minnesota, greater than previously reported.
He said it was a kind of corruption that shreds the fabric of the nation.
And the president also suggesting that the efforts to tackle fraud could be used to balance the federal government's budget.
This adding that the U.S. national debt more than $38 trillion.
Republican line, this is Peter in Arizona.
Go ahead.
unidentified
Good morning.
Thank you for taking my call.
I was just looking at an overall view of the president's speech.
I'm a fan of President Trump.
That was a very good speech.
What I see out of it is, yeah, there's positive and negatives.
We'll be talking about them for weeks.
But if anybody looks at the overall view of the speech, everybody stood up and applauded for when we honored the veterans and for when we talked about the resurgence of God in this country.
So, God and honor is the unifying force for America, for the future.
The Washington Post highlights some of the medals that he awarded last night, saying this, in place of new policies, the president announced honors, including a presidential medal of freedom for U.S. hockey goalie Connor Hullybuck, a medal of honor for Chief Warrant Officer Erica Slover, a pilot in the raid to capture Venezuelan dictator Nicholas Maduro, another medal of honor for a 100-year-old Navy fighter pilot Royce Williams, a Legion of Merit for Coast Guard rescue swimmer Scott Ruskin,
and a Purple Heart for National Guard Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolf, who was wounded in the November attack and the National Guard personnel in Washington.
Al is next.
Al is in Minnesota, Independent Line.
unidentified
Hello.
Well, what I saw was wickedness, vile, and evil coming out of Donald Trump.
How he likes to divide people, and here we go again with the immigration.
We all have due process in this country, even the ones that are migrated here.
And this grift that this administration is doing is going to be all accounted for.
It's not going to happen now in three years, within the next three years.
But after that, everyone that's stealing from this government and our tax money is going to be accounted for.
And there's a blue wave coming.
So just, you know, want to see people get on the right side of history on this because we all know he's authoritarian.
And this authoritarian is our first election in authoritarian country.
Listen, tonight's State of the Union counted the taxpayer protection, yet they continued to ignore the $2 trillion, that's $2 million debt bubble that threatened to crash the dollar, the one big, beautiful bill fixed.
As a Florida conservative and a constitutional advocate, I demand that the lawmakers move beyond the one big, beautiful bill borrowing caps and address the fundamental structural failure of the credit markets, the lack of bankruptcy for the student loans, which Glenn Grossman and Ralph Norman's H.R. 4563 from the 116th would have corrected.
That would be a remarkable discipline to force the Department of Dead to stop lending, okay?
And if anyone was to Google the Middleman Elimination Act by Gordon in Florida, you don't even need my full name.
Specifically, how does it relate to the state of the U.S.?
unidentified
Right now, it's still up to $2.49 in Iowa.
That's the average gas price.
And he said that last night, that it was $1.85.
The other thing is, being a president, how can anybody, in their wildest dreams, a past, a present or future president that says and does everything that he can do no wrong or say no wrong?
Are you kidding me?
If Washington or Lincoln was standing in front of me and said that, I'd say, get out of my way, buddy.
We've got about 15 minutes till the top of the hour.
The show goes to 9 today because the House is coming in at 9 o'clock.
And we have members of Congress joining us throughout the morning to give their perspective.
Representative Suha Subramanium, the Democrat from Virginia, a member of the Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee ranking member, also a member of the Science, Space and Technology Committee joining us from Capitol Hill.
What were your impressions of last night's address?
unidentified
I'm not surprised.
The president was trying to paint a picture of an America where costs have been lowered.
It's a golden age, and it's an economy and a country generally that's working for everyone.
But that's not the case.
That's not what's happening right now.
Because of the president's policies on things like tariffs, we've seen rising costs for a lot of Americans.
We've seen a lot of Americans not feel included in this economy.
We've seen their health care taken away from them, their benefits taken away from them.
Holding The President Accountable00:07:18
unidentified
And so I represent Virginia, and we didn't see anything about federal workers or contractors.
And instead, what we saw was more lies from the president.
So certainly we're going to hold him to task here in Congress.
But I think the American people probably weren't surprised by the lies, but we're surprised that he didn't even acknowledge some of the pain that I hear about every day.
And particularly that point where he asked people to stand when it comes to the topic of sanctuary cities.
What was your position and what did you think of that technique during the speech itself?
unidentified
I think the president's goal was to try to humiliate Democrats, try to corner them on certain issues, try to isolate them in some ways.
There's a lot of spiking the football and reminding the people that he's completely in charge of Congress too.
And Republicans certainly were getting up and clapping for everything he said because they see it as their job to do nothing but support this president, even when it undermines policies that they believe and even if it undermines the American people.
So certainly I wasn't going to get up and clap for everything the president was going to say about things.
He did, because you serve on matters of military and foreign affairs, things like that, one of the things he did briefly talk about was Iran saying that he preferred a diplomatic solution when it comes to resolves in that country.
What did you think of that and where's your thinking as far as what he said and what you think he believes?
unidentified
I think a diplomatic solution should be the top priority.
In the end, a protracted war, a kinetic attack on Iran comes with a lot of risks.
And so what we'd like to see is Iran come to the table with us and come up with a new nuclear deal.
Remember, we had one 10 years ago, but then the president himself scuttled it.
And so now he's back at the table trying to fix a mistake that he made about a decade ago.
But certainly if Iran's going to come to the table, we want to make sure that they have no path forward for a nuclear program.
He did reference this idea that the program was obliterated, but then still expressed concerns.
You've been maybe briefed on these matters.
What's the state of play when it comes to the current Iran's nuclear program?
unidentified
It's hard to trust this administration and what they tell us because remember they did tell us that the program was obliterated, but then they're also telling us now that it's not obliterated, that it's coming back.
They're a week away from building another nuclear bomb, or at least being able to do so.
And so, you know, we're at a point where we're not sure what to trust anymore.
What we're going to do is just make sure that if there's going to be any sort of warfare that we want to be included.
Congress needs to be briefed regularly.
We need to make sure that we respect Congress's war powers.
But what we don't want is for the president to unilaterally go in to Iran and do so without exhausting every diplomatic option possible.
Jeffrey Epstein, some of those victims in the audience last night, including some guest of yours.
Can you tell us who you invited?
unidentified
Yeah, I invited Skye Roberts and his wife, Amanda Roberts.
So Skye is the brother of Virginia Juffray.
She was one of the most key whistleblowers and wrote a memoir about her time being trafficked by Epstein and Maxwell.
And so, you know, Virginia took her own life, unfortunately, and Skye and Amanda are trying to carry on her bravery and courage, and they certainly have.
And all the victims who were there last night were very disappointed by what they heard from the president and his lack of acknowledgement that he has covered up this entire investigation despite promising that he wouldn't.
Before we let you go, your newly minted governor, Abigail Spanberger, giving the response to the State of the Union.
What were your impressions of her response?
unidentified
Governor Spanberger hit her home ride.
I mean, she was spot on.
She talked about the realities of what's happening in places like Virginia, where people are seeing high housing costs, where people are seeing a lack of access to health care.
And so she had a plan and she put forward her vision and she's implementing that vision in Virginia right now in Richmond.
And so I think she's the future of our party.
She's someone who gets the solutions and she unites our party.
So I think people are really impressed by her speech and we're looking forward to more from her.
You kind of stole my thunder with speaking to the congressman about the Epstein situation.
It was no surprise to me that the president never spoke of or recognized the Epstein victims in attendance.
He could have asked Congress to stand up and support them, the thousand women that have come forward to report crimes against women and sex trafficking.
And if he has Vice President Vance as a person in charge of fraud, he needs to come to Florida first and investigate what's going on in Florida with the Hope Florida scandal, Corey Mills.
There's so many things today in the Orlando Sentinel.
There's a Ponzi scheme crypto person that's been identified.
First, I think it's a great thing to have JD Vance overseeing the fraud investigations throughout the U.S. What would be a terrific win for our country is if they could get any of this money back, use it to pay down the debt.
A point that the president also brought up was perhaps in the future, no income tax.
I haven't heard anybody talk about that or pick up on that point from his speech last night.
It has been proposed before that a flat sales tax throughout the U.S. would be able to support our budget.
That's something, good food for thought.
I'd like to address some of the folks they called in.
One was earlier that talks about how to stopping these wars around the world help the U.S. I'm a retired federal employee.
I did budgets and contracts for 40 years for Department of Defense.
When you look at the budget, they have a huge budget, the biggest of the nine that make up the whole U.S. budget each year.
When we are not at war, we're not spending money and giving money to all these other countries and buying equipment and ammunition quite mentioning the human cost.
Bonnie in Indiana, Independent Line, State of the Union speech last night, your reaction to it.
Go ahead.
unidentified
Yes, I very much liked it.
I liked that it honored the military, above all, and also the U.S. men's hockey team, and that it honored God.
And I felt like, other than the snarky remarks that President Trump made toward the Democrats, I thought it was a unifying speech.
And I felt like, you know, it was probably his best speech that I've heard.
I am a Trump supporter.
I'm a white, educated, independent female, registered nurse.
I could talk to you about the health care.
I think that a benefit to the people versus the insurance companies would be a great thing.
Any kind of drug price reduction would be wonderful.
I just thought it was a very promising speech.
I love that it honored Marco Rubio.
And the last thing I'd like to say is that if people in blue states and sanctuary cities don't like their taxes, and this is why we left England in the first place, because we didn't want to be taxed.
When it comes to the reaction to the State of the Union speech, you can continue on and share yours on the phone lines.
202-748-8001 for Republicans, 202-748-8,000 for Democrats.
Independents, 202-748-8002.
Text us your thoughts, 202-748-8003.
If you want, you can also post on our social media sites.
That's facebook.com slash C-SPAN and also on X at C-SPANWJ.
Some of those legislators from last night leadership positions making their thoughts known about last night's speech.
Chuck Schumer putting out a statement, the first line of which reads, the State of the Union address revealed Donald Trump is in a state of delusion, going on to say that the president painted a delusional portrait of America that is hardly any working American would recognize.
This is from Senate Leader Thun saying that over the past year, President Trump and Republicans and Congress have worked together to get our country moving again and deliver real results for working families in South Dakota and across our nation.
That is a tweet or a text from a viewer, but this is Steve Scalise, House Majority Leader, saying this.
That was a masterclass from POTUS.
His message was crystal clear to the American people.
Your country is safer, stronger, and more prosperous than it was just one year ago.
To the world, America is back.
And I'll find Leader Jeffries there as well and show it to you as we go along in this final hour before the House comes in.
Get your thoughts on these matters too.
David, starting us off on this second hour in Wisconsin, Republican line.
Hi.
unidentified
Hello, Pedro.
Again, thanks for taking my call.
I didn't think I was going to even get through.
You know, again, with the State of the Union address, I thought it was great.
The issue was really the standing.
I always just dislike it, whether it's Republican or Democrat being in there and standing up and clapping.
Just talk about it, show some more visuals out there.
You know, I hear these people calling in today about the cost of goods and service.
I'm a finance guy, so I look at all that stuff and I watch a lot of different financial stations out there.
And again, to bring it in perspective, when they talk about the inflation indexes out there, those are general inflation indexes that also include your high-end products like planes and yachts and stuff.
But if you look at what Strategus puts out there, and you might want to look it up, is they hone it down directly to what they call the Common Man Inflation Index.
And during the Biden years, I'm in the actually small business area, so I saw this majorly on our businesses.
But that index was 35% over four years.
That's basically over 9% a year.
And that's the thing I kept saying because, again, being a finance guy and in economics, I was looking at these all the time, these numbers, and I'm like, how can we only be at 21% with Biden?
This does not make any sense.
And prices have come down.
That guy that was in Ohio that you had on Iowa earlier saying that their prices of gas is at 185.
Ours was up here.
It was the EAE85 gas or whatever that stuff is.
But our prices have been as low as 209.
Right now it's at 226.
So our prices are low.
Our price has come down on all the groceries.
Again, beef prices are still up there, but we know why that all happened.
And then you just hear all this stuff out there that these Democrats on your line keep coming in and saying, I mean, even that guy that you brought in from the Democrat from Virginia, I watched that Abigail Spanberger's afterwards, and she said three questions.
One is about cost or, you know, the affordability.
Well, again, 35% for the everyday low-income to middle-income person, inflation.
You can't bring inflation down.
In 250 years, we have had only nine years of deflation.
And let me ask you, the American people watching at home, three questions.
Is the president working to make life more affordable for you and your family?
Is the president working to keep Americans safe both at home and abroad?
Is the president working for you?
As I campaigned for governor last year, I traveled to every corner of Virginia and I heard the same pressing concern everywhere.
Costs are too high in housing, health care, energy, and child care.
And I know these same conversations are being had all across this country.
Because since this president took office last year, his reckless trade policies have forced American families to pay more than $1,700 each in tariff costs.
Small businesses have suffered, farmers have suffered, some losing entire markets.
Every day, Americans are paying the price.
And even though the Supreme Court struck these tariffs down four days ago, the damage to us, the American people, has already been done.
Meanwhile, the president is planning for new tariffs, another massive tax hike on you and your family.
And Republicans in Congress, they remain unwilling to assert their constitutional authority to stop him.
They're making your life harder.
They're making your life more expensive.
They're even making it more difficult to see a doctor.
Rural health clinics in Virginia and across the country are already closing their doors thanks to the so-called One Big Beautiful bill, championed by the President and Republicans in Congress.
And tonight, the President celebrated this law, the one threatening rural hospitals, stripping health care for millions of Americans and driving up costs in energy and housing, all while cutting food programs for hungry kids.
But here in Virginia, I am working with our state legislature to lower costs and make the Commonwealth more affordable.
And it's not just me.
Democrats across the country are laser focused on affordability in our nation's capital and in state capitals and communities across America.
In the most innovative and exceptional nation in the history of the world, Americans deserve to know that their leaders are focused on addressing the problems that keep them up at night.
Problems that dictate where you live, whether you can afford to start a business, or whether you have to skip a prescription in order to buy groceries.
So I'll ask again, is the president working to make life more affordable for you and your family?
I watched last night his speech, and it was what I expected it to be.
It was Donald Trump acting like a game show host, master of ceremonies.
You know, he wants to put more tariffs on people.
Well, you know, claiming that the tariffs are being paid for by foreign countries is just a flat-out lie.
It is a tax on the American people.
So, folks, he wants to tax you twice.
He wants to tax your income through the IRS income system, and he wants to tax all the goods and services that you use.
Immigration, he uses as a wedge to divide Americans.
That's what I heard last night.
I heard division.
I heard him talking about how he had brought immigration under control.
No, he hasn't.
He hasn't done that because there's no immigration bill.
There was an immigration bill during the campaign that he specifically asked Republicans not to bring to the floor of the Senate for a vote because he wanted to use it as an issue in the campaign.
ICE?
Yeah, having militarized, a militarized federal police force, creating a police state of America.
People who have not the adequate training, who are just being pulled off the street in order to serve as these agents and then giving them high-powered weaponry.
So what does that how does that relate to last night's speech, please?
unidentified
Affordability.
Affordability for your food.
Okay.
Cattle, these cattle ranchers, if you talk to one, will tell you that it's going to take anywhere up to two years, two years or more for them to get their herds back up to where they were before these droughts.
Same with vegetables.
If you don't have water on your vegetables, they're not going to grow.
So that's why at store right now, we're paying these higher prices until the cattle herds come back up to snuff.
And hopefully this year we've had some decent rain that the vegetable grows, corn and so forth, will get that back up to snuff and the vegetable prices should come down.
One of the things the Wall Street Journal this morning takes a look at when it comes to the economy in the first year of President Trump's second term, the topic of manufacturing.
They give it the category of needs improvement, saying that manufacturing employment fell for eight straight months after the president announces sweeping global tariffs.
The levies helped some companies by sheltering them from foreign competition, but they also hurt by creating uncertainty and by raising the cost of production.
Supply chains are often highly global, and many machines and materials U.S. manufacturers use come from abroad and adding, despite weak employment, however, manufacturing production rose 2.6% on the year, according to the Federal Reserve, and jobs also edged higher in January.
Carl is next.
Carl from Vermont, Democrats line, your reaction to last night's State of the Union speech.
unidentified
I just caught it on recording.
Bunch of lies.
Full of lies.
He was lying right through his teeth.
He said the border was secure.
No, it's not.
It wasn't even secure during Biden's Obamas.
It was not secure.
It's not secure.
Food prices have been going up.
Terrorists have shot down a tariff bill, which I'm glad about.
And healthcare is non-existent.
Healthcare has non-existent.
Everything is non-existent.
I mean, like, all he does is sit at a desk, do absolutely nothing.
And he wants us to, he's like the next, he's the next Kim Jun.
We all need to speak to each other and get back to some normalcy.
And we're always going to think different.
Border Town Realities00:03:29
unidentified
But I loved everything about it.
I think that living in California right by the border, if you live by a border town, you 100% 200% see the difference.
And just the way that he brought in our American fellow American heroes, it's trying to, and the U.S. Olympic gold medalists, those guys were awesome, is just uplifting.
It's like, if you do not see what has happened within one year, one year, to all the American people, like we all just need to realize everything's not going to be agreed upon.
But I thought it was amazing.
I'm seeing egg prices go down.
I'm seeing the border secure living on a border town.
Sarah there in California, she mentioning the U.S. men's hockey team that became part of the festivities of last night, the speech of the association.
They coming in, we're in the balcony there.
There's some shots of them taken with our cameras from last night.
We'll let you look at a little bit of that as we hear from Braden.
Braden, who joins us from Washington State.
Lines for Democrats, Line for Democrats on last night's State of the Union speech.
unidentified
So the moment that Republicans are going to try to bring the most attention to from last night is when Trump said, quote, 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, end quote.
Democrats did not stand up, which of course is causing outrage, and I'm sure Fox News is going to play that on repeat all day.
Here's the thing, though.
American citizens and undocumented immigrants have protections under the Constitution.
Let me repeat that for the country.
American citizens and undocumented immigrants have protections under the Constitution.
The Supreme Court has ruled that many constitutional rights extend to all people within the country's jurisdiction, regardless of immigration status.
Whether you think it should be that way or not, that is what the Constitution says.
So for the president to say that American citizens should be protected and illegal aliens should not is actually contradictory to the Constitution.
Well, that guy kind of just stole my thunder about the Democrats when they were sitting there on their hands when he asked if you're for the American people.
And all the Republicans stood up and clapped, and the Democrats just sat there.
They didn't do a damn thing.
They didn't stand up.
I think the only one that stood up was Fetterman.
It's about time someone gets some balls for the Democratic Party.
You know, I mean, they acted like little children.
It was kind of funny.
What I don't get is why do they have to get up and down and clap?
And why can't they just listen to the damn speech and just get the speech over and done with instead of this up and down stuff?
Boy, their knees got to be hurting today, I tell you.
Okay, Jeff in Wisconsin, one person in the chamber yesterday who stood up, but stood up the protest, the president's speech, Texas Democrat Representative Al Green.
He removed from the House chamber at the second consecutive presidential address to Congress on Tuesday.
He was escorted out by House personnel after holding up a sign in the center aisle reading, black people aren't apes.
As the president entered the chamber ahead of the address to Congress, here's that happening from yesterday.
As you know, the president has depicted a former president and first lady as apes.
The behavior has been declared racist by a good many people.
But I don't think the president has really received a message that is unacceptable.
He seems to think that he can do these dastardly things with impunity.
Tonight, I wanted him to have a person confront him and let him know that black people aren't apes, that black people are not going to tolerate this kind of behavior.
I don't speak for everybody, but I speak for people of goodwill who understand that if you tolerate this kind of behavior, you perpetuate it.
I refuse to tolerate this level of hate that the president is in fact putting into policy.
We must take a stand against this level of invidious discrimination.
I wanted him to know and I wanted him to see it and hear it up close.
But judging from the expression on his face, he got the message.
He saw it.
He got the message.
And I hope that others will let him have a similar message so that he will discontinue this behavior.
Now, there are people who believe that I should not take a stand such as this.
There are others who have taken stands, and they too have been vilified.
Dr. King went to jail for taking a stand.
Rosa Parks went to jail for taking a stand.
Sometimes you have to take a stand.
Rosa Parks was alone when she was arrested in a racist southern town, but she was there.
There are times when it is on some issues better to stand alone than not stand at all.
Representative Al Green, being escorted out of the chamber yesterday, some of his comments that he made afterward to our C-SPAN cameras, all that is part of the State of the Union address.
You can see that full address on our app and our website.
We're getting reaction to the State of the Union from members of Congress, Representative Tim Kennedy, Democrat from New York, member of the Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs Committees, serves the 26th District of New York.
Well, unfortunately, it was exactly what we expected.
More division, more hate, more lies from the President of the United States in a time where we are looking for unifying our country and moving our country forward.
This president continued his consistent lies to the American people.
And it's unfortunate that my Congressional Republican colleagues just totally embraced all of that hate.
And so, you know, we're looking for better days ahead.
You know, when we're talking about what the American people are suffering through right now, this affordability crisis brought on by President Trump and Congressional Republicans' failed policies over the last year.
I believe this president totally missed the mark in this speech last night.
Well, I mean, the president stood there in front of the world last night and said that the cost of living across this great nation is becoming more affordable.
Everyone knows that's just not true.
The cost of groceries have gone up.
The cost of utilities have gone up.
The cost of rent and housing has gone up.
The cost of health care has skyrocketed.
And then the president doubled down on his tariffs that have driven up costs for the American people.
Trump's tariff tax that was just ruled unconstitutional by his own hand-picked Supreme Court justices.
And then what does he do?
He puts in new tariffs just to inflict more financial pain upon the American people.
And then he tries to tell the American people, while he's kicking millions of people off of their health insurance and kicking millions of people off of nutritional assistance, that their lives are better, that their health care is better.
It's just totally unfounded and preposterous.
And the American people are smarter than what this president thinks they are.
He thinks the American people bought his nonsense last night.
When you were in the chamber, there was that portion where the president asked those standing up when it comes to this idea of sanctuary cities and immigration, what was your position and how did you react to that?
The president thought that this was theater last night.
To him it was.
This was a show for him.
Stand up, sit down.
One of your callers was just mentioning the Republicans, you know, they couldn't help themselves jumping out of their seat, hanging on every word that he said.
It was embarrassing to watch what the Republicans were doing left and right.
I mean, I had colleagues of mine on the other side of the aisle last night telling me how tired their legs were from standing up and sitting down.
It was outrageous.
The bottom line is the American people are hurting right now.
And they are hurting.
They're having difficulty paying the bills.
They're having difficulty putting food on the table.
And they're having difficulty affording health care because it's been decimated by this president and congressional Republicans.
And what did they do last night?
They took a victory lap for the chaos and the dysfunction that they have perpetuated upon the American people.
And so we weren't going to participate in this president's performative nonsense.
They're going to try to tell that is the story for the American people.
The American people are smarter than what Donald Trump and congressional Republicans are trying to sell to them right now.
People know firsthand that working families in this country that are struggling to pay the bills are dealing with an affordability crisis that is of generational proportions.
At the same time, billionaires in this country, because of the failed policies of Trump and congressional Republicans, are making out just fine.
So there is a huge divide between working class citizens in this country and the billionaire class.
And it's Donald Trump and Republicans that are supporting the billionaires and the super ultra wealthy in this country.
And it's Democrats that are standing up for working families.
Well, first of all, these Trump tariffs are inflicting more financial pain across the United States.
Over $250 billion has been taken illegally out of the pockets of consumers in this country because of these illegal tariffs that the Supreme Court have just ruled unconstitutional.
Again, what does Donald Trump do?
He doubles down and he puts more tariffs on the American people.
The bottom line is this.
Whether you're on a northern border like myself or in the interior of the United States, East Coast, West Coast, the Trump tariffs have inflicted financial pain and have driven up the cost of living across the board.
And the bottom line is, while the Supreme Court has ruled them unconstitutional, he ought to listen to his own hand-picked Supreme Court.
You've got to listen to the American people rescind these tariffs that are hurting the public here in the United States, that are hurting our relationships with our greatest allies and trading partners across the globe,
that are saying that these tariffs are hurting the relationships that have been built by generations of Americans and by administration after administration for over 100 years that have dealt with the economy across the globe.
in order to create prosperity for the American people.
The tariffs are hurting the people in this country and this president ought to rescind them entirely right now.
Yeah, yeah, in the Buffalo and Western New York region, I have four bridges into Canada in my district and we are hurt uniquely.
There are tens of thousands of jobs that are supported in the United States by our Canadian partners.
You know, there's $1.3 trillion worth of goods and services that cross the Canadian border.
It's the largest border, continuous border in the entire world, 5,000 miles between the United States and Canada.
Our greatest ally, our greatest trade partner.
And what does this president do?
He attacks them.
He attacks them with tariffs.
He attacks them with his hateful, divisive, negative rhetoric.
And he has driven Canadians away from visiting our country, coming over to the Western New York region, coming into the interior of the United States, going to Florida, going to California, going to the great tourist destinations.
They're making decisions.
Our great friends and neighbors in Canada, we love you.
We want you to come visit our great country.
We are your friends.
We are your partners.
And we are your allies.
So don't listen to this president in the negativity because you've got a hell of a lot more friends here in the United States than you have people like Donald Trump trying to drive a wedge between us.
Well, Donald Trump and congressional Republicans would rather shut down TSA, shut down the Coast Guard, and shut down FEMA rather than make accountability measures to an out-of-control agency, ICE, that's killed two American citizens and has terrorized thousands of others across this country.
They have invaded our cities and they have hurt the American people with their unconstitutional actions that have violated civil rights.
They have violated human rights.
They have violated constitutional rights across the board.
And we want simple accountability measures.
And until they provide those accountability measures, we are standing with the American people and saying that the people deserve better than what this administration is giving them.
Well, another gold medal performance of two hours of lies again, but this time to deflect from shielding his pedophile sex trafficking buddy, Jeffrey Epstein, which he thinks is funny.
We had this, you know, criminally insane cult of personality in our face for 10 years.
That's 10 years.
The people around the world are wondering, you know, what the hell happened here and what the hell we were thinking.
I really believe, and not to be uncouth, but if he defecated in his hands and said it was talking.
Callers, I'll ask you to pay attention to the lines as we go on the course of the program.
It gives everybody a chance to make sure they're best represented.
As you're calling in before the House comes in at 9 o'clock, as promised, one more member of Congress to join us to give their perspective.
Representative Tony Weed, Republican of Wisconsin, a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, as well as the Agriculture and Small Business Committee.
I think President Trump delivered an amazing State of the Union, certainly my favorite State of the Union address, and really talked about the victories of our country and bringing it back.
You know, whether that's safer communities because we now have a border.
Certainly during the last administration, over 20 million people that came across our border.
And we saw what that brings with crime and drugs.
And look, I mean, overdose deaths are way down.
Crime is way down.
Having a border works.
And also putting more money back into people's pockets.
And right now, with people doing their tax returns, people are seeing more money in their pockets.
Increased child care tax credit.
We have no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security.
And then also, if you buy an American car, you can actually deduct the interest.
Look, the economy is booming.
It's going to continue to boom.
We have a president that is focused on doing what is best for everyday Americans.
I thought it was an amazing speech.
It's been a historic 13 months, and I'm very proud of our president.
When it comes to the matters of the economy, some people highlight the fact that you mentioned jobs, 181,000 jobs created in 2025, even though that number's bumped up.
What do you see in what people are analyzing as far as what the economy is versus what the president says it is?
unidentified
So I think we've added a lot of jobs.
I mean, reports show over 600,000.
And I think something to really keep in mind is that we're not adding government jobs.
We have less people working for our government.
Our government is completely bloated.
All of the jobs are coming in the private sector.
It's time that we reindustrialize our great country and really ignite our manufacturing base.
And that's what the president is focused on.
That's what House Republicans are focused on is incentivizing manufacturers to bring products and make them right here in the United States.
We're focused on Americans working in the private sector, and we're focused on higher-paying jobs.
And again, I think we're moving in the right direction.
When it comes to how people are receiving it, there were polls leading up, and we referenced this with your fellow Republican earlier of this program, Glenn Grothman, about polling showing not so satisfactory marks when it comes to the president and the handling of the economy.
With midterms looming, do you think there's better messaging that needs to be done by the party?
unidentified
Well, it takes time.
I think it was a total disaster during the Biden administration.
We saw 40-year record highs in inflation.
Inflation is a tax that hurts the poor and the middle class more than anybody.
And here we now have inflation that is drastically reduced in the 2% range.
I mean, that is amazing.
Just look at the price of fuel.
It's cut in half.
You know, in my hometown in northeastern Wisconsin, we're under $2.50 a gallon.
That is money back.
into people's pockets.
We're just getting started.
It's only been 13 months, but it's been an historic 13 months.
And again, this economy is going to continue to roar.
I mean, another thing to look at is the stock market, your 401ks, your savings accounts, through your employer.
I mean, at record highs.
So we're going to continue to focus on the economy and do what's right for everyday Americans.
Representative Web, the President highlighted the Supreme Court's decision last night when it comes to tariffs.
What did you think of that decision, particularly as you serve on the Agriculture Committee?
And I suppose that's one of those industries that really get impacted by such a thing.
unidentified
Well, look, tariffs, we're getting, you know, we're the ones on the raw end of the deal with other countries that have been charging us outrageous tariffs.
And if you look in the agriculture industry in particular and dairy, Canada is taking advantage of us.
The president is using tariffs as a way, I call them smart tariffs, to really negotiate free and fair trade.
Use it as leverage for the economy so that we have more exports.
I think that's really important.
But that's not to mention also the geopolitical, using it as a way to reduce and end wars, over seven wars, using tariffs as leverage.
So again, I think he's doing the right thing, utilizing different tools to be able to use those tariffs, again, as leverage, to do what's best for our country and to grow our economy and make us safer and more secure.
What do you think about the potential for Congress to codify some of these things and put it into law, which some have said the Congress should do from the get-go?
unidentified
Yeah, well, I'd be in favor of that.
Unfortunately, Congress moves slow with a very slim majority.
That's why I believe that the president's doing the right thing and utilizing the tools at his disposal, again, in order to do what's right for our country.
When it comes to matters of, we've been asking Republicans and Democrats along the line as far as this partial shutdown when it comes to the Department of Homeland Security.
Democrats saying that the president won't change certain things when it comes to ICE.
Republicans saying it's those things that keeping funding going.
What's the resolve in your mind?
unidentified
Well, I think it's just purely political.
I think it's that radical far-left ideology of the Democrat Party for members of Congress to try to win primary elections and to win elections.
I think it's absolutely ridiculous that they would not pay our great TSA agents, which keep us safe, you know, for those that are flying, to not fund FEMA, not to pay our Coast Guard.
I don't know why these far-left Democrats continue to hold the great people that are in those agencies and those agencies hostage for their own political gain.
Immigration and custom enforcement has been doing a great job over the years.
If you look at the Obama administration, that same agency, ICE, Immigration, Custom Enforcement, deported millions of people without incident, without protest.
Your background includes operating gas stations and operating several Little Caesars restaurants.
As far as the president's economic program going forward, what would you say to the small business person like yourself who's looking for the president to make changes in the following three years?
unidentified
Well, if I was in business, I would be excited.
I was excited when I had my small business during the first Trump administration, just looking at the tax policy.
But right now, there's hope.
There's hope for small businesses.
We want people to earn more.
We want businesses to do better.
That is the engine of our economy.
But with the great tax policy, but also reducing regulations so that the government gets out of the way, lets job creators do what they need to do and to really grow our economy.
So we're doing all the right things.
We have the right policies.
And I'm looking forward to keeping this momentum throughout this next year.
Some of you commenting on our social media sites and texting us.
A viewer texts us.
This is Lois in Palm Beach saying that Donald Trump's State of the Union was disrespectful to all Americans, lies, lies in defiance, pathetic, and too difficult to watch.
Anything but unifying vote blue in the midterms.
And then this is Ed in Hilton Head, South Carolina, saying, I was very pleased with the speech as a reminder to America of the awful incompetence the Democrats demonstrated the past four years they were in charge.
I was also pleased to hear Republican plans is underway to correct the disastrous Biden term.
I do not want to go back.
Again, texting us, you can do that 202748-8003.
Dale up next, joining us in Virginia, line for Republicans.
Go ahead.
unidentified
Yes, sir.
This is Bill.
And I just want to say I think Trump did an outstanding job with his speech.
I mean, first of all, he said, why are we here?
We're here because of the last four years of the Biden or the Autopen or whatever the heck the administration was letting in all these illegals, all these immigrants into America.
And then now we're trying to clean it up or he's trying to clean it up.
And I lived, I'm a retired middle-class person, and I lived through the Biden area in retail.
And I can tell you that through the four years of the Biden administration, every single week in the retail outlets, we had massive price increases due to the policies and things that the Democrats had.
And last night showed just exactly how the Democrats and where they stand, they stand with illegal immigrants and not the American people.
And unfortunately, it's not the Democratic Party that it used to be many years ago as I was growing up.
They don't care about American citizens.
And to me, anybody that votes for a Democrat now is it's an un-American act.
The president also said he wanted more diplomacy to take place.
Do you think that's true?
unidentified
I believe the president wants a peace deal so he could state he got something that no one ever else did, and that was dismantling of a nuclear program and to do it peacefully.
I do not see a way that will happen forward of dismantling the nuclear program.
I'm actually kind of glad that the last person called this a performance because that's exactly what I got out of it.
When you took away all the glitter and glitz, there was absolutely no substance to this.
I hate the fact that we can't prove the lies.
There was nobody there saying this is a lie.
This is a lie.
Families are still struggling with high prices, rising rents, shrinking paychecks.
The stock market, you know, that's great that it's a lower stock market.
That doesn't pay the grocery bills.
You know, they're saying America is safer, yet crime, fentanyl, broken borders remain unresolved.
And while the president spoke about unity, his leadership keeps dividing Americans, calling them name, shifting the blame, and dismissing disagreement instead of fixing problems.
You know, it's really sad that a leader causes more divide than he does in unity.
And for anybody to say that this is not the worst we've ever seen, they're not paying attention.
Okay, Grace, there in Florida, many Democrats decided to not attend last night's address instead of attending things outside or events outside of the Capitol on the National Mall and speaking against the president.
One of those people, Senator Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut.
Okay, so I am not at the State of the Union speech tonight because Donald Trump is making a mockery of this great institution and he doesn't deserve an audience.
I'm not at the State of the Union speech tonight because these are not normal times and Democrats have to stop behaving normally.
And I'm not at the State of the Union speech tonight because you're not going to hear about the state of the Union.
You are going to hear lie after lie.
You are going to hear attack after attack.
You are going to see grandstanding.
The true state of the union is this.
This union is in crisis right now.
Our cities are under attack by lawless law enforcement.
Our democracy is wilting under ceaseless attack from a president who wants to be a despot.
Millions of Americans are losing their health care because the president has chosen corruption to pad the pockets of his billionaire friends instead of helping average Americans.
You're not going to hear any of that in that speech tonight.
But by being here for the people's state of the union, you are going to hear the real story of America, a story of an America that is under siege, but a story of America that is not going to take it, that is going to fight back and is going to reclaim this country for everything that is good and right about the United States of America.
I just wanted to let you know that in Connecticut, the prices are very high because it's run by a Democratic party.
All the states where our Democrats, the prices are not going down.
The Democrats are keeping the prices up and they're talking about affordability.
How about under Biden?
And I believe the speech last night, the president gave, it was an amazing speech.
I have one question about the tariffs.
I saw in the news that Federal Express and other companies are suing Trump because of the tariffs.
I would like to know us as consumers, because the prices were increased after the tariffs, wherever I was going to buy something in the stores, I was told that the prices are high because of the tariffs.
Now, if the tariffs are coming down, can we sue the stores which are increasing the prices because of the tariffs, since the tariffs are illegal?