A triumphant President Donald J. Trump, leader of “the most incredible and exceptional nation ever to exist on the face of the Earth”, took to the rostrum in the chamber of the US House of Representatives on 24 February 2026 to deliver the first State of the Union Address of his second presidential term before a Joint Session of Congress. His speech lasted for one hour and 48 minutes, making it the longest address of its kind in at least sixty years. The contents were largely predictable, and met with the resounding approval of Congress Republicans and many invitees, and are more than likely to be similarly honoured by his loyal MAGA followers, irrespective of what impact Trump has had on their daily lives.
In the “Golden Age of America”, a secure border has completely blocked entry to “illegal aliens” and slowed down the flow of fentanyl by “a record 56 percent in one year.” The murder rate has reached the “lowest number in over 125 years.” Furthermore, “mortgage rates are the lowest in four years and falling”, while “the stock market has set 53 all-time record highs.” American oil and natural gas production are up. More Americans are at work and 2.4 million no longer rely on food stamps.
Trump loves to win, and emphasised that “now we’re winning too much”, citing the gold medal for the men’s hockey team at the recent Winter Olympics to drive home his point. He indicated later that he was facing winners’ fatigue. During some heart-warming moments, he honoured members of the hockey team, to bipartisan cheers. At other times, other American heroes, were equally acclaimed for their various brave exploits. Trump also paid tribute to a Ukrainian woman murdered in North Carolina.
Trump then returned to his other achievements in creating the world’s “hottest country”, with new factories, plants, and laboratories, and loads of construction jobs. He lauded his “massive tax cuts”, “Trump Accounts”, and tariffs, reminding his audience that he had “called the economy correctly and 22 Nobel Prize winners in economics didn’t.” Despite his disappointment with the Supreme Court’s recent “very unfortunate ruling”, Trump promised to continue “saving our country” with his tariffs. He attacked arch-nemesis Joe Biden’s “Green New Scam, open borders” and “record-setting inflation.” As part of his own affordability agenda, he was gratified by the lower cost of “chicken, butter, fruit, automobiles, rent” and then turned to his achievements in cutting the “crushing cost of health care” which followed Obamacare. The cost of prescription drugs was already the lowest in the world. He even promised to keep electricity bills down by forcing the major tech companies to provide for the power needs of their data centres. Homes will become more affordable as “large Wall Street investment firms” will no longer be able to buy up single-family homes. Reassuringly, he promised to protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, and to prop up 401 (k) retirement savings plans for federal workers.
Trump revisited an issue uppermost in his mind-that of illegal aliens and their disproportionate involvement in corruption, crime, and other unsavoury deeds, and once again prioritised the needs of American citizens. The First Lady came in for special praise as the recipient of “better bipartisan support than I do.” Charlie Kirk’s memory was invoked to “reaffirm that America is one nation under God” and to reject “political violence of any kind.” As a tough law-and-order President, he congratulated himself for deploying the National Guard and federal law enforcement officers to America’s most dangerous cities. He could not forget the eight wars he had ended, and sought to deal with Iran through diplomacy. Although a pacifist and a consummate dealmaker, Trump was also relying on a strong military to restore “security and dominance in the Western Hemisphere.” Trump was happy that NATO members were stepping up to the mark by increasing their funding for the organisation, and that America’s armed forces were “setting records for recruitment.”
Trump’s speech was self-congratulatory, and he attacked his political opponents with great vigour, as might be expected. Any shortcomings were the fault of Democrats, either past Presidents or today’s members of Congress. Recognising some areas where he had not performed up to expectation, he did not mention Greenland, Panama, China, or Russia. Elon Musk’s DOGE was also ignored. The Epstein files were also conspicuous, from a lack of mention.
This brings us to the bigger picture of a Trumpian America, which is by no means all his creation, but sometimes merely a consolidation of past changes. The term “United States of America” may, at times seem a misnomer in the face of the prevailing ‘Great American Divide’, in which ‘blue’ and ‘red’ states are often at cross-purposes and when major, crime-ridden ‘blue’ cities have come in for special attention from the federal government. The country has never been so divided at any time since the American Civil War. It seems like ‘Divide and Rule’ has become the norm, driven by biased corporate media and unfettered ‘free speech’ on social media platforms. The imperative to ensure political domination, particularly in swing states, has led the Trump administration to seek to remap electoral districts, in a modern form of gerrymandering, and to set up stringent voter ID requirements, all with a view to consolidating Republican control via ‘nationalised elections.’
Militarised law enforcement units, as exemplified by ICE agents, have been brought in to target illegal aliens in civilian spaces. This should come as no surprise in the birthplace of the SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) team. The politicised judiciary has been tested recently, and for once a conservative-dominated US Supreme Court has chosen to uphold the US Constitution in the face of Trump’s threats.
America spends more on healthcare than any other country in the world, yet such health outcomes as life expectancy, maternal and infant mortality rates, obesity rates, and suicide rates do not match up to the level of spending. The corporatisation of healthcare has created a situation in which healthcare costs are a leading cause of personal bankruptcy in the US. The high costs of health insurance and prescription drugs have rightly been attacked by Trump, although his plans for dealing with the problem, although making the right noises, lack sufficient detail.
Under the second presidency of Donald Trump, despite his own perceptions of having created a much stronger America, the US has actually weakened its position on the world stage as he carries on with his protectionist, mercantilist, and expansionary policies to the detriment of good working relations with America’s natural allies. American exceptionalism has been dented substantially, almost to the point of no return.
Ashis Banerjee