President Donald Trump will address a joint session of Congress Tuesday night in his first State of the Union of his second term - a high-stakes primetime speech that comes at a turbulent moment for his administration and sets the stage for November's midterm elections.
Trump will deliver the address Tuesday, February 24, beginning at 9 p.m. ET from the U.S. Capitol. All major news networks will carry the speech live.
The address arrives after 13 months of sweeping executive action - including a record number of executive orders, mass federal layoffs, border deployments, and aggressive deregulation - but with a growing number of political headwinds threatening to overshadow the administration's accomplishments.
Tariffs are expected to be front and center. The Supreme Court struck down a significant portion of Trump's emergency tariffs on Friday, a major legal setback. Trump has since imposed a 15% tariff on most foreign imports using alternative legal authorities, and his trade representative has signaled more tariffs are coming.
Trump is also likely to tout his administration's record on mass deportation, deregulation, and law and order, and he may address U.S. efforts to wind down several international conflicts. The speech could also invoke the nation's 250th anniversary, as 2026 marks the semiquincentennial of American independence.
The White House has offered few previews of the speech's specific content. Analysts note that Trump's previous joint addresses to Congress have each run at least an hour, with last year's remarks stretching nearly one hour and forty minutes as the president frequently went off script.
The political backdrop is complicated. A partial government shutdown at the Department of Homeland Security - the result of a congressional standoff over immigration enforcement funding - remains unresolved and will still be in effect when Trump takes the podium.
Democrats are split on how to respond. Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, the state's first female governor and a vocal Trump critic, will deliver the official Democratic response. Rep. Summer Lee of Pennsylvania will deliver a separate response on behalf of the progressive Working Families Party. A growing group of Democratic lawmakers have said they will boycott the speech entirely.
KRLD will carry live coverage of the State of the Union Tuesday night. The speech begins at 8 p.m. Dallas time.
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