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CNN Live Event/Special
Trump Delivered 2026 State of the Union Address; Governor Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) Delivers Democratic Response. Aired 11p-12a ET
Aired February 24, 2026 - 23:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[23:00:00]
JAKE TAPPER, CNN LEAD WASHINGTON ANCHOR: The President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, giving the longest State of the Union address on record, clocking in at something like one hour, 48 minutes, beating his own previous record set last year at what was not officially a State of the Union, it was a joint address to Congress, giving a rousing description of the United States of America that he sees when he looks out the window, even if it isn't the one that most Americans, according to polls, see in terms of the economic prosperity.
In addition to some very sharp, very partisan, even nasty attacks on Democrats, and some populist economic proposals, the president taking time to make healthy use of stories, both sad and illustrative and inspiring, stories of fellow Americans.
We saw not one but two congressional medals of honor awarded, one to a 100-year-old Navy fighter pilot from World War II Korea and Vietnam, the other one to Chief Warrant Officer Eric Slover injured during the Maduro raid just last month.
I do not doubt that his supporters will absolutely love his speech and his critics will find much to hate about it, but there were definitely moments that I think any American would appreciate. Dana?
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Yes. And what Americans wanted to hear more than anything else was about the economy. And the president certainly did what we hear a lot on a daily basis, about how he thinks it's the greatest economy in the world and, you know, all of the sort of hyperbole that is classic vintage Trump.
But he did put in some specifics, as you said, populist economic proposals in there that will please the Republicans who are sitting in that chamber right now, who are all up for re-election and are very worried about that re-election. He talked about things that really are hitting hard -- Americans hard.
Energy costs, said that he is going to try to get the A.I. companies to pay for and the tech companies to pay for how much energy they are using, which American consumers are now paying for largely. Housing costs, he got a proposal on that.
Is that going to make people feel better tomorrow? No. But a lot of the concern that people who are going to go out and vote or not vote this election year is that they don't think that he's paying attention to that. And is this speech going to solve that? No, but, at least, they all have clips and some talking points that they can go back on the campaign trail.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Yes. And I just want to note, there's Thomas Massie standing over as the president was exiting. Of course, president and Thomas Massie feuded. He has not been happy with him. He threatens him to lose his job in Congress.
I think what stood out to me as we're watching this is this is not unfamiliar territory for the president. He has delivered many of these addresses. He has now broken his own records on how long he has spoken.
But these moments as he was in there and at the beginning obviously getting started, he was largely looking over to the left side of the chamber where a lot of the Republicans were sitting. Then he began looking at the right side as Democrats obviously were not standing for what he believes should be applause lines during his speech.
And he was getting increasingly irritated by it, at one point stopping and saying, these people are crazy, I can't believe they're not standing for this. The one thing that I saw them all standing for was when they were talking about insider trading and banning that. He made an often joke about Nancy Pelosi.
KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST AND POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Well, not all of them were standing, but a handful of them were.
COLLINS (voice-over): Yes. Well, yes, but that got more applause, when Senator Elizabeth Warren was standing, and that obviously stood out to the president himself. But, obviously, these other moments, the guests that they invite, this happens with every president. As you all know, they bring them for these moments, so they will have these moments that go on.
I think to Dana's point, the question is if there's voters at home, how do they feel about this, does it make them feel better about making their mortgage payments and paying down their credit card bills. That remains to be seen ahead of the midterms, but they certainly had those moments.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HUNT: Well, of course, you know, big picture, we have to remember, I mean, this is a president who has been under immense pressure, right? His polling, his approval rating is lower than it has ever been. He was speaking to a room full of Republican members of Congress who many of whom stand to lose their seats. He stands, the president stands to lose part of the power that he currently has in Washington.
And I think the speech reflected the way this president often deploys the strengths that he has. Yes, he spent some time defending his own record, he spent some time blaming his predecessor, he spent some time, at least one of my Republican sources pointed out to me, trying to convince people it wasn't as bad as maybe they feel that it was, but he spent far more time during the speech on offense, right? Ticking through places that are culturally inflammatory in some cases.
[23:05:01]
He put Democrats on the spot repeatedly. I mean, he almost goaded Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar at one point into shouting back at him when he asked the crowd to stand and clap if they supported American citizens. That is where this president often tries to project strength, and he did it again tonight.
TAPPER: And for those at home who are wondering what exactly happened when Congressman Al Green, a Democrat of Texas, why he was ejected. He was holding a sign saying -- quote -- "Black people aren't apes," an allusion to the video that President Trump tweeted a few days ago in which President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama were, in fact, depicted as apes. Anderson?
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Jake, thanks very much. You're with the panel. John King, what stood out to you?
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think it's important to remember that, sadly, in my view, most Americans live in their silo. And so, people watch this from their perspective of choir practice, for the most part.
President had a lot of challenges coming into this speech. His approval rating overall is down. His approval rating in the economy is down. His approval rating in immigration is down. I mentioned earlier on one of the big glaring problems for Republicans because it's the midterm year, his approval rating among Republicans is down some, too, from 90 percent to 82 percent in most recent poll. I would not be surprised at all if he helped himself there. That's not enough. That's not enough. One speech is not going to change anything. But the Republican Party needs its base enthusiastic heading into the midterm election year.
And there was a lot in the speech from the president, both from a policy perspective of what he has done and what he's trying to do and the few skirmishes he had with the Democrats, that if you're trying to get your base to say, OK, I've been sort of pulled back, Washington is too loud, I don't like the fighting, I don't like a lot of Latino Republicans I've talked to, I don't like seeing ICE in the streets of America, you might get a little bit of them back in the fight.
PATRICK MCHENRY, FORMER SPEAKER PRO TEMPORE: And that is what so important about tonight. He nailed the Republican base, brought them back in the fold with a solid message on the economy, on immigration, on his foreign policy. That is the work he had to do. And that also brings over a lot of independents that are similarly minded to what Republicans believe.
KING: Not sure about that part, but we'll see.
MCHENRY: That's actually how the presidential election modeled out. And it will be very instructive and important for the midterms. But between now and the midterms, he has to maintain his control of Republicans on the Hill. He did that and did that in space.
DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER OBAMA SENIOR ADVISER: Well, he also basically kept control of himself, which I think will be a great relief to his strategists and aides there. But the question -- I mean -- and I think he did well, from their perspective, for the reasons that you say, John. And he used the gallery very skillfully to kind of simulate empathy, which is a thing that he has been lacking, and that's sort of a surrogate for that.
The question is, he started off the speech by saying, this is the turnaround for the age of it. And, as you know, because you're traveling around the country, people don't think the direction is right. And I don't think this cured that. So, we'll see. But I don't think a lot of the people who needed to be persuaded probably will watch in this speech.
COOPER: I also just want to quickly point out, in about a minute or so, we're going to be hearing the democratic response from Governor Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, newly elected.
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR AND SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I mean, I think, stylistically, the speech really told us where the president is, which is that the way that he wants to see the country may not be where the country actually is or where the country sees itself.
But he utilized almost like these game show-type moments where you're seeing awards being presented to really bring these moments of togetherness that otherwise might not have been there. I actually thought it was very skillfully done. He awarded several medals of honors, Purple Heart. He brought up the natural disaster in Texas. He had to do that because I think the rest of his message, I think, is a hard pill for Americans to swallow. I think those other moments really gave him some space to balance out those two things.
COOPER: We're going to be hearing now from Governor Abigail Spanberger, the governor of Virginia, for the democratic response. Let's listen.
ABIGAIL SPANBERGER, VIRGINIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: Good evening. Good evening and welcome to historic Williamsburg. We are gathered here in the chambers of the House of Burgesses. In 1705, the people of the Virginia Colony gathered here to take on the extraordinary task of governing themselves. Before there was a declaration of independence, a Constitution or a bill of rights, there were people in this room.
The people who served here ultimately dreamed of what a new nation, unlike anything the world had ever seen, could be. The United States was founded on the idea that ordinary people could reject the unacceptable excesses of poor leadership, band together to demand better of their government, and create a nation that would be an example for the world.
[23:10:08]
(APPLAUSE) And this year, as we celebrate 250 years since America declared our independence from tyranny, I can think of no better place to speak to you as we reflect on the current state of our union.
Tonight, as we watched our nation's lawmakers gather for a joint session of Congress, we did not hear the truth from our president. So, let's speak plainly and honestly. 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 childcare. 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 the 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.
(APPLAUSE)
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? We all know the answer is no.
I grew up in a house of service. My mother was a nurse, and my father was a career law enforcement officer. I began my career by following in my father's footsteps as a federal agent working money laundering and narcotics cases. I work side by side with local and state police to keep our community safe and to uphold and enforce the law.
Law enforcement officers across the country know that it is a unique responsibility to do the serious work of investigating crimes, comforting victims, and making arrests. It's about building trust, and that requires an abiding sense of duty and commitment to community.
And yet, our president has sent poorly-trained federal agents into our cities where they have arrested and detained American citizens and people who aspire to be Americans. And they have done it without a warrant. They have ripped nursing mothers away from their babies. They have sent children, a little boy in a blue bunny hat, children to far off detention centers. And they have killed American citizens in our streets. And they have done it all with their faces masked from accountability.
[23:15:01]
Every minute spent sowing fear is a minute not spent investigating murders, crimes against children or the criminals defrauding seniors of their life savings.
Our president told us tonight that we are safer. Because these agents arrest mothers and detain children? Think about that. Our broken immigration system is something to be fixed, not an excuse for unaccountable agents to terrorize our communities.
(APPLAUSE)
After working in law enforcement, I continued my career of service as a CIA officer, working undercover to protect the United States and our allies from global threats, terrorism, nuclear weapons, and the aggression of adversarial nations around the globe.
But as the president spoke of his perceived successes tonight, he continues to cede economic power and technological strength to Russia, bow down to China, bow down to a Russian dictator, and make plans for war with Iran.
Here's the truth: Over the last year, through DOGE, mass firings, and the appointment of deeply unserious people to our nation's most serious positions, our president has endangered the long and storied history of the United States of America being a force for good. So, I'll ask again. Is the president working to keep Americans safe, both at home and abroad? We all know the answer is no.
In his speech tonight, the president did what he always does. He lied, he scapegoated and he distracted, and he offered no real solutions to our nation's pressing challenges, so many of which he is actively making worse. He tries to divide us. He tries to enrage us, to pit us against one another, neighbor against neighbor. And sometimes, he succeeds.
And so, you have to ask who benefits from his rhetoric, his policies, his actions, the short list of laws he has pushed through this Republican Congress. Somebody must be benefiting. He's enriching himself, his family, his friends. The scale of the corruption is unprecedented. There's the cover-up of the Epstein files, the crypto scams, cozying up to foreign princes for airplanes and billionaires for ballrooms, putting his name and face on buildings all over our nation's capital. This is not what our founders envisioned, not by a long shot.
(APPLAUSE)
So, I'll ask again. Is the president working for you? We all know the answer is no.
But here's the special thing about America. On our 250th anniversary, we know better than any nation what is possible when ordinary citizens like those who once dreamed right here in this room reject the unacceptable and demand more of their government.
We see it in the determination of students organizing school walkouts all across the country, whose voices are becoming so powerful that the governor of Texas seeks to silence them. We see it in the bravery of Americans in Minnesota standing up for their communities, from peacefully protesting in sub-zero temperatures to carpooling children to school so that their immigrant parents are not ripped away from them in the parking lot. As a mother of three school-aged daughters, I am inspired by their bravery, but I am sickened that it is necessary.
And Americans across the country are taking an action. They are going to the ballot box to reject this chaos. With their votes, they are writing a new story, a more hopeful story.
In November, I won my election by 15 points.
(APPLAUSE)
And we won 13 new seats in our state legislature.
(APPLAUSE)
Because voters decided they wanted something different. Our campaign earned votes from Democrats, Republicans, independents, and everyone in between because they knew, as citizens, they could demand more, that they could vote for what they believe matters, and that they didn't need to be constrained by a party or political affiliation.
This is happening across the country. New Jersey elected Mikie Sherrill as governor in a double-digit victory.
[23:20:01]
(APPLAUSE)
Democrats flip state legislative seats in places like Georgia, Iowa, Mississippi, and Texas. The list goes on and on. Ordinary Americans are stepping up to run in the spirit of our forefathers. They are running to demand more and to do more for their neighbors and communities. I know the story well. I first ran for office in 2018 alongside dozens of other Democrats who did the seemingly impossible, flipping 41 seats in Congress. In my case, I was the first Democrat elected in 50 years, swinging our district 17 points. Those who are stepping up now to run will win in November because Americans, you at home, know you can demand more and that we are working to lower costs. We are working to keep our communities and our country safe, and we are working for you.
(APPLAUSE)
In his farewell address, George Washington warned us about the possibility of -- quote -- "cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men rising to power." But he also encouraged us, all Americans, to unite in a common cause, to move this nation forward. That is our charge once more. And that is what we are seeing across the country. It is deeply American and patriotic to do so. And it is how we ensure that the state of our union remains strong, not just this year, but for the next 250 years as well because we, the people, have the power to make change, the power to stand up for what is right, the power to demand more of our nation.
(APPLAUSE)
May God bless the Commonwealth of Virginia and may God bless the United States of America.
(APPLAUSE)
COOPER: The State of the Union coverage in Washington. John, Abigail Spanberger, the governor of Virginia, ran and won really on the issue of affordability.
KING: And she won by a huge margin, as she mentioned at the end. And that was -- those elections when she won, Mikie Sherrill won in New Jersey, that was our first sign of what we have seen consistently since. The Democrats have not only done well, but they have overperformed in just about every election in 2025 and so far in 2026. That's the momentum they hope to carry into this midterm November. That's the momentum the president was trying to stop or at least slow in his speech tonight.
She -- that's always a thankless task. She did a pretty good job. She has a crowd in the room. I think it was Christine Whitman of New Jersey who tried that a few years back, giving a speech to a crowd in a room to give little bit more energy.
You're never going to match the power of the president and the Congress and having the big, huge audience. So, you do your best you can. So, what did she do essentially? Get back to that affordability message, essentially say don't believe what you just heard from the president, check your electric bill, check your credit card bill, what he just told you is not your life's experience. Then she -- essentially, don't trust him, do not trust what he tells you.
And then she, I think, quite deliberately brought up the Epstein files and tried to bring up some things the president hasn't said. Essentially, if she held the audience on television, which is another challenge after the president speaks, to say, just give me a minute to pick on a few things.
Why didn't he talk about those things? That's what you always try to do in the rebuttal. Again, it's a pretty thankless task.
COOPER: Yes.
PHILLIP: Yes. I mean, I thought that, as John said, she did a pretty good job. I mean, there were no drink breaks or excessive sweating or some of stuff that makes things kind of comical.
(LAUGHTER)
None of that. Fine. I think that was -- that was -- that's helpful.
COOPER: What do you think about how the president did?
PHILLIP: You know, I thought President Trump actually delivered a higher energy speech than, I think, even his speech last year. He was much more engaged. And I think part of that was because they had planned the speech to be an interactive experience between him and the audience. There were things for him to announce, surprises. There were big moments, emotional moments. And that helps him tremendously.
But I also think that the contrast between, obviously, the democratic message and the president's message was on display tonight. You have a president who thinks that everything is going well on the economy. But the other part of his message, I think, is highly divisive. It has -- you're talking about culture war stuff, trans children, and what he claims to be forced sex changes in schools. He's, you know, villainizing Somali immigrants.
The message from the president on the non-economic things was pretty harsh. And I think Abigail Spanberger was trying to make a contrast tonight on those very fronts.
[23:25:00]
She was talking about school children doing walkouts and protests because they don't like the direction that the country is going. Democrats are leaning into that contrast not just on the economy but also on some of these morals.
MCHENRY: These are pretty standard democratic themes, frankly. There's nothing on earth that --
COOPER: We're going to talk more about this. I just want to go to Jake right now. Jake?
TAPPER: Thank you so much. Well, we have a special guest with us here. I want to bring in Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, who is leaving Congress at the end of this all. So, thank you so much for joining us.
You have sat through a great number of State of the Union addresses, some of them behind the president. What was your reaction to what you heard this evening?
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), SPEAKER EMERITA, FORMER SPEAKER OF THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: Well, first, let me say that I think that Governor Spanberger did a remarkable job, just insisting on the truth, which is what we have to do when we're dealing with this president.
I thought the speech was lazy. You know, it's one thing to acknowledge patriotism and people getting well and everything when you have absolutely nothing to do with their courage or the rest, but you spend an hour and a half doing it, what is the State of the Nation.
OK, so, I just -- I have a few things to -- I was going to call her by first name.
TAPPER: Governor Spanberger.
PELOSI: -- I thought she just really -- just really hit it out of the park. But here's the thing: He started off with BBB, his big beautiful bill, which is, of course, disgusting and ugly. He talks about protecting Medicare. He took a half a billion dollars out of -- excuse me, half a trillion dollars out of Medicare in his BBB and a trillion dollars out of Medicaid, which is health benefit for many seniors in our country as well.
What was sad for me was to see -- when he talked about how many people he took off of SNAP food program for children and the rest, that the Republicans just stood up and cheered. We're not feeding the kids. How about that? That's great. And all of that to give a tax cut to the richest people in America. Food out of the mouths of babies, people off health -- millions of people off of Medicaid to give it to them.
OK. Then, he starts -- he goes on to some foreign policy after drifting and all the rest, some foreign policy. Did he spend a sentence and a half on Ukraine where democracy is at stake, where American people want us to be there on the side of democracy?
TAPPER: And it's the four-year anniversary of the invasion today.
PELOSI: Today is the four-year anniversary. You think he would have risen to the occasion. But his occasion, as I said in that picture in the cabinet room, pointing to him that day, I said, with you, Mr. President, all roads lead to Putin. If I were president, would never have happened. Well, you are president, you can stop it.
BASH: Madam Speaker, so much of -- I mean, obviously, number one thing that people take away from watching the State of the Union is the president. But people are also watching for the reaction of the opposition party. And your leadership warned the caucus not to have any outbursts, not to take the bait. There was a moment where a couple of members did not. More than one member, more than one moment. But I want to play one of them for you when a couple did not heed that. Just watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: And enact serious penalties for public officials who blocked 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, and you should be ashamed of yourself.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PELOSI: That was hardly noticeable in the room. It may have been more noticeable on T.V. Hardly noticeable. And then, also, when he started talking about corruption, the members were saying, what about you? What about you? What about you? That was another more of an outburst than that actually. I don't think that there was that much, shall we say, departure from what the leader had guided us to do. Don't come if you don't want to come. But if you come, we don't want to give him a moment. And I don't think they gave him a moment.
HUNT: There was one moment, Madam Speaker, where he called you out specifically around, of course, congressional stock trading. What do you say back to him?
PELOSI: I say back to him, as that's what members said, look at your own self. The inference he wants to draw is there was something wrong with that, which there wasn't. And if there was, people get prosecuted for it. For a long time now, we've been trying to pass this law. It doesn't have -- now, it has more support than it had before.
HUNT: Elizabeth Warren stood up and applauded. Elizabeth Warren stood and applauded tonight when the president talked about it.
PELOSI: Well, we all did. I did, too. He said, did Nancy stand up? Yeah, I did, too. A lot of people stood up. A lot of Democrats stood up. I think that will pass, depending on what the bill is.
[23:30:02]
I mean, what we had, we thought we could pass. It was actually a tougher bill than Governor Spanberger had put forth. We thought it could pass, but it was clear that it wasn't going to make it to the House and the Senate. But any of it, he gives his shout out. I don't pay any attention to him.
What I'm concerned about is our democracy, which he is destroying, even in the 250th year anniversary. But we saved the democracy at the kitchen table to talk about how we help working families with their costs, taking down the cost, not by giving tax breaks to wealthiest people in the country but making health care more expensive for them.
And then he talks about drugs in America. Well, he freed Hernandez, a guy who sent 400 tons of cocaine into the United States. He said he was going to jam up the throats, of the noses of the gringos. He freed him. He had been convicted in U.S. court. He freed him. Follow the money when it comes to him. But let's just be calm. I believe in the goodness of the American people. I think Governor Spanberger's response, I don't know if it a response, I think it was something more positive than that, really talked about what our responsibilities are. And we believe in the goodness of the American people that when they are presented with the truth, what the opportunities are, what the difference is, that they will come around to that. And hopefully, we can do that in a bipartisan way.
COLLINS: And Speaker Pelosi, I noticed you're wearing something that a lot of your Democratic colleagues are wearing, which is this white button that says, release the files
PELOSI: Yes, release the files.
COLLINS: The president's speech was record long, but it did actually not -- he didn't make any mention of Jeffrey Epstein during that speech despite the fact that there were some survivors of Jeffrey Epstein's in the chamber.
PELOSI: Many were.
COLLINS: What did you make of that moment?
PELOSI: Well, it was -- again, I don't even know if that was State of the Nation speech. You know, it's in the Constitution that the president shall send a statement of the State of the Nation. It can only be in a manual envelope. It doesn't have to be a speech, but it has become a speech. But he ignored the State of the Nation. The State of the Nation is about our integrity as well, freedom of the press, independence of the judiciary, rule of the law, all of that, separation of power. Forget it with him.
And so, the fact that -- he knows this is a vulnerability. And we've had lots of conversations with the survivors and with other people who have been survivors in the community. And that's why the American people are so insistent on that, that this thing has continued. But the fact that he didn't mention it shows his vulnerability, his exposure in all of these.
TAPPER: Madam Speaker, before you go, this is your last State of the Union address. As a member of Congress, I have covered a number of ones that you were the speaker for, and I wanted to show you a couple moments that stick in our minds from your being House speaker during the State of the Union address. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And tonight, I have the high privilege and distinct honor of my own as the first president to begin the State of the Union message with these words: Madam Speaker.
(APPLAUSE)
TAPPER: So, those moments, I mean, when I think about you presiding as speaker, those are actually the two moments, that moment of real grace from President Bush and that, shall we say, tense moment between you and President Trump. And I do think it also shows the degradation of politics in America, in a way.
PELOSI: Well, the thing is that I didn't tell the speech because we didn't shake hands. I talked the speech because it was a manifesto of lies as his speech was tonight. So, he's consistent in what he's doing. But the speaker did not choose to tear up his speech. Let me just say one more thing though --
TAPPER: Yes.
PELOSI: -- on Iran because this is very important. We all agree that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. President Obama masterfully, with great virtuosity, had a diplomatic solution to how we would have a nuclear agreement with Iran. He turned that around. He rejected that, cast it aside, and now is using military and the rest. It's so ridiculous. It's so inept.
[23:34:58]
It's so below the quality of leadership that our country is used to, 250 years. So, in any event, thank you for the opportunity.
TAPPER: Oh, it's so great to have you. Please don't be a stranger. But you're still in Congress for another year. So, you know --
PELOSI: Yes, I'm still here for another year.
TAPPER: You know CNN --
PELOSI: -- to see you all. Freedom of the press. You are the defenders of our democracy. Transparency, accountability, it all spring from you. So, thank you for your leadership.
TAPPER: Thank you so much, Madam Speaker. Good to see you. I want to bring in a member of the president's cabinet now, the secretary of transportation, former Wisconsin Republican congressman, Sean Duffy. Secretary Duffy, going into tonight's CNN's most recent poll has the president's approval rating at 36 percent overall. Even lower among independents. I think a record low, career low, 26 percent. What do think he did tonight? What do you think he said tonight that might help those numbers improve so that he has more support among the American people?
SEAN DUFFY, U.S. SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION: Well, I think he highlighted his record, right? So, he secured the border. He has brought gas prices down. He talked about no tax on tips, no tax on Social Security. Inflation is down. Growth is up. Real wages are up. So, he laid into his record that I think the American people can agree with.
But sometimes, when you win on things, Jake, as much as the president has won, the American people go, well, what's next? And I thought he did a nice job tonight talking about the Trump health care accounts, Trump RX, where you can bring down your medication costs because of most favored nations where no other country is going to pay less for health care than the American people do. And so, I think that was a real positive as well as giving money not to insurance companies but to the American people.
Also leaning into the price of homes. We're not going to have Wall Street firms buy up single family homes, driving up the cost so Americans can't afford them. All policies I think they care about.
TAPPER: Americans did want to hear from him about the cost of living and the economy. As you noted, he had some proposals, he touted some accomplishments. Some of them weren't quite so true. Here's a bit of what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The Biden administration and its allies in Congress gave us the worst inflation in the history of our country. But in 12 months, my administration has driven core inflation down to the lowest level in more than five years.
(APPLAUSE)
Mortgage rates are the lowest in four years and falling fast. The stock market has set 53 all-time record highs since the election. Think of that. One year. Boosting pensions, 401ks, and retirement accounts. The state of our union is strong.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: So, just in point of fact, the president didn't inherit the worst inflation in U.S. history from the Biden administration. It did -- it was high during the Biden administration. But by the time Trump got it, it was down significantly, about 3 percent. He concerted to call affordability a lie. Americans are still concerned about -- I'm coming to you in one second -- the cost of living on a daily basis.
DUFFY: Yes.
TAPPER: I guess the question is, do you worry at all that President Trump is falling into the same trap on economic messaging as President Biden did in terms of telling people not to believe their lying eyes when Biden was touting Bidenomics?
DUFFY: No. I think the results are real for President Trump. So, again, you have to remember, during the Biden era, those rates were or inflation was up at north of 9 percent.
TAPPER: Sure.
DUFFY: President Trump has brought them down near the target of 2 percent, right? You had gas prices that were much higher when Joe Biden was in office as opposed to Donald Trump today who has driven the price of energy down. That is money in people's pocket. We all know that. And so, I think to lean into those successes, I think the American people would agree with that. And to say that the State of the Inion is strong, I think they agree with that as well. So, I think you do have to talk about what you've done and why it's positive for the American people.
I'll just tell you, Jake, when he looked over to the Democrats and said, I mean, you're crazy, I mean, it's one thing. As I've said, there's member of Congress, when I didn't agree with Barack Obama or Biden, I wouldn't stand up. But president say a lot of things that Americans like, that are American issues.
And democrats in essence sat down for all of them. You had Congressman Tlaib and Omar. They were heckling the president through the whole speech. I'm not sure if you could hear it but it was incredibly distracting. When someone yelled, you liar, Barack Obama, America lost its mind. The whole speech, you had hecklers of the president. Even if you don't agree with him, you should respect him enough to listen to him.
When you talk about what happens in Congress, you had the former speaker on and, again, where does it start when you have a speaker that stands behind the president and rips up a speech? Where does the quorum come back? And I'm looking at Democrats to go, you know, listen, be an American. Applaud great issues the president raises. Just because you don't like him doesn't mean it can't be an American issue that you support.
[23:40:02]
TAPPER: Just in point of fact, I mean, I understand you're saying that when President Obama said things, you know, you would -- you would -- you would not sit in protest even when he was bringing up Americans who are heroic, etcetera. President Trump did say during his speech about all the Democrats, not just one congresswoman or another, but all of them, he said -- quote -- "These people are crazy. I'm telling you, they're crazy."
DUFFY: Yes.
TAPPER: But that's not something we ever heard from Obama or Biden from that that stage.
DUFFY: We've never had a speaker rip up a speech either. But when you're saying issues like -- we're talking about trucking, and this comes in my space, where you have states that are issuing driver's licenses to illegal, illegals who haven't been trained to drive an 80,000-pound truck on an American road, we have a little girl that had a life impacted for the rest of her life, and she's five years old, an illegal hit her, I think the question becomes, why doesn't every Democrat stand up and go, no, we want well-qualified drivers on American roads? That's not partisan. We don't want illegals who can't speak the language, contrary to American law for decades, to not be on American roads. I think those are easy issues, Jake.
And I don't think we saw Democrats stand up and support them. I mean, yes, we got some applause for the U.S. Olympic hockey team, but that was probably one of the only bipartisan moments of the night, which I think is too bad.
Again, if inflation is down, Democrats should applaud it. If real incomes are up, Democrats should applaud it. Those are good things that we should support as Americans. Just because Donald Trump is in office doesn't mean you have to sit on your hands. You should applaud that because that's good for America.
TAPPER: Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, thanks for coming on tonight. Really appreciate it.
DUFFY: Yes. Thank you, Jake.
TAPPER: Coming up, what did Americans across the country think of President Trump's speech? Our CNN instant poll just minutes away. It's an instant poll. Plus, we're going to go to a swing district in battleground Michigan where we're going to talk to voters about their reactions.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[23:45:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: If you agree with this statement, then stand up and show your support. First duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.
(APPLAUSE)
You should be ashamed of yourself not standing up. You should be ashamed of yourself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: That was President Trump addressing the immigration crisis in America, a line that earned him one of his longest rounds of applauses of the night. I want to go to Saginaw County, Michigan with CNN senior political contributors Van Jones and Scott Jennings, who have been pounding beers and eating popcorn and watching the State of the Union.
(LAUGHTER)
They're doing a special CNN voter live cast. Saginaw was one of two counties in that crucial swing state to flip from Biden to Trump. And Michigan is home to several key midterm contests later this year. Tonight, Van and Scott are joined by 10 voters, four Democrats, four Republicans, and two independents who watched tonight's speech. Van and Scott, walk us through the reaction in the room today to the president's address.
VAN JONES, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER OBAMA ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Well, half of us were miserable and the other half were delighted. We're going to get a chance to hear from everybody. Loo, I think the most important thing I can say is that people here who are not in Washington, D.C., who are on the ground, look at this stuff very, very differently. You did not like this speech at all. Tell me why.
UNKNOWN: I didn't like the speech because he did not talk about what he was doing to make our lives better. As Governor Spanberger said, is the president working to make our lives better? No. James Carville said, it's the economy. And it still is the economy. And he's not talking about that at all.
JONES: What about the Trump accounts? What about the tax cuts? Did that move you at all? Did that make you feel like he's on your side?
UNKNOWN: No.
(LAUGHTER)
No, it did not.
JONES: Why not?
UNKNOWN: He talked about the health care plan. Where is his health care plan? People's health insurance premiums are going up. What is he doing for that? What is he doing for our seniors?
JONES: Just left you flat.
SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH, SALEM RADIO HOST: But Erica (ph), you are a Trump supporter. You like the speech and you had some positive things to say. What did you think?
UNKNOWN: Yes, I'm glad he addressed the tax breaks. I haven't done ours yet. But I know there will be a huge change with the children tax break. And my husband works a lot of overtime. So, I'm excited to see what that does. I think no senior should pay social security taxes. And then I liked how -- I wish he would have stayed more on Iran because I was already wondering and trying not to worry about it, but kind of not paying attention. But it sounds like he said, if they're not going to go to nuclear, we don't have to do the -- we don't want to find out.
JENNINGS: Yes, he says (INAUDIBLE) diplomacy.
UNKNOWN: Right.
JENNINGS: But --
UNKNOWN: He will find out if he has to.
JONES: I'm so curious about how you saw it.
UNKNOWN: The thing that I missed the most was a focus on the economy and looking forward. And Supreme Court struck the tariffs down, and he's going for another round of tariffs. And I also think that's the wrong direction. Tariffs cost our company a lot of money. Our costs are up, and we need to control our costs. And, you know, raising rates, we can't give raises to our employees, we can't help them. So, I'm stuck in that kind of vicious cycle of razor rates, prices go up, razor rates and, you know, how do we continue that?
JONES: So, he didn't help you all on the tariffs stuff at all. But you said that you enjoyed this speech and that there were moments that moved you. What moved you about this speech?
UNKNOWN: Well, celebrating people is always good. But, again, that 18 trillion investment, the 25 million in Trump accounts. But I did hear something on the health care, right? We have a law, the Obamacare, the ACA, and we don't have a --
(LAUGHTER)
-- we don't have a way around it. And it really just pooled care that has gone up every year. And he -- this most favored nation, he's taking a stab at lowering the cost for us. Unless the legislature acts, he's at least doing something that's going to hit our pocketbook.
JENNINGS: I think the part of the speech that's probably going to live on for most Republicans is when he asked the Congress, stand up if you think your duty is first to American citizens before illegal aliens.
[23:50:04]
Republicans stood up. They gave him his most sustained applause for the night. I suspect, Van, you're going to see this in lot of campaign ads, that Democrats wouldn't stand up. What did you all think of the showmanship of that or of sort of the spectacle of trying to get Democrats to stand up for that?
UNKNOWN: Well, I think the point -- I think that, you know, it may have gotten a little muddled but, you know, in the showmanship, but I think his point is valid. Everybody in that room represents the citizens in this country. And are you doing your job? He should -- you know, the governor asked, is Trump doing his job? Trump asked, are all of you doing your job?
JONES: But don't you think it was just kind of a cheap stunt? I mean, to just -- you're somebody who has been in politics for a long time. To me, it seemed like a stunt no matter what Trump told Democrats. Stand up if I say anything. If he said, stand up if you like puppies, they would have said, we like kittens. I mean, there's no way they're going to stand up. So, to me, he was just trying to make Democrats look bad. But should they have stood up? Perhaps.
UNKNOWN: The role should be to unify the country. I think this was the opportunity for us to come together as one. We're not a state of red or blue states. We're United States.
JONES: Would you have stood up? If you are Democrat and Donald Trump said, stand up if you are against illegal immigrants, whatever he said, would you have stood up?
UNKNOWN: I would have respected our country and I would have stood to my standards. I would have stayed to who I am. (INAUDIBLE).
(LAUGHTER)
JONES: (INAUDIBLE).
(LAUGHTER)
JENNINGS: Wait a minute. All right. We have a minute left here. We're in Michigan. We're in Michigan. We can see Canada from here. Did everybody love the hockey team? Yes, this unified America. We took their sport, we took their gold medal. Jack Hughes, our guy, he took their hot chicks. He's dating one of their hot chicks right now. It's amazing.
UNKNOWN: That was from Michigan.
JENNINGS: I know. That's what I'm saying.
UNKNOWN: Two gold medals, the one he wanted.
JENNINGS: And president acknowledged the women. And he said they're coming to the White House, which I thought was a great thing. So, here in Michigan, Anderson, I have to say, I think the hockey moment was unifying probably in this particular area more than anywhere else in the country. Everybody, Republicans, Democrats, even Van --
JONES: Yes.
JENNINGS: -- even poor Van --
(LAUGHTER)
-- on a miserable night said the American hockey team is a great thing. Admit it, good thing.
JONES: That was a good thing, though I will say they keep messing with these Canadians and it's messing up economy. No tourists are coming down here. Be nice, be a little bit nicer to the Canadians, but I'm glad we won.
JENNINGS: All right. Anderson, that's what we got out here in Michigan. A lot of opinions out here.
COOPER: It's nice to see the heated rivalry between you, guys.
(LAUGHTER)
You can watch it later, Scott. My panel is here with me in Washington. I do want to play something that President Trump said about affordability, which is obviously something that the governor spoke about as well. Let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: The same people in this chamber who voted for those disasters suddenly used the word "affordability." 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 dirty rotten lie. Their policies created the high prices. Our policies are rapidly ending them.
And I will soon be presenting Connor with our highest civilian honor, which we will be given and which has been given to many athletes over the years. But when I say many, not too many, like 12, it's called the highest civilian honor in our country, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: It was (INAUDIBLE) hockey.
PHILLIP: You know what I thought was actually really interesting, just listening to those voters and Americans, they were really focused on the economy. And I think that the red meat applause lines that Scott mentioned about stand up if you believe that you're supposed to be working for U.S. citizens, that definitely works really well for the partisans. But the regular people, their takeaways were all about the economy. They were about health care, they were about tariffs, they were about the cost of living, they were about exactly what we've been talking about this whole time.
[23:54:56]
And I think that is very instructive because that moment where Trump got his biggest applause line in the room, I don't know if it will resonate as much as the White House might want it to be and it certainly is not going to be the thing that this midterm is going to be.
AXELROD: I think one of the problems that he has is that people see these things as distractions. They don't think he's focused on the thing that is most important to them, the thing that was most important to them when they elected him. They don't think he's delivering on that.
And even the things that his supporter mentioned there, you know, there is not $18 trillion new investments here. Everybody knows the economy and their communities have slowed. They're worried about their jobs. This most favored nation piece on drugs applies to -- like 40 drugs of the 23,000 prescription drugs are out there. So, people know they're not paying less for their prescriptions. And I think that is the challenge because he is selling something that they don't feel or see, and they don't think he's really focused on it.
MCHENRY: Well, let's unpack this.
COOPER: We got like 30 seconds.
MCHENRY: So, his line, their policies created the high prices, our policies are rapidly ending them, that is going to be the line that they keep driving, which is they are responding and trying to bring down what Biden brought to them, which is pain First Trump administration, unrivaled economic success, that drove him back to the White House. That's the reason why he got elected this time.
So, the assumption here was that he would deliver bigly. And the American people are yet to feel that. And without feeling it, no visual, no audio will move them off that unless they can feel it. That's what the Republican have to do.
AXELROD: The reason they had those expectations was because he set those expectations and said that he was going to deliver quickly, that he was going to bring down costs, and he did not do that.
COOPER: We're going to get more voter reaction next in our CNN instant poll. Coming up, Pete Buttigieg joins us. We'll be back in a moment.
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