News: Trump Delivers Record-Long State of the Union — Tax Cuts, Tariff Defiance, and Iran Warnings Dominate a Speech Aimed at Anxious Voters
President Donald Trump delivered the longest State of the Union address in modern American history on Tuesday evening, speaking for approximately 108 minutes in a sweeping speech that touched on the economy, trade, immigration, Iran, and his administration's legislative agenda. The address broke his own record from last year's joint session by eight minutes, and came at a politically precarious moment for the president as polls show Americans losing confidence in his handling of the economy ahead of the November 2026 midterm elections. Trump declared the United States was experiencing a "turnaround for the ages" and a "golden age of America," touting stock market highs, falling inflation, and record employment numbers. But the triumphant rhetoric stood in stark contrast to polling data showing his approval on economic issues slipping, and to the Supreme Court's decision just four days earlier to strike down his signature tariff program in a 6-3 ruling. Democrats, who are making affordability a central campaign theme, offered vocal pushback during the speech, while Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger delivered the official Democratic response focusing on kitchen-table costs. The speech's market-relevant elements were significant: a new tax cut proposal to be advanced through budget reconciliation, a government-backed retirement savings plan for workers without employer matches, a pledge to bar institutional investors from buying single-family homes, and a defiant promise to reimpose tariffs using "alternative" legal authorities despite the Supreme Court ruling. Separately, Trump's brief but pointed comments on Iran — with U.S.-Iran nuclear talks resuming in Geneva on Thursday — kept oil markets on edge, with Brent crude trading near seven-month highs.