Trump delivered the longest State of the Union ever – stuffed with manufactured moments, racist rants and lies about election fraud. Here’s a roundup of the most unhinged moments
Donald Trump delivered a lengthy, unhinged and often angry State of the Union address, ranting about immigrants and lying about election fraud.
The US President broke the record for the longest State of the Union Speech, speaking for an hour and 47 minutes.
He repeatedly attacked Democrats, berating them for failing to stand and applaud him during the speech and accusing them, baselessly, of cheating in elections.
And the speech was repeatedly interrupted by outbursts from Democrats incensed by the President’s wild, often spiteful ramblings.
Here’s a roundup of the most unhinged moments from Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech.
1. His discoloured hand was very much on display
The growing bruises on Trump’s hand was very visible as he clutched the lectern during the speech.
It was covered up with what appeared to be several layers of concealer makeup.
2. There were protests right from the start
As he entered the House of Representatives chamber ahead of the speech, Trump was confronted with a protest sign that read “black people aren’t apes.”
It was held by Democrat member Al Green, who was famously ejected from last year’s joint address after he interrupted the speech by yelling at the President about cuts to medicaid, America’s health insurance programme for low income families.
Green was again escorted out of the speech tonight over his placard.
3. He used the US Olympic Hockey Team as a prop
Early in the speech, Trump introduced the US Olympic Ice Hockey team, who filed into the chamber’s balcony wearing their gold medals after defeating Canada at the Winter Olympics over the weekend.
Trump announced goaltender Connor Hellebuyck would be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom after his performance in the game.
4. ‘This should have been my third term’
Trump complained that he had been denied an illegal third term in office after “strange things happened” in the 2020 election.
Trump has repeatedly lied about election fraud “stealing” the election from him. In reality he lost the election to Joe Biden by several million votes.
5. He raged at Democrats for not standing up and applauding him
Trump repeatedly raged at Democrat congressmen and women for not standing up and applauding him during the speech.
“These people are crazy, I’m telling you. They’re crazy,” he said at one point.
6. He unleashed a vile racist rant
At one point Trump staged a stunt by asking those present to stand if they believed “The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.”
As he pulled the stunt, Democrat House member Ilhan Omar shouted: “You have killed Americans. You should be ashamed.”
He took aim specifically of people of Somali heritage, branding them “pirates” and accusing them of fraud and corruption.
“The Somali pirates who ransacked Minnesota remind us that there are large parts of the world where bribery, corruption, and lawlessness are the norm, not the exception,” he said. “Importing these cultures through unrestricted immigration and open borders brings those problems right here, to the USA – and it is the American People who pay the price, in higher medical bills, car insurance rates, rent, taxes, and perhaps most importantly, crime. We will take care of this problem.”
A huge fraud scheme was uncovered by officials in Minnesota earlier this year, with much of it allegedly committed by Somali Americans.
But there’s no evidence that the cost of the fraud to the country was anything like the $19 billion Trump claimed it to be. And immigrants to the United States, including people of Somali descent, are dramatically less likely to commit crime than the American-born population.
7. There were a few surprises
Trump’s speech was peppered with ‘surprises’ and manufactured moments – reuniting a young woman with her father, a Venezuelan politician who had been imprisoned and presenting the Congressional Medal of Honour to a helicopter pilot injured in the US raid that led to the arrest of Nicolas Maduro.
Erica Kirk, the widow of slain right wing activist Charlie Kirk, was in the audience – a guest of the President, who paid tribute to her late husband during the speech.
8. The Supreme Court got the sharp end of his tongue
Trump railed at the Supreme Court who just days ago ruled his regime of sweeping tariffs was illegal.
He declared the decision “an unfortunate ruling from the United States Supreme Court” during the speech – claiming countries are “happy” with the tariffs he slapped on them and vowed to keep them.
“Almost all countries and corporations want to keep the deal that they already made.
“Knowing that the legal power that I, as president, have to make a new deal could be far worse for them, therefore, they’ll continue to work alongside the same successful path that we had negotiated before the court’s unfortunate involvement.
“Countries that were ripping us off for decades are now paying us hundreds of millions of dollars. Yet these countries are now happy and so are we. We made deals. The deals are all done. And they’re happy.”
Mr Trump said “many of the wars I settled” were because of the “threat of tariffs”.
“Tariffs, paid for by foreign countries will, like in the past, substantially replace the modern-day system of income tax, taking a great financial burden off the people that I love,” he said.
“Trillions and trillions of dollars will be pouring into the United States of America, because we finally have a president who puts America first.”
9. He falsely claimed voter fraud is ‘rampant’
Trump claimed, falsely, that Democrat members of congress were only against his push to demand photo ID for voter registration because they want to “cheat” in elections – and that they were only ever able to defeat Republican opponents by cheating.
He said: “I’m asking you to approve the Save America Act to stop illegal aliens and other who are unpermitted persons from voting in our sacred American elections. The cheating is rampant in our elections.”
Experts say voter fraud is extremely rare, and very few noncitizens ever slip through the cracks.
A recent review in Michigan identified 15 people who appear to be noncitizens who voted in the 2024 general election, out of more than 5.7 million ballots cast in the state.
Of those, 13 were referred to the attorney general for potential criminal charges. One involved a voter who has since died, and the final case remains under investigation.