Standing in front of allies, enemies, Olympians and the victims of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Donald Trump has delivered his State of the Union address. Let's take a closer look at it.
In his first State of the Union since beginning his second term as president, Mr Trump faced a Congress split almost perfectly down the middle.
To his left were his supporters — backing his points on immigration, border security, and the economy with repeated standing ovations, whistles, cheers and chants of "USA, USA, USA".
To his right was a largely quiet audience of Democrats, who remained seated throughout the address.
And watching from the balconies was a crowd of their guests, among them athletes, veterans, those affected by Mr Trump's immigration crackdown, those who benefited from his tax schemes, and those who survived the crimes documented in the Epstein files.
The speech in full lasted one hour and 48 minutes.
The ABC has chosen to highlight some key sections of the speech — below is our breakdown of those moments.
Members of Congress and my fellow Americans, our nation is back, bigger, better, richer and stronger than ever before.
Less than five months from now, our country will celebrate an epic milestone in American history, the 250th anniversary of our glorious American independence. This July 4th, we will mark two and a half centuries of liberty and triumph, progress and freedom, in the most incredible and exceptional nation ever to exist on the face of the Earth. And you've seen nothing yet. We're going to do better and better and better. This is the golden age of America.
When I last spoke in this chamber 12 months ago, I had just inherited a nation in crisis with a stagnant economy, inflation at record levels, a wide open border, horrendous recruitment for military and police, rampant crime at home and wars and chaos all over the world.
In the last year of Joe Biden’s presidency, US gross domestic product grew 2.8 per cent adjusted for inflation, according to PBS. In October 2024, The Economist labelled the US economy "the envy of the world". The US, it said, had outpaced every other country in the world for growth, bouncing back three times as fast as other G7 countries in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. |
But tonight, after just one year, I can say with dignity and pride that we have achieved a transformation like no one has ever seen before and a turnaround for the ages. It is indeed a turnaround for the ages. And we will never go back to where we were just a very short time ago. We're not going back today.
Today, our border is secure. Thank you. Today our border is secure, our spirit is restored, inflation is plummeting, incomes are rising fast, the roaring economy is roaring like never before and our enemies are scared. Our military and police are stacked and America is respected again, perhaps like never before.
After four years in which millions and millions of illegal aliens poured across our borders totally unvetted and unchecked, we now have the strongest and most secure border in American history by far. In the past nine months, zero illegal aliens have been admitted to the United States. But we will always allow people to come in legally, people that will love our country and will work hard to maintain our country.
There were 237,538 incidents of migrants trying to illegally cross the border into the US in the 2025 fiscal year, down from a peak of 1.5 million in 2024, according to the Pew Research Center. The asylum pathways that existed under Joe Biden have largely been abolished under Mr Trump, which is likely why he is now able to claim "zero" have been admitted. Though patrols have increased, it would be impossible to know whether any migrants had crossed the border undetected, and they no longer have much incentive to register with authorities, as any asylum claims are almost certain to be denied. |
The flow of deadly fentanyl across our border is down by a record 56 per cent in one year. And last year the murder rate saw its single largest decline in recorded history. This is the biggest decline, think of it, in recorded history — the lowest number in over 125 years. Year 1900, in fact substantially before my wonderful father — I had a wonderful father, Fred — before he was born, substantially before he was born.
That's a long time ago. He wouldn't like me to say that. But that's a long time ago. 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.
And in the last three months of 2025, it was down to 1.7 per cent. Gasoline, which reached a peak of over $US6 a gallon in some states. Under my predecessor, it was quite honestly a disaster; it is now below $US2.30 a gallon in most states and in some places $US1.99 a gallon. And when I visited the great state of Iowa just a few weeks ago, I even saw $US1.85 a gallon for gasoline.
| GasBuddy, the largest US fuel-price tracking service, said only the cheapest 10 per cent of stations in the country were seeing the prices referenced by Mr Trump. Their analyst, Patrick De Haan, said "only eight out of roughly 150,000 gas stations nationwide are selling gasoline below $US2 per gallon". |
Mortgage rates are the lowest in four years and falling fast, and the annual cost of a typical new mortgage is down almost $US5,000 just since I took office, one year. And low interest rates will solve the Biden created housing problem, while at the same time protecting the values of those people who already own a house that really feel rich for the first time in their lives.
We want to protect those values; we want to keep those values up. We're going to do both. And we are going to keep it that way.
Midway through his address, Mr Trump turned to the topic of immigration — specifically the Somali community in Minnesota and the ongoing crackdown by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The controversial operation has seen federal agents drag people out of cars, unleash tear gas on civilians, and kill at least two US citizens, Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti.
Seated in the gallery as Mr Trump spoke were multiple victims of the shutdown, including four brought as a guest by Somali-born Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar.
Among them was Mary Granlund, the chair of the Columbia Heights School Board, the same school attended by five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos before he was detained by ICE agents.
But when it comes to the corruption that is plundering — really, it's plundering America.
There's been no more stunning example than Minnesota, where members of the Somali community have pillaged an estimated $19 billion from the American taxpayer. We have all the information and, in actuality, the number is much higher than that.
This is in reference to a sprawling fraud scandal linked to Minnesota’s social services programs. The House Oversight Committee estimated the fraud "could exceed $US9 billion", and most of the people charged so far are United States citizens either by birth or naturalisation. Mr Trump has been fixated on Somalis in the US, in particular Ms Omar, who he called "garbage" in a cabinet meeting late last year. |
And California, Massachusetts, Maine and many other states are even worse. This is the kind of corruption that shreds the fabric of a nation, and we are working on it like you wouldn't believe. So, tonight, although started four months ago, I am officially announcing the war on fraud to be led by our great Vice President JD Vance.
He'll get it done and, if we're able to find enough of that fraud, we will actually have a balanced budget overnight. It'll go very quickly. That's the kind of money you're talking about. We'll balance our budget. 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.
| It was around this time in the speech when Ms Omar could be heard loudly heckling Mr Trump from the audience. "You have killed Americans," she 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. We're going to take care of this problem.
We are not playing games. Dalilah Coleman was only five years old in June 2024 when an 18-wheel tractor-trailer plowed into her stopped car travelling at 60 miles an hour or more. The driver was an illegal alien let in by Joe Biden and given a commercial driver's license by open borders politicians in California.
In November, California announced it would revoke the licenses of 17,000 immigrant drivers. State officials said this was due to the expiration dates on the licenses, not due to concerns about undocumented migrants on the roads. California Governor Gavin Newsom said all those whose licenses were revoked had valid work permits from the federal government. |
Doctors said Dalilah would never be able to walk or talk, have a good life. She wouldn't even be able to eat again. But against all odds, she is now in the first grade, learning to walk. And she's here this evening with her dad Marcus, a fantastic man. Dalilah, please, you are a great inspiration. Please stand up. Thank you, Dalilah.
Many, if not most, illegal aliens do not speak English and cannot read even the most basic road signs as to direction, speed, danger or location. That's why tonight I'm calling on Congress to pass what we will call the Dalilah Law, barring any state from granting commercial driver's licenses to illegal aliens.
And yesterday, as you probably saw at the White House, I hosted a ceremony with Americans who lost their treasured loved ones to the scourge of illegal immigration. People came into our country — how we allowed this to happen with our open borders. These are the angel moms and families that for decades our government betrayed and our media totally ignored — totally.
| "Angel Families" is a term favoured by Donald Trump since his first term in office — earlier this week he designated February 22 as "Angel Families Day". |
Towards the end of his speech, Mr Trump returned to a now familiar talking point — the "eight wars" he has repeatedly claimed to have ended.
Throughout the night Mr Trump repeatedly ad-libbed parts of his speech, taking moments to speak directly to members of the audience and his supporters.
In the version of the speech provided to media before the address, this section was 348 words long. On the night, that stretched out to almost 800 words.
In my first 10 months I ended eight wars, including Cambodia. Isn't it funny? They're sick people. Cambodia and Thailand.
| Trump has repeatedly claimed, incorrectly, to have stopped eight wars. The US has helped broker multiple ceasefires in global conflicts, although fighting has resumed in some of them. Experts contend some of the wars Trump says he has stopped were not actually wars. |
Pakistan and India would have been a nuclear war. 35 million people, said the prime minister of Pakistan, would have died if it were not for my involvement. Kosovo and Serbia, Israel and Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, the Congo and Rwanda and, of course, the war in Gaza, which proceeds at a very low level.
| Egypt and Ethiopia thanked Mr Trump for offering to mediate a dispute over water rights between the two, which has yet to escalate into a military conflict. |
It's just about there. And I want to thank Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner for your help. Thank you, Steve. Thank you, Jared. And I also want to thank the man they report to, Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Thank you, Marco. People like you. You know, Marco got 100 per cent of the votes when he was in — I think our next one was about 54 per cent.
And some of the Democrats are now saying, I can't believe we approved that guy. And he said, it's an honour that they feel that way, right, Marco? You have done a great job, great secretary of state. I think he'll go down as the best ever. Under the ceasefire, I negotiated every single hostage, both living and dead has been returned home.
Can you believe that? Nobody thought it was possible. Nobody thought that was possible. Both living and dead. And those parents who had a dead son, their boy, they'd always tell me their boy, they wanted him as much as though he were living. It was an amazing period of time and they came back. And when we got all of the living hostages back and many, many before them but I always said those last 20 are going to be very tough, but we got many, many more, hundreds.
But I said those last 20 are going to be tough. We got them back. But we only got back 14 or 15 of the dead, of the 28. And believe it or not, Hamas worked along with Israel and they dug and they dug and they dug. It's a tough — it's a tough thing to do, going through bodies all over, passing up 100 bodies sometimes for each one that they found.
Tough job. And they finally got it back to 27. And then Steve and Jared, they got it back to 28. They found all 28. Nobody thought that was possible, but we did it. And I remember the family of the 28th. They were so — grieved, but they were so happy, as happy as it's possible — possible to be. They had their boy back.
| Mr Trump appears to be referring to the family of police officer Ran Gvili, whose remains were the last to be returned in January. |
The mother said, sir, we have our boy back. What a period of time that was, but we got them all back. So thank you both very much. Great job. And we're working very hard to end the ninth war, the killing and slaughter between Russia and Ukraine, where 25,000 soldiers are dying each and every month. Think of that, 25,000 soldiers are dying a month, a war which would have never happened if I were president, would have never happened.
| NATO Secretary General Marke Rutte estimated last month Russia was losing between 20,000 and 25,000 troops per month in the war on Ukraine. The Center for Strategic and International Studies estimated Ukraine had suffered between 500,000 to 600,000 military casualties in four years of war. |
As President, I will make peace wherever I can, but I will never hesitate to confront threats to America wherever we must. That's why in a breakthrough operation last June, the United States military obliterated Iran's nuclear weapons program with an attack on Iranian soil, known as Operation Midnight Hammer.
For decades, it had been the policy of the United States never to allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon, many decades. Since they seized control of that proud nation 47 years ago, the regime and its murderous proxies have spread nothing but terrorism and death and hate. They've killed and maimed thousands of American service members and hundreds of thousands and even millions of people with what's called roadside bombs.
They were the kings of the roadside bomb. And we took out Soleimani. I did that during my first term, had a huge impact. He was the father of the roadside bomb. And just over the last couple of months with the protests, they've killed at least, it looks like 32,000 protests, 32,000 protesters in their own country.
They shot them and hung them. We stopped them from hanging a lot of them with the threat of serious violence. But this is some terrible people. They've already developed missiles that can threaten Europe and our bases overseas and they're working to build missiles that will soon reach the United States of America.
They want to make a deal, but we haven't heard those sacred words, "we will never have a nuclear weapon".
Iran has stated multiple times it does not have a nuclear weapon and does not plan on making one. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told the United Nations: "I hereby declare once more before this Assembly that Iran has never sought and will never seek to build a nuclear bomb." |
My preference — My preference is to solve this problem through diplomacy. But one thing is certain, I will never allow the world's number one sponsor of terror, which they are by far to have a nuclear weapon, can't let that happen.
