President Donald Trump gave a nearly two-hour State of the Union speech on Tuesday. He spotlighted the economy, calling it poised for unprecedented growth.
This comes as his economic approval ratings slide ahead of the 2026 midterms, now under nine months away. Polls like Reuters/Ipsos show 42 per cent approval. Democrats eye Congress control after 2025 gains on affordability.
Trump proposed government-matched 401(k)-style plans for workers without employer contributions.
“My administration will give these oft-forgotten American workers, great people, the people that built our country, access to the same type of retirement plan offered to every federal worker. We will match your contribution with up to $1,000 each year,” he said. It taps the 2022 Secure 2.0 Act’s Savers Match for low earners.
He urged banning institutional home buys permanently. “I’m asking Congress to make that ban permanent, because homes for people, really that’s what we want. We want homes for people, not corporations. Corporations are doing just fine,” Trump said. Investors took 15 per cent of single-family homes last year, per Redfin.
Trump hailed falling inflation. “Inflation is plummeting. In 12 months, my administration has driven core inflation to the lowest level in more than five years,” he claimed. January CPI rose 2.4 per cent year-on-year, core at 2.5 per cent, the lowest since 2021.
Democrats pushed back mildly. Trump’s citizen-over-aliens line clashed with Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib. Rep. Al Green was ejected over an anti-racist sign amid Trump’s recent inflammatory post.
The address stayed domestic-focused. On Iran, Trump said: “We are in negotiations with them. They want to make a deal, but we haven’t heard those secret words: ‘We will never have a nuclear weapon.’ 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.”