President Donald Trump stepped to the dais to deliver last night’s State of the Union Address (transcript), and his mission was simple: help Republicans hold the House and Senate in November’s midterm elections. To do that, he didn’t so much give a speech as put on a show, telling Americans about the success of his policies and making sure to catch Democrats sitting on their hands while he talked about 80-20 issues. They hate him so much that they couldn’t even applaud, much less stand, for his line about protecting American citizens instead of illegal aliens.

Do Democrats hate only Donald Trump, or do they hate America and Americans? Every voter should ponder that long and hard.

The president clearly loves America and puts America First. Trump bookended his record-setting one-hour and 47-minute speech with a celebration of America’s 250th anniversary. He began:

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.

He ended:

Two of the gentlemen we met in the gallery this evening took their first breaths one century ago. One hundred years before that, on July 4th, 1826, the author of the Declaration of Independence, brilliant Thomas Jefferson, drew his last breath. Just a single long human lifespan separates the giants who declared and won our independence from the heroes who stand among us tonight. Everything our nation has done, everything we have achieved has been the work of those few great lifetimes. In those brief chapters, Americans built this nation from 13 humble colonies into the pinnacle of human civilization and human freedom, the strongest, wealthiest, most powerful, most successful nation in all of history. …

There is no challenge Americans cannot overcome, no frontier too vast for us to conquer, no dream too bold for us to chase, no horizon too distant for us to claim. For our destiny is written by the hand of Providence, and these first 250 years were just the beginning. …

The revolution that began in 1776 has not ended; it still continues because the flame of Liberty and independence still burns in the heart of every American Patriot. And our future will be bigger, better, brighter, bolder, and more glorious than ever before. Thank you. God bless you, and God bless America.

You can tell that Trump isn’t just reading those words from a teleprompter. He feels them in his bones because, again, he loves this country so very much.

In between those soaring bits of prose, Trump seemed like he was largely riffing as he does on the campaign trail. He must have been given cues, but most of his remarks seemed extemporaneous. Democrats made his job incredibly easy with their glares and palpable hostility.

At least the ones who were there — dozens of them boycotted the address, choosing to stay home or go elsewhere rather than come sit on their hands, scowl, heckle, and wear obscene lapel buttons.

It was a study in contrasts. Trump gave a litany of things to cheer, and Democrats could only act like pouting toddlers. Things he touted include low gas and egg prices leading the way on lower inflation, a healthy economy, huge tax cuts, tariffs, a closed border, necessary deportations, reduced crime (especially in DC), the successful Venezuela operation, ceasefires in wars, and so on. Most Democrats could only glower with contempt.

Trump was ready for that, of course, and the White House has a full list of things “Democrats refused to applaud.”

They did applaud some things, of course, which actually makes their selected refusals all the more galling. For example, Trump introduced the gold medal-winning U.S. Men’s Hockey team to raucous applause. “That’s the first time I’ve ever seen them get up,” he joked about the Democrats. “And actually not all of them did get up.”

To me, the particularly enlightening contrasts came on taxes, crime, voter ID, saving kids from gender mutilation, and protecting Americans.

“Last year,” Trump noted, “I urged this Congress to begin the mission by passing the largest tax cuts in American history, and our Republican majorities delivered so beautifully. Thank you, Republicans. All Democrats, every single one of them, voted against these really important and very necessary massive tax cuts. They wanted large-scale tax increases to hurt the people instead.”

No applause from the Left, of course.

PJ Media’s Catherine Salgado summed up the crime stories: “Democrats refused to stand for Lizbeth Medina, the 16-year-old American high school cheerleader in Texas who was stabbed to death by an illegal alien, or for Iryna Zarutska, the beautiful Ukrainian girl who fled here to escape war only to be murdered on the Charlotte subway by a serial criminal released by soft-on-crime Democrats.”

“How do you not stand?” Trump asked Democrats.

Trump invited Sage Blair and her mother, Michelle, to tell the story of how, at age 14, Sage was socially transitioned by school officials without her parents’ permission. She was eventually sent to an all-boys’ home by a left-wing judge. “But today,” Trump said, “all of that is behind them because Sage is a proud and wonderful young woman with a full-ride scholarship to Liberty University.”

“Who can believe that we’re even speaking about things like this?” Trump asked. “But surely we can all agree no state can be allowed to rip children from their parents’ arms and transition them to a new gender against the parents, well, who would believe that were even talking about? We must ban it, and we must ban it immediately.”

As the camera panned to Tim “Sarah” McBride, the man dressed as a woman from Delaware, the Democrats sat on their hands again.

“These people are crazy,” Trump marveled while gesturing at Democrats. “I’m telling you, they’re crazy.”

As for elections, Trump touted the SAVE America Act “to stop illegal aliens and others who are unpermitted persons from voting in our sacred American elections.” In short, “all voters must show voter ID.” The polling for that approaches 90% support (he claimed 89%), but Democrats refused to assent, for which Trump accused them of wanting to cheat.

The most powerful moment, however, was when Trump said this:

One of the great things about the State of the Union is how it gives Americans the chance to see clearly what their representatives really believe. So, tonight, I’m inviting every legislator to join with my administration in reaffirming a fundamental principle. If you agree with this statement, then stand up and show your support: The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.

For nearly two minutes, thunderous applause emanated from every standing Republican, while Democrats blankly stared, furrowed their brows, or screamed at Trump (here’s looking at you, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib).

“Isn’t that a shame?” Trump said after a few moments. “You should be ashamed of yourself, not standing up.”

JUST IN: President Trump tells everyone to stand during his SOTU speech who believe the first duty of the U.S. government is to protect American citizens, not illegal immigrants.

Almost no Democrats stood up. pic.twitter.com/Mdv53Yoyhh

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) February 25, 2026

On a final note, Trump the showman had a fantastic roster of guests last night. I’ve already mentioned some of them, but other notables included Erika Kirk, widow of the great Patriot Charlie Kirk; Buddy Taggart, the 100-year-old Purple Heart and Bronze Star recipient World War II vet who was born on July 4, 1926; 11-year-old Millie Kate McClelland, a victim of the Texas flooding, and her rescuer, Coast Guard rescue swimmer Scott Ruskin; Delilah Coleman, the young girl who barely survived a car accident caused by an illegal alien; and U.S. Air Force Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe, who was shot in the head and survived in DC last November and to whom President Trump presented a Purple Heart.

In one great moment, Trump awarded U.S. Men’s Hockey goaltender Connor Hellebuyck the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Yet the two most honored guests were U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer 5 Eric Slover and U.S. Navy fighter pilot Royce Williams.

Slover piloted a helicopter during Operation Absolute Resolve in Venezuela. Trump spent several minutes recounting how he was critically wounded by several gunshot wounds, but said something to his comrades “only after safely landing the helicopter with all the warriors aboard in the exact right spot.” He told his copilot, “I’m about ready to pass out.”

“So we have a surprise for Eric and Amy,” Trump said to the soldier and his wife in the gallery. “In recognition of Eric’s actions above and beyond the call of duty, I would now like to ask General Jonathan Braga to present Chief Warrant Officer Slover with our nation’s highest military award, the Congressional Medal of Honor.”

Next up was the same honor for Williams, who Trump noted “served in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, flying more than 220 missions.” Our Mark Alexander profiled Captain Williams in 2023, explaining that one particularly valiant mission in 1952 over Korea was a 35-minute dogfight with seven Soviet MiGs — a dogfight that then-Lieutenant Williams somehow won, shooting down four MiGs, despite having 263 bullet holes in his Panther. “The engagement with the Soviet-piloted MiGs was classified shortly after the incident,” Alexander explained, “as the Soviet Union was not an ‘official’ combatant in the Korean War, and if the dogfight was acknowledged, intelligence and defense analysts believed that might draw the USSR further into the conflict.”

Trump recounted that as well, adding, “Tonight, at 100 years old, this brave Navy captain is finally getting the recognition he deserves. He was a legend long before this evening. Royce, please stand up, and I will ask the first lady of the United States to present Captain Royce Williams with his Congressional Medal of Honor.”

Of those Medal of Honor awards, Mark Alexander, who regularly authors Profiles of Valor on recipients, said, “The heroic recipients of these Medals of Honor received high-profile recognition at a high-profile event by a president who has restored integrity, mission, and morale to our Armed Forces. Presenting the awards on behalf of Congress at a State of the Union address is a fitting venue before a proud nation.”

Indeed, it was a very patriotic part of the show whose point was to illustrate as vividly as possible that Donald Trump and the Republican Party love America. And Democrats hate them for it.

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