President Donald Trump is giving the first State of the Union address of his second term in office and anything could happen. Will Trump give the longest, most-weaving speech in American history? Will he pelt “supreme court” justices with heavily tariffed fruit? Can J.D. Vance stay offline for the entire time? Might Kash Patel get drunk with the U.S. hockey team inside a UFC octagon up in the gallery? Let’s find out together — follow along below for the latest (and click here if you need a livestream to watch).

Remember when White Houses weren’t very online?

State of the Union 2026.Lock in, Patriots . 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/63LW0RcTXG— The White House (@WhiteHouse) February 25, 2026

State of the Union 2026.Lock in, Patriots . 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/63LW0RcTXG

Here come the excerpts

Trump is expected to called on Democrats to end the partial DHS shutdown during his State of the Union address tonight, per speech excerpts:“As we speak, Democrats in this chamber have cut off all funding for the Department of Homeland Security. They have closed the agency…— Shelby Talcott (@ShelbyTalcott) February 25, 2026

Trump is expected to called on Democrats to end the partial DHS shutdown during his State of the Union address tonight, per speech excerpts:“As we speak, Democrats in this chamber have cut off all funding for the Department of Homeland Security. They have closed the agency…

The president has left the White House:

President Trump departed the White House for the U.S. Capitol with first lady Melania Trump ahead of the State of the Union. https://t.co/Syl4cyZFiW pic.twitter.com/LjOC81q8I1— ABC News (@ABC) February 25, 2026

President Trump departed the White House for the U.S. Capitol with first lady Melania Trump ahead of the State of the Union. https://t.co/Syl4cyZFiW pic.twitter.com/LjOC81q8I1

White House calls Abigail Spanberger a ‘radical left lunatic.’ Seriously?

When Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger was announced as the choice to deliver the official Democratic response to the SOTU address, most observers figured the opposition party was playing it safe. Spanberger is by all accounts a cautious centrist, and one of a number of 2025 Democratic election winners who successfully pursued the very “affordability” message Trump is trying to purloin tonight. But in an odd “prebuttal” on the White House website, Spanberger was referred to as a “Radical Left lunatic,” with “a long history of supporting open borders, soft-on-crime policies, reckless spending, tax hikes, radical climate mandates, extreme gender ideology, and woke DEI initiatives.” The specific indictments involve basically every standard-brand Democratic policy position you can think of. This is a good example of MAGA-style swing voter persuasion methods: just assert, over and over and over again, that your opponents are “extremists,” so your own extremism doesn’t seem that bad.

Several Republican candidates running prominent races this election cycle are expected to make an appearance in the House chamber. Texas attorney general Ken Paxton, who is primarying Senator John Cornyn, will be attending as a guest of Texas congressman Troy Nehls.

Pennsylvania state treasurer Stacy Garrity, who is challenging Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, was invited by Representative Glenn Thompson.

Something to watch for as Trump speaks tonight is whether he actually has the power to do the things he promises to do. We’ve been told he will call on Congress to enact his “health care plan.” Aside from the fact that his plan isn’t, you know, an actual plan, but just a hodgepodge of half-baked ideas, there will be zero Democratic support for it, which means it can only be enacted via a budget reconciliation measure (like last........

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