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Donald Trump Speech Missed Some Marks: Newsweek Writers’ SOTU Verdicts

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26.02.2026

President Donald Trump delivered the marathon State of the Union (SOTU) he promised, speaking for more than an hour and 40 minutes and setting a modern record for the longest address before a joint session of Congress—surpassing both his own mark from last year and the benchmark held since Bill Clinton’s 2000 speech.

Barbara Perry: POTUS v. SCOTUS

It was meaningful that Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Elena Kagan, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett attended this year’s SOTU. Arrayed in their traditional black robes, their garb separates them from politicians, as did the recent decision in which three Republican-appointed justices, including two by Trump (Barrett and Neil Gorsuch), led by Roberts, a George W. Bush appointee, decided against his unconstitutional imposition of tariffs as an “emergency” action.

Trump attacked the High Court as issuing an “unfortunate” ruling, while the three justices (Roberts, Kagan, Barrett), who had joined the six-person majority, and Kavanaugh, who authored a dissent, sat impassively. Like the uniformed military leader, justices do not join in the partisan pep rally.

J. Wilson Newman Professor of Governance at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center

Paul du Quenoy: Trump Laid Out 'Irrefutable Triumphs'

In a superbly crafted and highly memorable speech, President Trump laid out the irrefutable triumphs of his second administration's first year - falling inflation, declining prices, record-low unemployment, record-high stock markets, solid border control, falling crime, and numerous foreign policy successes,........

© Newsweek