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Breaking a record he set previously, President Trump delivered the longest State of the Union address in history at a moment when Americans increasingly disapprove of his handling of the economy, have soured on his immigration crackdown, and have threatened to throw congressional Republicans out of power.

Trump spoke for one hour and 47 minutes. He made the most of the moment, attempting to thread the needle between heralding accomplishments, while assuring a still jittery public – particularly when it comes to the economy – that better days are on the horizon.

Democrats, physically unmoved for most of the evening, may have unwillingly played into his plans. They remained seated for much of the speech, including conservative-coded applause lines on everything from securing the southern border to reducing the violent crime rate.

“The contrast could not be clearer,” said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, driving home the intended message in a social media post after the speech. “Democrats are crazy!”

The president began by painting a bleak picture of the nation his predecessor, Joe Biden, had left him, one defined by “crisis” at home and confronted with “chaos” abroad. After one year in office, however, Trump crowed that his administration had “achieved a transformation like no one has ever seen before and a turnaround for the ages.” Acknowledging lingering anxieties but still playing true to his nature as a salesman, he told the nation moments later, “You have seen nothing yet – we are going to do better and better.”

And at its core it was an upbeat sales pitch, one Republicans have been desperate for Trump to deliver.

When Vice President JD Vance and Speaker Mike Johnson stared out into the crowd from their seats directly behind the president, they saw a Congress, and political landscape, that could soon change. “If we don’t win the midterm,” Johnson told RCP last year, “he won’t have four years of a presidency. It will end at two.” Trump has received that message. If the GOP does not maintain its majority, he expects impeachment, his third.

And so the president stuck to the script on the teleprompter before him while delivering prepared remarks that still very much incorporated his trademark “weave” as he bounced between topics and called on honored guests in the galleries to punctuate his points.

Trump earned a standing ovation from Republicans when he promised to deliver justice for the mother of Iryna Zarutska, a Ukrainian immigrant brutally murdered in North Carolina last year. He erred when claiming that her assailant had come into the country as a result of Biden’s “open borders.” (The attacker is a U.S. citizen.) Trump still saw an opportunity to take a shot at Democrats. “How do you not stand,” he........

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