As America prepares to celebrate its 250th anniversary, the state of the union is in turmoil.
In little more than a year in office, President Donald Trump has assailed the country’s institutions, upset the constitutional system of checks and balances, flouted the law, undermined democracy at home and abroad, and ignored the rising cost of living for ordinary people while lining his family’s pockets.
Under Trump — at the whims of his unelected billionaire buddy, Elon Musk — senseless funding cuts have gutted U.S. medical research, led to thousands of federal employees losing their jobs, and more than 800,000 lives lost due to discontinued foreign aid.
The president’s chaotic mass deportation efforts have a body count — including two citizens — as the nation’s streets are overrun by heavily armed, masked federal agents who routinely use excessive force with little accountability. Meanwhile, the government continues to protect the rich and powerful listed in the Jeffrey Epstein files, perhaps hoping to redact away their sins.
Much to Trump’s displeasure, the American people are paying attention.
When the president addresses Congress on Tuesday at the annual State of the Union address, he will do so with a 60% disapproval rating, according to a Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll. Those abysmal numbers echo those seen after the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol by Trump followers.
The reproach has been hard-earned by the president, who has squandered away the goodwill of voters after his undeniable 2024 election victory.
Rather than focusing on the kitchen-table issues that won him a return trip to the White House, Trump has ramped up the cruelty of his anti-immigrant policies and ignored the economic pressures many people face.
Instead of presiding over cooling inflation, the president’s obsession with tariffs cost American families an extra $1,000 last year. In place of policies that would make owning a home more affordable and bring down the cost of rent, Trump said he wants to keep housing prices high. Contrary to what the administration wants people to believe, mass deportations don’t create jobs; they stunt economic growth.
The tax cuts promised in Trump’s signature piece of legislation, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, mostly benefited the very wealthy. The law allots billions to hire U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and build vast detention facilities on the back of steep cuts to Medicaid and food assistance.
That people are roundly pushing back against the president’s upside-down priorities and abuses of power seems to have restored some conservative leaders’ resolve.
The same U.S. Supreme Court that, in 2024, gave the president absolute immunity ruled last week that Trump’s tariffs exceeded the power of the presidency. In December, the justices also blocked Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to Chicago, and have been skeptical in arguments regarding the president’s authority to fire a member of the Federal Reserve Board.
In Congress, a handful of Republicans have also rejected Trump’s wishes, denouncing his administration’s refusal to release the Epstein files and the president’s ill-conceived tariffs on Canada. GOP lawmakers have so successfully abandoned their authority to Trump that even these limited developments are heartening.
When it comes to the president, perhaps the legislative branch should pay heed to the judicial.
In the same court decision that denied Trump his tariff authority, Justice Neil Gorsuch, who is part of the conservative majority, laid it out clearly.
“Yes, legislating can be hard and take time. And, yes, it can be tempting to bypass Congress when some pressing problem arises,” the Trump appointee wrote in his concurrence. “But the deliberative nature of the legislative process was the whole point of its design. Through that process, the Nation can tap the combined wisdom of the people’s elected representatives, not just that of one faction or man.”
The American people and the courts are speaking. If the state of the union is to ever recover, Congress must listen.
