State of the Union Adress 2026

By Samara Rotenberg

On February 24, 2026, President Donald Trump gave the longest State of the Union address in US history, capping out at 1 hour and 47 minutes.

  In the speech, he ultimately prioritized economic success, immigration and border security, tax cuts and inflation reduction nationwide, and antagonistic language geared towards Democrats. All of this he tied together with multiple reminders of his success in the presidency and reminders of how he had turned around the failing country he had inherited from former Democratic President Joe Biden. He made many claims to large-scale changes, such as reducing pharmaceutical costs and reducing the amount of drugs like fentanyl coming into the United States “by a record 56% in one year,” as transcribed by the Associated Press. 

Later, though, other news sites would contend with the narrative President Trump was spinning. Where President Trump claimed to be the only president who could come close to lowering the prices for pharmaceutical drugs, NBC News negated the claim saying that President Biden had signed the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, bringing down prices for drugs and capping insulin prices for people on Medicare at $35 a month. Many news agencies went on to release articles like this, fact checking the address. Most agencies, including the BBC, New York Times, and CBS News found that much of the speech was either exaggerated, misleading, or factually inaccurate. 

While the address is as much a press conference to boast about the success of an administration as much as it is an update for the average American to know what’s going on, a student who would like to remain anonymous still said he found the fact “largely concerning.”