In his 2026 State of the Union address, U.S. President Donald Trumpchose to double down on the politics of his conservative support base by touting his second administration’s achievements with regard to divisive, if not polarising issues relating to immigration, the cost of living, and foreign policy concerns including tariffs and the prospect of war in the context of Iran. The speech itself comes at a fraught moment for the Trump White House, days after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down its use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to slam a broad swathe of trading partners, including India, with punitive tariffs. Similarly, he neatly avoided alluding to the two Americans killed in ICE raids in Minneapolis or the agency’s other heavy-handed actions targeting “criminal aliens” and “drug lords”. With regard to Iran, even though Washington has rapidly built up its force posture across West Asia following Teheran’s crackdown on protesters, Mr. Trump appeared to be holding out hope for a modus vivendi when he said, “My preference is to solve this problem through diplomacy. More concerningly for the White House and Republican lawmakers, opinion polls suggest that most Americans are disenchanted with the tariff policy and its cost-escalating pressure on the economy, with the design and implementation of the current immigration policy, and with the perceived involvement of Mr. Trump in the Epstein scandal.

Source: The Hindu February 26, 2026 03:06 UTC