Domenico Montenaro’ “5 takeaways from Trump’s State of the Union address” at npr.org include: “1. Trump ignored the difficulties people are facing with the economy…2. Trump’s midterm message is … not new…3. There was no legislative agenda…4. The Democratic response had a wide range; and 5. None of this will likely matter much politically because views of Trump are “baked in.” Here’s an excerpt from 4: “State of the Union speeches have turned from staid to raucous in the past 16 years. Outbursts and protests have become more common. That was certainly the case Tuesday night. Some Democrats boycotted. Others, like Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, shouted at the president about things she found outrageous during the speech. Rep. Al Green of Texas carried a sign that read, “Black people aren’t apes,” a reference to a Trump social media post featuring a video that depicted former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as apes. For the second year in a row, Green was removed from the chamber…Then there was Abigail Spanberger, the governor of Virginia, who had the task of delivering the official Democratic response. Channeling the campaign message that got her elected in November, she focused on the economy. Trump, by not addressing the difficulties people are feeling about the economy, gave Spanberger an opening, and she took it…She hammered home a sharp message that many Democratic candidates in swing districts will likely aim to emulate. It has a good chance of success, as Democrats look to flip only a handful of seats to take control of the House, and midterm elections are not kind to the party in power — especially when the president is unpopular…Come 2028, though, there could be a reckoning on the horizon for the Democratic Party on what it stands for and what direction it wants to take the country in a post-Trump world.”

Ted Johnson reports that “Donald Trump’s State Of The Union Drew Around 28 Million Viewers Across Major Networks, Per Early Nielsen Data” at deadline.com. Johnson adds, “Donald Trump‘s State of the Union address drew around 28 million viewers across eight major news networks, according to preliminary data from Nielsen…The final numbers will be available on Thursday. Last year, when the president delivered a speech to a joint session of Congress, the final data showed that he drew almost 32 million viewers across those networks…Per the early data from Trump’s Tuesday’s speech, Fox News topped all networks in total viewers, drawing 9.1 million. ABC News was the top broadcaster, with 5.1 million. Other networks included NBC News with 3.6 million, CBS News with 3.3 million, MS NOW with 2.4 million, CNN with 2.2 million, Fox Broadcasting with 2.1 million and Fox Business with 269,000…In the 25-54 demo, Fox News drew 1.47 million, followed by ABC News with 1.22 million, NBC News with 1.02 million, CBS with 815,000, MS Now with 323,000, CNN with 655,000, Fox Broadcasting with 560,000 and Fox Business with 73,000…When Trump addressed Congress in March, 2025, in the final numbers Fox News topped all networks with 10.7 million viewers, followed by ABC News with 6.33 million, CBS with 4 million, NBC with 3.9 million, Fox Broadcasting with 2.65 million, CNN with 1.93 million, MSNBC with 1.92 million and Fox Business with 245,000…The final Nielsen numbers will offer a more complete picture, as it collects a number of other networks that carried the president’s speech…The figures are from Fox News via Nielsen. The measurement is from 9:15 p.m. ET to 11 p.m. ET.” None of that tells you how influential the SOTU was, nor in which direction any hearts and minds were changed. Nor how many people sat through the entire thing. Nor how many people screamed “motherfucker” at their TV sets. It’s a laundry list speech. traditionally. No doubt Trump spices it up with his numerous expressions of contempt. I’m astonished that 28 million tuned in at all. Not so many in percentage terms, I guess, in a nation of 340 millions. I don’t know. I went with “Fried Green Tomatoes,” which was free on Tubi.

Meanwhile, over at The Hill, Julia Mueller scribbles that “Trump’s economic moves risk eroding GOP’s working class support,” and notes: “President Trump’s economic moves risk alienating even some of his party’s core voters…Trump is heading into his State of the Union on Tuesday with dismal approval ratings that show a reversal of 2024 gains among independents, young voters and Latinos. Now, new polling signals a possible slip in support from the white working class, or white voters without college degrees — a bloc that made up more than half of Trump’s coalition in each of his three White House bids…Though working class voters are the cornerstone of Trump’s base, enduring concerns about the economy and cost-of-living issues could signal trouble for Republicans heading into this fall’s high-stakes midterms…“The Republicans in general have given up ground, they’re no longer nine or 10-point favorites to handle the economy,” said Scott Tranter, director of data science for Decision Desk HQ. “People are most worried about the economy and affordability. That generally doesn’t bode well for the party in power.”…“How does that translate to the working class?” he added. “Look, if the general voter has a problem with [being] worried about keeping their job or paying for that vacation, that mostly hurts the working class vote. And we’ll see how that plays out…Trump’s overall approval rating was roughly 15 points underwater ahead of his first State of the Union of his second term, according to DDHQ’s polling aggregate — about the biggest gulf he’s logged since returning to the Oval Office. Approximately 42 percent approve of his presidency, while 56 percent disapprove… His disapproval numbers among independent, African American and Hispanic voters have also climbed since his last address to Congress, by roughly 10 points, 11 points and 16 points, respectively, according to DDHQ…Disapproval of Trump’s economic handling hit a new high in a recent NPR/PBS News/Marist poll. Nearly 60 percent of respondents, including 65 percent of independents, to a February Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos survey disapproved of the president’s handling of the issue.”

Adding some fuel to the fire, Alex Hogan makes “The Case for Working-Class Nationalism” at Compact, and writes “On a warm July afternoon in 1935, four thousand steel and coal workers carrying American flags gathered at a playground in Homestead, Pennsylvania to commemorate the great strike of forty-four years earlier, and to send a message to US Steel, the corporation that had run the town since the 1870s…In the crowd that day, one could hear Slovak, Lithuanian, Italian, and heavily accented English, expressing the enormous ethnic diversity of the local steelworkers. Immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe, arm in arm with their American-born children, were brought together by a collective commitment to assert their rights as workers—and as Americans… US Steel founders Andrew Carnegie and J.P. Morgan had long used workers’ diversity to their advantage. They built their empire on largely uneducated immigrant labor—not only to justify low pay and brutal working conditions, but to keep the workforce divided along lines of language and nationality, so that it would be unable to organize collectively…For the Homestead workers gathered that day, the union was more than a vehicle for asserting workplace rights. It was a means of asserting their Americanness.” Hogan adds, “Influenced by the 1960s New Left’s disdain for patriotism, today’s college-educated progressives tend to be wary of national pride. While 69 percent of working-class voters said that America is the greatest country in the world, only 28 percent of progressive activists agree…And it’s not just white working-class Americans who continue to have a strong sense of national belonging. More than 60 percent of Asian Americans, 70 percent of black Americans, and 76 percent of Hispanic Americans said they were “proud to be an American,” compared with just 34 percent of progressive activists. Despite what both the MAGA right and radical left suggest, immigrants, on average, are more patriotic and prouder of Americaninstitutions than the native-born. Even a Marxist like Schmetz found much to admire in the United States regarding freedom of speech and the rule of law compared to his native Belgium…So, the roots of working-class nationalism can’t be chalked up to xenophobia. It reflects a desire for solidarity and belonging. The populist left has an opportunity to reclaim this tradition.”