In the aftermath of President Donald Trump’s nearly two-hour State of the Union address, Republican and Democrat members of Congress went running to the media to start the messaging war. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., told The Daily Signal that Trump’s speech Tuesday was “one of the best State of the Union speeches ever.” “It was really well done,” Johnson added. “Great content, great delivery.” Speaker Johnson talks to press leaving the State of the Union tonight in Statuary Hall: “It’s shameful what the Democrats did tonight, the display, it should be beneath any member of Congress. I think it’s something they’ll regret.” @DailySignal @SpeakerJohnson pic.twitter.com/fwECEisKUD— Virginia Grace McKinnon (@virginiagmck) February 25, 2026 Rep. Mark Harris, R-N.C., told The Daily Signal that the speech was “powerful” and “professional.” “It was powerful, professional, and touched on all the points that I think I was looking to hear,” Harris stated. “He described the situation that he inherited, all the way to all of the things he has done in his first year.” The president’s nearly two-hour address covered his administration’s successes on immigration, the economy, and foreign policy. But the president also called on Congress to act on several key issues, such as health care, tech policy, and election integrity. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., told The Daily Signal that “we need lower health care costs. The fact that the president is focused on it gives it hope we can accomplish it.” Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., said that the president “was absolutely right” in mentioning his plans for things like artificial intelligence and data centers. “If we can’t figure out how to build data centers and not increase electricity costs, then all the other problems we got are going to be much harder, so I think the president was absolutely right,” Donalds stated. Democrats, on the other hand, claimed Trump’s speech was performative and sought to divide the country. Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., told The Daily Signal the speech was “typical, terrible, horrible, divisive, racist,” and “immigrant vilifying.” During the speech, Democrats defied Trump’s address by shouting at the president, sitting down during standing ovations, and refusing to commemorate American athletes, victims of violent crime, and war heroes. At one point, Democrats refused to stand in agreement with the president on the American government being for the benefit of American citizens, rather than illegal aliens. “We are in pretty tough shape,” Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., told The Daily Signal. “I was hoping for a unifying speech. The recognition of the Olympic gold medal team was positive, the recognition of our decorated veterans was positive. Other than that, there was a lot of disagreement.” Johnson and Donalds condemned the Democrat disruptors and did not rule out administering consequences to them. “It’s shameful what the Democrats did tonight, that should be beneath, under any member of Congress,” Johnson stated. In response to whether they will be punished for their defiance, Johnson said, “We’ll find out.” HOW DO YOU NOT STAND??President Trump shamed Democrats for refusing to stand for Anna Zarutska, the mother of the poor Ukrainian refugee who was killed by an illegal alien. "How do you not stand? How do you not stand?" pic.twitter.com/gGaVT4Fo7s— Tyler O'Neil (@Tyler2ONeil) February 25, 2026 “Democrats crazily have decided to take the 20% side of 80-20 issues,” Donalds said on the SAVE America Act and Republicans’ election integrity push. “The SAVE America Act, actually requiring voter ID so you prove you are who you say you are before you cast your ballot, everyone supports it except Democrats on Capitol Hill,” Donalds said. “Insanity.” “The Democrats have decided they want to be on the wrong side of history,” Donalds concluded. The post ‘One of the Best’: Congress Reacts to Trump’s Agenda-Setting State of the Union appeared first on The Daily Signal.

President Donald Trump took a jab at Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., during his State of the Union address on Tuesday as he pushed Congress to pass a ban on stock trading for members of Congress. “Did Nancy Pelosi stand up, if she’s here? Doubt it,” Trump joked after many Democrats remained seated while he called on Congress to pass the Stop Insider Trading Act. “Let’s also ensure members of Congress cannot corruptly profit from using insider information,” Trump told Congress on Tuesday night. Trump called on Congress to pass the Stop Insider Trading Act, introduced by Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wis., “without delay.” The bill would crack down on stock trading among members of Congress. Pelosi’s investment portfolio has long been scrutinized for it performing better than some of the nation’s leading hedge funds. Democrats originally stood and applauded Trump’s call to ban congressional insider trading, but they quickly sat down after Nancy Pelosi was specifically singled out pic.twitter.com/shKNtuK4ym— The Daily Signal (@DailySignal) February 25, 2026 Some Democrats, including Sens. Raphael Warnock of Georgia, Andy Kim of New Jersey, and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, stood and clapped. “I wasn’t sure if anybody on this side was going to applaud for that. I’m very impressed,” Trump added. “Thank you. I’m very impressed.” The post ‘Did Nancy Pelosi Stand Up?’: Trump Calls Out Pelosi as He Calls for Congressional Insider Trading Ban appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger delivered the Democrat response to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address, posing three questions focused on affordability, security, and leadership to challenge the president’s record. She bluntly responded to Trump’s speech, “We did not hear the truth from our president.” At the start of her remarks, Spanberger asked, “Is the president working to make life more affordable for you and your family? Is the president working to keep Americans safe, both at home and abroad? Is the president working for you?” Spanberger criticized immigration enforcement that she said harmed families, claiming federal agents “ripped nursing mothers away from their babies” and “have killed American citizens in our streets. And they have done it all with their faces masked from accountability.” Earlier this month, Spanberger announced she was terminating 287(g) agreements with the federal government. Those partnerships allow U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to coordinate with state and local law enforcement agencies. Beyond immigration, Spanberger mentioned affordability for families and government accountability. She noted high costs for housing, health care, and tariffs, while emphasizing that Democrats across the country are focused on lowering costs and protecting families. She accused Republicans of putting an economic burden on American citizens. “They are making your life harder, they are making your life more expensive, they are even making it more difficult to see a doctor,” Spanberger said. At the end of her remarks, she called on the power of ordinary Americans to demand better. “It is deeply American and patriotic,” she said, “to stand up for what is right” and ensure the state of our union remains strong for the next 250 years. The response marked Spanberger’s highest-profile national appearance since taking office as governor last month. The post Abigail Spanberger Poses 3 Questions in Democrat Rebuttal to Trump appeared first on The Daily Signal.

“These people are crazy. I’m telling you, they’re crazy.” That was one of President Donald Trump’s signature lines of Tuesday night’s State of the Union address as he blasted his Democrat opponents for sitting silently (and in a few cases jeering) while he spoke about protecting children from being “transitioned” with drugs and surgical procedures. This really was the central theme of the speech: common sense versus crazy. Despite the decade-long attempt to portray him as a deranged and illegitimate shock to the system, it’s Trump who is bringing back normalcy as Democrats descend into madness. On point after point, Trump delivered factual assessments about where the country is compared to a few years ago. He noted that crime and inflation are down, American savings accounts are up, and our enemies are on their back heels as opposed to being on the march. At every turn, as Trump pointed out, Democrats have punted in their responsibilities to protect and represent the American people. On no set of issues was that clearer than his record on immigration and border enforcement. And that’s where Trump landed his biggest blow. Trump rightly pointed out that since returning to office the border crisis has all but dissolved. “In the past nine months, zero illegal aliens have been admitted to the United States,” Trump said. “The flow of deadly fentanyl across our border is down by a record 56% … And last year, the murder rate saw its single largest decline in recorded history … the lowest number in over 125 years.” By the reaction of Democrats in attendance, you would have guessed this is all terrible news. And maybe from their perspective, it is. They appear to have been counting on former President Joe Biden’s border crisis to go on indefinitely, for their constellation of NGOs to continue getting government support to fan its flames, and for taxpayer dollars to keep flowing to their new, imported voters. Democrats clearly no longer care if immigration happens legally or not, so why should they care if taxpayer dollars are going to legitimate sources as long as their supporters get paid, right? One of the great lines of the night was when Trump blasted the massive and shameful fraud that occurred under the averted eye of Gov. Tim Walz and the entire Minnesota Democrat political establishment. “The Somali pirates who ransacked Minnesota remind us that there are large parts of the world where bribery, corruption, and lawlessness are the norm, not the exception,” Trump said. “Importing these cultures through unrestricted immigration and open borders brings those problems right here, to the USA—and it is the American people who pay the price, in higher medical bills, car insurance rates, rent, taxes, and perhaps most importantly, crime.” That’s absolutely correct. Prudence would have dictated that American leaders should have been wary before importing countless people from one of the most corrupt parts of the world and giving them essentially a blank check to the treasury once they arrived. But none of that prudence existed under Biden and his fellow Democrats. And folly has slipped into madness as under Democrats who, once they lost national power, decided to go back to their roots as the party of rebellion and sedition. To what end? All to apparently protect noncitizens, criminals, drug traffickers, and rapists. As if on cue, the alternate performance put on by Democrats—and it really was a performance—was featuring, I kid you not, a man in a giraffe suit blowing on a harmonica and gloating about how he was fresh off coming out of an “ICE prison” in Minneapolis. This is what Democrats are doing instead of attending President Trump's State of the Union speech.Democrats are literally hanging out with deranged Leftists dressed in giraffe costumes bragging about getting arrested by ICE. pic.twitter.com/hMIUHrmrHy— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) February 25, 2026 This reinforces the point that the Democrat Party isn’t led by sober-minded statesmen, wise defenders of the liberal order. Instead, it’s being pulled this way and that by a deranged activist class that has little connection to this country or even reality. These were the people who were supposedly protecting our “norms” against the populist Trump. But it turns out they weren’t protecting anything at all besides their insane ideological agenda, which was imposed ruthlessly. Trump effectively laid out that he was, unlike his opposition, going to prioritize American citizens. He was going to take commonsense, level-headed positions that most Americans still believe in. Trump also made it clear that if his opponents on the left retake federal power, they will immediately return to the ruinous open borders and many other terrible policies that Americans voted against in 2024. .@POTUS: "We can never forget that many in this room not only allowed the border invasion to happen before I got involved—but indeed, they would do it all over again if ever given the chance." pic.twitter.com/YU3lwuH3sZ— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 25, 2026 In a sense, it was the way Democrats acted Tuesday night that said nearly as much as Trump’s speech. House Speaker Mike Johnson said it well when he noted that it was “good” for the American people to see just how “shameful” and out of touch the opposition had really become. 'IT WAS SHAMEFUL'House Speaker @SpeakerJohnson condemns Democrats for applauding themselves while Republicans stood and cheered for "all these great Americans who deserved all this attention" and received honors from Trump. pic.twitter.com/PaPoWL2oeH— Tyler O'Neil (@Tyler2ONeil) February 25, 2026 He’s right. Whatever one can say about the state of the union, Trump’s leadership, America’s place in the world, it’s hard to imagine how much worse things would be under the renewed tyranny of Democrat theater kids. That will undoubtedly be the GOP’s message after Tuesday night and heading into the midterms. The post Trump’s SOTU Message Was Common Sense vs. ‘Crazy’ Democrats appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Sen. Alex Padilla, during his all-Spanish response to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union, accused Republicans of wanting to “manipulate the elections” and mobilize Immigration and Customs Enforcement to “terrorize” Hispanic communities. “Despite Trump’s lies, we know what we see with our own eyes,” the California Democrat said, before accusing “masked and armed agents” of “terrorizing our communities” and targeting people on the “color of their skin.” People are also targeted by ICE for “speaking Spanish,” Padilla added. Padilla accused federal immigration agents of “shooting cars with families inside,” and “placing people in detention centers without access to doctors, food, and drinking water.” The “terrorizing” ICE operations Padilla described began last year in Los Angeles and have “since extended to corners across the country,” according to the senator. Acabamos de escuchar a Donald Trump hacer lo que mejor sabe hacer: Mentir.Miente sobre la economía, miente sobre su aplicación de las leyes de imigracion de manera violenta y fuera de control y pretenden engañarnos sobre sus planes para manipular las elecciones este noviembre. pic.twitter.com/5kyFzPnkXS— Senator Alex Padilla (@SenAlexPadilla) February 25, 2026 The senator claimed election integrity is a Republican attempt to “manipulate” elections. House Republicans passed the SAVE America Act this February, which would require voters to demonstrate voter ID before casting a ballot if passed by the Senate. He added that Trump is pushing voter identification to “intimidate” Hispanic voters, describing him as a “dictator.” “These are tactics we have seen in countries governed by corrupt dictators,” Padilla said. “And just like them, Trump doesn’t want to lose power.” “Remember this, Donald Trump will not be president forever,” Padilla continued, switching to English. The post Padilla Calls SAVE America Act An ‘Intimidation’ Tactic During All-Spanish SOTU Reaction Speech appeared first on The Daily Signal.