President Donald Trump delivered his State of the Union address Tuesday night, a speech that was, in equal measure, surprisingly bipartisan and deeply divisive -- reflective of the deep contradictions that sit at the heart of his presidency.
The president stepped into uncharted territory as he prepared to address Congress. It was Jan. 8, 1790, the dawn of a new era of politics and government in the United States. George Washington, the first president of the new nation, had arrived by carriage at Federal Hall in New York, the temporary capital, to deliver a speech to the First Congress.
Democrats prepare to welcome President Trump into their House for the first time in his presidency.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday night will give his second State of the Union address, one week after he originally was invited to deliver it but didn't because of the longest-ever government shutdown.
After President Donald Trump finishes his State of the Union address, Stacey Abrams will have a turn in the national spotlight when she delivers the Democratic response.
President Donald Trump's annual State of the Union address is poised to deliver the kind of irresistible prime-time drama that its sporting equivalent, a snoozer Super Bowl, lacked.
To prepare for the State of the Union, we've taken a look at the President's recent rhetoric and the facts around the topics he may touch on. Watch live on CNN at 9 p.m. ET.
It’s not hard to imagine how a president, fresh from a midterm pounding and a shutdown debacle, could use the State of the Union to strike a new tone. He could graciously, even humorously, acknowledge the loss of the House. “It looks like a good many of you have moved over to the left since I was here last,” Harry Truman told the newly Republican Congress in 1947. He could pledge to keep the government running. “I challenge all of you in this chamber: Never, ever shut the federal government down again,” Bill Clinton said in 1996.
After a 35-day partial government shutdown that prompted the House speaker to postpone Donald Trump's State of the Union address, the President will finally arrive Tuesday night on Capitol Hill.
An annotated transcript of the president's remarks.
The State of the Union’s original focus is to explain, well, the state of the union. But presidents have also used the high-profile speech to highlight their policy agenda, particularly what they expect to do in the next year.
U.S. President Barack Obama voiced regret for failing to unite Washington since taking office on a wave of hope in 2009, as he prepared to give a State of the Union speech on Tuesday to launch his final year in the White House. Asked about his inability to heal America's political divisions, Obama told NBC's "Today" show, "It's a regret."
US President Barack Obama will deliver his last State of the Union address on Tuesday night, a speech about the progress made during his seven years in office and what to expect from his final lap and during the handover to his presidential successor. The annual report to Congress is a set piece on Washington's political calendar in which presidents typically lay out legislative plans. However, with a general election looming, Obama will likely focus on his legacy and try to pave the way for a Democrat to replace him.
The opening ritual has become familiar: The House sergeant at arms, standing just inside the door to a packed congressional chamber, loudly announces, "Mister Speaker, the President of the United States." And then? President Obama on Tuesday delivers his seventh official State of the Union address, an opportunity for him to command center stage even as the campaign to succeed him heats up. Here are six things to watch.
The White House says President Barack Obama's State of the Union address Tuesday night will be non-traditional. What that means: Obama will be talking about himself, not asking Congress for a long list of items he knows he'll never get.
Let the word go forth: the oratory of Barack Obama might sometimes show the qualities of classical, Ciceronian rhetoric, with its emphasis on eloquence and utility, but it also owes a debt to those locker-room interviews in which athletes speak in strings of clichés: “we really came to play today”; “we’re taking it one game at a time”; “a win is a win.” This Obama—the nation’s starting quarterback—is the one who marched through the West Wing last summer exhorting aides, “Offense! Stay on offense,” the one who, at his year-end press conference, last month, said (not for the first time) that “interesting stuff happens in the fourth quarter,” and that “in 2016, I’m going to leave it all out on the field.
The White House announced Friday that President Barack Obama will travel to Omaha, Nebraska and Baton Rouge, Louisiana in the days following his final State of the Union address, both cities he has not yet visited as President.
President Barack Obama said he will use his final State of the Union address to look beyond his final year in office by focusing on bigger, broader themes that will affect the country in the coming years. In a video and email released Wednesday, the White House that that the annual speech before a joint session of Congress would not simply follow the traditional script, which typically entails a wish list of policy proposals.
President Obama is teasing his final State of the Union address in a new video trailer, in which he says he’s “never been more optimistic” about a year ahead than he is right now. The video, shared by White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough on Twitter, shows the President leaning on his desk in the Oval Office and delivering a preview of his Jan. 12 address.
President Obama says his final State of the Union address will spotlight the achievements of his presidency and lay out a sweeping, optimistic vision for the future. "What I want to focus on in this State of the Union is not just the remarkable progress we’ve made, not just what I want to get done in the year ahead, but what we all need to do together in the years to come: The big things that will guarantee an even stronger, better, more prosperous America for our kids," Obama says in a YouTube video released by the White House previewing the speech.