President Donald Trump delivered the longest State of the Union address in American history on Tuesday night, insisting that he had overseen a “turnaround for the ages” during his first year back in office, even as voters lose confidence in his handling of the economy.

In his remarks, which clocked in at 1 hour and 47 minutes, Trump introduced few new policies and instead appeared to relish the theatrics of the moment. He used the opportunity to berate Democrats as “crazy” for not standing or applauding for his priorities, especially on crime, immigration and the economy.

Trump’s tone shifted throughout his address, seesawing between soaring descriptions of the country’s gains, including gold medals at the Olympics, and strikingly graphic stories of overseas conflicts and crime in the US. It was all a preview of his arguments ahead of this year’s midterm elections.

Trump has never had a short speech to Congress. Every time he has addressed the chamber, he has talked for more than an hour, including last year’s defiant, 100-minute speech, which was the longest in modern history — until Tuesday.

Here are six takeaways from Trump’s State of the Union address.

Democrats taunted

Throughout the night, Trump taunted the Democrats in the chamber and tried to portray them as anti-American and unelectable. On nearly every issue, he tried to bait his opponents into showing support for his priorities.

He deployed the tactic early in the speech, telling lawmakers to stand if they agreed with his declaration that the “first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens. Not illegal aliens”.

When they declined, he went in for the attack. “Isn’t that a shame?" he said. “You should be ashamed of yourself, not standing up. You should be ashamed of yourself.”

Trump repeated the approach throughout the evening, saying: “These people are crazy, I’m telling you. They’re crazy.”

Like reality TV

Trump, a former reality TV star, is well aware of the power of images, and he filled his speech with surprises and dramatic moments.

The President welcomed the Olympic champion US men’s ice hockey team — who emerged from behind doors at the balcony above Trump — and announced he would be awarding the team’s goalie the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

He invited Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, one of the two National Guard members who was shot in Washington, D.C. last year, to make an appearance. After describing Wolfe’s injuries in graphic terms, Trump surprised him with the Purple Heart.

He recognised a former prisoner of the Nicolas Maduro regime and reunited him with his niece, Alejandra Gonzalez.

Economy obfuscation

Trump boasted that he has resuscitated the American economy after inheriting “a nation in crisis”. For weeks, Trump’s aides and allies have been encouraging him to tackle voters’ affordability concerns head-on, and so he dutifully ticked off a list of economic indicators — the stock market, price of gas, mortgage rates, job growth — as evidence of the “roaring economy”.

But he appeared less willing to acknowledge that Americans were still struggling. He railed against Democrats who “suddenly use the word affordability”, continuing his argument that his political opponents have weaponised the word to harm him politically. “They knew their statements were a dirty, rotten lie,” Trump said.

Iran skipped

Trump has kept the world on edge as he weighs launching strikes against Iran, but he didn’t even get to the subject until about 90 minutes into the speech. He then spent three minutes talking about the country before moving on.

Trump did little to explain why he had amassed the largest amount of US military firepower in Central Asia since the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Instead, he said Iran wants to make a deal with the US, and he prefers to solve the tensions through diplomacy.

But he said the US had not heard Iran say “those secret words: we will never have a nuclear weapon”. Iran has, in fact, often made that promise, although evidence gathered over the years has shown that the country has repeatedly appeared to be testing the components that would go into a nuclear weapon. Trump said Iran has started to reconstitute its nuclear programme after the US dropped bombs on the country last June.

Stony judges

Just days after lashing out at the Supreme Court as “fools and lap dogs” over its ruling against his signature tariffs programme, Trump was face-to-face with several justices who decided against them.

But on Tuesday, Trump was more measured in his criticism of the high court. He called it a “very unfortunate ruling” and a “disappointing ruling” while also vowing that he could move forward with other tariffs without Congressional approval. It was a fairly cordial encounter, all things considered, and Trump shook hands with the justices on his way to the podium.

Only four justices attended the speech: Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Elena Kagan, Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Justices Roberts, Kagan and Barrett were among the six members of the court who ruled against Trump. The four justices sat stone-faced throughout the speech, showing little emotion as Trump criticised the ruling.

Profit irony

Trump repeatedly railed against what he portrayed as widespread fraud in government programmes around the country. And he suggested members of Congress were profiting off their offices through insider stock trading.

He claimed billions of dollars have been stolen through fraud in Minnesota, that “California, Massachusetts, Maine and many other states are even worse”, and tasked Vice-President J.D. Vance to lead a "war on fraud".

But Trump made no mention of how his family has profited from the presidency. Past Presidents often went to great lengths to avoid monetising the White House, but Trump has seemed to have little issue with it.

Trump is also the only President to have been found liable in a civil fraud case, and he has pardoned several individuals who were convicted on fraud charges.

New York Times News Service