Trump set to deliver second term’s first State of the Union: What to expect

The US president has shaped the Republican Party in his likeness, but his polarising policies risk voter backlash in the November midterm elections.

Washington, DC – United States President Donald Trump is set to deliver the first annual State of the Union address of his second term, a traditionally soaring speech where presidents make the case for their leadership before both chambers of Congress.

Trump’s assessment of the state of the “union” – the collection of 50 states and territories that fall under the federal government – comes after a year that has been nothing short of transformative in the country.

The 2024 election capped a stunning comeback for a president many expected to be relegated to the political wilderness after a definitive election loss to former President Joe Biden in 2020, a campaign to overturn the results that saw his supporters storm the US Capitol in Washington, DC, and four separate criminal indictments, including a conviction in New York for falsifying business documents.

A year into his second term, and those criminal investigations have essentially turned to dust, the so-called “January 6 rioters” have been pardoned, Trump heads an executive branch moulded in his likeness and oversees a loyalty-first cabinet of officials cheerleading his most controversial policies on trade, the economy, immigration, foreign policy and intervention.