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.

Still, the president’s polarising approach spells a punishing midterm season ahead for his Republican Party, which will be trying to hold onto control of both the Senate and House of Representatives in the November vote.

The party’s success or failure will set the constraints for the White House in the years ahead.