An embattled Trump is set to address a divided Congress

WASHINGTON— President Trump will deliver his annual State of the Union address Tuesday night, at a moment of unusual turmoil as Washington faces a series of crises that have unsettled and weakened its own political standing early in his second term.

When lawmakers gather to hear the president’s agenda for next year, the scene is expected to reflect a determined president under increasing political pressure.

The president is facing a partial government shutdown triggered by his administration’s aggressive deportation campaign, rising tensions over U.S. involvement in foreign conflicts and rising domestic dissent that has fractured the president’s political alliances and angered his rivals.

Adding to the turbulent atmosphere is economic unrest during an election year. The president, who promised consumers a year ago to lower prices, insisted on Monday that America has “the greatest economy we’ve ever had” even though polls show economic pressures are weak. It worries the majority of Americans.

Trump stated that he planned to talk about the country’s economic successes in his speech and said, “It will be a long speech because we have a lot to talk about.”

Republicans have recently pushed Trump to focus on cutting costs; They see this message as crucial to helping them maintain control of Congress. It remains to be seen how much of Trump’s economic message will be colored by the Supreme Court decision striking down tariffs, a key part of Trump’s economic agenda. The president has remained defiant on this issue in recent days, attacking judges for legal rollbacks on his own tariffs and trying to implement new global tariffs in a different way.

Trump said Monday that he doesn’t need to get Congressional approval to impose new taxes, even though the nation’s highest court ruled that tariffs cannot take effect without Congressional approval.

“As President, I do not have to go back to Congress to get approval for Tariffs,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “It was already available in many forms a long time ago!”

Trump’s rebuke underscores the president’s increasingly combative stance toward both the judiciary and Congress at a time when he has relied heavily on executive authority to advance sweeping policies on immigration, trade and national security.

His willingness to exercise executive authority was seen last year when the president directed U.S. forces to capture former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, threatened to seize Greenland, considered an attack on Iran and eyed an armed conflict with drug cartels in Mexico.

At home, Trump said he thinks the federal government should have control over state elections as he continues to push baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen.

Whether that happens remains to be seen, as Republican leaders and other conservative lawmakers have voiced opposition to some of the president’s bills.

In recent months, Congress has sought to reassert its authority over the executive branch; in some cases, due to minor divisions by Republicans with lawmakers concerned about the president’s involvement in foreign wars and economic policies.

One of the most notable rebukes of Trump’s authority occurred late last year, when a bipartisan group of lawmakers secured legislation forcing the Trump administration to release investigative files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

While Trump has argued that the release of these files exonerates him of wrongdoing, the findings have so far ensnared key figures in Trump’s political orbit and reinforced the sense of scandal that continues to loom over his administration. Outrage over the administration’s handling of the Epstein case has sparked bipartisan backlash and even galvanized some conservatives. To call the US Attorney. Gen. Pam Bondi to resign.

In another sign of the polarized moment Trump will face Tuesday night, he will be led by Democrats.

About a dozen Democrats in the Senate and House of Representatives plan to boycott the president’s speech and attend what they call the “People’s State of the Union.”

“I will not be attending the State of the Union event,” U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said in a social media video over the weekend. “We can’t treat this as normal. This is not business as usual. I will not give him the audience he desires because of the lies he has told.”

In recent years, lawmakers who wanted to reject the president’s speech would often stand and shout in protest, interrupting remarks or coordinating attire to signal their opposition.

In 2020, for example, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) stood behind Trump at the podium, delivering his remarks and then tearing up a copy of his script. He later called it a “manifesto of wrongs”.

This year, even the president’s allies appear to be on guard.

While it is a long-standing tradition for Supreme Court justices to attend the president’s annual address, Trump told reporters on Friday that the six justices who voted against his tariff policy were “barely” invited to the event.

“Three of them are invited,” he said.

Trump’s State of the Union remarks will be scrutinized to see how he plans to advance his agenda and deal with a divided Congress deadlocked on how to fund the Department of Homeland Security.

The partial government shutdown was triggered by partisan tensions over Trump’s aggressive crackdown on immigrants, where two U.S. citizens were shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis.

At a White House event on Monday, Trump lamented that polls show declining support for federal immigration officials.

“It surprises me that there isn’t more support out there,” Trump said. “We actually have quiet support, I think it is quiet.”