Trump set to address the nation as dozens of Democrats say they’ll boycott
WASHINGTON— As President Trump prepares to deliver his annual State of the Union address on Tuesday night, the event will take place against the backdrop of widening Democratic protests and growing resistance from lawmakers poised to challenge the president’s remarks.
More than 30 Democrats in Congress have vowed to boycott the address entirely, while others plan to attend alternative events designed to compete with the president’s messages.
“I think we’re going to hear two different States of the Union: One that’s going to be full of lies from the president, and then you’re going to hear the truth,” California Sen. Alex Padilla, who will deliver Democrats’ Spanish-language response, said at a news conference Tuesday afternoon.
Democrats who planned to skip the president’s official speech to Congress said they did so because they did not want to reassure Trump. Others plan to voice their opposition to Trump by inviting guests who are influenced by Trump’s agenda.
California Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia and Rep. Ro Khanna will attend, along with Annie Farmer and Haley Robson, two survivors of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, whose trafficking crimes have dogged Trump since he returned to office a year ago.
“I invited Annie to the State of the Union so she could join other survivors and remind the President that he refuses to release all the Epstein files,” Garcia said. he wrote in a post on X on Monday.
Democratic opposition underscores the tense political moment Trump faces at the start of his second term; The stakes are high for Republicans as they try to maintain control of Congress ahead of the midterm elections.
Trump, who will begin speaking at 6 p.m. Pacific time, is expected to describe the moment as one defined by economic success and the fulfillment of campaign promises, especially as it relates to his administration’s crackdown on immigrants.
It is also expected to appeal to Trump’s religious base. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told
“The President will join Charlie Kirk’s widow in calling on Congress to ‘unequivocally reject political violence against our citizens,'” Leavitt said.
The president’s remarks may also shed light on the president’s thoughts on international conflicts emerging in the Middle East and Mexico at a time when Trump is pressuring his southern neighbor to curb drug trafficking.
Another potential issue that could come up in the speech is tariffs, after the Supreme Court ruled Friday that the Trump administration’s preferred tariff policy is illegal and cannot survive without Congressional approval.
Trump has insisted that he intends to implement the new tariffs in different ways and suggested that he should not need Congressional approval to do so. If Trump insists on imposing new tariffs, his move would run afoul of Republican leaders.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) he told reporters on Monday He said it would be “difficult to reach consensus on any path forward on tariffs on the legislative side.”
But Trump’s handling of the tariffs issue will underscore the existential moment Congress is in as we move into the Trump administration’s second term.
In recent months, Trump’s willingness to sideline Congress on major policy decisions such as trade or national security has exposed fissures within his own party and deepened partisan divisions.
Even Tuesday night could highlight those tensions.
Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) has criticized Trump’s use of military force without congressional approval since his administration began blowing up alleged drug ships in the Caribbean Sea late last year.
While Trump has said he is considering a military strike on Iran, Schiff is again voicing his concerns that Trump is fueling broader conflicts abroad.
“Our allies do not trust us. Our enemies do not fear us,” Schiff said in his speech to the Senate on Tuesday. “When the next crisis comes — and it will, and it may even be caused by the president — we will find ourselves isolated.”
Trump’s push to want the federal government to have more control over elections could also reveal some cracks.
In May, at Trump’s behest, the Justice Department began requesting voter registration data from states across the country. Democrats see the move as an excuse for false claims of voter fraud, while Republicans in Congress are imposing new hurdles to voter registration through the Protecting America Voter Eligibility Act.
“The Trump administration is not shy about threatening to undermine and steal this November’s election,” Padilla said. “They know that their record is not only unpopular, but so harmful to working families that their only hope of staying in power is to launch a voter purge.”
Democrats’ concerns were further fueled by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s comments last week, in which she outlined plans to station federal immigration officers at polling places “to ensure the right people vote and elect the right leaders.”
