State of the Union address by US presidents have varied widely in length over the years. President Donald Trump set record for the longest one yet on Tuesday night which was met with sharp criticism from Democrat leaders and protest outside Capitol Hill.
1 / 7US President Donald Trump delivered the longest State of the Union (SOTU) address in history on Tuesday, February 24. In a one-hour and 47-minute-long address, Trump made tall claims of economic and immigration policies as well as foreign policy his administration pursued in the past year. (Image: Reuters)
2 / 7That record previously rested with former President Bill Clinton’s SOTU speech, which ran for nearly one and a half hours in 2000, according to the University of California’s American Presidency Project. Trump also beat his own record for the longest presidential address to Congress set last year. (Image: Reuters)
3 / 7Trump’s past addresses were also lengthy: His first SOTU in 2018 ran 1 hour 20 minutes, 2019’s speech lasted 1 hour 22 minutes, and the 2020 address was 1 hour 18 minutes. By contrast, the shortest modern SOTU came from Ronald Reagan in 1986, which lasted about 31 minutes, US Congress data shows. (Image: AP)
4 / 7In his Tuesday night speech, Trump outlined proposals including tax changes, tighter voting requirements, and increased military spending, while touting tariffs and border enforcement as key achievements of his administration. (Image: Reuters)
5 / 7The speech also leaned heavily on foreign policy, with Trump once again claiming to have averted war between India and Pakistan and receiving 80 million barrels of oil from Venezuela, although industry data shows no more than about 30 million barrels. (Image: Reuters)
6 / 7Trump didn’t say that much about efforts to bring down the cost of living, despite polling showing that his handling of the economy and kitchen table issues has increasingly become a liability. Such concerns about the high costs of living helped propel Democratic wins around the country on Election Day last November.
7 / 7The address drew sharp partisan reactions, with Democrats criticising both the tone and substance of the speech. Senator Mark Warner from Virginia walked out of the speech saying he “couldn’t sit through hours of Trump’s lies.” Democratic strategist Kelly Dietrich, in her rebuttal speech, said that Trump’s State of the Union speech served as a distraction from real challenges and urged Americans to demand more from the government. (Image: Reuters)
