On February 24th of this year, President Donald Trump delivered the longest recorded State of the Union Address in American history. The speech was around 1 hour and 56 minutes long, and the President covered his opinions on the strengths of the United States, as well as addressing major issues and concerns throughout the country. Some key takeaways from this record-breaking speech included the country’s recent military victories and the rising tensions involving foreign countries (stimson.org).
Regarding comments on foreign policy, President Trump’s State of the Union address treaded very lightly over the topic, as the President did not comment on foreign policy until about an hour into his speech (carnegieendowment.org). State of the Union speeches typically have more to do with the well-being of American citizens and the country’s triumphs. The President restated past successful military operations, according to Share America: ‘We’re proudly restoring safety for Americans at home, and we are also restoring security for Americans abroad,’ […] ‘My first 10 months, I ended eight wars’” (share.america.gov). However, the speech lacked thorough details and clear plans for continuing foreign policy. However, during the President’s second term of presidency, citizens are more focused on the well-being of the economy and the cost of general living; naturally, the majority of the speech focused on this topic (Stimson.org).
The present tensions between the United States and Iran were discussed in the President’s speech as well. The president criticized Iran’s policies and called the country out for its responsibility of American lives in the Iraq War (stimson.org). A clear focus throughout the speech was on Iran’s nuclear program as a potential catalyst for the start of a war. However, there is no clear evidence that Iran is in possession of nuclear weapons. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, “Iran has had a civilian nuclear energy program for more than fifty years, long maintaining its strictly nonmilitary aims. ‘Iran has repeatedly said its nuclear program only serves peaceful purposes. Nuclear weapons have no place in our nuclear doctrine,’ a government spokesperson said in April 2024.” Presently, Americans are clearly cautious because Iranian officials have publicly discussed the possible necessity of utilizing nuclear weapons (cfr.org).
The military conquest in Venezuela was displayed as a proud victory throughout the President’s speech. The President referred to the capture of Maduro as a “colossal victory” for the country, and the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, as “the best ever” (stimson.org). While this topic added a moment of pride for America, tensions rose when the President failed to mention anything about Climate Change. Following last year’s tragedy of the flooding in Camp Mystic, Texas, a climate scientist professor at Texas A&M University, Andrew Dessler, stated, “We have added a lot of carbon to the atmosphere, and that extra carbon traps energy in the climate system […] ‘Because of this extra energy, every weather event we see now carries some influence from climate change’” (The Guardian). Even with this devastating information, the President focused on his “drill baby drill” outline to get American oil production skyrocketing (The Guardian). Trump’s avoidance of the issue has caused tension and division throughout the media.
Here at Ramapo, many of our faculty members listened to the State of the Union Speech. When English teacher, Mr. Basili, was asked what stood out to him the most about this speech, he commented, “It is always both interesting and unfortunate to see the divide between the two parties. The President would make a statement, and you’d often have one party standing and even cheering, and the other remaining seated.” This statement reflects the thoughts of many Americans when it comes to the clear divide within the country. Senior Ashley DeLeo added, “I was very surprised by the length of this speech, and now it’s going down as one of the longest in history.”
This history-making speech does stand out in terms of its length and controversial topics. However, the division between political parties continues to grow and draw national attention.
