SOTU 2026 reactions

I did promise reactions to the unrelenting stream of bullshit we all heard last night, so let's go:

• Everyone should start with the New York Times fact check, which is pretty long this year.
• CNN reporters Jennifer Aglesta and Ariel Edwards-Levy: "The pool of people who watched Trump speak on Tuesday was about 13 percentage points more Republican than the general public. ... Forty-five percent of speech-watchers said they had a lot of confidence in Trump to provide real leadership for the country, and 43% expressed a lot of confidence in him to use US military power responsibly, with 38% saying they were highly confident in him to make the right decisions about Iran."
• Washington Post reporter Isaac Arnsdorf: "Trump’s speech was light on new policy announcements. He said his administration would give all Americans access to retirement savings accounts akin to what federal employees receive, with $1,000 government matching funds. He did not elaborate on how the accounts would work or whether expanding access to them would require congressional authorization." (WAPO also collected responses from 10 of their opinion writers in one place.)
• Jamelle Bouie: "What Trump has, a little more than one year into his second term, is a failed presidency: one that has crashed on the rocks of his ambition to supplant constitutional government with that of his own will. Yes, Trump has done a tremendous amount of damage. And yes, he has degraded American democracy to the point where it is on life support. But he’s failed to make himself a dictator, and the public is poised to punish his party for his transgressions. Unfortunately, that will be the easy part. It’s what comes after that that will test our ability to make the union whole again." (In a video he posted last night, Bouie described the SOTU as "a Klan rally.")
• Adam Kinzinger: "Last night’s State of the Union was, in a very real sense, exactly what we’ve come to expect: a theatrical exercise designed to please an already convinced audience, with almost no chance of moving any voters who aren’t already in the base. In a political moment where the bar is so low that short of convulsing in a pile of his own filth Trump would get a pass, this performance hit the baseline and nothing more. ... [W]hen you paper over a divisive performance with sports teams and military medals, it’s a sign that substantive policy discussion has taken a back seat to spectacle. It felt less like a governance speech and more like an awards show with a political agenda."
• Paul Krugman: "Trump’s State of the Union was historic in at least one respect: It was the longest SOTU ever. The address may also have been historic in another way, although it would be hard to quantify. Did any previous SOTU contain so many lies?"
• Josh Marshall: "American Carnage, Part II, basically. My overall sense is still that it was generally shambling and scattered, which is to say more or less like the administration itself at the moment."
• Domenico Montanaro: "Voters have been saying for a long time that prices and the cost of living are their top concerns. It's largely what has landed Trump and the Republican Party in a precarious position ahead of this year's midterm elections. And yet, Trump largely ignored the economic hardships many are feeling."
• Tom Nichols: "As the whole business dragged on, the atmosphere started to seem less like a game show and more like the late-night Jerry Lewis telethons of the 1970s, in which a tired but pumped Lewis alternately griped at the audience, broke into maudlin emotion, or jumped up to welcome a new guest. The only thing Trump did not do was explain his policies—especially about war and peace—to Congress or the American people." Nichols also castigated the OAFPOTUS on his treatment of CMOH awards: "Military awards that should have been treated with dignity and respect were placed on men like prizes, including a moment when Trump’s co-host, the first lady, put one of the Medals of Honor around the neck of a 100-year-old fighter pilot."
• Chicago Sun-Times reporter Tina Sfondeles: "[Illinois Democratic] Sen. Tammy Duckworth, along with U.S. Reps. Mike Quigley, Sean Casten, Delia Ramirez, Jan Schakowsky and Eric Sorensen, boycotted the annual address, with Duckworth on Monday calling it 'another campaign rally full of lies.' "

Nothing yet from James Fallows. I can't wait.