Instant Reaction: Trump Touts 'Turnaround' in State of the Union

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1:09Al Green:Bloomberg Audio Studios. Podcasts. Radio. News. This is a breaking news update from Bloomberg. Instant reaction and analysis from our 3 ,000 journalists and analysts around the world. I'm Kayleigh Lyons alongside Joe Matthew, the president, concluding his speech, which lasted just under two hours, setting a new record for a State of the Union address in about one hour and 47 minutes. President Trump now leaving the rostrum. He will make his way back up the aisle. probably Joe Matthews shaking hands as he goes, having concluded this speech, which took us from domestic affairs to geopolitics. And of course, as the president concluded his speech through 250 years of American history.

1:59Al Green:That's right, Kayleigh. As the chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the chiefs themselves leave the chamber, the president of the United States wrapping the longest State of the Union address in American history. As I speak to you live from Statuary Hall, just outside of the House chamber, where this is taking place with the live view of the president still taking selfies there with Kat Kamek. We're going to see all the members stream by. In fact, they're just now beginning to leave the room. There were a couple of folks who left early in Ilhan Omar and some of the other Democrats who were not very happy about what the president was saying there.

2:31Al Green:That did, Kayleigh, break into a little bit of a call and response there as the president veered off the script. But you're right. He began with the issue that we've been talking about every day here on Bloomberg TV and radio for weeks and months, and that's affordability. The president of the United States talking about getting prices down. He talked about seeing gas when he was on the road for less than$2 a gallon, which is not something that many Americans enjoy, saying that our state of the union is strong and pointing to the end of DEI, among other issues that he got to very early in the speech, and then, of course, got to the tariffs.

3:02Al Green:Kayleigh, many of us were wondering exactly what he was going to say to the justices of the Supreme Court who were sitting there in the front row. And he's he kept his remarks fairly tempered. He talked about the unfortunate decision. He didn't call anyone out by name. Spent more time calling out Democrats tonight, Kayleigh, for not standing up to applaud him. Yes. And telling Democrats that they were to blame for higher prices Americans are facing, including on health care. To your point on tariffs, Joe, after calling the Supreme Court ruling unfortunate, he also said congressional action on tariffs will not be necessary, suggesting he will be taking other action at the executive level.

3:40Al Green:But he did have some specific asks of Congress tonight, calling on Congress to codify his most favored nation rule when it comes to drug prices, to pass an investment ban on firms buying homes, to pass a stock trading ban for members of Congress. He also wants the Congress to pass a law barring any state from granting commercial driving licenses to illegal alien. So he did have some requests for the legislative branch, even if he largely spent the majority of this almost two hours, Joe, talking about things he has seen himself as achieving at the executive level. And pointing to more things that he wants to get done, to your point, calling on Congress to pass the Save America Act, Kayleigh.

4:21Al Green:And when he got to that matter of voter ID, he called out Democrats. He said they want to cheat. They have cheated and their policy is so bad. The only way to get elected is to cheat, and we're going to stop it, he said. This was a very tough speech on Democrats, most of whom sat on their hands for most of the night. And I'll just let everybody know that we did replay the beginning of the speech from last year. Al Green, the congressman, Democrat from Texas, was escorted from the chamber once again. He brought a sign with him, Kayleigh, which does not make the sergeant at arms or the speaker very happy.

4:55Al Green:and as he tried to address the president firsthand, he was taken out of the room by the sergeant at arms. He went straight to stat hall to start doing interviews after that. We turn to our panel that is here with me on set in Washington, Bloomberg's Jeff Mason alongside me, as well as Bloomberg politics contributors Rick Davis and Jeannie Shanzano. So this was perhaps not as long as some of us anticipated or maybe feared. He covered a lot of ground, though, Rick Davis, as promised. He said he had a lot to talk about. He certainly did. How'd he do? Yeah, look, I think it was a different kind of speech than what we're used to seeing from President Trump.

5:31Al Green:Normally, he paints a pretty dark picture of the country in order to say how much he has changed and made it better. He actually started off with the positive report card. And at a time when most people are tuned in the first 30 minutes of this speech, he's going to get the highest number of eyeballs on the TV. he talked about affordability, the economy, the things that he said he has to do to be able to get this thing reset for the for the midterm elections. Then the next 30 minutes, he descended into that evil place, attacking Democrats viciously. But then he did something that I thought was actually new to him and a pretty good construct.

6:09Al Green:And that is he built the rest of his speech around the great deeds of ordinary Americans, things that they've done to come back from adversity, challenges they met and won. And I think that that will be part of what people remember in this speech with those incredibly important and transformational stories. And he did one after the other after the other on topics that were really key to his administration. Jeff, talking about this kind of narrative reset or lack thereof, is that what the president was able to achieve tonight or not? It doesn't seem like a reset to me. You know, my job as a White House reporter and all the other reporters who are covering this tonight would be to look for the news.

6:49Al Green:And usually we look for new policy, something that he would unveil or suggest, this is what I'm going to work on in the coming year. And there just wasn't a lot of that in this speech. I think Rick is right that there was certainly a nice tone at the end that wouldn't be applicable to the entire speech, but that there was a nice tone at the end. But what was new? It was mostly a lot of President Trump's greatest hits. and certainly talking about his defense, which we were discussing before the speech, his defense of his performance, his defense of his administration, of the economy that he inherited, which he blamed on President Biden.

7:24Al Green:Those are all things that are pretty regular aspects of a Donald Trump speech. There weren't at least a lot of major new policies with regard to the economy, with regard to affordability, even though, again, he did address it and he touched on it. But he didn't offer a vision for how it's going to go forward. Joining us now, as you can see, if you're with us on Bloomberg TV, is the Secretary of the Interior, Doug Bergen. Mr. Secretary, great to have you with us here on Bloomberg TV and radio. I'd like to zero in on the president's speech with you from your vantage point. Record length and a lot to talk about.

8:02Donald Trump:What did he propose for the year ahead that's important to your agency? Well, let's just start at the top line. This is incredibly courageous, forward-looking talk. and celebrating our 250th anniversary as a country, going literally back to our founding. And tonight, who would have known when you're coming to hear the speech, you're going to get an opportunity to be present for the Medal of Honor being delivered twice. One for heroics from a warrior from World War II and Korean War who's 100 years old, and then someone who just weeks ago courageously led the charge as one of our helicopter pilots when they were arresting Maduro.

8:41Donald Trump:So it spanned the whole 250 years. But again, I would just say two takeaways. Peace around the world, prosperity for Americans, affordability, President Trump's policies turning this country around in the last 12 months.

8:57Al Green:A lot of focus on energy, as we expected this evening, as he reminded Drill Baby Drill, but also talked about what he would like to see. the ability of the big tech companies, the hyperscalers, having the opportunity to bring in their own power plants to put aside their data centers, essentially off the grid. Is that something that the Interior Department is in the process of unlocking?

9:18Donald Trump:Well, absolutely. Through the National Energy Dominance Council that runs out of the White House that President Trump has asked Secretary Chris Wright and I to lead, Secretary of Energy, we're working hard to make sure that we can do this, have this behind-the-meter capability, BYOP, bring your own power, because we need power. This is about energy addition. There is no energy transition. President Trump understands that we've got to have energy abundance. We've got to be able to sell energy to our friends and allies, including those that have been dependent on our adversaries. I mean, if you're getting energy from Iran or Russia and they're funding terrorism or wars, I mean, we can stop wars and stop terrorism by having energy abundance from the U.S., but enough abundance that we can keep prices for energy here at home low, even with the demand increase, so that we can win the AI arms race against China, which part of that race is who can generate the most electricity, because this is the first time in history you can take a kilowatt of electricity and turn it into intelligence.

10:18Donald Trump:President Trump understands that. His policy is going to work for both winning the AI arms race and for keeping electricity affordable for Americans. Wait, there's so much there.

10:27Al Green:Do you worry about some of the concern that people have expressed about data centers, the NIMBY concerns, the worry about their electricity bills rising?

10:35Donald Trump:Is this plan the way around that? Absolutely, because if it's off the grid, it's not putting any burden on the grid itself, and it's not putting any pressure on ratepayers. Matter of fact, in North Dakota, when I was still governor there just 15 months ago, we were completing a$1.2 billion data center. And the electricity rates were going to go down for all the people there because you're spreading the cost across a big industrial buyer in a rural area. So there are ways where you can add capability, add a big power user like that. And if you do it the right way, it actually brings power down.

11:13Donald Trump:So it's only people that would be opposed to for other reasons, including the climate extremists, would come up with a story that says that artificial intelligence is going to raise your rates automatically. That's only with the wrong policies. With the right policies, they'll stay the same or go down.

11:31Al Green:Really interesting. The audience is deeply concerned about the future of that AI race, what it means for this country. The president said a bit about that this evening, but clearly it's one of many priorities that he's pursuing in this new year. What's the most important way to win that AI race, even as the markets start to question some of the spending that we're seeing from these massive companies? They're the size of countries, Mr. Secretary.

11:55Donald Trump:Yes, well, but again, this is a recovering new territory. And we're going to see incredible capital flows around the world. and those capital flows, record capital flows are going to go to places that have ample, affordable, reliable, and secure power. And that's going to be countries, and it's going to be states within those countries, within Europe. It may be certain countries as opposed to all of the EU. Secretary Chris Wright and I today met with 21 energy ministers from Central and Eastern Europe. Again, the race is on. People that have sensible energy policies that focus on affordable, reliable, and secure energy are going to see a boom in investment going forward.

12:34Donald Trump:Because it's not just the data center, it's what follows that. Advanced manufacturing, the physical AI, because AI will be the greatest productivity increase that humanity has ever seen. It really is an extension of human capability, whether it's curing cancer, providing a tutor for every school kid in the world, or solving the most complex problems we've ever faced. This is something that we need. And America and the free world needs to make sure that we're competitive in this A-arms race. And the way we do that is generate more power. Energy addition, there is no such thing as energy transition.

13:08Donald Trump:If you're shutting down 7x24 secure base load and adding intermittent, unreliable foreign-sourced energy, that's energy fantasy. President Trump's focused on energy reality.

13:20Al Green:You're not only the interior secretary, but you're also a surrogate of the president. Typically after the State of the Union, we see cabinet secretaries fan out across the country to hit home, to deliver the message that the president began tonight. Do you have travel plans? What are the next weeks and months look like for you?

13:35Donald Trump:Well, absolutely. And of course, all the cabinet secretaries will tie it in with part of their job. So I'm going to be heading heading out to Western states where we have a large degree of federal land, a lot of intersection with those federal assets. It's what we like to say. The Department of Interior has got the largest balance sheet in the world, 500 million acres of land, 700 million acres of subsurface rich with minerals, 3 billion acres of offshore from American Samoa to the U.S. Virgin Islands, Gulf of America, which represents a huge energy component mix for our country. But, yeah, we'll be spanning out and delivering the message, and the message is one that's a forward-looking prosperity.

14:12Donald Trump:prosperity. When you talk about the policies for your business, we're talking about cutting taxes, massively cutting regulations, record investment, incomes are up, inflation is down, interest rates are down, and affordability of housing is becoming more affordable. I mean, this is President Trump's right. We are entering a new golden age of abundance. This first year was an amazing 180 degree turnaround. The next year going forward could be nothing short of an economic miracle.

14:41Al Green:We'll be watching for you here in Washington on the campaign trail throughout the midterms. Mr. Secretary, thanks for joining us once again on Bloomberg TV and radio.

14:49Donald Trump:Thank you for being here. Absolutely. Doug Berg. And thank you for being in front of this great statue of one of the great North Dakotans. We worked that out for you

14:53Al Green:on the North Dakota statue here in Stat Hall. Kaylee, I'll send it back to you in the bureau. All right, Joe, with the Secretary of the Interior, thank you so much. And here with me in our Washington studio still, as we round out this evening, Bloomberg's Jeff Mason alongside Bloomberg Politics contributors Rick Davis and Jeannie Shan Zano. So we've now gotten through the speech, the Democratic response, both of which at least in part centered around the idea of affordability. The question is going to be where that narrative goes next in the aftermath of this. Jeff, did we really hear the president saying much today in terms of how he is going to further advance the so-called affordability agenda, if you will?

15:31Al Green:What's the action we can expect next if he wants to get prices down? Yeah, I think that's the big question. Republicans. And it's the question that he had to answer tonight and that his administration and his fellow lawmaker or Republican lawmakers in Congress have to answer as they go into the midterms. I don't know what the answer is. He talked a little bit about tariffs. He talked about the tax cuts from the big, beautiful bill. He, again, as I said before, defended his record or praised his record, really, from the first year as something worth running on. But he didn't come out and say, this is part two.

16:08Al Green:This is my next sort of goal for working on affordability going forward. He talked a little bit about health care, but otherwise not a whole long list of policy ideas for the next several months. Well, and health care was one of the areas, Rick, in which he was making a specific ask to Congress, codify my most favored nation rule. He also asked them to ban investment firms from buying homes in an effort to obviously address the housing and supply issue we have in this country. But given that it is an election year, the midterms are getting closer with every day that passes. Are we actually going to see legislation in that regard or any others?

16:44Al Green:Yeah, I don't think there's really going to be an appetite in Congress to spend a lot of time legislating. You know, this is a year where they go back to their districts and they try to win reelection. So certainly the energy that the House had to pass his, you know, big, beautiful bill and other items and the first year agenda is just not going to be there this time. Plus, even their margins are slimmer than they were at the start of the last year. And I, too, was surprised that he didn't spend more time on health care in the sense that, you know, this is the cause of the greatest, longest government shutdown in history just a few months ago.

17:18Al Green:And yet he really just sort of retreaded the same rhetoric that that he's done before. So, yeah, I mean, I think there's something in there that he could campaign on. These are not programs that are necessarily new. But if he actually stuck with it and talked about these housing issues, talked about some of the drug pricing activity, you know, talked a little bit about, you know, what's going on with health care. And, of course, really dug in on some of these affordability issues that could actually be a platform to go forward. I don't think it's so much he needed something new today. But, like, can he actually sustain the rhetoric that he gave to the American people tonight longer than one night?

17:58Al Green:Well, that is the question. And not just, of course, his remarks on the economy, but on what is supposed to be his other strongest issue, Jeannie, which is immigration. Knowing he delivered this speech with the Department of Homeland Security still shut down, calling for Democrats to fund it, yes. But did you sense a president that is any closer to reaching some kind of compromise with Democrats on reforms to ICE and immigration enforcement? No. And this was another area I was surprised by. because the president seemed to double down. He talked a lot about the border, and then he consistently kept talking about the fact that immigrants are criminals, something that we know is not true, and the people they are deporting are criminals.

18:39Al Green:Even his own government says that is 7 to 14 percent of the people deported. And it doesn't work for him in any way. It is not true. And it doesn't address the problems that Democrats have raised, or the problems, quite frankly, the American public have raised. And the Democrats would like nothing more than to keep talking about this. It's the first time, and I know that Rick knows this issue so well, that Democrats, probably in decades, have been on the popular right side of immigration. They are thrilled and they want to stay there. So he did them a favor. I also thought it was interesting how Governor Spanberger addressed both that issue and the economy.

19:19Al Green:I think it's probably a little bit of a playbook for how Democrats are going to address these issues in the coming months. She asked, is the president working for you? Is the president helping on affordability? She named she didn't name check the two people who were killed in Minneapolis, but she mentioned that ICE agents had killed Americans on the streets of the United States. Those are pretty salient points that she made in a much shorter speech that I imagine we'll be hearing Democrats repeating in the coming months. And we just have less than a minute left, Jeff. But the president did touch on Iran this evening, saying he would prefer diplomacy, but saying he will never allow the world's number one sponsor of terror to have a nuclear weapon.

20:00Al Green:By the time this week is out, could we very well have seen, see the president decide that diplomacy will not work? It's hard to say. I mean, this is a decision that we've been looking for and waiting for for for some time now. He talked about it, as he said, but he didn't really give an indication of the direction that he's going. Saying that he wants diplomacy is something that he has said before. So we'll see if they are able to come up with a deal. Talks in Geneva on Thursday. Meantime, it's almost Wednesday here in the United States as we round out the State of the Union evening. We're approaching midnight.

20:31Al Green:Bloomberg's Jeff Mason and Bloomberg politics contributors Rick Davis and Jeannie Shanzana with us throughout the coverage this evening. We so appreciate you joining us and we thank you for joining us on this special coverage. President Trump's State of the Union. I'm Kayleigh Lyons alongside Joe Math.