When presidents stand before a joint session of Congress, they like to declare that “the state of our union is strong.”
President Donald Trump can say those words and mean them. Millions of Americans agree.
Thirteen months ago, the border was open to anyone willing to cross it, including criminals, cartel operatives, and nearly 300,000 unaccompanied children, thousands who are now considered unaccounted for.
Three years of inflation had wiped out wage gains, pushed up rents, and made the grocery store an anxious territory for families watching every dollar.
Illogical gender identity and DEI policies in schools and sports were threatening fairness and the safety of women and girls. The Biden administration’s policies made things worse at every turn—opening the border, killing American energy, rejecting biological reality, and handing our economic future to our rivals.
That was a little more than a year ago. The progress since then has been nothing short of staggering.
Inflation, which hit 9.1% under the previous administration, plummeted to 1.7% in the last three months of 2025.
Energy production is at record levels—real money back in the pockets of families who had grown accustomed to watching their purchasing power shrink.
At the southern border, illegal crossings dropped 87% in 2025, to their lowest level since 1970. We are once more sovereign over our frontiers. Communities that bore the costs of those lawless years—the ones that saw their schools overwhelmed, their hospitals strained, their streets where parents stopped letting children play outside—feel the difference now.
None of this happened by accident, and none of it was unopposed. It happened because the Trump administration chose to act where others had only talked: producing American energy, securing the border, and putting American workers and families first. And it held the line against an implacable establishment that fought against “America First” policies every step of the way.
The men and women of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection are doing some of the hardest law enforcement work in America—removing violent criminals, dismantling trafficking networks, and upholding immigration laws written to protect American families.
They are doing it in courts that have tried to stop them, in cities whose officials have defied them, and on streets where they have been shot at, doxed, and assaulted. They deserve an administration that stands behind them without reservation. Today, they have one.
Securing the border and securing prosperity for American families are the same fight.
This administration is writing new trade rules—framework agreements with the United Kingdom, the European Union, Japan, South Korea, and partners across the Western Hemisphere—that put American workers first.
In the past, American trade policy served Beijing and Brussels. Not anymore. The January numbers alone told a story of prosperity: 130,000 new private sector jobs, unemployment at 4.3%, wages up 3.7%.
The American people didn’t give this administration a narrow mandate. Seventy-seven million Americans didn’t vote for a down payment. They voted for the American dream—restored, permanent, and passed on.
The work ahead is vital: executive actions codified into law, energy dominance made permanent, federal DEI mandates permanently rolled back, and trade relationships and policy wins built to outlast any single administration.
The president also called on Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, “commonsense, country-saving” legislation that requires a photo identification when voting in federal elections, because a secure border means nothing if the ballot box isn’t.
Finishing these tasks honors and protects the American people and safeguards an America First future for generations to come.
Respecting the American people also means respecting their hard-earned money.
No person’s monthly electrical bill should increase because of artificial intelligence data centers. This administration has advanced a new ratepayer protection pledge requiring technology companies to build and operate their own plants rather than shift the costs onto taxpayers. In many cases, this strategic move will decrease electricity costs for taxpayers.
The next chapter gets written in state capitals as much as in Washington.
Governors and legislators are taking up the America First agenda on energy, parental rights, law enforcement, and more. Families who have seen what these policies deliver are eager for more.
Four in 10 young Americans say they are barely getting by.
That number is the mission, and it is the barometer of success. The young couple who can afford to get married and start a family. The dad whose overtime check goes somewhere other than the utility bill. The mom who finally feels safe letting her kids walk to school again—because ICE showed up when her city wouldn’t.
Over 90% of the America First agenda has been enacted or advanced in a single year. And we know how to finish what we began.
The American dream was always real. Americans never stopped believing in it—even when everything around them argued otherwise. Today, this administration is doing exactly what America First was called to do: defend the interests of the American people without trying to run their lives. The past year made the case. This administration will see the promise through. As Trump said in his address to Congress, the state of the union is strong, and the best is yet to come.
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