A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
President Trump addressed the nation last night at a critical moment in his presidency.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
During an almost two-hour State of the Union address, Trump was using a fair bit of exaggeration. He painted a nation that's in the early stages of a historic economic boom, though polls show most Americans disagree.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Our nation is back, bigger, better, richer and stronger than ever before.
FADEL: Like Republicans wanted, Trump focused much of his speech on the economy and affordability. He couldn't resist attacking political foes, though, calling Democrats crazy and blaming them for everything from rising health care costs to corruption without evidence. In a few moments, we'll ask a political consultant how Trump's message landed with independent voters. First, let's get more on the speech.
MARTÍNEZ: NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez was up late watching the longest address ever to Congress. Franco, what stuck out to you?
FRANCO ORDOÑEZ, BYLINE: Yeah, A. You know, I was struck by how much he stuck to the script, at least in the first hour of the address, which is really important because it's when the speech has its most viewers. Trump, as you noted, hit at all the notes the Republicans wanted him to hit on - the economy, housing costs, energy costs, drug prices. And, of course, ever the showman, Trump staged some key moments, you know, presenting the Medal of Honor to a 100-year-old veteran and trotting out the U.S. men's Olympic hockey team.
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TRUMP: Here with us tonight is a group of winners who just made the entire nation proud, the men's gold-medal Olympic hockey team. Come on in.
ORDOÑEZ: It was really a rare bipartisan moment of applause, even a standing ovation during, the speech.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, the Supreme Court justices were sitting in front of him. Last week, they slapped down his tariff agenda. So I was wondering, Franco, what, if anything, he was going to say about them?
ORDOÑEZ: Yeah. Trump called the Supreme Court's ruling unfortunate and totally wrong, but he didn't actually get personal with the justices as he did last week. He actually even stopped to shake each of their hands as he walked in the room, which is, you know, quite the deliberate choice.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, last year, during his congressional address, Democrats were criticized for holding up paddles with protest messages on them. So what kind of a pushback did he get this year?
ORDOÑEZ: Well, at the very beginning, Congressman Al Green was escorted from the chamber for displaying a sign that read, Black people aren't apes, which, of course, is a clear reference to the racist video that Trump posted about the Obamas. But there were no paddles. Some Democrats chose to boycott, and you could see the empty seats. And there was some vitriol thrown back and forth when Trump spoke of immigration and accusations of fraud.
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TRUMP: But when it comes to the corruption that is plundering - it really - it's plundering America - there's been no more stunning example than Minnesota where members of the Somali community have pillaged an estimated $19 billion from the American taxpayer. Oh, we have all the information.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: You're lying.
ORDOÑEZ: And you can't really hear it so well on that tape, but Democrats started to yell out and call Trump a liar there.
MARTÍNEZ: No, no, no. I was - I heard that, for sure, at the end there. Now, Franco, the U.S. might be on the verge of taking military action against Iran. Did he make a case to the American people for why this might be necessary?
ORDOÑEZ: Well, he spent more time on hockey and the other staged moments, but near the end, he did speak of the Iranian regime killing thousands of protesters, you know, their nuclear ambitions and the threat that they may present building missiles - that he said, at least - will be soon able to reach the United States. But it wasn't really any new rationale for the strikes, which is concerning to a lot of Americans, including Republicans who were worried about the U.S. being drawn into a long and complicated conflict.
MARTÍNEZ: That's NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez. Thanks a lot.
ORDOÑEZ: Thanks, A. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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