President Donald Trump delivered a sweeping State of the Union address Tuesday night, promoting new policy proposals on retirement savings, energy infrastructure and congressional ethics while touting his administration’s record on border security, the economy and global military operations. 

But despite the wide-ranging speech — which included calls for a congressional stock trading ban, a new 401(k)-style retirement option and ongoing nuclear negotiations with Iran — several areas were notably absent or only briefly addressed.

The omissions matter in 2026 as the administration heads into a pivotal year marked by record federal debt levels, cooling job growth, intensifying great-power competition with China and ongoing global instability. 

With Congress narrowly divided and international tensions high, the State of the Union offered a key opportunity for the president to outline how his second-term agenda will address long-term fiscal sustainability, labor market momentum and U.S. strategy abroad — questions that remain central to lawmakers, markets and U.S. allies.

National debt and deficit

Despite emphasizing economic growth and vowing to root out fraud, the president did not lay out a detailed plan to address the nation’s $38.56 trillion debt or the long-term solvency of Social Security and Medicare.

Trump’s ‘big, beautiful Bill,’ 2025 tax and spending legislation, is projected by the Congressional Budget Office to add another $4.2 trillion to the deficit throughout the next decade.

The Supreme Court’s recent ruling striking down his universal tariffs creates a $2 trillion revenue gap that the president didn’t address. He claimed ‘alternative statutes’ would fill it, but there’s potential for courts to strike down those as well. 

The issue also has prompted concern within Trump’s own party. 

Rep. Lloyd Smucker, R-Pa., while praising the president’s address, warned afterward that the national debt poses an ‘existential threat’ that must be addressed to preserve economic stability for the next 250 years.

‘The state of our Union is more indebted than ever,’ said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. ‘The Supreme Court has opened a massive revenue hole of nearly $2 trillion (with the tariff ruling) that the Administration and Congress must fill.’

Trump proposed a new ‘war on fraud’ task force Tuesday night, to be led by Vice President JD Vance, claiming that rooting out corruption —specifically targeting the Somali community in Minnesota — could recoup enough stolen taxpayer funds to ‘balance the budget overnight.’

The debt carries heightened urgency in 2026 as interest payments approach $1 trillion annually and lawmakers face looming deadlines on entitlement trust fund solvency and future budget negotiations.

Job growth

‘The roaring economy is roaring like never before,’ Trump boasted during the speech. ‘More Americans are working today than at any time in the history of our country.’

But the president failed to touch on 2025’s lagging job growth: the labor market added 181,000 jobs in all of 2025, much fewer than the 1.46 million jobs that were added in 2024.

Economists note that while headline job totals can mask fluctuations, the sharp deceleration in hiring relative to 2024 highlights a labor market that has softened even as other economic indicators remain positive.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer claimed Trump ‘mocked’ affordability issues and failed to note weak job numbers. 

‘Trump didn’t simply ignore the affordability crisis. He mocked it yet again. The average Americans sitting at their table trying to figure out how they’re going to pay that damn bill, was furious that he said, ‘it doesn’t matter.” 

‘He bragged last night about job creation,’ Schumer said. ‘Well, job creation is is at its lowest point in over 20 years outside of a recession, its lowest point in 20 years. And he brags about it.’

China and the Indo-Pacific 

While Trump used his address to declare a ‘Golden Age’ of security, the world’s most significant geopolitical theater — the Indo-Pacific — hardly was mentioned. 

Despite a record-breaking $11 billion arms sale to Taiwan just two months ago and a planned high-stakes visit to Beijing in April, the President did not once mention Taiwan, the South China Sea or a broader regional strategy by name.

While Trump mocked ‘Chinese technology’ in the context of the Venezuelan raid, he offered no public reassurance to allies in Tokyo, Canberra, Australia, or Taipei, Taiwan, which are navigating Beijing’s expanding military reach. 

The omission follows a pattern established in the 2026 National Defense Strategy (NDS) released in January, which for the first time in a decade scrubbed direct references to Taiwan’s security. 

Though the U.S. has long held a policy of strategic ambiguity — refusing to say whether it would come to Taiwan’s defense if China invaded — some analysts have detected a fragile detente between the U.S. and China.

The absence is notable in 2026 as Washington prepares for high-level talks with Beijing and regional allies closely monitor U.S. commitments amid rising cross-Strait tensions and expanding Chinese naval activity.

Cuba and the embargo 

Despite a marked escalation in U.S. policy toward Cuba, Trump made no reference to the island, the longstanding embargo or recent moves to tighten economic pressure.  The omission is noteworthy given how central Havana has become to broader U.S. policy in the Western Hemisphere.

Under Trump’s second term, the administration significantly has reinforced sanctions and pressure on Cuba, moving beyond the decades-old embargo to block crude oil and fuel supplies that left the island largely without vital energy imports after Venezuelan shipments dried up, contributing to widespread blackouts and worsening humanitarian conditions.

In late January, Trump issued an executive order declaring a national emergency on Cuba and authorizing tariffs aimed at halting the supply of oil to the island.

Caribbean leaders also highlighted the regional consequences of U.S. policy on Cuba at a major summit this week, warning that the fuel and economic crisis could have broader security and migration implications across the Caribbean basin.

Russia-Ukraine: referenced but little detail 

Trump did touch on the war in Ukraine in his State of the Union, framing an ambition to ‘end’ the conflict as part of his foreign policy narrative. But he offered no detailed outline of how the administration plans to achieve that goal or how U.S. diplomacy, military aid or leverage with European allies will be marshaled to bring it about — leaving a key foreign policy challenge largely undefined for the nation.

‘We’re working very hard to end the ninth war, the killing and slaughter between Russia and Ukraine, where 25,000 soldiers are dying each and every month — think of that, 25,000 soldiers are dying a month.’

 The speech came on the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

The lack of detail stands out in 2026 as the war enters its fifth year and European allies look to Washington for clarity on long-term security guarantees and reconstruction support.

The White House did not immediately respond when reached for comment. 

There’s a new House GOP effort to censure Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, circulating after he was removed from President Donald Trump’s primetime address for the second year in a row.

Green was ejected from Trump’s State of the Union on Tuesday night minutes after it began. The Texas progressive held up a sign that read ‘Black people are not apes’ in all capital letters as Trump entered the House chamber, and remained standing and holding the sign as the president began speaking.

Rep. Mike Rulli, R-Ohio, told Fox News Digital that his office was now looking for other House lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to support a censure resolution against Green.

‘His shenanigans at the State of the Union were uncalled for,’ Rulli said on Wednesday. ‘We can’t really put up with that kind of conduct in Congress. Something had to be done.’

‘I’m looking for as many co-sponsors from our conference as possible. And I’m reaching across the aisle for anyone over there that was embarrassed by their own guy.’

Rulli’s resolution, first obtained by Fox News Digital, said Green’s protest constituted a ‘breach of conduct.’

The text also noted that it ‘was the second time in less than a year that the Representative from Texas had to be removed from the chamber by the Sergeant at Arms due to unpatriotic disruptions that violated numerous House rules related to decorum.’

The House of Representatives voted to censure Green in March 2025 for his last protest, which included waving his cane and shouting over Trump as he attempted to give his speech.

At the time, ten Democrats joined Republicans in passing that resolution.

Green told reporters on Tuesday night after being removed from the House for a second time, ‘I refuse to tolerate this level of hate that the president is in fact putting into policy. We must take a stand against this level invidious discrimination.’

‘I wanted him to know, and I wanted them to see it and hear it. Up close. But judging from the expression on his face, he got the message. He saw it,’ Green said.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., did not commit to holding a vote on a censure resolution when asked about the prospect after Trump’s speech but said he would defer to the will of his lawmakers.

‘Al Green was removed pretty quickly. I don’t know if censure is going to be appropriate. I’ll let our colleagues decide that,’ Johnson said. ‘The point of a censure, is to bring someone to the House floor and bring shame upon them for their actions. I think they showed the American people shame already.’

Fox News Digital reached out to Green’s office for comment but did not immediately hear back.

Democrats were not happy with President Donald Trump’s State of the Union remarks on implementing voter ID requirements and the SAVE America Act.

A dial test administered by Lee Carter, the president of Maslansky & Partners, showed Democrats taking a serious dive when the president spoke about the issue. During his speech, Trump asked lawmakers to pass the SAVE America Act in order ‘to stop illegal aliens and others who are unpermitted persons from voting in our sacred American elections.’ He decried allegedly ‘rampant’ cheating in American elections.

‘It’s very simple. All voters must show voter ID. All voters must show proof of citizenship in order to vote. And no more crooked mail-in ballots except for illness, disability, military or travel. None,’ Trump said.

‘Why would anybody not want voter ID? One reason, because they want to cheat,’ Trump added, referring to Democrats. ‘They make up all excuses. They say it’s racist. They come up with things. You almost say what imagination they have! They want to cheat, they have cheated, and their policy is so bad that the only way they can get elected is to cheat.’

While Democrats reacted negatively, Republicans had a positive response to Trump’s call for the passage of the SAVE America Act. While Independents did not react as positively as Republicans, their line in the dial test remained above the Democrats.

The group monitored by Carter, which included 29 Democrats, 41 Republicans and 30 Independents, had mixed reactions to a number of moments in Trump’s speech. Carter found that the most polarizing issue of the night was gender policy. One of the president’s special guests was Sage Blair, a young woman whose family filed a 2023 lawsuit alleging that Appomattox County High School staff socially transitioned her and treated her as a boy without her parents’ knowledge.

‘But surely we can all agree no state can be allowed to rip children from their parents’ arms and transition them to a new gender against the parents’ will,’ Trump said. ‘We must ban it, and we must ban it immediately.’

When the president saw that Democratic lawmakers in the chamber did not stand at that remark, he ripped them as ‘crazy.’

Supporters in the focus group reacted mostly positively to the gender policy remarks, saying things like ‘Protect children. Crazy people there’ and ‘If someone wants to change gender, they should do it as an adult. Period.’ Meanwhile, critics in the group slammed the president, with one saying that it was ‘a bold-faced lie’ and that Trump was taking ‘every opportunity to divide the country.’

Despite the disparate reactions on the issues of voting and gender, there were some moments in which people of opposing views overlapped, both in favor and against the president. 

Many supporters and opponents expressed concerns about Trump’s tone during the speech, the dial test showed. Carter noted that some supporters were unhappy with the president’s jokes, remarks about the Supreme Court and mentions of former President Joe Biden. Meanwhile, the president’s critics said the tone was ’embarrassing,’ ‘divisive’ and ‘selfish.’

While there were many moments that caused disagreement among Americans across the political spectrum, there were points of unity in the speech. Republicans and Democrats had positive responses when Trump awarded the Purple Heart to Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe and deceased Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom. Wolfe and Beckstrom were shot by a gunman who ambushed them last year in Washington, D.C. Wolfe was critically injured in the attack, and Beckstrom was killed. Her parents accepted the award in their daughter’s honor.

Another unifying moment came when Trump brought out the U.S. men’s hockey team, which just scored a historic overtime victory against Canada in the Olympics. Carter noted that the president’s critics were pleased with the recognition of the Olympians, with one calling it a ‘nice moment.’

President Donald Trump warned in his State of the Union address that Iran has ‘sinister ambitions’ with its nuclear program and that the U.S. has not yet heard from Tehran that it will ‘never have a nuclear weapon.’ 

The remarks come as the U.S. and Iran are gearing up for another round of negotiations on Thursday.  

‘After Midnight Hammer, they were warned to make no future attempts to rebuild their weapons program and, in particular, nuclear weapons. Yet they continue starting it all over. We wiped it out, and they want to start all over again and are at this moment again pursuing their sinister ambitions,’ Trump said Tuesday, referencing the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities last summer. 

‘We are in negotiations with them. They want to make a deal, but we haven’t heard those secret words, ‘We will never have a nuclear weapon,’’ Trump added. ‘My preference is to solve this problem through diplomacy. But one thing is certain, I will never allow the world’s number one sponsor of terror, which they are by far, to have a nuclear weapon. Can’t let that happen.’ 

‘For decades it had been the policy of the United States never to allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon. Many decades. Since they seized control of that proud nation 47 years ago, the regime and its murderous proxies have spread nothing but terrorism and death and hate,’ Trump also said during his speech. ‘They’ve killed and maimed thousands of American service members and hundreds of thousands and even millions of people with what’s called roadside bombs. They were the kings of the roadside bomb. And we took out [Iranian Gen. Qassim] Soleimani. I did that during my first term. Had a huge impact. He was the father of the roadside bomb.’ 

‘And just over the last couple of months with the protests, they’ve killed, at least, it looks like 32,000 protesters in their own country. They shot them and hung them. We stopped them from hanging a lot of them, with the threat of serious violence. But this is some terrible people. They’ve already developed missiles that can threaten Europe and our bases overseas, and they’re working to build missiles that will soon reach the United States of America,’ Trump said.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said following Trump’s address that, ‘No one should be fooled by these prominent untruths.’ 

‘Whatever they’re alleging in regards to Iran’s nuclear program, Iran’s ballistic missiles, and the number of casualties during January’s unrest is simply the repetition of ‘big lies,’’ Baghaei claimed on X. 

Iran lashed out after President Donald Trump put the regime on notice in his State of the Union address, delivering a forceful warning about Tehran’s ambitions while world leaders largely stayed silent in the immediate aftermath of the speech.

Speaking amid the largest deployment of U.S. aircraft and warships to the Middle East since the 2003 Iraq War buildup, Trump said he wanted to resolve tensions with Iran through diplomacy while accusing Tehran of expanding its missile capabilities.

‘They’ve already developed missiles that can threaten Europe and our bases overseas,’ he said. ‘And they’re working to build missiles that will soon reach the United States of America.’

‘My preference is to solve this problem through diplomacy,’ Trump added. ‘They want to make a deal. But we haven’t heard those secret words: we will never have a nuclear weapon.’

‘But one thing is certain, I will never allow the world’s number one sponsor of terror… to have a nuclear weapon. Can’t let that happen.’

Trump argued that previous U.S. action, including the ‘Operation Midnight Hammer’ strike in June, had severely degraded Iran’s capabilities but warned the threat had not disappeared.

‘We wiped it out and they want to start all over again and are at this moment again pursuing their sinister ambitions,’ he said.

Tehran sharply rejected Trump’s claims about its missile and nuclear programs. According to The Associated Press, Iranian officials characterized U.S. statements as propaganda while stopping short of closing the door on diplomacy ahead of the Geneva talks.

The Times of India reported that Iranian officials warned that any U.S. military strike, even a ‘limited’ one, would be treated as aggression and met with a decisive response.

The exchange underscored the widening gap between public rhetoric and ongoing diplomatic efforts as Washington and Tehran prepared for another round of nuclear talks in Geneva.

Trump also linked his foreign policy agenda to broader regional security efforts, pointing to recent operations in the Western Hemisphere and the U.S. campaign against drug cartels.

‘We’re also restoring American security and dominance in the Western Hemisphere, acting to secure our national interests and defend our country from violence, drugs, terrorism, and foreign interference,’ he said. ‘Large swaths of territory in our region, including large parts of Mexico… have been controlled by murderous drug cartels. That’s why I designated these cartels as foreign terrorist organizations… We’ve also taken down one of the most sinister cartel kingpins of all. You saw that yesterday,’ he said, referring to the operation that killed Mexican drug lord El Mencho.

European coverage portrayed the speech as assertive and confrontational, with analysts watching closely for implications for NATO coordination, Ukraine policy and trade relations. Reporting emphasized Trump’s linkage between diplomacy and military readiness, as well as the administration’s broader posture toward alliances and deterrence.

‘NATO countries… have just agreed, at my very strong request, to pay 5% of GDP for military defense rather than the 2%,’ Trump said during the address, presenting the move as evidence of shifting burden-sharing within the alliance.

Across global media, one theme emerged clearly: the address appeared primarily geared toward domestic political messaging while still carrying international signaling effects.

Trump repeatedly tied American military power to deterrence, telling lawmakers the United States would ‘never hesitate to confront threats to America wherever we must,’ while emphasizing a broader strategy of ‘peace through strength,’ according to Reuters coverage of the speech.

Foreign policy analysts cited in international reporting described the address as reinforcing a transactional approach to global security, with diplomacy presented as conditional and backed by force.

For Tehran, the message was unmistakable. Trump framed the nuclear issue as non-negotiable in outcome, as the next round of negotiations is set to start in Geneva on Thursday.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.