US President Donald Trump delivered a confident and combative State of the Union address, declaring what he called the beginning of a “golden age of America.” Speaking about his return to the White House, Trump described it as a major turning point and said the country was now “back- bigger, better, richer and stronger than ever before.”
The address began with loud chants of “USA! USA!” from lawmakers after House Speaker Mike Johnson introduced the president. Trump acknowledged First Lady Melania Trump and Second Lady Usha Vance during his speech. Both received standing ovations from Republican members present in the chamber.
Reflecting on his earlier speech in the same chamber, Trump said that when he last addressed lawmakers a year ago, he had “inherited a nation in crisis, with a stagnant economy.” He claimed that his administration had changed the country’s direction in a short time.
“I secured commitments for more than $18 trillion pouring in from all over the globe,” he said. He then added, “Now we are the hottest country anywhere in the world — the hottest.”
Trump also spoke about energy and foreign relations. He said that the United States had received more than 80 million barrels of oil from its “new friend and partner,” Venezuela. He promised to revive America’s oil industry and referred to the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. According to Trump, Maduro had been taken to New York to face drug-trafficking charges.
The president also praised American athletes during his speech. He gave a shoutout to the women’s team, which received a standing ovation despite not being present in the chamber. Both the men’s and women’s teams had won gold medals at the Winter Olympics in Milan. The women’s team had declined an invitation to attend Tuesday’s State of the Union address, citing scheduling concerns. As members of the gold medal-winning men’s team appeared during the speech, Trump said the women’s team “will soon be coming to the White House.”
Trump sharply criticised his political opponents during the address. He targeted Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar and repeated his claim that “Somali pirates ransacked Minnesota” through “bribery, corruption and lawlessness.”
“Importing these cultures through unrestricted immigration and open borders brings those problems right here to the USA,” Trump asserted.
Omar, who represents Minnesota, responded from her seat and called the president a “liar.”
During the speech, Trump also repeated his claim that he had stopped eight wars in his first 10 months in office. He said these included preventing a “nuclear war” between India and Pakistan. He stated, “In my first 10 months, I ended eight wars… Pakistan and India would have had a nuclear war. 35 million people, said the Prime Minister of Pakistan, would have died if it were not for my involvement.”
This was the first time Trump claimed that Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had told him that 35 million people would have died during Operation Sindoor if he had not intervened. Trump offered no additional details about how he was involved.
He made these statements while highlighting what he described as major achievements during his first State of the Union address of his second term. The conflicts he claimed to have resolved include those between Israel and Hamas, Israel and Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia, India and Pakistan, Serbia and Kosovo, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and Cambodia and Thailand.
India had repeatedly denied Trump’s claims of acting as a mediator between India and Pakistan during their four-day conflict. When asked about Trump’s role, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar remarked that the US “was in the United States.”
India has consistently rejected any third-party role in stopping the conflict. According to the Indian government, it was Pakistan’s Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) who contacted his Indian counterpart through the military hotline and requested a halt to the offensive. This led to what Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri described as a “ceasefire understanding.”
The background to the conflict lies in the April 22 terrorist attack in Pahalgam, which killed 26 tourists. In response, India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7 last year. The operation targeted terror infrastructure linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Trump’s latest remarks have reportedly caused embarrassment in Pakistan. Last year, Islamabad had nominated the US President for the Nobel Peace Prize for what it described as his “diplomatic intervention” in stopping the war. His recent statement that Pakistan’s prime minister warned of 35 million deaths has drawn attention once again to the claims.
Throughout the speech, Trump maintained a confident tone, focusing on economic revival, energy independence, global diplomacy, and national pride. He presented his administration’s record as one of strong leadership and global influence, while also attacking critics and defending his policies on immigration and foreign affairs.
