Trump set to address the nation as dozens of Democrats say they’ll boycott

As President Trump prepares to deliver his annual State of the Union address Tuesday night, the event will unfold against the backdrop of widening Democratic protest and mounting resistance from lawmakers poised to balk at the president’s remarks.

More than 30 congressional Democrats have pledged to boycott the address altogether, while others plan to attend alternative events designed to compete with the president’s messaging.

“I think we are going to hear two different States of the Union: One from the president that is going to be full of lies and then you are going to hear the truth,” California Sen. Alex Padilla, who will deliver the Democrats’ Spanish-language response, said at a news conference Tuesday afternoon.

Democrats who plan to skip the president’s formal address to Congress have stated they are doing so because they do not want to give credence to Trump. Others intend to voice their opposition by inviting guests who have been affected by his agenda.

California Democrats Rep. Robert Garcia and Rep. Ro Khanna will attend alongside Annie Farmer and Haley Robson, two survivors of Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender whose trafficking crimes have dogged Trump since he returned to office a year ago.

“I’ve invited Annie to the State of the Union so she can join other survivors and remind the President of his refusal to release all of the Epstein files,” Garcia wrote Monday in a post on X.

The Democratic opposition underscores the tense political moment that Trump faces early in his second term, when the stakes are high for Republicans seeking to maintain control of Congress ahead of the midterm elections.

Trump, who is set to begin speaking at 6 p.m. Pacific Time, is expected to frame the moment as one defined by economic successes and fulfilled campaign promises, particularly regarding his administration’s immigration crackdown.

He is also expected to make an appeal to his religious base. Trump has invited Erika Kirk, the widow of the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk, and intends to use her presence to highlight the “tremendous revival of faith” since Kirk’s assassination, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on X.

“The president will call on Congress to ‘firmly reject political violence against our fellow citizens’ with Charlie Kirk’s widow in the chamber,” Leavitt added.

The president’s remarks may also shed light on his thinking regarding international conflicts brewing in the Middle East and Mexico, as Trump pressures the southern neighbor to curb drug trafficking.

Another potential topic in the address is tariffs, especially after the Supreme Court ruled on Friday that Trump’s preferred tariffs policy was illegal and could not stand without congressional approval.

Trump has been adamant he intends to impose new tariffs by different means, suggesting he should not require congressional approval to do so. However, if Trump insists on imposing new tariffs, his push will be at odds with Republican leaders.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told reporters Monday it would be a “challenge to find consensus on any path forward on the tariffs, on the legislative side.”

How Trump handles the tariffs issue will underscore the critical moment Congress faces as it navigates the president’s second term. In recent months, Trump’s willingness to sideline Congress on major policy decisions—whether trade or national security—has exposed fractures within his own party and deepened partisan divisions.

Tuesday night’s event could highlight those internal tensions.

Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) has been critical of Trump’s use of military force without congressional approval since his administration began targeting alleged drug boats in the Caribbean Sea late last year.

As Trump considers a military attack on Iran, Schiff is once again raising concerns that the president is stoking broader conflicts abroad.

“Our allies don’t trust us. Our adversaries don’t fear us,” Schiff said on the Senate floor Tuesday. “When the next crisis comes—and it will come, and it may even be caused by this president—we will find ourselves isolated.”

Trump’s push for greater federal control over elections could also expose fractures within Congress. In May, at Trump’s behest, the Justice Department began demanding voter registration data from states nationwide.

Democrats view this as a pretext for bogus voter fraud claims, as congressional Republicans prepare new barriers to voter registration through the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act.

“The Trump administration is not being shy about threatening to undermine and steal this November’s election,” Padilla said. “They know their record is not just unpopular but has been so harmful to working families that their only hope to stay in power is to initiate a voter purge.”

Democrats’ concerns have been heightened by comments from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem last week, in which she outlined plans to station federal immigration agents at polling stations “to make sure we have the right people voting, electing the right leaders.”
https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2026-02-24/trump-state-of-the-union

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