Although it wasn’t an official State of the Union speech, he attempted to offer the nation his vision for the next year of his term, akin to the usual annual address presidents give to Congress.
The more than 90-minute event, the longest in presidential history, featured Trump claiming he would renew the American Dream, usher in a new era of America First priorities, and unleash sweeping policies to revamp the nation after four years under former President Joe Biden.
Ahead of his first official State of the Union address on Tuesday, the Washington Examiner evaluated which promises Trump delivered on from his remarks last year and which promises he came up short on.
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Promises kept: immigration, DEI, federal government
One of Trump’s biggest wins since the address last year is his efforts to crack down on the U.S.-Mexico border. During his address, he touted that he “declared a national emergency on our southern border, and deployed the U.S. military and Border Patrol to repel the invasion of our country.”
Last month, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection released operational statistics that showed an eighth consecutive month of zero release of illegal immigrants and a record low number of encounters at the border in December 2025.
In October, illegal border crossings hit their lowest level in more than half a century, at fewer than 9,000, according to CBS. The illegal immigration crackdown “would probably be the one that he has delivered on the most,” said GOP strategist Ford O’Connell about Trump’s promises.
Trump also promised to freeze federal hiring and order federal workers back to in-person work, which he did through executive action. Through the Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk, about 317,000 federal workers left their jobs by the end of 2025, according to the Office of Personnel Management. Many were fired, laid off through reduction-in-force notices, or retired or quit due to the increasing pressure of the Trump administration to trim the federal workforce.
“We found hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud. And we’ve taken back the money and reduced our debt to fight inflation and other things. Taking back a lot of that money, we got it just in time,” Trump said during his speech.
The president also fulfilled his promise to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in the federal government. He has signed executive orders that barred federal contractors from implementing DEI, ended DEI programs in the federal government, and directed the Pentagon to end DEI in the military.
He also withdrew the U.S. from the “unfair Paris Climate Accord,” dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development, and slashed U.S. funding for “woke” foreign assistance, as well as slashed wasteful government spending.
“We’ve ended the tyranny of so-called Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policies all across the entire federal government and indeed the private sector and our military. And our country will be woke no longer,” Trump boasted.
Promises Delayed: Economy, Greenland, Russia-Ukraine war
Trump declared he had “won affordability” during an economic address in Rome, Georgia, on Thursday. But the reality of lowering everyday prices is much harder for Trump, who last year repeatedly claimed he would fix the economy.
The economy grew at a 1.4% seasonally adjusted annual rate in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis’s estimate of gross domestic product on Friday. The rate was far below economists’ forecasts of a 3% increase in the fourth quarter.
Furthermore, Trump’s sweeping “Liberation Day” tariffs were struck down by the Supreme Court on Friday, in a significant setback for the president’s signature economic agenda item that Trump regularly touts as bringing in billions of dollars in new revenue.
A defiant Trump quickly imposed a new global 10% tariff under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 during a press briefing that same day. He also claimed he wouldn’t ask Congress to approve of his wide-sweeping tariffs. “I don’t have to,” Trump said. “I have the right to do tariffs, and it’s all been approved by Congress, so there’s no reason to.”
A Wall Street Journal poll published last month showed that 49% of participants said the economy had gotten worse, compared with 35% who said it had gotten better. The poll also showed that 54% said they disapprove of Trump’s handling of the economy, while said 44% they approve. Even more worrying for Trump is that 58% said the Trump administration was more responsible for the state of the economy, while just 31% said the Biden administration was responsible.
Skyrocketing electricity prices have also undermined Trump’s promise to rapidly reduce energy costs. Between January 2025 and January 2026, the price of electricity rose 6.3%, while piped natural gas increased by 9.8%, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Although, to Trump’s defense, the price of gasoline dropped 7.5%.
Trump was able to muscle through the “Big Beautiful Bill,” the landmark tax and spending cuts bill, last summer. The legislation includes language that fulfills Trump’s promise to eliminate a tax on tips. But the GOP has faced raucous town halls from voters furious over Medicaid cuts and other policies within the sweeping legislation.
Still, Trump can point to the fact that overall GDP growth in 2025 came in at 2.2%, beating predictions made at the end of the year.
In his speech last year, Trump also previewed his desire to acquire Greenland as a U.S. territory, a wish that he recently ratcheted up last month. But given Greenland’s status as an autonomous territory of Denmark, a NATO member, it was always going to be hard for Trump to fulfill this goal.
European leaders expressed outrage at Trump’s remarks in the aftermath of the stunning capture of former Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro on Jan. 3. Ultimately, Trump agreed to a “framework of a future deal” between the United States and NATO regarding Greenland, but it’s not clear when, if ever, the European nation will become a U.S. territory.
In his address to Congress, the president reiterated his desire to reclaim the Panama Canal to curb China’s influence in the region. But a year later, the canal remains under Panama’s control, not the U.S.
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Trump has pressured China to sell the Chinese-based company that operates ports in the canal to a U.S. consortium that includes BlackRock. The administration did score some victories when Panama’s Supreme Court ruled last month that contracts under which a subsidiary of the Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison operates over the canal are unconstitutional.
Trump also pushed for an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine during his speech. “It’s time to stop this madness. It’s time to halt the killing. It’s time to end this senseless war,” he said.
But negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have been “tough,” Trump conceded during the inaugural meeting of the Board of Peace.
“I thought this would be easy, because I have a very good relationship with President Putin,” said Trump.
