The New York Times contended that President Donald Trump had Democrats right where he wanted them Tuesday night when they refused to stand for the proposition that their first duty is to protect American citizens.
The Times’ Shawn McCreesh wrote, “Almost an hour into his speech, President Trump set his trap.”
He then quoted Trump, “One of the great things about the State of the Union is how it gives Americans the chance to see clearly what their representatives really believe.”
“So tonight, I’m inviting every legislator to join with my administration and reaffirming a fundamental principle. If you agree with this statement, then stand up and show your support: The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens,” the president asked.
McCreesh recounted, “Democratic lawmakers stayed in their seats. This was obviously what Mr. Trump was hoping might happen.”
“You should be ashamed of yourself [for] not standing up,” the president told them.
White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller responded on social media, “POTUS laid out clearly and deliberately: show Americans if you agree with this statement by standing. And 0 democrats stood for the foundational principle of all government that leaders must serve citizens before invaders. Never has there been a more stunning moment in Congress.”
POTUS laid out clearly and deliberately: show Americans if you agree with this statement by standing. And 0 democrats stood for the foundational principle of all government that leaders must serve citizens before invaders. Never has there been a more stunning moment in Congress. https://t.co/KpMBchLfc4
— Stephen Miller (@StephenM) February 25, 2026
Mediaite’s Colby Hall agreed with the Times about the effectiveness of that moment in Trump’s speech.
“That exchange quickly became the viral clip of the night, but it mattered for a deeper reason. In less than a minute, it crystallized the governing logic of the entire address into a shareable piece of political theater. The confrontation, the moral framing, the visible split in the chamber — it compressed the broader speech into something built for social feeds and cable chyrons. The rest of the evening was scaffolding. That was the load-bearing beam,” he wrote.
“The stand-and-sit moment was engineered accordingly. Democrats had no clean option. Standing would have validated his framing that immigration policy is inseparable from public safety. Remaining seated supplied the image he wanted. The asymmetry was the point — it turned disagreement into spectacle and made posture stand in for principle,” Hall added.
He noted that Trump had laid the groundwork for that moment by introducing people sitting in the gallery who had been impacted by illegal immigrant crime, including “a fatal truck crash, a stabbing on a train, a murdered teenager, a National Guard ambush — each story vivid and emotionally wrenching.”
President Trump honored this sweet 7-year-old, Dalilah Coleman, at his State of the Union address last night.
This beautiful little girl wanted to be a gymnast or a wrestler, but an illegal immigrant truck driver took that dream away from her in one crash.
Now she’s learning… pic.twitter.com/LAgvnu0yRT
— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) February 25, 2026
CNN reported after the speech that 64 percent of people watching it felt that Trump’s policies will move the country in the right direction.
🚨 CNN’s David Chalian: “64% of speech watchers say President Trump’s polices will move the country in the right direction.”pic.twitter.com/g6AVESFbbe
— Derrick Evans (@DerrickEvans4WV) February 25, 2026
Pre-speech, that number had been 54 percent, CNN noted.
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