Trump is deep underwater in opinion polls and Republicans fear they could lose their tiny majority in the House to the Democrats - paralysing the rest of Trump’s second term and exposing him to a possible third impeachment.
However, the Republican struck a defiant tone in the first official State of the Union of his second term.
“Tonight, after just one year, I can say with dignity and pride that we have achieved a transformation like no one has ever seen before, and a turnaround for the ages,” Trump said.
And he sought to seize on national enthusiasm over Team USA’s gold medal winning Olympic ice hockey performance, inviting the players to join him on the floor of the Chamber to massive cheers and chants of “USA”.
He then announced he was awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom - the highest civilian honour - to the team’s goalie.
The New York Times said at least 40 Democrats were set to skip the speech.
‘Confront threats to America’
As US naval and air forces massed around Iran, Trump struck a tough posture.
There was intense scrutiny over whether Trump would use the speech to announce his next moves in Iran, where he has threatened to use force to crush the country’s nuclear ambitions.
“As President, I will make peace wherever I can - but I will never hesitate to confront threats to America wherever we must,” Trump was to say, according to the excerpts.
He also boasted that Venezuela, where US forces toppled long-time strongman Nicolas Maduro in January, was now shipping oil to the United States.
Long speech
Speculation mounted that the speech could be as long as three hours - far outstripping the hour and 40 minutes that Trump gave in the longest-ever speech to lawmakers last year.
The annual speech to Congress is a rare chance to appear on all the major television networks simultaneously - and Trump is hoping to take advantage to shift the country’s mood ahead of November’s Midterms.
Trump has been battered by a series of blows in the second year of his second term, most recently with the Supreme Court’s striking down of his trade tariffs policy.
Trump, who earlier branded the court’s justices “fools and lapdogs” over the tariff ruling, briefly shook hands with several of the justices in attendance but went on in his speech to declare their ruling “very unfortunate”.
The billionaire has also been rocked by a backlash by the killing of two US citizens in immigration raids in Minneapolis, the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, and a new partial government shutdown.
A Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll published on Sunday showed his approval rating at 39%. Only 41% approved of his handling of the economy overall, and just 32% on inflation.
Hockey players, Epstein victims
Adding to the interest were guests that both Republicans and Democrats brought to watch the address from the gallery, part of a long tradition.
In addition to inviting the men’s ice hockey team, Trump announced that the women’s team - which also won gold at the Olympics - would be coming to the White House.
This came after the team said it would not attend the State of the Union amid controversy over Trump’s public joke to the men’s team about having to bring the women too.
Two Democratic members of the House of Representatives said they were bringing as guests the family members of a victim of Epstein’s alleged sex-trafficking ring.
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