Donald Trump’s State of the Union ran an hour and forty-eight minutes — the longest in modern history. Democrats will tell you it was too long. Republicans will tell you it wasn’t long enough. And the country will remember about five moments that, taken together, paint a portrait of where America is and where the two parties stand on the question of what it should be.

Here’s what happened Tuesday night. And here’s why Democrats are going to wish it hadn’t.

“USA! USA! USA!”

The U.S. men’s hockey team won Olympic gold on Sunday, beating Canada in overtime. Two days later, they were standing in the aisles of the House chamber while the entire body — Republicans, Democrats, everyone — chanted “USA.”

It was the only bipartisan moment of the night. And it was telling that the one thing both parties could agree on was cheering for Americans who beat Canadians at hockey. Everything else was a war.

Trump singled out goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, who made 41 saves against Canada to force overtime, and announced he would receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom — the highest civilian honor in the country. “When I say many, not too many — like 12” athletes have received it, Trump said, with the delivery of a man who knows his audience and knows the moment.

The hockey team was pure Americana. Young men, on ice, wearing their country’s flag, winning when it counted. Trump brought them to the speech because they represent exactly what he wants the country to feel: proud, victorious, and unapologetic about it.

Al Green, Take Two

Texas Democratic Rep. Al Green was ejected from the State of the Union. Again.

Green held up a sign reading “Black people aren’t apes!” as Trump entered the chamber and refused to put it down even after the speech began. He got into a heated exchange with Republican Reps. Troy Nehls and Pat Fallon before being escorted out by security.

This is the same Al Green who was removed from Trump’s 2025 joint address for repeatedly interrupting the president by shouting and shaking his cane. That outburst led to his censure by the House, with ten Democrats voting against him.

Green is a performance artist. His protests aren’t designed to change minds or advance policy. They’re designed to create a clip, generate a headline, and position himself as a martyr for a cause that exists primarily in his own imagination. Nobody in the chamber — Republican or Democrat — has called Black people apes. The sign was a response to a controversy Green manufactured, not one that exists.

But the visual serves a purpose. It tells the country that Democrats would rather stage theatrical protests than engage with the substance of a presidential address. And it gives Republicans another clip of a Democrat being removed from the chamber for disruptive behavior.

“You Should Be Ashamed”

We covered this moment earlier, but it bears repeating in context. Trump asked every legislator to stand if they agreed that “the first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.”

Every Republican stood. Every Democrat sat.

“Isn’t that a shame? You should be ashamed of yourself, not standing up,” Trump said.

He then called for ending sanctuary cities, enacting penalties for officials who block the removal of criminal aliens, and confronted Democrats over the DHS shutdown. Omar shouted from her seat: “You have killed Americans. You are a murderer.”

The exchange was the defining moment of the speech. Not because of what Trump said — he’s been making this argument for a decade. But because the Democratic response was captured on camera in the most unflattering way possible. An entire party, seated, refusing to affirm the most basic principle of governance, while one of their members screamed “murderer” at the president.

The Heroes

Trump honored military service members spanning from World War II to the present — and these moments were the emotional core of the speech.

Royce Williams. One hundred years old. A naval aviator who fought in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. In 1952, his squadron was ambushed by seven Soviet fighter jets. He shot down four of them while taking 263 bullets to his own plane. His story was classified for over fifty years. Trump awarded him the Medal of Honor.

Chief Warrant Officer Eric Slover piloted the Chinook helicopter during the mission that captured Maduro in Venezuela. Wounded by hostile fire during the operation. Medal of Honor.

Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe received the Purple Heart after being attacked on the streets of Washington, D.C., ahead of Thanksgiving 2025. Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, was killed in the same attack and posthumously received the Purple Heart.

Coast Guard rescue swimmer Scott Ruskan received the Legion of Merit for rescuing 165 people during the deadly Texas floods in July 2025. It was his first-ever rescue mission. Trump reunited him with 11-year-old Milly Cate McClymond, one of the people he saved. The reunion — the rescuer and the child, together in the chamber — was the moment that silenced the room. No partisan divide. No shouting. Just a young man who saved lives and a little girl who’s alive because of him.

Dalilah

And then there was Dalilah Coleman. Seven years old.

In June 2024, an 18-wheel tractor trailer plowed into her family’s stopped car at 60 miles per hour on a California highway. The driver was an illegal immigrant who had been given a commercial driver’s license under the same system that produced the chameleon carrier networks and sham training schools.

Dalilah was five. Doctors said she would never walk again. Never talk. Never eat on her own. Never have a normal life.

She’s in first grade now. She’s learning to walk. And she was in the chamber Tuesday night with her father, Marcus, while the president described what happened to her and what she’s overcome.

“She’s a great inspiration,” Trump said.

Republicans applauded. Democrats sat in silence — not because they don’t care about a little girl, but because clapping would mean acknowledging that the illegal immigrant who nearly killed her was in the country because of policies they supported, driving a truck because of a licensing system they defended, on a road in a state they govern.

Dalilah Coleman is alive because she’s strong. She’s in that chamber because a president wanted the country to see what open borders cost. And she’s the image that will stay with every parent who watched Tuesday night long after the policy debates fade.

An hour and forty-eight minutes. Gold medals and war heroes. A party that wouldn’t stand for its own citizens. A congresswoman screaming “murderer.” And a seven-year-old girl who can’t walk yet but stood taller than every Democrat in the room.

That was the State of the Union.