U.S. President Donald Trump points during the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 24, 2026. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
Someone inside President Donald Trump's team pulled off a slick bait-and-switch at Tuesday's State of the Union, according to Amanda Marcotte's latest analysis in Slate.
Marcotte wrote on Wednesday that the president's staff apparently came to the realization of the consequences of giving Americans a peek into an unfettered Trump.
"Someone on Trump’s team understood that it would backfire if casual viewers were subject to his usual whining and crying, so the first part of Tuesday night’s speech wisely took a bland, positive tone," she wrote.
Trump celebrated the men's hockey team, handed out medals, and made vague promises about housing and healthcare prices, all as fact-checkers tried to debunk his barrage of exaggerated claims in real-time. Republicans in attendance dutifully hopped out of their seats and cheered.
Once the clock hit the first hour and casual viewers switched off their TVs, the real Trump emerged, Marcotte said. Trump whined about tariffs, shared his grievances about Democrats, and eventually, turned to "unvarnished racism," blaming immigrants for crime.
Marcotte noted Trump's approval ratings have collapsed to 37-39%, with just 32% of Americans believing he has the right priorities. Yet his team has mastered keeping his most extreme moments confined to late-night viewing hours.
"It’s the trick they have mastered, keeping his lunacy where plugged-in liberals see it but others, who pay little attention, cannot believe it is really that bad. Thankfully, it won’t ultimately matter. His polls are collapsing because the real world effects of Trump’s incompetence are sinking in with voters. And no amount of manipulation at the State of the Union can change that," she concluded.