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- [00:05]
Gideon Resnick
Good morning. President Trump delivers the longest State of the Union address in history, breaking his own record.
- [00:11]
Donald Trump
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. It is indeed a turnaround for the ages.
- [00:23]
Gideon Resnick
NBC News gives us the main takeaways.
- [00:26]
Cecilia Lay
Violence in Mexico raises questions for World cup security. We'll speak to the athletic and the country that could put a cap on its own population.
- [00:34]
Gideon Resnick
It's Wednesday, February 25th. I'm Gideon Resnick.
- [00:37]
Cecilia Lay
And I'm Cecilia Lay.
- [00:39]
Gideon Resnick
This is Apple News. Today. That address to Congress comes at a challenging moment for the president and his party as he faces headwinds before this year's midterm elections. And as recent polls suggest that Trump's approval ratings have steadily declined.
- [00:56]
Donald Trump
I say tonight, members of Congress, the State of Our Union is strong.
- [01:07]
Gideon Resnick
For much of the nearly two hour speech, Trump stuck largely to the script, defending his economic record and pointing to policies targeted at middle class Americans like Social Security, tax cuts and lower mortgage rates. Sahil Kapoor is a political reporter for NBC News. He was in the press gallery and gave us his takeaways.
- [01:24]
Sahil Kapoor
It was a very triumphant speech by President Trump, a very triumphant State of the Union. He was touting his policies. He was celebrating the economy. He was somewhat braggadocious about his immigration crackdown. Those were the two issues, the economy and immigration, that sent him back to the White House. What's notable here is that the mood of the country has soured on his handling of both the economy and on the issue of immigration. Recently.
- [01:54]
Gideon Resnick
On the economy, Trump returned to the issue of tariffs, which dominated the administration's first year, but were struck down last week in a historic Supreme Court ruling. Trump said that he and Treasury Secretary Scott Besant would not change course, pledging additional economic sanctions and holding nations to the agreements they've made under threat.
- [02:12]
Donald Trump
But the good news is that almost all countries and corporations want to keep the deal that they already made, right, Scott? Knowing that the legal power that I as president have to make a new deal could be far worse for them, and therefore they will continue to work along the same successful path that we had negotiated before the Supreme Court's unfortunate involvement.
- [02:40]
Gideon Resnick
Indeed, a new global tariff rate of 10% went into effect after midnight. Trump also devoted a lot of time to immigration. Public support for the administration on this issue, one that in part propelled him back into office, has dropped significantly since the fatal shootings of Renee Goode and Alex Preddy in Minneapolis during protests against immigration enforcement. While Trump spoke of deporting criminals and securing the border. He did not mention the immigration operations in that city that sparked so much backlash. Then, almost 90 minutes in, Trump addressed what could be the most consequential foreign policy decision of his second term, whether to strike Iran. Right now, there is a massive military presence gathered in the region, and many were listening for a sense of Trump's thinking.
- [03:22]
Donald Trump
My preference is to solve this problem through diplomacy, but one thing is certain. I will never allow the world's number one sponsor of terror, which they are by far, to have a nuclear weapon. Can't let that happen.
- [03:37]
Gideon Resnick
That was one of the few moments that brought some Democrats to their feet. But throughout, Trump repeatedly criticized them for failing to stand and applaud. Democrats appear to have made a conscious decision to mostly sit quietly. Though some left the chamber early, others still skipped the event entirely and held an alternative rally outside the Capitol.
- [03:54]
Sahil Kapoor
The Democrats were, in some cases, they were nonreactive. They were motionless. They were just kind of sitting there staring at him. In other cases, when he started trash talking the Democrats, some of them shouted back at him. So there was a real desire, it seemed, for confrontation on the part of Trump toward Democrats.
- [04:14]
Donald Trump
Look, nobody stands up. These people are crazy. I'm telling you, they're crazy.
- [04:21]
Gideon Resnick
Later in the night, it was the newly elected Virginia Governor, Abigail Spanberger, who offered the official Democratic response.
- [04:27]
Cecilia Lay
Is the president working to make life more affordable for you and your family? We all know the answer is no. Here's the truth. Over the last year, through doge mass firings and the appointment of deeply unserious people to our nation's most serious positions, our president has endangered the long and storied history of of the United States of America being a force for good.
- [04:57]
Gideon Resnick
Putting the focus on issues like affordability signaled a likely approach for the party in this year's midterm elections. And Kapoor told us that Republicans are already bracing for a challenging political environment.
- [05:08]
Sahil Kapoor
It's very clear President Trump is staying the course on the issue of the economy and on his immigration policy. The country has turned against him on both those issues. The economy has suddenly become the Democrats best weapon against him in midterm elections. And this caused some real concern among Republicans, especially those who have to fight for reelection in competitive districts and competitive states. There was not a lot in this speech that a Republican facing a competitive reelection could look at and say, things are gonna improve in terms of the environment between now and November.
- [05:43]
Gideon Resnick
You can find more coverage of the speech, reaction and fact checking today in the Apple News app. Cecilia is coming up next with more.
- [05:58]
Cecilia Lay
The violence sparked by the killing of Mexico's most powerful drug lord appears, for now at least, to be calming down. But the last few days have brought unwelcome global attention to the Jalisco region, the Mexican state that will be hosting the FIFA World cup in June. Felipe Cardenas is a senior writer with the Athletic.
- [06:16]
Felipe Cardenas
So that's where a lot of the unrest has taken place since Sunday, and some of that did spill over to Puerto Vallarta. So when the World cup starts, for instance, Uruguay, one of the participating nations they're based during the World cup, will be in Puerto Vallarta.
- [06:31]
Cecilia Lay
And Guadalajara, the capital of the Jalisco region, will host four games involving big teams like Mexico and Spain. Yesterday, President Claudia Sheinbaum was asked about cartel violence insecurity at World Cup.
- [06:55]
Felipe Cardenas
She was asked from a reporter in Mexico whether she could offer guarantees from a security perspective for the World cup, not just in Mexico but particularly in Guadalajara. And she said yes, all guarantees will be in place. When that reporter followed up with a question regarding would visitors to Mexico and visitors to the Jalisco region be at risk, she said, no risk.
- [07:17]
Cecilia Lay
Cardenas adds that since intracartel dynamics are impossible to predict, it's hard to know whether unrest will resurge between now and June. Meanwhile, in Congress, the issue of World cup security in the US Was in the spotlight yesterday. There was a hearing over funding that's been approved for World cup events, which is now stuck in limbo because of the Department of Homeland Security shutdown. Here's Democratic Representative Nellie Poe, who represents parts of northern New Jersey, where the World cup final will take place, $625 million in security funding that Congress has already appropriated for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. This is money meant to help cities and states keep their games safe. These funds are just sitting there collecting dust, waiting for FEMA approval and to be dispersed. Officials from various host locations testified that local and federal authorities haven't been coordinating sufficiently about security. The DHS funding block is also causing planning problems for promo events like FIFA's signature Fanfest, which is set to take place in Miami. Cardenas told us the situation in Miami is a microcosm of the challenges cities face when putting on the World Cup.
- [08:35]
Felipe Cardenas
It takes a lot of funding for these host cities. FIFA gives them a blueprint that is very demanding in terms of how these World cup events should be organized. And if the lawmakers in these cities feel like they're left out in the cold because of a government shutdown or they just simply don't have the funding yet. It really does shine the wrong type of light on World cup preparation. I think some of these cities have a right to be upset at this point.
- [09:06]
Cecilia Lay
As some political parties in Europe promise more hardline immigration policies to their voters, one country may take on a novel policy experiment that could fundamentally reshape its economy. This summer, Switzerland will vote on a proposal that would radically limit its immigration numbers, but not by reducing asylum claims or creating new criteria for entry, like what's being done in neighboring countries.
- [09:29]
Bastian Benrad Wright
The Swiss proposal is actually proposing to not discriminate on any economic basis, but just say, okay, after 10 million people, there's no more space in this country.
- [09:37]
Cecilia Lay
Bastian Benrad Wright is Bloomberg's economy and government reporter in Switzerland.
- [09:42]
Bastian Benrad Wright
After the Swiss population reaches nine and a half million people, which is actually quite soon because right now we are at 9.1 million, it demands from the government measures to reduce incoming immigration.
- [09:56]
Cecilia Lay
Migration has contributed the most to Switzerland's population growth, which has far outstripped its neighbors in recent years. So this new policy would require some big changes. If the population reaches 9.5 million before 2050, the government would have to deny entry to newcomers, including asylum seekers, families of foreign residents and those arriving to fill skills gaps. And if that doesn't stop the population from reaching 10 million before 2050, the government would be forced to withdraw from certain international treaties. If the population isn't curbed further, two years later, Switzerland would terminate the free movement deal with the European Union, which allows people to settle in Switzerland with ease. Ben Red Wright explained to us that while Switzerland is a small country, it has a dynamic economic model that relies on foreign workers.
- [10:45]
Bastian Benrad Wright
Companies have basically been saying, okay guys, this is not going to work. Like we need to be able to recruit from there, otherwise we cannot meet our need for talent and also, quite frankly, of workers in general.
- [10:56]
Cecilia Lay
All but one political party is against the idea, but a recent poll suggested that nearly half the population is ready to support it. The anti immigration Swiss People's Party topped the polls at the last election and Benred Wright told us that they are presenting this proposal as a way of preserving what they see as the Swiss lifestyle and addressing problems like rising rents. But Switzerland's business community isn't excited by this. Big companies like the pharmaceutical giant Roche as well as Nestle and UBS have come out against the proposal.
- [11:28]
Bastian Benrad Wright
I think it's a very interesting litmus test of how far populism goes, because the problems which the country faces are very much problems which a lot of wealthy societies face. But it's like to be very clear, the entire business community here in Switzerland have spoken out against us and have said, okay guys, so if this goes through and if we cannot recruit outside of Switzerland anymore, then we just have to take our business elsewhere.
- [11:54]
Cecilia Lay
The Swiss will vote on the proposal in June. And finally, a few other stories we're following. The shipping company FedEx is suing the Trump administration for refunds on any tariffs it paid the government under the International Emergency Economics Power Act. Last Friday, the Supreme Court ruled that Trump had exceeded his presidential authority when he used the act to impose sweeping tariffs on almost all U.S. trade trading partners. In the lawsuit, FedEx said it imported goods from countries subjected to the duties while tariffs were in effect. Back in September, the company said the tariffs could result in a dent of a billion dollars in earnings during fiscal year 2026. FedEx's lawsuit is the first refund case brought by a major corporation since the Supreme Court's Friday ruling. Similar suits have been filed over the last few months, including by Costco, the cosmetics company Revlon, and canned food seller Bumblebee. The president and director of the Louvre in Paris stepped down yesterday, four months after an eight minute brazen heist stripped the museum of over $100 million in French crown jewels. President Emmanuel Macron called the resignation of Laurence Descartes, quote, an act of responsibility. In an interview with the French daily newspaper Le Figaro, Descartes said she hadn't been able to steer the Louvre through the robbery's fallout. She also acknowledged the museum was in need of deep reform. The resignation arrives at a critical moment. In addition to security failures, the Louvre has been facing scrutiny over labor unrest in a suspected decade long ticket fraud operation. Since early last year, Macron has championed a sweeping overhaul the Louvre, framing it as both a national priority and a defense of French cultural prestige. Lastly, a massive snowball fight in Manhattan's Washington Square park on Monday has turned into a political blame game. After police union leaders demanded arrests and assault charges. Dozens had gathered to welcome the city's first blizzard in a decade. But the light hearted fun turned into chaos when police arrived to control the crowd and were met with a barrage of snowballs, forcing them to retreat.
- [14:09]
Gideon Resnick
Thank you, thank you, Lonnie.
- [14:14]
Cecilia Lay
According to nypd, as many as four officers were taken to a hospital with face cuts and the head of the department called the behavior disgraceful and criminal. And yesterday, Mayor Zoran Mamdani weighed in and called on New Yorkers to treat officers with respect. At a news conference later in the afternoon. However, he said the episode looked like a snowball fight and that participants shouldn't face charges. You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And if you're already listening in the news app right now, we've got a narrated article coming up Next Town and Country takes a deep dive into the world of private sector schools in Miami and how the once sleepy market has become a fierce competition between wealthy newcomers. If you're listening in the podcast app, follow Apple News plus Narrated to find that story. And I'll be back with the news tomorrow.