The State of the Union Is Long

Summary

Pod Save America: "The State of the Union Is Long"

Episode 1126
Date: February 25, 2026
Hosts: Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, Dan Pfeiffer, Tommy Vietor

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Episode Overview

This episode offers a sharp, unvarnished breakdown of President Donald Trump's record-setting 1 hour and 47 minute State of the Union address—the longest in history, beating even his own former record. The Pod Save America team delivers their trademark irreverent analysis, with humor and exasperation, dissecting the speech's content, style, and political implications, as well as the subsequent Democratic response by Governor Abigail Spanberger. The conversation captures both the absurdity and gravity of the current political moment, highlighting policy, rhetoric, and the broader state of American democracy.

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General Reactions to the Speech

Timestamps: 02:34 – 03:55

• Length & Style:

  • Trump's speech is the "longest State of the Union ever delivered" (02:34 Jon Lovett).
  • The hosts repeatedly describe it as a "crime," a "time crime," and "mostly long and forgettable" (02:57 Dan Pfeiffer; 03:10 Tommy Vietor).
  • Lovett jokes about missing the end due to a TV appearance, stating, "Honestly, if we had gone 40 minutes before it ended, we probably wouldn't have missed anything" (03:49).

• Content & Structure:

  • The opening felt like "Trump hosting his own award show," giving out awards and bragging about national accomplishments (03:59 Jon Lovett).
  • Trump brought in the gold medal-winning men's Olympic hockey team for a live cameo, using them to reinforce his "winning" message repeated since 2017 (04:21 Jon Favreau).

Quote:
"Speech is a crime. Yeah, it's a speech crime." – Jon Lovett (02:59)

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The "Winning" Narrative and Use of Guests

Timestamps: 04:21 – 06:13

• Trump's Favorite Rhetoric:

  • Trump repeats the classic “we’re winning too much” bit, which, according to Favreau, has become tired and embarrassing but still entertains Republicans (05:32).

• Guest Appearances:

  • Guest honors are turned into a political show.
  • Debate among hosts about the Olympic men’s hockey team's choice to participate: Vietor defends the players, while Favreau contends they were used for political purposes and hopes they’ll share if they’re comfortable with that (09:45–12:02).

Quote:
"It is still...an embarrassment to have Donald Trump up there shouting and cavorting with these people and using his usual lines to great effect among Republicans who can't get enough." – Jon Favreau (05:32)

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Responding (or Not) to Real Problems

Timestamps: 06:13 – 08:16

• Disconnect from Reality:
  • Pfeiffer outlines the economic and political realities the speech should have addressed (high discontent with Trump’s policies, tariffs, prices), but Trump instead doubles down on self-congratulation (06:18).
  • The speech is described as a “layup” opportunity wasted, with Trump offering no pivot or acknowledgment of widespread discontent.

Quote:
"This is a speech he gave for himself, written by people only trying to please him and trying to do nothing to actually help Republicans on the ballot." – Dan Pfeiffer (07:46)

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Fact-Checking Trump's Economic Claims

Timestamps: 18:47 – 22:19

• Claims and Falsehoods:

  • Trump repeats exaggerated or false statements about the economy, saying "those prices are plummeting downward" (18:47 Trump).
  • Lovett and Pfeiffer debunk these claims, arguing that telling Americans the economy is great when it clearly isn’t only alienates people further (19:54 Dan Pfeiffer).

• Policy “Proposals”:

  • Actual proposals like ending corporate homebuying and eliminating taxes on tips/overtime come nearly an hour into the speech (19:28 Lovett).
  • Hosts argue these populist measures would have been more effective if presented with discipline and focus (20:42 Jon Favreau).

Quote:
“If you go up there and you tell people the economy is great when they know it's not, you are sticking a thumb in their eye. It is why his approval rating sucks right now.” – Dan Pfeiffer (19:54)

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Media Coverage and Republican Spin

Timestamps: 22:19 – 23:16

• Media Framing:
  • The episode laughs at headlines calling Trump "disciplined" for sticking to the script; hosts argue that merely not lashing out at the Supreme Court is now considered a GOP win (22:24 Lovett, 23:08 Favreau).

Quotes:
“I just think we’re at the point where it’s a good night for Republicans when the president doesn’t call for the public execution of members of the Supreme Court who are in his presence.” – Jon Favreau (23:08)

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Immigration, Tariffs, and the Politics of Fear

Timestamps: 26:42 – 30:22

• Tariffs:

  • Trump doubles down on tariffs even after the Supreme Court’s decision, which Lovett and Pfeiffer ridicule as “insane” to push an unpopular tax increase during economic discontent (25:11 Lovett, 25:21 Jon Favreau).

• Immigration:

  • Trump resorts to “grisly” and racist anecdotes, including attacks on the Somali-American community (26:56 Trump; 27:33–28:21 hosts).
  • The hosts criticize the racism and argue this strategy is outdated: "Trump is living in a 2024 reality, not a 2026 reality." (29:03 Dan Pfeiffer)
  • ICE is conspicuously unmentioned, reflecting its deep unpopularity (30:00–30:22).

Quote:
"I also found, like, the unbelievably racist attacks on the Somali community to be grotesque and dehumanizing." – Tommy Vietor (27:37)

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Orchestrated Moments & Partisan Theater

Timestamps: 34:11 – 37:36

• Scripted Applause Traps:
  • Trump attempts to goad Democrats by setting them up to refuse to stand for "protecting American citizens, not illegal aliens," with the MAGA audience prepped to make this the viral "moment of the night" (34:18 Trump).
  • Hosts mock the predictable theatrics, comparing them to tried-and-failed political stunts of past State of the Union addresses (35:41–36:48).

Quotes:
“They really think that's…the big ‘gotcha’—they really got [the Democrats].” – Jon Lovett (35:28)
“It was clearly planned. It was a setup. They are very proud of themselves…Stephen Miller tweeted: ‘It was a moment that chills to the bone which will live for a thousand years.’" – Jon Lovett (35:24)

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Foreign Policy: Iran and the Ominous Silence

Timestamps: 38:04 – 39:48

• War Warnings:
  • Trump briefly mentions Iran, exaggerating the threat posed by its missiles to the U.S.—a claim that Tommy immediately debunks with current expert assessments (38:26 Tommy Vietor).
  • He falsely claims previous negotiations never secured Iran’s pledge to never pursue nuclear weapons; this is refuted with a direct quote from the original JCPOA under Obama (38:26).

Quote:
“The idea that they're going to hit the continental US is nonsense... The really remarkable thing to me is we're on the cusp of war and [Trump] made no case for it.” – Tommy Vietor (39:42)

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The Democratic Response: Hope for Coherence

Timestamps: 40:10 – 41:43

• Governor Spanberger’s Response:
  • Spanberger delivers a sharp, uncompromising critique, notably slamming ICE and the administration’s corruption, offering a contrast in both content and tone (40:10).
  • Hosts praise her clear speechwriting, her forthrightness on immigration, and the energy from giving her remarks in front of a live crowd.

Quote:
"It was good to hear, like, return to Reality." – Jon Lovett (41:08)

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Wrap-Up and Final Takeaways

Timestamps: 42:39 – 45:33

• Instant Polls:

  • Initial polling shows a low “very positive” reaction to Trump’s speech, the lowest in a decade (42:39).
  • The panel concludes that these speeches are now unlikely to move the political needle or alter the trajectory of Trump’s presidency (43:09).

• On the State of Our Politics:

  • There’s incredulity that simply “sticking to the script” is considered success, and the bar for presidential leadership is now astonishingly low.
  • Lovett imagines showing this speech to a 1996 Republican, underscoring just how far political standards have fallen (44:19).

Quotes:
"The great shame of our nation. A historical atrocity that he is in office. His proof of rating will continue to hover at 38%." – Jon Favreau (43:21)
"I would love to just, like, show this speech to a…typical Republican in 1996. They'd be like, what happened? Was the President injured? Like, what's going on?" – Jon Lovett (44:19)

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Notable Moments & Timestamps

• Opening general impressions: 02:34–03:55
• Trump’s “winning” bit & hockey team cameo: 04:21–06:13
• Dan’s “time crime” line: 03:07
• Controversy over Olympic team participation: 09:45–12:02
• Media’s “sticking to the script” narrative: 22:24–23:16
• Tariffs and economic gaslighting: 18:47–22:19, 25:11–26:09
• Racist immigration rhetoric: 26:56–29:03
• Scripted Democrat “trap:” 34:18–35:49
• Spanberger’s Democratic response: 40:10–41:43
• Panel on instant polls: 42:39–43:09
• Political bar "lower than ever": 44:19

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Tone & Language

In classic Pod Save America style, the hosts mix biting sarcasm and humor with deep exasperation, candid policy criticism, and moments of resigned disbelief. They use direct language—"time crime," "fucking insane," "grotesque," "an embarrassment"—to communicate the stakes for democracy and the oddity of treating the Trump era as routine.

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Conclusion

This episode is both a comedic roast and a serious reckoning with the state of U.S. politics as epitomized by Trump’s grandiose, disconnected State of the Union. The hosts highlight the dangers of normalizing authoritarian rhetoric, the ongoing disconnect between the country’s challenges and Trump’s reality-denying messaging, and the low expectations now governing political analysis and media coverage. The Democratic response offers a brief glimmer of clarity and hope amid the circus.

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For listeners seeking to catch up:

• This summary hits the key debates, fact-checks, best lines, and reveals why, for the hosts, the real “state of our union”—and politics—is “long, surreal, and deeply abnormal.”

Transcript

[Jon Favreau]

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[Dan Pfeiffer]

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[Jon Lovett]

Welcome to Pod Save America. I'm Jon Favreau.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

I'm Dan Pfeiffer. I'm Jon Levitt.

[Tommy Vietor]

Tommy Vitor.

[Jon Lovett]

All right, guys, we are recording this at about 10pm Pacific after enduring a speech that will go down in history as the longest State of the Union ever delivered by a president. 1 hour and 47 minutes. Congrats to Donald Trump on beating the previous record holder. Also Donald Trump. We're going to get into all the gory details, but let's start with some, some general reactions. What'd you guys think, Dan?

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Speech was a crime.

[Jon Lovett]

Speech is a crime. Yeah, it's a speech crime.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

There's a rhetorical crime. Political crime really stole people's time. Yeah.

[Jon Favreau]

Time crime time, crime.

[Tommy Vietor]

Pre crime.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Yeah, yeah.

[Tommy Vietor]

It was mostly long and forgettable was kind of my takeaway. Like he tried to heighten the drama. He did something innovative. Instead of recognizing people of the audience, just having them stand up, he had them enter the chamber. I actually thought that was kind of a.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

That's a great way to get the record if you're trying to have the longest speech ever.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah, that's true.

[Tommy Vietor]

Not a bad touch. I was genuinely surprised he didn't go harder at the Supreme Court justices.

[Jon Favreau]

Yeah.

[Tommy Vietor]

Showed a little discipline there.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah, I figured they would. I figured Susie Wiles would keep him on, keep the shot caller on on that one. It went so long that we, we were on Jimmy Kimmel and we, they had to just do the show while the speech was still going. So we didn't even see the end. That's how long it was.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

And we're better for it.

[Jon Lovett]

And honestly, we didn't miss anything. Honestly, if we had gone 40 minutes before it ended, we probably wouldn't have missed anything.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

I don't really get what he was trying to do here other than set the record for the longest speech.

[Jon Lovett]

Well, so the first 30, 40 minutes was basically Trump hosting his own award show. It was a combo of that. So he's giving out awards to everyone. He's also honoring himself, of course, by just bragging about the country and the economy and everything like that. Let's listen to how the beginning went.

[Donald Trump]

People are asking me, please, please, please, Mr. President, we're winning too much. We can't take it anymore. We're not used to winning in our country until you came along with just always losing. But now we're winning too much. And I say no no, no. You're going to win again. You're going to win big. You're going to win bigger than ever. And to prove that point. To prove that point, here with us tonight is a group of winners who just made the entire nation proud. The men's gold medal Olympic hockey team. Come on in.

[Tommy Vietor]

Get him a better microphone.

[Jon Lovett]

You know, he's complained so many times about his mics at different events and this is the worst one he's ever had. Anyway, that was a nice moment for the men's hockey team.

[Jon Favreau]

I think it was a nice way out of his rambling we're winning too much thing that he's been doing since 2017.

[Jon Lovett]

Basically, he's brought it back recently.

[Jon Favreau]

Yeah.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Cause we're winning again.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah. Do you think that was. Do you think the winning message is. I mean, that was a sample of it. That was the most ridiculous part before he brought up the hockey team. But that first 15 minutes was just straight, like, everything is amazing.

[Jon Favreau]

Yeah. The warmed over old lines like, we're winning so much, people are upset how much we're winning. And watching, watching Mike Johnson and J.D. vance cackle behind. So funny. This charming, charming man. Can't stop myself from being so entertained. Was a bit much because it is still like we're a decade into this and it's still an embarrassment to have Donald Trump up there shouting and cavorting with these people and using his usual lines to great effect. Among Republicans who can't get enough, watching them applaud things that a few years ago that if a Democrat had proposed, they would say was an attack on the very foundation foundations of the country, et cetera.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

I mean, the speech is fucking insane.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Any person who knows anything about politics would have said, here's what you're supposed to do. The American people are unhappy. 60% of them think the country was better off when Joe Biden was president. Three quarters of them think the economy sucks. 50% of them think your policies have made their economic situation worse. 50% of them think they're prices have gone up under you. 60% of them hate your tariffs. And so what you go in, they

[Jon Lovett]

don't like your immigration policy.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

We haven't even gotten to that yet. So this is just the beginning. Is any speech has to deal with the reality on the ground and you have to acknowledge that reality and pivot in. No speech, even the State of the Union changes the trajectory of any presidency. But this is the easiest moment a president has in their presidency. Not for the speechwriters, but from a pure Communications perspective. It is a fucking layup. You get guaranteed applause. You get guaranteed coverage. The press covers it straight, no matter how insane the speech is. And it's where presidents have demonstrated the political pivot they have to make after. When their approval rating is in the high 30s, like Trump says. Right. It is when Bill Clinton said, the Arabic government's over. It's when Obama sort of pivoted towards, like, more ardent populism in 2012, sort of in response to Occupy Wall street and prepare to run against Romney. And he did none of those things. He doubled and tripled down on the exact things that have made him this unpopular. Like, it really is a speech he gave for himself, written by people only trying to please him and trying to do nothing to actually help Republicans on the ballot.

[Jon Lovett]

I think I would have been surprised, Tommy, if he hadn't done that, because, like, I couldn't imagine a speech where he was actually like, I'm gonna acknowledge people's pain.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Well, no, I mean, you gotta do it in the most Trumpian way possible. But you can at least dial the rhetoric back. You can't say it's a historic turnaround. You can't spend 90 seconds touting all the prices, saying all these prices have gone down when they have not. Yeah, right. Like, there's the way a normal, smart person would do the speech, and there's way Trump would do it. And even in Trumpian terms, he did it worse than I even possibly imagined.

[Tommy Vietor]

Yeah. I mean, he thinks he can shape reality and kind of, like, bend it to his will. And I just, you know, when you're president, I don't think you can do that. People are pissed about prices, they're pissed about the economy, they're pissed about inflation. If you just scream that we're winning, like the Navigator Research did dial tests where people, you know, they dial the. Turn the dial one way if they're happy with what you're saying, saying another way if they're unhappy what they're saying. The dials went way down when he started screaming that we're winning now, then the hockey team comes out. So I think saved him. Forget that moment there. There was, like, some controversy today about the men's hockey team being there. I think we should talk about it for a second because, like, we were pretty hot out of the gate criticizing FBI Director Cash Patel for, like, burning money to fly over to the Olympics. And then when Trump called the players when they're in the locker room after the game, and Cash Patel, like, patched them in, he made Some shitty comment about the women's team being like, well, if I invite you guys to the White House, I have to invite them, too. Which is, like, weird, you know, sexist old man humor. That's, like, lame and condescending and also, once again, shows that he doesn't know shit about sports because the women's hockey team is way better. They have, historically, have won a lot more titles, but I've seen a lot of people criticizing the players, and I just. I think it's unfair because they're representing the United States. Like, it's inherently a political job. They're having this moment. Like, politicians will try to use you for political purposes. I don't know their political views. I don't really care. I hope I never know them. But, like, I think it's unfair to ask them to not take his call or to reject an invitation to the White House. Like, go if you want to go, don't if you don't. But it's like, they're not the bad guys here. It's that douchebag Cash Patel for, like, crashing their party.

[Jon Favreau]

Well, I mean, they did. It is their choice to go. I understand going, being invited, and they are in a difficult situation. Anybody representing America right now is in a difficult situation because the country is representing by an embarrassing cruelty maniac. But when you choose to go in the way that they went, it is unavoidable that they were part of a show that Donald Trump put on. They were the punchline to him saying the country was winning. They were used by Donald Trump, and they can be okay with that. They can be uncomfortable with that and not be willing or interested in being involved in politics the next day. But as of right now, those men were all used by Donald Trump for political purposes. If they're okay with that, they don't have to say anything. They're free to do whatever they want. But they also could say they could all. It sucks they don't pick the president.

[Tommy Vietor]

Right. Like, they make the team. They work their whole lives to make the Olympics. They go to this game. They win the gold medal. They should be celebrated by our country, by our government. I get what you're saying. I hear you. But I just think, like, it sucks that the fucking onus is on them to be decent human beings.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah, I think that we. It's sometimes hard to realize that not everyone is political junkies like, we are, and also, like, feel the urgency of how bad the Donald Trump presidency is. Even though, like, most of the country isn't happy with Donald Trump. They don't necessarily. They aren't necessarily unhappy with him the way we are unhappy with them, or anyone who is listening to this is unhappy with them. And I think our. Our job is to make sure that people understand the emergency. But, like, if they don't, because they're hockey players, and they've been focusing on hockey for the last couple years, and they're just kids at this point, like, okay, they went to 23. Right. Credit to the win. And, like, also, it's awesome. They won.

[Tommy Vietor]

No, they didn't go. So, like, that's definitely different tech, right?

[Jon Favreau]

Like, there. Yeah. I mean, I guess it's sort of what is the responsibilities individuals have. I agree it's unfair that they're in that position, but it would be good to hear what people think. Having been used as a tool by Donald Trump. Are they happy with that? Are they okay with that? Like, all of us have an obligation, even if it's unfair. That's. I really do feel that way about it. The women's team seem to know that they would rather not go and rather spend the time with Flavor Flav.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah, well, I guess. And I guess a couple of them, a couple of minutes, couple of men didn't go much on that. Like, if you don't, don't go. Don't.

[Tommy Vietor]

If you don't want to go, don't go.

[Jon Lovett]

But, like, don't get criticized.

[Tommy Vietor]

The Olympics are in the United States in 2028. Every single Olympian is going to this problem. Or were they all gonna boycott? Like, I just. I don't think they should.

[Jon Favreau]

I don't think they should boycott. But I also fine with intending. I just wonder, like, are. Are you gonna say how you feel now that you've been used? That's all. What do you feel about this? Tell us.

[Jon Lovett]

I do think it raises, though, sort of a larger issue about the speech, which is it felt like great segue. Well, I wasn't even gonna segue into what we're supposed to segue into, but I was just bringing us back. It does feel like it, like, took place in a different reality. Like, these speeches and his speeches now are still covered like a normal speech. It's like we're clapping. The people on the panel are like, did he do his job? And all this kind of stuff? And you're like, okay, he is giving this speech at a time when he is about to launch an illegal war after launching previous illegal military action, paid for in part with illegal taxes. The tariffs that the Supreme Court have now invalidated that are Also helping pay for, I don't know, at least I don't know if it's illegal, but at least a lawless paramilitary force that is rampaging through the streets has killed two Americans. Didn't hear anything about that. And has like locked up hundreds of people in basically internment camps. Meanwhile, the president's like getting rich the whole time and tried to arrest several of the people sitting in that chamber just for, you know. And it is a weird thing to cover this, to talk about this, to analyze this just as a speech.

[Donald Trump]

Yeah.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

It pulls you towards a normalcy that should be very uncomfortable in this moment.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Like we were watching on CNN and they're doing this. They were covering it the exact same way they covered Obama speeches, Biden speeches, George W. Bush's speeches, where it's like, who's, who's high fiving the president? Who's getting a selfie with the president? Look at this person who's in a tough election talking to the president. And it's just like, I understand, like, I don't know what else we're doing a little bit right now.

[Jon Lovett]

I mean, this is, goes back to the, this is why I thought about with the hockey team too, because it's like you're just, you make a decision the moment you go and like, we cover it and we do it and people talk about it on the panel

[Tommy Vietor]

and it's like in the reality that we're living in.

[Jon Favreau]

By the same token, the conservatives were critical of Americans who were abroad in the part of the Olympics saying that they felt shame or embarrassment while being proud to be American. And of course, why are the Republicans saying that? They're saying that because they want everyone to treat this like normal. Of course, they don't want to feel the shame and guilt that on their hearts they know they should feel for being part of this. Right. Like, this is the. Watching this all unfold. I think part of what you're getting at is Republicans right now are like, uniquely unsuited to like, speak to the actual harm that he's doing, the actual pain that people are feeling, A, because Donald Trump simply cannot admit fault, and B, you feel a bunch of people that are all in a bubble of information. Right. Trump is in a bubble. These Republicans in a bubble. They're all applauding each other, celebrating each other. These are people that have inoculated themselves against reality in part because it is necessary in order to support someone like Donald Trump.

[Tommy Vietor]

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[Jon Favreau]

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[Tommy Vietor]

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[Tommy Vietor]

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And probably some therapy at the time.

[Tommy Vietor]

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[Jon Lovett]

so you know the most important political task, that if you want to call it a political task, was to tell the American people that he does know the economy is in improving quickly enough to lay out exactly how he plans to bring down costs. Here's what that sounded like.

[Donald Trump]

The roaring economy is roaring like never before. Now the same people in this chamber who voted for those disasters suddenly used the word affordability. A word. They just used it. Somebody gave it to them. They knew their statements were a lie. They knew it. They knew their statements were a dirty rotten lie. Their policies created the high prices. Our policies are rapidly ending them. We are doing really well. Those prices are plummeting downward. We want homes for people, not for corporations. Corporations are doing just fine. Racel thank you very much. Good luck with your home. You'll get one soon.

[Jon Lovett]

Good luck with your home. You'll get one soon. So I noted that the he talked about economic accomplishments, made up a bunch of statistics, lies about the economy, all that kind of stuff. The first time he mentioned any kind of economic policy proposal, any action he was going to take or policy he wanted turned into a law was at 9:50pm what do you think? Did he move the needle there on the econ stuff? Dan?

[Dan Pfeiffer]

No, I mean he moved it backwards. It just. I hate to harp on it, but this is the perspective I look at is that he's a president with a party controlling both houses of Congress in the midterm, where the economy is the number one issue and he did the exact opposite thing. Anyone on the ballot would want. You just cannot. Like we saw this when we worked for Obama. If you go up there and you tell people the economy is great when they know it's not, you are sticking a thumb in their eye. It is why his approval rating sucks right now.

[Jon Favreau]

Yeah, I will say he does. Then the speech is just a matter of craftsmanship, just terrible meanders incredibly long for its own sake. It takes a minute 50 to get to these proposals. But if you do, I do think like I imagine when you look at the dials, you will see that

[Jon Lovett]

the

[Jon Favreau]

populist economic policies is actually put forward. Not letting corporations buy houses so that people can buy them. The kind of what are the Trump accounts like no tax on tips, no tax on overtime. Those are all things that I think a more disciplined administration administration that really did try to do the actual economic populism that we were afraid Trump would do from the beginning, that didn't do the big beautiful bill that cut taxes for the wealthy and sort of gave everybody else mostly nothing like that is the worrying version of Trump to me. But I just think the fact that he can't get there till minute 50 and will not now spend the next two weeks hammering it will go do various events in which he talks about the random things on his mind while posting true socials about Adam Schiff is why ultimately doesn't matter.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

I think in this case they made the same classic mistake that bad political operatives make with polling information all the time is they tested these numbers, these policies, these policies all tested through the roof. I guarantee it.

[Jon Lovett]

Democrats, Republicans want something to do on and we should just go through like something on housing that you mentioned. He wants people want him to do something on prescription drugs. So he's made up a bunch of shit that he's done on prescription drugs that Isn't really true. And that he isn't gonna do. He also talked about he got agreements from AI companies to maybe defray some of the costs of the data centers, the energy for the electricity. Like, yeah, good luck. Good luck waiting for your electricity bill to go down on that one. But. So, yeah, I'm sure those are the things that'll pull.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

But this is. But policies don't happen in a vacuum. Policies are connected to the person who proposes the policies, and the person who proposes the policy tells you that this is the greatest economy in history and all your prices have come down. When you know none of those things are true, you're not gonna believe he's gonna do those things.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah. Tommy, our friends at Politico, you know what the big headline is blaring headline across the top of the tree.

[Tommy Vietor]

Don't trigger me right now. It's late.

[Jon Lovett]

It's Trump sticks to the script. Republicans needed the president to sell their message to kick off the midterms. They're breathing a sigh of relief.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Get the fuck out of here. That can't be real. That cannot be real.

[Jon Lovett]

Trump. And then the headline underneath it, Trump Allies Relieved. He's sticking to the script, but do see warning signs. One Republican strategist that got on background said, I wish we had more detailed steps to take. Yes, because there are no steps to take.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Also, sticking to a shitty script is not something we promised.

[Jon Lovett]

That is what it is. He stuck to the script.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Guys, who are the authors of that piece?

[Jon Lovett]

You know what? No one put their name on it. Well, the political lie of no one put their name on, but the actual piece. It's a Dasha Burns. It's a Dasher Burns joint.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Okay.

[Jon Favreau]

I just think we're at the point where it's a good night for Republicans when the president doesn't call for the public execution of members of the Supreme Court who are in his presence. Like, that's where the bar is.

[Tommy Vietor]

Terrific. Honestly, I had the same reaction watching. I was like, oh, he was surprisingly disciplined in that he didn't try to kill Amy Coney Barrett or whatever.

[Jon Lovett]

Didn't throw his feces at John Robbins.

[Tommy Vietor]

You walk up there and you read the script, like, Battlefield Earth or something. I don't think it's also a script

[Jon Favreau]

where he says, the only way Democrats can win elections if they cheat. Where he points it, by the way, off script. He points it like, these people are crazy.

[Jon Lovett]

They ruin the country.

[Jon Favreau]

They're destroying the country.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah, we'll get to that. So on the econ stuff, he's suddenly on board with the stock trading ban and called out Nancy Pelosi. And what I thought, I assume they all thought was a really clever move. We do remember when Donald Trump was against the stock trading ban, when Josh Hawley was on board with it and was gonna vote with the Democrats. And then Trump posted that Hawley was just being a pawn for the Democrats and he was being used by them, and he came out against it, and now he's that on the stack writing ban. Yeah. Yeah, it was.

[Jon Favreau]

Wow. And you know what? Trump was smart. He got Hawley to not do it. Then Trump becomes the most corrupt president in history, makes more money they could ever imagine. Now he's gonna fuck all these Congress people over who are trying to get their beaks wet, and he'll get the credit. Great move by him, actually.

[Tommy Vietor]

They should ban stock trading. They should ban buying and selling crypto or owning crypto companies. They should ban Kalshi as a service or like. Or betting on Kalshi. If you work in the US Government in any capacity, like, great, do it. Like, we've been talking about this for decades now.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Fucking do it. Also, Trump has control of the House and the Senate.

[Jon Lovett]

Right.

[Jon Favreau]

Do it.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

What are we waiting for?

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah, none of this.

[Tommy Vietor]

It's not Nancy Pelosi's fault.

[Jon Lovett]

I'm sure all these. Yeah, I'm sure all these, like, testable, but, like, nothing's gonna happen. And then what's gonna happen when the midterms roll around and none of the stuff that Trump talked about tonight actually goes into law or actually happens or makes anyone's lives and makes anyone's lives better? On the tariffs. Cause, you know, he mentioned that. He said it was a disappointing decision. He said disappointing a couple times. You could tell he was close to maybe losing it. But he did. He held it together. It is interesting, I think, on the tariffs that he just, you know, he's going full steam on a tax increase.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

It's insane.

[Jon Lovett]

It's insane. As we always know when you're running in a midterm year and people are upset about the economy and they think the costs are too high, you run on a large tax increase.

[Jon Favreau]

Yeah. I think the fact that they landed on the word unfortunate, which he, like, hammered. It's unfortunate. It is unfortunate. It's unfortunate. I feel like that was a victory inside of a room where people were trying to get him to be as mild as possible. I wonder. Part of this, too, is he's also convinced himself in the interim that they actually couldn't stop him and he's using tariffs like he did before, and it's not like he feels like he was able to put the tariffs back on anyway. Again, like Republicans being willing to cheer this stuff, although they cheered tariffs less. When he's just saying how we're going to make these other countries pay. When I think people feel like it is affecting making, it's incredibly unpopular because people know the costs are going to them. We now have evidence from these tariffs that 96% of the costs go to Americans. That is all information people have. So, yeah, he's not. He's going down with the tariff ship for sure.

[Jon Lovett]

I also think he had a choice to make because he was initially acting like the Supreme Court decision is going to destroy the country and the world and it was the worst thing that ever happened. But that also he still has all the authority to do all the exact same tariffs and they're going to be even better than before.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Yeah. Now they're on stronger legal footage.

[Jon Lovett]

So, like, you can't, you can't really do both of those things. That's what I mean. He's chosen, he decided to pick the strength over the weakness. Right. Because he realized it was fun to bitch about the Supreme Court, but, like, that wasn't. That's not where he wanted to land.

[Jon Favreau]

I did enjoy the side by side shot with Amy Coney Barrett kind of looking kind of that sort of frozen face. And Trump continuing to go on about how much stronger his legal authority will be.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah, I'm sure she practiced that. Trump did spend a lot of tonight talking about immigration, which he still thinks is a winning issue for him. There was a lot of secure border talk, a lot of detailed, gruesome accounts of Americans who've been killed by immigrants. And then it got even darker.

[Donald Trump]

We'll balance our budget. The Somali pirates who ransacked Minnesota remind us that there are large parts of the world where bribery, corruption and lawlessness are the norm, not the exception. Importing these cultures through unrestricted immigration and open borders brings those problems right here to the usa. And it is the American people who pay the price in higher medical bills, car insurance rates, rent, taxes, and perhaps most importantly, crime. We will take care of this problem. We're going to take care of this problem. We are not playing games.

[Jon Lovett]

So, Tommy, it's obviously gross and dishonest, but do you think that even works for him?

[Tommy Vietor]

Yeah, I mean, like, it has become standard issue that there is always a section where he like, narrates a series of grisly crimes and then they Cut to some poor person whose life was just decimated by these actions. And I, like. I guess I. I have tds, but it's grotesque to me. I also found, like, the unbelievably racist attacks on the Somali community to be grotesque and dehumanizing and, like, just like. Like you were saying, like, not meeting the moment of the things people are worried about. Like, he starts the immigration section by saying, not a single undocum person has gotten into the country. So why are you still focused on it?

[Jon Lovett]

Right.

[Tommy Vietor]

We're all mad about the economy, not this.

[Jon Favreau]

Yeah. Also, pirates operate on the water.

[Jon Lovett]

Well, little throwback, you know. Right.

[Jon Favreau]

But sort of can't. Not really a pirate.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

He saw the movie.

[Jon Lovett]

I do think, Dan, that he. The way they constructed this speech was they knew that to the extent that anyone outside of Trump fans and Trump supporters were watching the speech. They're watching the beginning. They're watching, like, the first 30 minutes, maybe the first hour. And so the first 30 minutes is like the award show where it's hard to at least disagree with him. He's not gonna say anything too partisan. He's gonna tell a lot of lies, but he's not gonna say anything too partisan. Then as it got into, like, later in the speech, that's when he started the dark immigration stuff. The Democrats. This is like juice on the base. You know, who's the people who are still hanging on at our.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Yeah, I think that presupposes a little more strategy than they brought to the table here. But you are correct in how it was structured. And everyone always starts with the economy. That is the standard way of doing it. Normally you get to it, like, in minute five, not minute 55, but to each their own. I think from one thing, from a political perspective is Trump is living in a 2024 reality, not a 2026 reality. He's talking about the border. He's talking about. He's talking about. As if people trust him on immigration and are deathly worried about immigration and crime. Neither those things are true anymore. His immigration approval is now as bad as his approval on the economy, which is quite bad. People think ICE is a threat to American citizens and legal residents. People think ICE has gone too far. And so, once again, I know Trump is chemically and psychologically incapable of this, but there is a way to do this that is pretty simple to acknowledge that you don't even have to admit any fault, but that we are like. You could have mentioned the body cams thing, which was their proposal that they did.

[Jon Lovett]

Did you guys hear him mention ICE at all?

[Dan Pfeiffer]

I think he said the word. Did he?

[Jon Lovett]

I don't think he said the word.

[Jon Favreau]

Yeah, I don't think so either.

[Jon Lovett]

Which is wild because I mean, it's certainly an acknowledgement of how unpopular they are. But like, you'd think that the way the Trump administration is with everything else, it would have been a. Like the men and women of ICE are, you know, trying to keep us, protect us, and they've faced all kinds of assaults and stuff like that.

[Jon Favreau]

Did he, did he hit it at all when he was talking about the funding fight and wanting to make sure no Homeland Security.

[Tommy Vietor]

Homeland Security.

[Jon Favreau]

Just Homeland Security wider.

[Tommy Vietor]

He focused on like, you know, rescue stories and like brave people who are no longer funded because of Dems and dhs.

[Jon Favreau]

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[Tommy Vietor]

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[Jon Favreau]

We're lost. I'm gonna pull over and ask that man for directions.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Hi there.

[Jon Favreau]

We're looking to get to the campground. Well, you're gonna take a left at the old oak tree end of this here road.

[Tommy Vietor]

No, I'm just kidding.

[Jon Favreau]

Let me get my phone out. How are you getting a signal out here? T Mobile and US Cellular decided to merge. So the network out here is huge. We're getting the same great signal as the city and saving a boatload with all the benefits. Oh, and a five year price guarantee. Okay, here's those directions. Actually, can you point us in the direction of a T Mobile store? America's best network just got bigger switch.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Switch to T Mobile today and get

[Jon Favreau]

built in benefits the other guys leave out.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Plus our five year price guarantee.

[Jon Favreau]

And now T Mobile is available in US Cellular stores. Best mobile network based on analysis by Oogle of speed test intelligence data 2H2025 bigger network. The combination of T Mobile's and US Cellular's network footprints will enhance the T mobile network's coverage price guarantee on talk text and data exclusions like taxes and fees apply. See t mobile.com for details.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Else.

[Jon Lovett]

Closing in on the hour, Mark Trump really started to get nasty. Towards the Democrats in the room, who mostly sat quietly and refused to clap for him. Take a listen.

[Donald Trump]

These people are crazy. I'm telling you, they're crazy. Democrats are destroying our country. But we've stopped it just in the nick of time, didn't we? 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. Isn't that ashamed? You should be ashamed of yourself. Not standing up. You should be ashamed of yourself. They're blocking the removal of these people out of our country and you should be ashamed of yourself.

[Jon Lovett]

They are Republicans, Maga so excited about that moment. It was clearly planned. It was a setup. They are very proud of themselves, you know. Scott Jennings called it a moment of the night. Stephen Miller tweeted, Democrats declared to the world their searing disdain for and profound disloyalty to the actual citizens of the United States. They refused. It was a moment that chills to the bone which will live for a thousand years.

[Jon Favreau]

Live for a thousand years is so funny. A thousand years from now is.

[Jon Lovett]

That was like the second one, too. He did another one that was, like, long and involved. It was crazy. They really think that's, like, the big they really got.

[Jon Favreau]

They think they set a trap. An incredible trap.

[Jon Lovett]

So clever.

[Jon Favreau]

Masterclass.

[Jon Lovett]

Who's ever done that? Delivered a line that you only assume that one side will stand for, even though you know that, like most people

[Jon Favreau]

come on preemptively saying everyone will stand for this unless they're insane.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

I mean, this is once again, like a little bit of the, like, bizarre, surreal normalcy of it, which is back when we would do this, you try to find moments, and then you would try to use whatever platform you had to make that be the moment. You just tell report. This is the moment. This is the moment. This is the moment of the speech. This is the moment you should show. So they tried to do that here also. This is an idea that. It was not originally my idea, but I pitched Obama on two separate. State of the Unions was to do this for raising taxes on the wealthy.

[Jon Lovett]

Not about the immigrants.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

No. But to make the Republicans not stand up.

[Jon Lovett]

We didn't do that.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

I don't think we ever. I think.

[Jon Lovett]

I don't think we did that.

[Jon Favreau]

George W. Bush's move. George W. Bush's move during this, his move was always to say something kind of partisan and then end with something everybody would have to applaud for. So he'd say, like, we're deregulate. We're going to let you cut down some of the trees that we don't need anymore. We're going to get rid of some of this onerous taxation because America is going to have the strongest economy in the world that everybody.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Ah, fuck.

[Jon Lovett]

Stephen Miller also said this was the most shocking image in the history of the U.S. congress.

[Tommy Vietor]

He's such a fucking loser. I mean, if you watch the speech or even if you watch clips, it's just so obvious that Trump is trying to. To goad Democrats into this dumb childhood

[Dan Pfeiffer]

he was not subtle on.

[Tommy Vietor]

Yeah, and also, like, it's just no longer interesting. Like, the shock value of, like, them screaming back and forth is gone. I don't think anyone really benefits from clips of the President screaming back and forth. Like, I bet Ilhan Omar will benefit in her community. The people she represents will probably like that she's fighting on their behalf given, like, what he's done in Minnesota. But most voters will watch that and think like, this is what I don't like about Washington.

[Jon Favreau]

Yeah, we're saying that she was shouting that as he's making this sort of attack on Democrats for not keeping citizens safe, that her district two people were killed by ice.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah. And Border Patrol. Also, like, everyone's watching the whole speech. They know that the Democrats haven't been replotting to anything else. Like, they don't think it's a fucking theater. So in the alternate universe where our politics never got this stupid, the State of the Union would have largely been about, or at least significantly about Iran and explaining to the American people what exactly we plan to do with the gigantic fighting force we have amassed in the Middle East. Trump did get to it quite late, pretty briefly. Here's what he said.

[Donald Trump]

They've already developed missiles that can threaten Europe and our bases overseas, and they're working to build missiles that will soon reach the United States of America. We are in negotiations with them. They want to make a deal. But we haven't heard those secret words. We will never have a nuclear weapon.

[Jon Lovett]

Tommy, what was new there? Anything?

[Tommy Vietor]

I mean, that, that line that they're working on missiles that will soon reach the United States of America jumped out at me. It sounded like bullshit. I got checked it with some experts who have had intel access much more recently than I have. And they said it was wildly implausible, though obviously we don't know what we don't know. But I think it's just him trying to scare the pretext for going to war. Like Iran it does have. They have a large diverse array of ballistic and Cruise missiles, they can hit a lot of bases in the region. They can't hit Europe. They hit Israel, for example. And that's why an attack could lead to a scary response. But the idea that they're going to hit the continental US is like, is nonsense. The other thing he said that was a lie, though, was this claim that. What is it? The secret word? The secret word, Secret word. No nukes. The, the, the preamble of the jcpoa, the Iran nuclear deal that Obama negotiated with Iran. And the Trump pulled out of says, quote, iran reaffirms that under no circumstance will Iran ever seek, develop or acquire any nuclear weapons. That was in the JCPOA that both sides agree to. Obviously, we don't trust them. That's why there was all this verification that went along with that deal. But Trump just pretends that didn't happen and he's the source of all this problem. The really remarkable thing to me is we're on the cusp of war. He made no case for it. I realize that's because it's wildly unpopular, but that problem doesn't go away if you just start the war without making the case.

[Jon Lovett]

I mean, I guess it does. I guess it doesn't change the popularity.

[Tommy Vietor]

Sleepwalking towards a conflict that nobody wants.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah, solves his problem that people don't want the war that he's about to launch. All right, so after the speech, Virginia Governor Abigail Spamberger gave the Democratic response. Because we were in the studio with Kimmel while it was happening. We heard good things, which is rare, for one of these things. We haven't had the chance to listen yet. So we thought we'd just react to it here for the first time. Do you guys have the clip?

[Jon Favreau]

The President is planning for new tariffs, another massive tax hike on you and your family. They have ripped nursing mothers away from their babies. They have sent children, a little boy in a blue bunny hat, children to far off detention centers. And they have killed American citizens in our streets. Our broken immigration system is something to be fixed, not an excuse for unaccountable agents to terrorize our communities. He's enriching himself, his family, his friends. The scale of the corruption is unprecedented. There's the COVID up of the Epstein files, the crypto scams, cozying up to foreign princes for airplanes and billionaires for ballrooms. So I'll ask again, is the President working for you? We all know the answer is no.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

That was great. I was impressed.

[Jon Lovett]

It was good to hear something. It was good to hear, like, return to Reality.

[Tommy Vietor]

Yes.

[Jon Lovett]

This is what's happening in the country.

[Jon Favreau]

Yeah, and just also just some good old fashioned speech writing, you know, just the. Just sort of cogent sentences, that kind of thing. Like the old days.

[Jon Lovett]

What do you think, Tommy?

[Tommy Vietor]

I mean, you know, hearing. My initial reaction was hearing like a moderate like Abigail Spanberger go that hard at ICE funding really tells you how far the politics have shifted on the issue generally. It was like the kind of thing you would imagine she'd be advised not to touch. And now she's just laying into it there.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah, I like that she did it in front of a crowd. Yeah, that's good. Yeah, I think responses should only be in front of crowds.

[Jon Favreau]

Yeah, I think that's right.

[Jon Lovett]

He's got the crowd. I mean, he's a great crowd because half the. Half the crowd didn't stand. The other half and a bunch of people just didn't show up at the speech either. But it is nice to have a little energy behind you than to have the like straight direct to camera kind of.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Also, they didn't complicate the simple. She just gave a speech at a podium with flags behind her instead of like trying to put her like in a weird room or like a factory floor. All the other dumb things we've done over the years.

[Jon Lovett]

That is true.

[Jon Favreau]

No, better.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Who was it that walked down the steps?

[Tommy Vietor]

Bobby Jindal.

[Jon Lovett]

Bobby Jindal. And it was like a weird.

[Jon Favreau]

Remember Rubio reaching across for the water? That was incredible, man.

[Jon Lovett]

Now he's Secretary of State. Could be the next president. Looks like he got the last laugh, huh?

[Tommy Vietor]

President of Venezuela.

[Jon Favreau]

There's still time for laughing.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

He's got like three jobs and was the archivist for a while. He's not doing that. Awesome.

[Tommy Vietor]

He got fired from that.

[Jon Lovett]

All right, before we go, any kind of closing thoughts? We got an Insta poll from cnn. Apparently the percentage who said it was a very. Who felt very positive about the speech was like the lowest in the last 10 years, I guess.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Woo hoo.

[Jon Lovett]

So that's something. Of course those Insta polls, polls, they're always more Republican or more. I mean, people watch the speech tend to be people who are already supportive of the president in charge. So if it's like a Democratic president, this poll's more Democratic. If the Republican president, I think it

[Dan Pfeiffer]

was a CBS poll that came out today said that only 18% of Democrats were planning on watching the speech.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah, it was wild.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

But I think there are a lot of them. That's the time when Democrats lie to the pollsters.

[Jon Lovett]

I think I heard the CNN poll was like 13 or 14 points more Republican than a typical poll, which is like 5, but still 30%.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

I mean, the question is, does any of this matter anymore?

[Jon Lovett]

No, probably not. I don't think it does at all. I think that, like, by the time you finish listening to this podcast, you'll never think of the speech again.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Stealth bombers could be headed to Tehran right now.

[Jon Lovett]

Yep.

[Jon Favreau]

The great shame of our nation. A historical atrocity that he is in office. His proof of rating will continue to hover at 38%.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah, but I do not. But unlike what someone told Politico, I do not think that he. That sticking to the script gives the Republicans what they need for the midterms. I don't think they get what they needed.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

That's an insane, stupid.

[Jon Favreau]

They need a genie and a lamp that they can rub and ask three wishes to this point.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah, I don't think. And that's it. That's his biggest audience until the midterms.

[Tommy Vietor]

So crazy. We have President. The bar is so low.

[Jon Lovett]

That's like. He read the words, everybody. He read the words.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

They were bad words. They made no sense. They really didn't make it any better, but he read them mostly. Great work.

[Jon Lovett]

Look, look, they've changed the headline. Now what Trump avoided in the State of the Union could haunt him in November. I know, but then the subhead is.

[Jon Favreau]

It's like jazz.

[Jon Lovett]

The President's State of the Union was notable for something his second term has largely lacked. Restraint.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

You know what? We'll just.

[Jon Lovett]

When you started screaming, the Democrats are crazy. I guess that's for Street Pack.

[Jon Favreau]

I would love to just, like, show this speech to a mid. Like kind of a typical Republican in 1996. They'd be like, what happened? Was the President injured? Like, what's going on?

[Jon Lovett]

There were mistakes he avoided making. Trump did not attack the Supreme Court. He did not blitz members of his own party who have criticized him. He avoided rambling, angry digressions from the script.

[Jon Favreau]

Amazing.

[Jon Lovett]

But then he was, you know, he avoided no new ideas on housing or health care. Two defining issues in the midterm campaign. Yeah. He mean no mention of the Jeffrey Epstein scandals. I mean, in fairness. Yeah. I don't, I don't think he was going to go on a stem winder on Epstein.

[Jon Favreau]

Yeah, Good theorist.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Some of these files in my pocket. Let me unredact them on live tv.

[Jon Favreau]

Now, that's what a showman would do. Take out the files, take off the black tape.

[Tommy Vietor]

He didn't blitz members of his own party. Is he the free safety like tackling Speaker Johnson?

[Jon Favreau]

You know what he did?

[Jon Lovett]

It was for better or worse. See, someone else wrote this one.

[Jon Favreau]

There's a to be sure paragraph.

[Jon Lovett]

This is. Eli Stokels wrote this one. They changed it. They changed the whole thing. But it's unlikely to change the political trajectory of Trump's second term. In some ways, it was nearly indistinguishable from Trump's daily patter in the Oval Office.

[Jon Favreau]

That's correct.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah, that's correct.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Good job. Political.

[Jon Lovett]

Well, I mean, it is also inaccurate, accurate description of what happened tonight. Anyway, it's 10:30 at night. We gotta go to bed.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

All right, bye, everyone.

[Jon Lovett]

If you want to listen to Pod Save America ad free and get access to exclusive podcasts, go to qriket.com friends to subscribe on Supercast Substack, YouTube or Apple Podcasts. Also, please consider leaving us a review that helps boost this episode and everything we do here at Crooked. Pod Save America is a crooked media production. Our producer is Saul Rubin. Our associate producer is Farah Safari. Austin Fisher is our senior producer. Reed Churlin is our executive editor. Adrian Hill is our head of news and politics. The show is mixed and edited by Andrew Chadwick. Jordan Kanter is our sound engineer with audio support from Kyle Seglin and Charlotte Landis. Matt de Groat is our head of production. Naomi Sengel is our executive assistant. Thanks to our digital team, Elijah Cohn, Haley Jones, Ben Hefcoat, Mia Kelman, Carol Pelaviev, David Toles and Ryan Young. Our production staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America East.

[Jon Favreau]

We're lost. I'm gonna pull over and ask that man for directions. Hi there. We're looking to get to the campground ground. Well, you're going to take a left at the old oak tree end of this here road. No, I'm just kidding. Let me get my phone out. How are you getting a signal out here? T Mobile and US Cellular decided to merge. So the network out here is huge. We're getting the same great signal as the city and saving a boatload with all the benefits. Oh, and a five year price guarantee. Okay, here's those directions. Actually, can you point us in the direction of a T Mobile store? America's best network just got bigger. Switch to T Mobile today and get built in benefits the other guys leave out.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Plus our five year price guarantee.

[Jon Favreau]

And now T Mobile is available in US Cellular stores. Best mobile network based on analysis by Ookle of speed test intelligence data 2H 2025 bigger network the combination of T Mobile's and US cellular network footprints will enhance the T Mobile network's coverage price guarantee on talk text and data exclusions like taxes and fees apply. See t mobile.com for details.