The Fate of the Union

By Martin H. Levinson

Donald Trump’s 2026 State of the Union speech, the greatest State of the Union address ever given according to the American Society for Making America Great Again and All the Other Nations on Earth Not So Great, was okay as far as it went but Trump left out many of his most significant accomplishments. To wit:

Trump has prevented 80 million wars

Trump said in his speech that he has ended 8 wars. True, but what about all the wars he has prevented? Is England fighting France? Has Switzerland declared war on Germany? Is my mother battling the harpy down the block from where she lives who called her a Scrooge for not tipping 25 percent when they both went out to lunch last week? None of these things happened because all the parties were worried Trump would intervene by calling in the US military to enforce the peace. Trump should have taken credit for stopping all the wars in the world that would have started if he were not president, for which he richly deserves a dozen Nobel Peace Prizes.

Trump has led the nation to understand that fair elections are impossible in America

          Trump said in his speech that “Cheating is rampant in our elections. It’s rampant.” Few have been willing to state this obvious truth, and Trump should have made a huger deal of it by pointing to the massive corruption that occurs every time there is an election in this country.

It’s easy for the courts to say, more than 50 of them, that there wasn’t widespread cheating in the 2020 presidential election. But what do judges know? They’re constrained by reality and the rule of law. There’s no room for alternative facts and narrative creativity; things Trump is a master of. Trump should have gone whole hog and demanded that elections be abolished, and the president be appointed by Congress if the Republicans are in the majority. E Pluribus Screwum! Who can argue with that!

Trump is in charge of an economy where everyone is working

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics said the national unemployment rate in January 2026 was 4.3%. This is a meaningless number. The fact is everyone is working—undocumented immigrants are working on how not to get caught by ICE, federal workers who have been laid off are working on what they will do next, college graduates who have majored in computer programming are working on keeping busy till AI eventually takes everybody’s jobs, etc.

The idea that the government uses jobs to measure employment is ridiculous. Trump should have jumped on that and taken credit for being the first president to define work, per the dictionary, as an “activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result.” Work is only tangentially about jobs. He then should have called for doing away with the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a deep-state government agency that has outlived its usefulness. Labor statistics are a joke. Casino- and sports-betting stats? That’s a different story.

ICE has been responsible for strengthening democracy in the United States

Immigration was a key topic in Trump’s State of the Union address, but he avoided discussing his more aggressive and controversial efforts, including the recent ICE campaign in Minneapolis. Big mistake.

ICE campaigns have resulted in a revival of civic action in America, with people joining protests and moving closer to their affinity groups. For example, liberals are coming together to attack ICE excesses, which include unlawfully locking people up, deporting individuals without due process, and killing US citizens. MAGA fanatics bond over messages like “ICE is just enforcing the law,” “ICE agents need to wear masks so they won’t be doxed,” and “ICE is nice.”

Civic action plays an important role in strengthening democracy through participation. The out-of-control actions of ICE have increased participation, with individuals rallying for or against the agency. All this engagement is a plus for egalitarianism, a plus Trump should have trumpeted in his speech. Going forward, rather than freezing ICE out of the State of the Union, Trump should consider including this hottest of all federal agencies in his next address to Congress.

All things being equal, it is very likely President Trump will be delivering  many more State of the Union addresses and, as practice makes perfect, the greatest president who has ever lived, is living, and who will be alive in the future, will do a more comprehensive job in touting what will undoubtedly be his superb policies for the nation. How unbelievably fortunate we are to have such a well-spoken, kind, visionary unifier to lead our country in these divisive times. God bless President Trump and God bless the Benighted States of America.