President Donald Trump gave the first State of the Union speech of his second term on Monday night, using the opportunity to target the Democrats, honor the nation’s veterans, and pledge a prosperous future for the American people, as well as taking many by surprise when he made an unexpected comment about his wife, Melania Trump.
Trump’s State of the Union speech on February 24, 2026, lasted 1 hours and 48 minutes, becoming the longest ever recorded address in US history, a record previously held by former President Bill Clinton for his State of the Union in 2000, which lasted 1 hour and 28 minutes, according to the American Presidency Project.
In his address, Trump went beyond outlining his vision for the future of the country. He criticized Democrats as “crazy” and claimed his administration had delivered what he called an “economic turnaround for the ages.”
He also shifted away from politics for a brief moment and joked about his wife’s popularity.
Trump praised his wife’s efforts in the previous year, pointing out her work on foster care and AI among the rest. He also mentioned her documentary with the Amazon.
At one point, he paused mid-speech and made a lighthearted remark that Melania is more popular than he is. That shifted the attention from politics to something more personal.
“Nobody cares more about protecting America’s youth than our first lady — she’s now a movie star, can you believe it? Who would’ve believed that?” Trump said. “Over the past year she’s had an incredible impact, implementing AI legislation, advancing a landmark executive order on foster care and securing 30 million dollars to launch the Melania Trump foster youth to independence initiative. It’s tremendous.”
Then he made the light joke that got people talking:
“It’s a really tremendous thing that happened and she got a lot of bipartisan support. She gets much better bipartisan support than I do. I get none, she gets a lot. Some day you’re going to have to tell me how you did that!”
Of course, this wan’t criticism, just the president teasing his wife.
However, despite Trump’s comment on his wife’s popularity, a recent YouGov survey shows her approval rating is currently negative, lower than that of some former first ladies.
According to the survey, Melania Trump has an approval rating of -16, putting her lower than Jill Biden, whose rating stood at -9. Yet again, Melania Trump has a slightly better rating than Hillary Clinton, whose rating stands at -17.
In contrast, many former first ladies had higher ratings while they were serving as first ladies or even after they left the White House. While Nancy Reagan had a rating of +25, Lady Bird Johnson had a rating of +23. Rosalynn Carter had an impressive rating of +32, and Barbara Bush had a rating of +21.
In more recent times, Michelle Obama had a rating of +21, while Laura Bush had a rating of +19.
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