Day: February 25, 2026

President Trump touted the beginnings of an American revival during his State of the Union address. He talked about a “turnaround for the ages,” in a record-length speech filled with exaggeration. And a bipartisan aviation safety bill failed to advance in Congress after the Pentagon withdrew its support. Want more analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter. Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Rebekah Metzler, Rafael Nam, Russell Lewis, HJ Mai and Adriana Gallardo. It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas. Our director is Christopher Thomas.We get engineering support from Neisha Heines. Our technical director is Carleigh Strange. And our Supervising Producer is Michael Lipkin . (0:00) Introduction (01:54) Trump Delivers State Of The Union (05:34) What Trump Had To Say About The Economy (09:34) Aviation Safety Bill Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

A.M. Edition for Feb. 25. In the longest State of the Union address on record, President Trump tried to persuade Americans that the economy is in better shape than many think it is. WSJ White House reporter Meridith McGraw parses the speech where Trump doubled down on his tariffs, immigration policies and attacks on Democrats. Plus, Warner Bros. Discovery says the latest takeover bid from Paramount could top the best offer from Netflix. And, Anthropic says it could roll back the safety commitments it’s known for – if a rival releases a superior AI model. Daniel Bach hosts. Sign up for the WSJ’s free What’s News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices