The Brief

Students are using ChatGPT more than ever — and ChatGPT knows it.
Last week, OpenAI launched "study mode" in its chatbot, aimed directly at the student market. It's meant to behave more like a tutor than a machine that spits out answers; it uses the Socratic method, builds quizzes and creates study plans. The same day, Google announced a suite of study-oriented tools.
So, how does generative AI compare to old-school tools like textbooks and online homework helpers like Chegg and Quizlet? Do they still have a place?
I first asked ChatGPT: "Would you recommend I use you as a study tool? How do you compare to textbooks and edtech companies?" The answer: "Yes, I can absolutely be a useful study tool, but the best results come from knowing how and when to use me alongside textbooks and edtech platforms."

Then I talked to people running some of those platforms and some students who use (or once used) them. As generative AI plants its stake in education, they're all doing what they can to acclimate.

How companies are adapting 

Chegg sells textbooks and offers a slate of digital services, such as generating flash cards and practice questions. In May, the company laid off about 250 employees, or 22% of its workforce, partly due to students turning to generative AI, it confirmed to NPR. But rather than trying to expand its reach, it's zooming in.
"We were trying to be everything to every student in a pre-AI world," Chegg CEO Nathan Schultz says.
Several generative AI platforms, including ChatGPT, have free plans. Chegg hopes to reach students who will pay $19.99 a month for tools that encourage long-term use and goal setting.
"If you think about the fitness world, those apps and those services tend to be much more guided to getting you to your goal," Schultz says. "They're giving you, 'Every week we're going to do this many miles or this many rides or this much work,' and that's how we've been designing our service."
Chegg is also wrapping AI models into its platform. A new feature shows subscribers side-by-side panels with Chegg's answer to a question next to answers from other platforms, including ChatGPT, Google Gemini and Claude.

Macmillan Learning sells textbooks and e-books, and it offers quizzes and study guides. Like Chegg, it has incorporated an AI tool into its paid plan and began rolling it out late last year.
Macmillan's tool doesn't give students straight-up answers; instead, it guides them to the solution through open-ended questions that expose flawed thinking (aka the Socratic method).
"It Socratically supports them so that they have that learning experience that they can use … when they have to do it themselves on the exam," says Tim Flem, Macmillan Learning's chief product officer.
Flem claims Macmillan's AI tutor is more accurate than AI chatbots, as it draws from the company's textbooks. The platform also reduces "content switching," he says.
"If you're switching between that tab and that tab, you notice how you're always kind of like, 'Wait a minute, what did it say over here?'" Flem says. "So our AI tutor is right there next to the problem that the student is working on."

Some students are mixing and matching AI and traditional tools. Bryan Wheatley combined ChatGPT with Quizlet and Socratic (another AI tool) to study. A recent graduate of Prairie View A&M University in Texas, he initially approached ChatGPT with trepidation.

Bryan Wheatley graduated from Prairie View A&M University last year with a degree in sociology.

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"Something that's really adaptive is kind of crazy in a sense," he says, though he went on to use it to outline essays and for other tasks. He says ChatGPT is correct about half the time, and he had to do a lot of cross-referencing.

He was one of the 66% of students in bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs using ChatGPT regularly, according to July 2024 research from the Digital Education Council.
The survey also found that over 50% of students believed too much reliance on AI would negatively impact their academic performance.
Sally Simpson is trying to hold the line. The Georgetown University student, who's working on a Ph.D. in German literature, does not use generative AI. In her undergrad days, she used websites like Quizlet and SparkNotes to reinforce information she processed.

Now, she sees undergraduates use generative AI to complete homework assignments and summarize bodies of work they didn't read. "It cheapens people's education," she says. "I think it's an important skill to be able to read an article, or read a text, and not only be able to summarize it, but think about it critically."

Sally Simpson is studying for a doctorate in German literature at Georgetown University.

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Dontrell Shoulders, a senior studying social work at Kentucky State University, was an avid Quizlet user and still uses it to study for tests. With Quizlet, he has to seek out answers. Generative AI doesn't provide much of a challenge, he says.

"You're just putting something in a computer, having to type it up, and just like, 'Here you go,' " he says. "Are you going to remember it after you just typed it in? You're not."

How professors are adapting

Amy Lawyer, the department chair of equine administration at the University of Louisville's business school, says some students still use online study guides like Chegg and SparkNotes. "Students are to a point where they're going to use any resources available to them," she says.
Of those resources, ChatGPT has had the most significant impact on her classroom. She uses it herself for editing and encourages her students to do the same. To stop them from plagiarizing or overusing AI chatbots, however, she's now issuing more assignments that must be handwritten or completed in class.
Ayelet Fishbach, a marketing and behavioral science professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, says students will always find shortcuts, no matter how the technology evolves. "Cheating has not been invented recently," she says.
"What is different now is that the line seems, to many people, more blurry," she says. "If before you knew you were cheating, now you feel, 'Maybe I'm still doing what I'm supposed to do, only I'm being more efficient.' This is confusing for students, and we do try to support them."
Copyright 2025 NPR

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger blasted President Trump's policies and invoked a civic call for Americans to push for better leadership, in a rebuttal to the State of the Union that offered a preview of how Democrats plan to message against the GOP in this year's midterm elections.

"In his speech tonight, the president did what he always does, he lied, he scapegoated and he distracted, and he offered no real solutions to our nation's pressing challenges, so many of which he is actively making worse," Spanberger said.

Speaking from Colonial Williamsburg as the nation approaches its 250th anniversary, the recently sworn in governor structured her address around three questions: "Is the president working to make life more affordable for you and your family? Is the president working to keep Americans safe, both at home and abroad? Is the president working for you?"

Spanberger, who previously served in Congress for six years, became the first woman elected governor of Virginia in November, flipping control of the office from Republican to Democrat. Prior to her career on Capitol Hill, she served in the CIA.

Her gubernatorial race was under the national spotlight as one of the first major indicators of voters' political leanings during the second Trump administration. Spanberger focused her campaign on affordability, a message Democrats continue to embrace ahead of the midterm elections and one that featured heavily in her roughly 13-minute speech.

"As I campaigned for governor last year, I traveled to every corner of Virginia and I heard the same pressing concern everywhere: costs are too high — in housing, health care, energy and child care," she said, underlining that Democrats "across the country are laser focused on affordability."

She slammed what she called Trump's "reckless trade policies."

"Americans are paying the price," she said, "and even though the Supreme Court struck these tariffs down four days ago, the damage to us, the American people, has already been done."

She also spoke about the violence from federal immigration enforcement officers in American streets.

"Our broken immigration system is something to be fixed, not an excuse for unaccountable agents to terrorize our communities," she said.

She also centered a portion of her speech on the theme of corruption within the Trump administration — which she called "unprecedented."

"There's the coverup of the Epstein files, the crypto scams, cozying up to foreign princes for airplanes and billionaires for ballrooms, putting his name and face on buildings all over our nation's capital," she said. "This is not what our founders envisioned."

The rebuttal to a president's State of the Union is considered an honor, given the high-profile nature of the speech. The selection tends to reflect what party leaders see as top policy priorities and which rising star they regard as the best spokesperson to deliver that message to the public.

"National Democrats want people to think about folks like Abigail Spanberger as core to the Democratic message," said Joel Payne, a longtime Democratic strategist. "Spanberger was one of the big Democratic success stories of 2025. She comes from a state that represents lots of parts of the Democratic coalition, a state that's purple, that's relevant in national politics — and that had a big political moment in the last year when they responded to Trump's agenda around DOGE."

Democrats are eager to replicate Spanberger's political success during this election cycle. She was part of a blue wave of Democrats in 2018 who flipped control of the House. She's considered a more moderate voice within the party.

She's recently faced criticism from conservatives who allege she is veering left after leading a more centrist campaign.

A tough gig 

The job of delivering the official response to the State of the Union can be tough.

Take then-Sen. Marco Rubio (now secretary of state), who delivered a response in both English and Spanish in 2013. His speech is mainly remembered by a singular moment when he went off camera to get a water bottle.

More recently, Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., was mocked for her speech's intense tone and the choice to deliver the response against the backdrop of her kitchen.

"It's very hard to match the pomp and circumstance and to match the bully pulpit of the president on a night where most of the country is paying attention to him," Payne said. "Spanberger acquitted herself very well, not only because of the content, which really spoke to the frustration of millions of Americans but in temperament, sounding like a grown up."

Payne said the simplicity of the message and the clarity of the delivery made for an effective speech.

"She talked about very crisp, easy to grasp themes," he said. "She offered very clear questions, clear points of contrast and offered specific examples of how Trump is falling short."

The Spanish language Democratic response

California Sen. Alex Padilla, a key figure in his party's fight against the administration's immigration policies, gave Democrats' Spanish language response to Trump's speech. Last summer, Padilla was thrust into the center of the debate over enforcement after he was forcibly removed from a DHS press conference while attempting to question Secretary Kristi Noem.

Padilla relived the moment in his speech.

"They may have knocked me down for a moment, but I got right back up," the California Democrat said in Spanish. "As our parents taught us, if you fall seven times, get up eight. I am still here. Standing. Still fighting. And I know you are still standing and still fighting too."

Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., speaks during the ICE Out for Good protest at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection office on Jan. 13 in Washington, D.C.

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The son of Mexican immigrants said the administration had weaponized federal immigration officers, forced the increase of grocery and housing prices and is threatening to interfere in the November midterm elections.

Padilla, the first Latino to represent California in the Senate, was appointed to the seat in 2021 after the seat was vacated by Kamala Harris. He won his first six-year term the following year.

Some Democrats were absent from the chamber 

As has been the case during previous Trump addresses to Congress, some Democrats chose to skip the speech entirely and engage in counter-programming.

Temperatures were below freezing on the National Mall, where a stage was set up with the illuminated U.S. Capitol dome as the backdrop. The "People's State of the Union," sponsored by the progressive advocacy groups MoveOn.org and Meidas Touch, featured upwards of 30 members of Congress who skipped Trump's speech.

Among the lawmakers who addressed the crowd was Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn.

"I am not at the State of the Union speech tonight, because Donald Trump is making a mockery of this great institution, and he doesn't deserve an audience," said Murphy. "These are not normal times, and Democrats have to stop behaving normally."

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., speaks during the "People's State of the Union" on the National Mall on Tuesday night.

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The event not only featured remarks from lawmakers but from community leaders as well. Payne, who serves as chief communications officer for Move On, said the intention was to shine a spotlight on constituents.

"We wanted to make sure that those folks were the stars of tonight — whether it's people who've been impacted by DOGE cuts, people who've been impacted by the priorities that were laid out in Donald Trump's 'big, beautiful bill,' or people who've been impacted by this immigration regime," Payne said.

One such speaker was Dr. Jenna Norton, a whistleblower who was placed on administrative leave from the National Institutes of Health last fall after voicing alarm about funding and staffing cuts at the agency.

"The Trump administration put research participants and public health at risk when they abruptly terminated NIH studies," said Norton. "By halting these studies, they also wasted taxpayer resources. When you halt a $5 million study four years in, you don't save a million dollars, you waste $4 million."

Lawmakers reiterated calls for significant changes at the Department of Homeland Security, following the killing of two U.S. citizens in Minnesota by immigration agents last month. As Trump delivered his State of the Union address, DHS remains shut down.

NPR's Claudia Grisales and Don Gonyea contributed to this report. 

Read Spanberger's Democratic response to President Trump's State of the Union address

ABIGAIL SPANBERGER: Good evening. Good evening and welcome to Historic Williamsburg. We are gathered here in the chambers of the House of Burgesses. In 1705, the people of the Virginia Colony gathered here to take on the extraordinary task of governing themselves. Before there was a Declaration of Independence, a Constitution or a Bill of Rights, there were people in this room.

The people who served here ultimately dreamed of what a new nation unlike anything the world had ever seen could be. The United States was founded on the idea that ordinary people could reject the unacceptable excesses of poor leadership, band together to demand better of their government and create a nation that would be an example for the world.

[Applause] And this year, as we celebrate 250 years since America declared our independence from tyranny, I can think of no better place to speak to you as we reflect on the current state of our union. Tonight, as we watched our nation's lawmakers gather for a joint session of Congress, we did not hear the truth from our president.

So let's speak plainly and honestly and let me ask you, the American people watching at home, three questions. Is the president working to make life more affordable for you and your family? Is the president working to keep Americans safe both at home and abroad? Is the president working for you? As I campaigned for governor last year, I traveled to every corner of Virginia and I heard the same pressing concern everywhere, costs are too high, in housing, health care, energy and child care.

And I know these same conversations are being had all across this country. Because since this president took office last year, his reckless trade policies have forced American families to pay more than $1,700 each in tariff costs. Small businesses have suffered. Farmers have suffered, some losing entire markets.

Everyday Americans are paying the price and even though the Supreme Court struck these tariffs down four days ago, the damage to us, the American people, has already been done. Meanwhile, the president is planning for new tariffs, another massive tax hike on you and your family. And Republicans in Congress, they remain unwilling to assert their constitutional authority to stop him.

They're making your life harder. They're making your life more expensive. They're even making it more difficult to see a doctor. Rural health clinics in Virginia and across the country are already closing their doors, thanks to the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill, championed by the president and Republicans in Congress.

And tonight, the president celebrated this law, the one threatening rural hospitals, stripping health care for millions of Americans and driving up costs in energy and housing, all while cutting food programs for hungry kids. But here in Virginia, I am working with our state legislature to lower costs and make the Commonwealth more affordable.

[Applause] And it's not just me. Democrats across the country are laser focused on affordability in our nation's capital and in state capitals and communities across America. In the most innovative and exceptional nation in the history of the world, Americans deserve to know that their leaders are focused on addressing the problems that keep them up at night, problems that dictate where you live, whether you can afford to start a business or whether you have to skip a prescription in order to buy groceries.

So I'll ask again, is the president working to make life more affordable for you and your family? We all know the answer is no. I grew up in a house of service. My mother was a nurse and my father was a career law enforcement officer. I began my career by following in my father's footsteps as a federal agent, working money laundering and narcotics cases.

I worked side by side with local and state police to keep our community safe and to uphold and enforce the law. Law enforcement officers across the country know that it is a unique responsibility to do the serious work of investigating crimes, comforting victims and making arrests. It's about building trust and that requires an abiding sense of duty and commitment to community.

And yet, our president has sent poorly trained federal agents into our cities where they have arrested and detained American citizens and people who aspire to be Americans, and they have done it without a warrant. 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.

And they have done it all with their faces masked from accountability. Every minute spent sowing fear is a minute not spent investigating murders, crimes against children or the criminals defrauding seniors of their life savings. Our president told us tonight that we are safer, because these agents arrest mothers and detain children?

ABIGAIL SPANBERGER: Think about that, our broken immigration system is something to be fixed, not an excuse for unaccountable agents to terrorize our communities. [Applause] After working in law enforcement, I continued my career of service as a CIA officer, working undercover to protect the United States and our allies from global threats, terrorism, nuclear weapons and the aggression of adversarial nations around the globe.

But as the president spoke of his perceived successes tonight, he continues to cede economic power and technological strength to Russia, bow down to — to China, bow down to a Russian dictator and make plans for war with Iran. 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 the United States of America being a force for good.

So I'll ask again, is the president working to keep Americans safe both at home and abroad? We all know the answer is no. In his speech tonight, the president did what he always does; he lied, he scapegoated and he distracted and he offered no real solutions to our nation's pressing challenges, so many of which he is actively making worse.

He tries to divide us, he tries to enrage us, to pit us against one another, neighbor against neighbor. And sometimes he succeeds. And so you have to ask, who benefits from his rhetoric, his policies, his actions, the short list of laws he's pushed through this Republican Congress? Somebody must be benefiting.

He's enriching himself, his family, his friends. The scale of the corruption is unprecedented. There's the cover up of the Epstein files, the crypto scams, cozying up to foreign princes for airplanes and billionaires for ballrooms, putting his name and face on buildings all over our nation's capital. This is not what our founders envisioned, not by a long shot.

[Applause] So I'll ask again, is the president working for you? We all know the answer is no. But here's the special thing about America. On our 250th anniversary, we know better than any nation what is possible when ordinary citizens like those who once dreamed right here in this room reject the unacceptable and demand more of their government.

We see it in the determination of students organizing school walkouts all across the country, whose voices are becoming so powerful that the governor of Texas seeks to silence them. We see it in the bravery of Americans in Minnesota standing up for their communities, from peacefully protesting in subzero temperatures to carpooling children to school, so that their immigrant parents are not ripped away from them in the parking lot.

As a mother of three school-age daughters, I am inspired by their bravery, but I am sickened that it is necessary. And Americans across the country are taking action. They are going to the ballot box to reject this chaos. With their votes, they are writing a new story, a more hopeful story. In November, I won my election by 15 points.

[Applause] And we won 13 new seats in our state legislature. [Applause] Because voters decided they wanted something different. Our campaign earned votes from Democrats, Republicans, independents and everyone in between because they knew as citizens, they could demand more, that they could vote for what they believe matters, and that they didn't need to be constrained by a party or political affiliation.

This is happening across the country. New Jersey elected Mikie Sherrill as governor in a double-digit victory. [Applause] Democrats flipped state legislative seats in places like Georgia, Iowa, Mississippi and Texas. The list goes on and on. Ordinary Americans are stepping up to run in the spirit of our forefathers.

They are running to demand more and to do more for their neighbors and communities. I know the story well. I first ran for office in 2018 alongside dozens of other Democrats who did the seemingly impossible, flipping 41 seats in Congress. In my case, I was the first Democrat elected in 50 years, swinging our district 17 points.

Those who are stepping up now to run will win in November because Americans, you at home, know you can demand more and that we are working to lower costs. We are working to keep our communities and our country safe and we are working for you. [Applause] In his farewell address, George Washington warned us about the possibility of, quote, cunning, ambitious and unprincipled men rising to power.

But he also encouraged us, all Americans, to unite in a common cause to move this nation forward. That is our charge once more and that is what we are seeing across the country. It is deeply American and patriotic to do so, and it is how we ensure that the state of our union remains strong, not just this year but for the next 250 years as well, because we the people have the power to make change, the power to stand up for what is right, the power to demand more of our nation.

[Applause] May God bless the Commonwealth of Virginia and may God bless the United States of America. [Applause]

Copyright 2026 NPR

This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters.

Thirty years ago, Jim O’Hara Jr. woke up from a coma, unable to walk, talk or eat. An 18-wheeler had broadsided his car, leaving him, then 18 years old, with a severe brain injury, according to his father, Jim O’Hara. Doctors said the young man’s condition wouldn't improve much. But O’Hara refused to leave his son in a nursing home.

After more than a year of hospital stays and rehabilitation, he brought Jim Jr. home, knowing he’d need far more help than one person could provide. California’s system of regional centers seemed like an answer. These centers purchase and coordinate support services for people with developmental and intellectual disabilities and are designed to do exactly what Jim Jr. needed: help rebuilding his life.

Then O’Hara learned his son didn’t qualify. Under California law, a person’s disability must begin before age 18 to qualify for the regional centers system.

California’s ‘age of onset’ rule that determines eligibility is narrower than federal law and stricter than most states. O’Hara has spent years fighting to change it, pushing to extend access to people whose disability commenced as young adults, up to age 22. Now he’s trying again, this time alongside his state representative Assemblymember Pilar Schiavo, a Santa Clarita Democrat.

Schiavo said she is seeking to make this change through the annual budget process. She acknowledged the task could be an “uphill battle,” given the state’s projected budget troubles, but said it’s a change that’s long overdue.

“California has really fallen behind the rest of the nation on this issue,” Schiavo said. “It’s hard to look at new programs or expansions when you’re looking at cuts. ... Last year we were able to find new dollars for priorities, so we're hoping this will be one of the priorities we can figure out how to make happen.”

The promise of early intervention

Without the regional center system, O’Hara became the advocate and case manager he wished his son had. He trained as a behavioral aide, appealed to insurance companies, shuttled his son to appointments and therapies and designed a home schooling program.

“I devoted 10 years of my life to my son's rehab. I don't regret a single second of it,” he said.

It paid off. Gradually, Jim Jr.’s humor and his self-awareness began to resurface.

Today, at 49, he talks, walks and cracks jokes. He loves to read and bowl — progress beyond what doctors anticipated.

To O’Hara, that trajectory proves just how much early intervention matters.

“But the insurance and the rehab systems are not set up for that,” he said. “The regional center is. We didn't have it; I had to create it myself.”

Today, 21 regional centers serve nearly a half-million Californians with conditions including autism, cerebral palsy and epilepsy.

Regional centers act as a hub, connecting people to therapies, adult day programs, social skills training, independent living support and job training — all managed through a single point of contact.

The California Department of Developmental Services, which regulates regional centers, says people whose disabilities begin after age 18 are generally directed to other programs: in-home supportive services, the state department of rehabilitation and independent living centers. Pathways exist.

But parents like O’Hara say this misses the point. Regional centers offer something those programs don’t — comprehensive, coordinated services for life.

A years-long fight

Since 1978, federal law has defined developmental disabilities as severe, chronic conditions “attributable to a mental or physical impairment” that manifest before age 22. California’s cutoff of 18 puts it out of step with both federal policy and a growing body of research showing that the brain continues developing well into the mid-20s — meaning a traumatic brain injury acquired in late adolescence or early adulthood could disrupt development just as profoundly as one earlier.

California lawmakers have tried several times before to close that gap. In 2022, a bill authored by state Sens. Anthony Portantino, a Democrat from La Cañada Flintridge, and Scott Wilk, a Santa Clarita Republican, made it to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk. Newsom vetoed the bill, pointing to cost. While his veto message expressed support for extending services to people whose disabilities originated before age 22, he said covering more Californians would require tens of millions of dollars from the state’s general fund that had not been set aside that year.

Such a request, Newsom said, would have to go through the budget process.

Gov. Gavin Newsom takes questions during a press conference at the Capitol Annex Swing Space in Sacramento on Feb. 11, 2026.

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At the time, the independent Legislative Analyst’s Office estimated that extending regional center services to people whose disability started between ages 18 and 22 retroactively would expand eligibility to 1,000 to 2,000 people in the first year, at a cost of $15 million to $60 million.

Schiavo is now pursuing the expansion through the budget rather than standalone legislation and said she expects her ask to fall in that range.

The Association of Regional Center Agencies supports the idea, with a caveat: that the state allocate adequate funding for this expansion.

The population regional centers serve is already growing quicker than the general population, with the Department of Developmental Services projecting a 7.6% increase in clients for the coming fiscal year. That growth is driven partly by rising autism diagnoses, according to the state, and partly by more aggressive outreach to communities of color — centers have faced criticism in the past for inequitable services.

People with brain injuries acquired in young adulthood may also need additional or different support than those with disabilities from birth, said Amy Westling, the association's executive director.

“It’s not that there is a fundamental disagreement that people with acquired and traumatic brain injury particularly in this age range need additional support,” Westling said. “It’s just a question of, does this proposal include enough consideration of the financial support that would be necessary to make it possible?”

‘What will happen when I'm gone?’

Katherine Graham gets emotional thinking about what will happen to her son’s care when she is no longer around.

In June 2002, her son Joe was a 21-year-old psychology student in Santa Rosa. A traffic accident threw him 40 feet from his car, first responders told her.

He didn’t break any bones, but he did suffer a devastating brain injury.

“Right after the accident, they said, ‘He will be a vegetable. He will never walk. He will never talk,’” Graham said.

Like Jim Jr., Joe Graham is not eligible for regional center services because his brain injury happened after age 18.

Joe Graham at his volunteer job at a community kitchen.

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Joe with his mom Katherine Graham.

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For nearly a quarter-century, Katherine Graham has overseen every aspect of her son’s care, constantly searching for activities and services that could help his recovery, sometimes paying out of pocket. Today, at 44, Joe walks, talks, volunteers and lives in his own apartment. He gets some help through Medi-Cal’s in-home supportive services, including assistance with personal care, shopping and laundry. But transportation, managing appointments, staying on top of medication and even looking for opportunities to socialize have largely fallen on his mother.

A retired school teacher from Ukiah, Graham has advocated long and hard for her son.

More than anything, Joe wants to work again and be independent. But his disability makes it difficult to read social cues and understand personal boundaries, Graham said. She believes that if her son had had prompt access to social skills training and job coaching that regional centers provide, he’d be further along in his recovery.

“My concern is what will happen when I'm gone and can no longer support him or provide help. Who is going to continue to protect, to guide, as well as fill out leases and recertifications for services?” Graham said.

O’Hara, too, says he will keep pushing for his son and so that people with disabilities can more easily access critical support services proven to help them become more self-sufficient.

“As long as he has me, my son will keep moving forward, but if something happens to me, that could stop,” O’Hara said. “My goal is to never let that happen.”

Supported by the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF), which works to ensure that people have access to the care they need, when they need it, at a price they can afford. Visit www.chcf.org to learn more.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

President Donald Trump delivered the first official State of the Union address of his second term on Tuesday night. The speech gave Trump the opportunity to tout accomplishments and outline his agenda for his administration's second year.

It comes at at time when Americans are divided on whether Trump's first year has been a success. A new NPR/PBS News/Marist poll shows that six in 10 believe the country is worse off than last year and that a majority think the state of the union is not strong.

Reporters from across NPR's newsroom are fact checking his speech and offer context — on topics like immigration, the economy, tariffs and trade and foreign policy.

Immigration

Do we have the strongest and most secure border so far?

This is partly true.

It is not true that there have been zero crossings; for example, there were 237,538 in 2025, according to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. But Border Patrol encounters with migrants crossing into the United States from Mexico have fallen to their lowest level in more than 50 years, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of statistics from the federal government.

While it is true that there were a historic number of crossings during the Biden administration, it is untrue that the border was wide open for people to cross unvetted: in the final year of his administration, President Biden significantly tightened controls.

— Jasmine Garsd, Immigration Correspondent

Did murderers, ex-convicts and mental institution patients emigrate to the U.S. under Biden?

There is no evidence of this.

A historic number of people came across the U.S. border during the Biden administration, however many were vetted. Programs like parole and the CBP One app required entry screenings and interviews.

There has also been extensive research showing that immigrants, both documented and undocumented, are less likely to commit crimes than citizens. What's more, although the number of people in immigration detention is at a historic high (near 70,000 as of earlier this month), around 74% have no criminal conviction.

— Jasmine Garsd, Immigration Correspondent

Did members of the Somali community pillage $19 billion?

Almost 100 defendants — many of Somali descent — have been charged by the Department of Justice in connection with alleged fraud connected to federal social safety net and child welfare programs in Minnesota, according to the White House.

In one high-profile case, federal prosecutors charged dozens of people in 2022 connected to a Minnesota nonprofit called Feeding Our Future with stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from taxpayer-funded child nutrition programs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The president has used that controversy to attack the Somali American community at large in Minneapolis, including calling Somali immigrants "garbage" who "contribute nothing."

— Jasmine Garsd, Immigration Correspondent

Foreign policy

Foreign investment 

Trump referenced this figure, but a White House website of total investment at both home and abroad sits at under $10 trillion. And other analyses have found that number inflated as well.

— Saige Miller, Washington Desk Producer

Iran's nuclear program "obliterated"

Trump again repeated his oft-stated claim that the U.S. "obliterated" Iran's nuclear program during one day of bombing in Iran last June. There's a broad consensus that combined U.S. and Israeli strikes inflicted major damage on Iran's nuclear program. However, Iran has not allowed international inspectors to examine their nuclear facilities, making a precise assessment impossible.

In addition, Trump has not explained why he's considering a new round of attacks on Iran's nuclear program if it was 'obliterated' just months ago.

— Greg Myre, national security correspondent

 "I ended eight wars"

President Trump has had diplomatic successes, but his repeated claim that he's ended eight wars is an exaggeration.

Perhaps his biggest success to date was brokering a ceasefire in the Israel and Hamas war in Gaza last October. However, Israel has continued to carry out airstrikes, killing hundreds of Palestinians since the truce was announced. Israel alleges many ceasefire violations by Palestinian militias.

Trump's list also includes Israel and Iran. Israel and the U.S. exchanged airstrikes with Iran for 12 days last June before Trump declared a truce. However, none of the longstanding issues were resolved, and Trump is again threatening to attack Iran.

— Greg Myre, National Security Correspondent

Iranian protesters killed

Iran's security forces unleashed a brutal crackdown against protesters in January. The Human Rights Activist News Agency has put the death toll at more than 7,000, though various human rights groups say the number could be even higher. Iran's government has acknowledged more than 3,000 deaths in clashes, a figure that includes protesters and security force members.

— Greg Myre, National Security Correspondent

Economy

A "turnaround for the ages"

The U.S. economy was in solid shape before President Trump returned to the White House for his second term. In fact, in October 2024, The Economist had labeled the U.S. economy "the envy of the world," because it had bounced back from the pandemic recession in stronger shape than most of its peers. To be sure, many Americans were frustrated with the high cost of living, and that dissatisfaction contributed to Trump's victory the following month. However, costs have continued to climb over the last year, and that dissatisfaction is now weighing on Trump's own approval rating. Nearly six-in-ten Americans say the country is worse off now than it was a year ago, according to the latest NPR/PBS News/Marist poll.

— Scott Horsley, Chief Economics Correspondent

Inflated claims about inflation

Inflation has cooled in recent months. But the cost of living is still climbing faster than most people would like. A few items have gotten cheaper in the last year, such as gasoline and eggs. But housing, groceries, electricity and natural gas have all gotten more expensive.

Inflation reached a four-decade high of 9.1% in 2022, after Russia's invasion of Ukraine sent prices soaring around the world. By the time President Joe Biden left office, inflation had fallen to 3%. It dropped as low as 2.3% last April, before rebounding to 3% in September.

Trump's tariffs have raised the price of some imported goods, but the effects on the overall cost of living have been limited. Annual inflation dipped to 2.4% in January. (A separate measure of inflation, which is closely watched by the Federal Reserve, shows that prices are still climbing at roughly the same rate that they were a year ago.)

— Scott Horsley, Chief Economics Correspondent

Stock market 

The stock market has enjoyed big gains over the last year, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average topping 50,000 for the first time earlier this month. In 2025, the S&P 500 index jumped 18%, after a 24% gain in 2024. The stock market rally has given a boost to many people's retirement savings. It's important to remember, however, that stock ownership is very concentrated. The richest 10% of families own 87% of all stock market wealth, while half of all Americans own little or no stock.

— Scott Horsley, Chief Economics Correspondent

Job growth

Job growth slowed sharply in the last year. U.S. employers added just 181,000 jobs in all of 2025, compared to more than 1.4 million in 2024. Hiring picked up in January of this year, but the job gains last month were concentrated in health care — an industry that is typically insulated from the ups and downs of the broader economy. Unemployment has remained low — just 4.3% in January — but that's up from 4% a year ago when Trump returned to the White House.

— Scott Horsley, Chief Economics Correspondent

Tax cuts

Congressional Republicans voted last summer to extend portions of the 2017 tax cut which otherwise would have expired last year. An analysis by the Tax Foundation found the package — the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — is the sixth largest tax cut in U.S. history, not the largest. The bill also adds new tax breaks on tips, overtime pay and Social Security benefits. The result will be somewhat higher take-home pay for many workers in 2026. The bill also cut government spending on safety-net programs such as Medicaid and food stamps.

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office says the bulk of the tax savings will go to the wealthy. Middle-income households will see a smaller benefit, between $500 and $1000 a year. For families making less than $55,000 the loss of government benefits will likely outweigh any tax savings, leaving them worse off. The tax cut is also expected to encourage more business investment, which could boost future economic growth.

— Scott Horsley, Chief Economics Correspondent

Standing by tariffs after rebuke by SCOTUS

The federal government has been collecting about $30 billion every month in tariffs, which is far more than it made from import taxes before Trump returned to the White House last year.

The Supreme Court struck down about half of Trump's tariffs last week, ruling that the president had exceeded his authority. Some of those levies are being replaced with alternative import taxes.

The Constitution gives Congress the power to levy tariffs — though lawmakers have delegated limited tariff powers to the executive branch.

Economists say the vast majority of tariff bills are being paid by businesses in the U.S. that import products. In some cases, those costs are being passed along to consumers in the form of higher prices.

Tariff revenue, while substantial, has fallen short of what the administration projected. This is partly because some imports have been granted tariff exemptions, and partly because importers have shifted production to countries facing lower tariff rates. Imports from China, for example, made up 12% of total imports in 2024. By last fall that had dropped to about 8%.

— Scott Horsley, Chief Economics Correspondent

Tariffs and manufacturing

President Trump argues that high tariffs will spark a renaissance in U.S. manufacturing. But it hasn't happened yet. Factories have been in a slump for most of the last year, shedding 108,000 jobs in 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

No doubt Trump's taxes on foreign imports have allowed some U.S. factories to raise their prices. But the vast majority of factory managers, many of whom rely on foreign components, say tariffs have been a drag on their business. "Morale is very low across manufacturing in general," one unnamed factory manager told the Institute for Supply Management in December.

— Scott Horsley, Chief Economics Correspondent

Energy

Gasoline prices

According to GasBuddy, only the cheapest 10% of stations in the country are seeing prices of $2.31 per gallon or cheaper. And while gasoline was $1.85 a gallon in Iowa in early January, prices have since risen. As for $1.99 gasoline, "only 8 out of roughly 150,000 gas stations nationwide are selling gasoline below $2 per gallon," GasBuddy's Patrick de Haan wrote on Tuesday.

While the specific prices named by President Trump are exceptional rather than representative, gasoline is certainly cheaper now than it was before his inauguration. The national average gasoline price is currently at $2.92 a gallon, according to AAA, or about 22 cents cheaper than this time a year ago.

Those prices are driven by global markets, and a worldwide oversupply of oil is the dominant force keeping prices in check. Presidents do not set gasoline prices. However, politics can be a factor in global markets, and Trump has put pressure on the oil cartel OPEC to keep oil prices down.

— Camila Domonoske, Cars and Energy Correspondent

Data centers and electricity rates

Electricity prices rose 6.3% in the last 12 months – more than double the overall rate of inflation. That's partly due to the high cost of natural gas, which is a major fuel for power plants. It's also due to increased demand, some of which comes from power-hungry data centers. Rising electricity prices were a big theme in last year's gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia.

— Scott Horsley, Chief Economics Correspondent

Venezuelan oil "received" in the U.S.

Since the U.S. captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro last month, the U.S. government has been helping sell some of Venezuela's oil. The U.S. has worked with two Swiss oil trading companies, Vitol and Trafigura. (Both Vitol and Trafigura have pleaded guilty to bribery and settled cases with the Department of Justice during the Biden administration.)

Secretary of Energy Chris Wright says that U.S.-facilitated oil sales total more than $1 billion. However the Venezuelan government has said it has only received $300 million. In a Senate hearing last month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said $200 million is in a bank account in Qatar. It's unclear where the rest of the money is and if and when it will get to the Venezuelan people.

The U.S. is the biggest producer of oil in the world and the world is currently oversupplied with oil.

– Julia Simon, Climate Solutions Correspondent

Oil and natural gas production

The U.S. set an annual crude oil production record last year, rising about 400,000 barrels a day from 2024, according to the Energy Information Administration. That was not a new trend initiated by Trump — crude output rose for four years in a row. However, it's expected to drop by about 100,000 barrels a day in 2026, thanks in large part to low oil prices. Globally, the world is currently oversupplied with oil.

It is true that natural gas production is up; the EIA forecasts record natural gas production in 2026 and 2027. Natural gas prices were low in 2024 but jumped sharply last year, due in part to massive exports of liquefied natural gas from the U.S. to other countries, mostly in Europe and Asia.

Oil companies have not been on a drilling spree, as Trump's "drill, baby, drill" phrasing would suggest. According to Baker Hughes, a firm that monitors the energy industry, the number of active drilling rigs in the U.S. this week is down about 7% from this time a year ago. Low oil prices and skeptical investors have kept companies cautious. However, technological improvements have helped make U.S. oil production more efficient, squeezing more oil and natural gas out of existing wells, which has helped keep production high anyway.

— Camila Domonoske, Cars and Energy Correspondent

Government

DHS and terrorism prevention

Since Trump took office for his second term in January 2025, there have been mounting concerns among former federal employees and field experts about a diminished capacity to counter violent extremism. Many seasoned counterterrorism officials left government service, and budget cuts have fundamentally shifted the core infrastructure that had been devoted to community-based prevention programs, data-gathering and analysis. In the case of one of these programs, the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships, the administration replaced an outgoing head with a 22-year-old without experience in law enforcement or counterterrorism. Outside of DHS, other agencies that have traditionally played a role in countering violent extremism, such as the FBI, have seen manpower diverted to immigration enforcement.

— Odette Yousef, Domestic Extremism Correspondent

Congressional stock trading ban faces tough odds for passage

Congress has unsuccessfully pursued a stock trading ban for their members for years. Members of both sides of the aisle have put forth proposals that have drawn broad, bipartisan support. However, those efforts have fallen short of becoming law.

Those failures have spanned several House speakers, including former Speakers Nancy Pelosi and Kevin McCarthy. Pelosi's husband, Paul, has drawn attention as a venture capitalist who has been active in trading.

This time around, the GOP-led Stop Insider Trading Act has little chance of passage, currently without much bipartisan support.

— Claudia Grisales, Congressional Correspondent

Voter fraud is already incredibly rare

Trump has been claiming that noncitizens are voting en masse in American elections for more than a decade.

But it's illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal races, and they have never been found to vote in anything but microscopic numbers. In the rare cases they do vote, research has found it's often due to misunderstandings about the rules, as opposed to an attempt to influence election results, as Trump often claims.

Still, since Trump took office for his second term, his government has put more resources than ever before toward trying to find these voters. They've found very little.

"Even states that are looking everywhere to try to amplify the numbers of noncitizens … when they actually look, they find a surprisingly, shockingly small number," said David Becker, an election expert who runs a nonprofit that has been tracking noncitizen voting audits across the country.

In Michigan, an audit after the 2024 election found 16 alleged noncitizen votes out of the state's roughly 5.7 million cast. In Iowa, it was 35 votes out of 1.67 million cast.

Experts often note that for immigrants without legal status, it doesn't make sense to risk prison, deportation and family separation to cast one ballot — especially because the inherent paper trail of voting makes it very easy to get caught.

Trump correctly noted that not every state requires voters to show photo ID at the time they cast a ballot. But he oversimplified the dozen or so states that don't have such a requirement in implying that anyone can easily vote without being verified by officials first.

Federal law already requires identity verification for all voters at registration, by mandating they provide a valid driver's license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number. People who don't register in person are also required to provide ID the first time they vote, regardless of the state they live in.

The SAVE America Act that Trump referenced tonight isn't expected to garner the requisite 60 votes in the Senate needed to overcome a legislative filibuster, but you can still read a breakdown of what's in the proposed Republican election overhaul here.

— Miles Parks, Voting Correspondent

Warrior dividend 

Trump announced military service members would receive a $1,776 "warrior dividend" during his prime time address in December.

The money was allocated to service members in the massive omnibus budget bill known as "One Big Beautiful Bill." Congress — which has the power of the purse and is solely responsible for taxation and appropriation — approved $2.9 billion to subsidize housing for military members. Trump rebranded those funds as the "warrior dividend."

— Saige Miller, Washington Desk Producer

Health

Prescription drug prices

This claim is not true. Americans still pay several times more money for prescription drugs than people in peer countries. The Trump administration has taken aim at drug prices in various ways, but how helpful those efforts will ultimately be — and for how many people — is not yet clear.

His biggest move so far has been to use tariffs as leverage to negotiate deals with more than a dozen drugmakers, and then launch a direct-to-consumer website called TrumpRx where people can buy brand-named drugs at a discount. There are only about 40 drugs currently available on the site, and those same companies Trump struck deals with raised prices on hundreds of other drugs they sell. For most people, using insurance and paying a copay for their medications will be cheaper than TrumpRx, according to an analysis by KFF.

What many peer countries do to keep the prices of prescription drugs down is to regulate those prices. President Trump and congressional Republicans have generally rejected that approach, branding it as "government price setting."

— Selena Simmons-Duffin & Sydney Lupkin, health correspondents

Payments to insurance companies

At this point, Trump's "Great Health Care Plan" isn't a comprehensive health policy, but an articulation of policy priorities that Trump has asked Congress to develop into legislation. He supports loosening rules around mandatory benefits required by the Affordable Care Act and promoting health savings accounts, which allow people to set aside pre-tax funds to pay for certain health-related expenses. Under current law, HSA funds can't be used for health insurance costs like premiums.

Even the "catastrophic" or skinny plans preferred by Trump are private insurance plans, and the money paid for them goes to big insurance companies. The only way to stop payments to health insurance companies would be to bolster public health insurance options like Medicaid and Medicare.

A recent poll from KFF found Americans are more worried about health costs than any other household expenses. It also found that people plan to vote based on whether they think a candidate will help with health costs.

This year, ACA premiums have doubled on average, and in some cases, have increased much more, because Republicans did not vote with Democrats to extend extra ACA tax credits. Since then, more than a million people have dropped their coverage.

— Selena Simmons-Duffin, Health Policy Correspondent

Transgender youth

For the second year in a row, President Trump has brought as a guest a parent with a story about a child who began a gender transition in secret. The children mentioned in both speeches seem to have done some version of "social transition," which involves changing a name, pronouns, clothes, haircuts and the like. All of those things are reversible.

This is a topic he brought up frequently during his presidential campaign, in which he and Republicans spent millions on anti-trans ads.

So far, the Trump administration's efforts to ban trangender care has focused on medical interventions for youth. Using threats of withheld federal funding, investigations, proposed regulations, and subpoenas, the White House has succeeded in shutting down many gender clinics for youth at hospitals across the country. There are also many lawsuits challenging these actions.

— Selena Simmons-Duffin, Health Policy Correspondent

Crime

Declining murder rates 

Murders have been on a steep decline following a pandemic-era surge.

The homicide rate in 35 studied cities dropped 21% in 2025, compared with 2024, according to data from the Council on Criminal Justice.

The FBI hasn't released 2025 homicide data for all jurisdictions nationwide yet. However, the Council on Criminal Justice states "there is a strong possibility" that the murder rate will be roughly 4 per 100,000 residents. That, according to the council, would be the lowest rate ever recorded, going back to 1900. It would also mark the largest single-year percentage drop in homicides on record.

Murders and violent crime were already declining under the Biden administration. In 2024, President Joe Biden's final year in office, violent crime dropped to a 20-year low.

— Saige Miller, Washington Desk Producer

Was Iryna Zarutska killed by an immigrant?

Iryna Zarutska was fatally stabbed on August 22, 2025 while riding the light rail line in Charlotte, N.C. Zarutska, who was 23, was stabbed by 34-year-old DeCarlos Brown Jr., who has a reported history of mental health issues.

In tonight's address, Trump claimed Brown was an immigrant released into America thanks to an open border policy. There is no evidence of this. Local media has reported that Brown was born and raised in Charlotte and had spent time in and out of North Carolina jails.

— Jasmine Garsd Immigration Correspondent

Drug cartels as FTOs

Under Trump, the State Department has designated a number of drug cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations, or FTOs. This is a novel use of the designation, which has traditionally been used to go after overseas entities that have threatened the security interests of the U.S., such as al-Qaida or ISIS. This pivot in definition of FTO has raised some concern among those who were previously involved in the designation process and other counterterrorism experts. They say that responding to criminal narcotics enterprises that operate from a profit motive is fundamentally different from disrupting networks that sow ideological and violent opposition to the U.S. government.

— Odette Yousef, Domestic Extremism Correspondent 

Copyright 2026 NPR

Only one president in U.S. history has gone before Congress during a State of the Union address and said that the state of the union was "not good."

It wasn't President Donald Trump on Tuesday.

It was Gerald Ford in 1975 with the country facing similar economic problems to today's, including high prices. People continue to say that prices and the cost of living are their top concerns, and they blame Trump's policies, particularly his tariffs, for making things worse.

But Trump ignored those economic warts, instead boasting that "our nation is back" and that it had achieved a "turnaround for the ages."

It all amounted to a fairly standard Trump speech. It hit familiar notes on immigration and culture, was wide-ranging and record-setting — the longest spoken State of the Union address in recent history at 1 hour and 48 minutes — and had a usual amount of Trump showmanship.

Here are five takeaways from what Trump had to say in this midterm election year:

1. Trump ignored the difficulties people are facing with the economy.

Voters have been saying for a long time that prices and the cost of living are their top concerns. It's largely what has landed Trump and the Republican Party in a precarious position ahead of this year's midterm elections.

And yet, Trump largely ignored the economic hardships many are feeling. He gave a rosy outlook, touting the stock market and lower gas prices. But the reality is, it's just not how voters are feeling, and Trump did not have an "I feel your pain" moment in this speech.

Trump's approval ratings are at or near record lows, and voters are blaming his policies, particularly his tariffs, for making things worse. In this speech, he doubled down on those tariffs. With the Supreme Court justices sitting just feet away, he criticized their ruling last week that many of his tariffs were illegal. He said he had come up with "alternative" legal justifications for keeping them in place.

2. Trump's midterm message is … not new

There was no novel political message from the president in this speech. Trump talked a lot about his political hobby horses: the woes of immigration, crime and the culture wars. He tried to hit a reset button on immigration, focusing on border security and crimes committed replete with gory anecdotal details.

It's a tactic that's long been employed by Trump, the GOP and conservative media to advocate against immigration, particularly when data doesn't back up allegations of higher levels of crime committed by those in the country without legal status.

Trump's message worked in 2024, but two very important things have changed: (1) he owns the economy now, and people don't feel great about it and (2) he has a record now on immigration. And while people have said in polling that they are in favor of deportations, they're not happy with how his administration has gone about them — especially since most of those rounded up have no criminal record — and after two Americans were killed by federal officers in Minnesota in January.

3. There was no legislative agenda.

State of the Union addresses can sometimes descend into laundry lists of things the president wants Congress to accomplish.

Not this speech.

There were only about half a dozen specific things Trump asked Congress to do:

• "Codify" Trump's attempts to lower drug prices, though it's unclear how.
• Pass the "Stop Insider Trading Act" that would restrict the Wall Street trading of members of Congress and their spouses.
• Pass what Trump is calling the "Delilah Law" that would ban commercial licenses for immigrants in the country without legal status.
• Restore funding for the Department of Homeland Security. After the killing of the two Americans in Minnesota, Democrats refused to authorize new funding for DHS, leading to a partial government shutdown. 
• Pass the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to vote. Proven instances of fraud, including by noncitizens, are very rare, but Trump claims there is "rampant" cheating. It's something he has used to justify his 2020 election loss, and it's a claim he could use to cast doubt on this year's outcome — if Republicans lose.
  

While those are certainly consequential, they don't add up to a major legislative push. That's not surprising, though, since Trump has spent the better part of the last year trying to consolidate power in the White House.

4. The Democratic response had a wide range.

State of the Union speeches have turned from staid to raucous in the past 16 years. Outbursts and protests have become more common. That was certainly the case Tuesday night. Some Democrats boycotted. Others, like Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, shouted at the president about things she found outrageous during the speech. Rep. Al Green of Texas carried a sign that read, "Black people aren't apes," a reference to a Trump social media post featuring a video that depicted former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as apes. For the second year in a row, Green was removed from the chamber.

Then there was Abigail Spanberger, the governor of Virginia, who had the task of delivering the official Democratic response. Channeling the campaign message that got her elected in November, she focused on the economy. Trump, by not addressing the difficulties people are feeling about the economy, gave Spanberger an opening, and she took it.

She hammered home a sharp message that many Democratic candidates in swing districts will likely aim to emulate. It has a good chance of success, as Democrats look to flip only a handful of seats to take control of the House, and midterm elections are not kind to the party in power — especially when the president is unpopular.

Come 2028, though, there could be a reckoning on the horizon for the Democratic Party on what it stands for and what direction it wants to take the country in a post-Trump world.

5. None of this will likely matter much politically because views of Trump are "baked in."

After the latest NPR/PBS News/Marist poll was released last week, pollster Lee Miringoff, who conducts the poll with his colleagues at Marist University, said Trump had an opportunity "to try and reset with the nation, but it's a tall order when views about him are so baked in."

Instead of trying to reach out beyond his base, he resorted to trying to bait Democrats, calling them "crazy" in an effort to position himself as "normal" on things like immigration, crime and transgender rights.

And he turned the address into a show. The gold-medal winning Olympic men's hockey team was there. So were veterans, who were decorated, live on-camera, with medals of honor.

Trump may have missed an opportunity to speak to voters' concerns, especially since presidents don't get that many opportunities to speak to the nation in prime time.

But, for Trump, no matter how things are going, the show must go on — and it will for roughly three more years.

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