Governor Abigail Spanberger of Virginia posed a series of probing questions during her Democratic rebuttal to President Trump’s State of the Union address.
“Our president did not provide us with the truth,” she declared on Tuesday evening. “So let’s speak directly and truthfully.”
She pressed, “Is the president taking steps to make life more affordable for you and your loved ones?”
Spanberger continued, “Is the president ensuring the safety of Americans, both domestically and internationally?”
She added, “Is the president truly working on your behalf?”
Her remarks highlighted the increasing costs tied to Trump’s trade policies.
The speech, she noted, was taking place in the historic location of the House of Burgesses, the democratic body that preceded the US Congress in Jamestown, Va., in the early 17th century.
She laced into Trump over his administration’s immigration enforcement efforts.
“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,” she said.
“Every minute spent sowing fear is a minute not spent investigating murders, crimes against children or the criminals defrauding seniors of their life savings,” Spanberger added.
Spanberger then accused Trump and his confidants of engaging in “unprecedented” corruption.
“He’s enriching himself, his family, his friends,” she said. “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.”
She concluded her rebuttal to Trump’s State of the Union with a plea for Americans to “unite in a common cause.”
“[George Washington] 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,” she said. “It is deeply American and patriotic to do so.”
“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.”
Trump had declared in his address that the state of the union is “strong.”
Spanberger only spoke for around 13 minutes, while Trump’s State of the Union address was one hour and 48 minutes — the longest in history.
During his address, the commander in chief paid tribute to late conservative activist Charlie Kirk, and celebrated Team USA’s stunning Winter Olympics hockey triumph.
Trump attacked the Supreme Court for striking down his “reciprocal” tariffs — which he credited for bringing America’s economic “turnaround” — and blamed Democrats for having “caused” the affordability crisis.
