Danger Close with Brian O'Leary

Danger Close with Brian O'Leary

"How do you not stand?"

Clueless Dems handed Trump a 'W' on Tuesday

Brian O'Leary's avatar
Brian O'Leary
Feb 28, 2026
∙ Paid

On January 8, 1790, George Washington delivered the first of his eight State of the Union addresses to a joint session of Congress.

Totaling all of 1,089 words, it remains the shortest SOTU on record.

Of course, there wasn’t a chance in hell of President Trump following Washington’s example of brevity on Tuesday night. In fact, we were warned in advance that his remarks might run for more than two hours.

While it (almost) mercifully lasted only an hour and 48 minutes, it was still the longest ever, beating his own record of 1:39, which he set with his March 4, 2025, address to a joint session of Congress. And that speech exceeded Bill Clinton’s 2000 record setter by about 11 minutes.

But, look. If you tuned in, you knew what you were in for, right?

And, despite the speech’s length and the usual Trumpisms, which we’ve all grown accustomed to, there was one aspect of the evening that he absolutely crushed…with a little help from his Democrat friends.

The Gallery

Danger Close with Brian O'Leary is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Keep reading with a 7-day free trial

Subscribe to Danger Close with Brian O'Leary to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
© 2026 Brian O'Leary · Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start your SubstackGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture