Trump Reveals A Game Plan For Midterms

BY NATALIE ANDREWS AND TARINI PARTI

WASHINGTON—More than an hour into his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, President Trump presented lawmakers with a choice that his advisers hoped would help him reclaim the political upper hand on immigration.

“If you agree with this statement, then stand up and show your support: The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens—not illegal aliens,” Trump said.

Republican lawmakers rose to their feet and cheered. Stone-faced Democrats remained seated.

The scene played out as the president’s aides planned, and they amplified it on social media, arguing that Democrats are putting the interests of immigrants living in the country illegally over U.S. citizens.

“They were repeatedly entreated to stand. Over and over. They refused,” Stephen Miller, the architect of Trump’s immigration agenda, wrote on social media. “It was a moment that chills to the bone and which will live for a thousand years.”

Facing backlash from voters after federal agents shot two American citizens during the administration’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, Trump is returning to the message that helped him get elected in 2016. He argues that the influx of migrants into the U.S. in recent years has caused problems for American citizens—and Democrats are to blame for not doing more to stop it.

Tuesday’s moment, which followed a Monday event at the White House honoring families of people killed by migrants living in the country illegally, comes as Trump’s immigration agenda has become unpopular following the January shootings in Minneapolis. The declining poll numbers risked turning one of Trump’s strongest political assets into a liability.

Facing an outcry from Democrats and declining poll numbers, the administration scaled back its operation in the city and began talks with Democrats over changes to the Department of Homeland Security, which have since stalled. Democrats are withholding funding for the department in exchange for more restrictions on immigration agents.

The moment contrasting Democrats and Republicans on immigration was Trump’s idea, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.

Since the president’s address, Trump’s advisers have repeatedly highlighted the moment on social media. “Ladies and Gentlemen, you just watched live the framing of the 2026 elections,” Trump’s pollster, Tony Fabrizio, wrote. “Take note of who stood and who sat on their hands.”

A Wall Street Journal poll last month found a majority of voters believed Trump had “gone too far” in deploying the Immigration and Customs Enforcement and deporting illegal immigrants. The poll also found that a majority approved of his actions on bor--der security, indicating that his efforts to crack down on border crossings are popular.

For Democrats, the challenge heading into the midterms will be to focus attention on what they view as Trump’s overreach without alienating voters who support some limits on immigration.

At counterrallies Tuesday in Washington, which dozens of Democrats attended instead of going to Trump’s speech, centrists and progressives said Trump’s deportation campaign had gone much further than removing criminals from the country.

“They’re also targeting U.S. citizens, racial profiling Americans, arresting Latino veterans,” said Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona, one of the Democrats who skipped the address to attend an event at the National Mall.

Rep. Marc Veasey, a Texas Democrat who is retiring and was in the audience for the speech, said Democrats want to work with Republicans on immigration legislation and securing the border. He said Trump is more focused on scoring political points than addressing the issue.

“In my opinion, it’s all bull—,” he said. “If he really wanted to, he could shut down these centers of labor where undocumented labor is prevalent, but he does not have the balls to do that.”

The centrist Democratic group Third Way has warned Democrats not to go too far in their response to Trump’s im--migration enforcement, dis couraging the party from calling for abolishing ICE. In a memo, the group said focusing on abolishing the agency as opposed to the abuses of ICE could be “emotionally satisfying” but “politically lethal.”

“The border is still a strength for him, but what people think about now when they think about immigration is Alex Pretti and Renee Good and that little boy,” said Matt Bennett, the co-founder of Third Way, referring to the Americans who were fatally shot in Minnesota and young Liam Ramos, who was detained by ICE. “Those images have replaced their demand for control of the border, and that’s an enormous liability for him and for Republicans.”