It’s been five years since Trump last addressed a joint session of Congress, with his address coming after a flurry of activity since Inauguration Day. The White House confirmed that the theme of Trump’s address is “The Renewal of the American Dream” and would discuss what the president has done so far, particularly related to the economy, immigration, and foreign policy.

Trump has already eclipsed President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s record of 57 executive actions during his first 100 days, signing the most executive actions of any president on their first day in office. The president has taken 80-odd actions before his own April 30 deadline, from declaring a national emergency at the border and creating the Department of Government Efficiency to renaming the Gulf of Mexico.

However, Trump’s address comes as his approval rating is now on the descent. Trump’s approval averaged 51.5% on Inauguration Day, but it was on the precipice of net negative polling territory at 48% on Monday, according to RealClearPolitics.

An NPR-PBS News-Marist Poll released Monday found, too, that 53% of respondents consider the state of the union to not be very strong or not strong at all, 54% that the country is headed in the wrong direction, and 56% that Trump has been “rushing to make changes.

That comes amid legal, practical, and political problems with Elon Musk‘s DOGE, congressional Republican disagreement over how to pass Trump’s priorities and keep the federal government open after March 14, and international disagreement over his policy toward the Russia–Ukraine war following his Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last week and 25% tariffs anticipated to be imposed on Canada and Mexico on Tuesday.

Musk, whose DOGE is trying to reduce the size and scope of the federal government, will likely be in the House of Representatives for Trump’s address as the president’s base embraces his position on Russia and Ukraine.

Before Tuesday’s address, former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer told the Washington Examiner Trump likes to “explain what” is he doing, including securing the border, ensuring America is first, and negotiating, a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, but Fleischer hopes he uses the speech to “explain why.”

“I’d like to hear him tie it together and explain why he’s pursuing the foreign policy he is,” Fleischer said. “Why is he pursuing tariffs? He would strengthen his hand if he were able to put an intellectual framework around his actions that is easy to understand.”

Fleischer encouraged Trump to “go beyond ‘Make America Great Again’ and explain why he thinks, for example, tariffs will make our lives better.” 

“Why does he think we can work with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin? Why is it time for a new order in Europe?” he said.

Meanwhile, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), who will be positioned behind Trump on Tuesday, previewed that the president’s address would provide “fireworks, in a great way.”

“President Trump is coming in, a triumphant return to Congress to address us as the president once again,” Johnson told Fox News last weekend. “In the first month of office, he has accomplished so much that it could fill three hours. I suspect he will speak in a shorter time frame than that.”

The speaker added, “Normally, at this point in a president’s term, a new president’s term, they would not deliver a State of the Union. It would be just simply a joint address as it’s entitled. But, in this case, it actually will be more like a State of the Union address, because President Trump has such a long series of victories, things that he has done, promises he has kept, and it is putting America back on a strong footing, and we can’t wait to welcome him back to the chamber.”

Trump holds the record for the average longest addresses to Congress, referred to as a State of the Union, when not delivered during a president’s first year in office.

Trump’s record length for his addresses is an average one hour and 15 minutes, one minute longer than similarly verbose and impeached former President Bill Clinton. Clinton does hold the record of the most watched address with his 1993 remarks drawing 66.9 million viewers.

Trump, a former reality TV star, also has a reputation for turning his prime-time addresses into made-for-TV moments.

That includes surprising controversial radio talk host Rush Limbaugh in 2020 by presenting him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Two weeks earlier, Limbaugh had been diagnosed with lung cancer. He died in 2021.

The White House has remained mostly mum regarding Trump’s address, his and first lady Melania Trump‘s special guests, as well as his travel plans afterwards, though the president pledged that his speech “will be big.”

“I WILL TELL IT LIKE IT IS!” he wrote on Truth Social on Monday.

After announcing Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited is investing an additional $100 billion in the U.S., Trump told reporters he would raise Ukraine during his address as he and Zelensky’s minerals deal is unsigned.

“I’ll let you know,” he said on Monday in the Roosevelt Room concerning whether the deal is “dead.” “We’re making a speech — you probably heard about it — tomorrow night, so I’ll let you know tomorrow night.”

Vice President JD Vance does have a trip to the border on Wednesday, becoming the highest-ranking Trump administration official to schedule one since inauguration. Vance’s itinerary coincides with Border Patrol Chief Michael W. Banks noting last weekend that only 8,326 illegal immigrants were apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border during February, “the lowest month in recorded history.”

The Democratic response will be led by first-term Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) as Democrats continue to encounter issues with respect to how best to counter Trump. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who herself sat behind Trump for two of his State of the Union addresses and famously ripped up his 2020 address, has advised Democrats to be mindful of political optics.

“Any demonstration of disagreement, whether it’s visual or whatever, just let him stew in his own juice,” Pelosi told the Washington Post last week. “Don’t be any grist for the mill to say this was inappropriate.”

Some Democrats who have decided to attend Trump’s address will use the opportunity to emphasize how federal employees have been impacted by the president, Musk, and DOGE.

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At the same time, Republicans are being selective about their own guests, including libertarian Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), who reportedly will be accompanied by Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht.

Ulbricht was pardoned by Trump in January in the middle of a double life in prison sentence, plus 40 years without the possibility of parole, after his conviction in 2015 for engaging in a criminal enterprise, distributing narcotics by means of the internet, conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to traffic fraudulent identity documents, and conspiracy to commit computer hacking.