“Terrible” and “Complicated.” Students React to Trump’s State of the Union Address

On February 24th, 2026, President Donald Trump delivered his State of the Union Address. Among the many topics discussed in the address, some of the more controversial aspects of this administration stood out: foreign policy, economic policy, and especially, immigration policy. 

When speaking on Trump’s immigration policy, WSUV student Daniel Oates defined it as “terrible” and just “blatant intimidation.”

“When it comes to Haitians, Somalians, or anyone from Southern America, he just outright demonizes them constantly,” Oates said.

Meanwhile, WSUV student Josh Bergstrom described the immigration policy as “complicated.”

“If we look at Trump’s policy on the actual border crossings, I think that that’s been a success, right? … I would agree with him there. Because if you think about just maintaining a nation state and just maintaining safety, you have to be able to secure the border,” Bergstrom said. “When you look at something like mass deportation and the way that that is being executed, then there is a lot more contention about the policy there.”

WSUV student Lilac Smith was more direct in her assessment. “I don’t like it,” she said, describing the administration’s crackdown as “unnecessary” and “leading to unnecessary harm.”

When discussing foreign policy and economic policy, the students’ responses often combined both topics, particularly when discussing tariffs.

Oates said he believed Trump favors wealthy business owners over the small businesses he once promised to support.

“The tariffs hurt farmers. I mean, they’re begging for a bailout. I don’t think he or congress has done that yet,” Oates said. “So it just shows that everyone they try to get votes from–he doesn’t really care about them once he’s in office.”

Smith was more uncertain on her thoughts, unsure as to whether the high prices are directly tied to economic policy or other factors. When speaking on tariffs, she described the administration’s approach as “weirdly unnecessary,” explaining that things appeared to function adequately without tariffs in the past. As a result, she characterized the policy as feeling “more frivolous than anything.”

Bergstrom focused on the economy at home, and in response to Trump’s claims of success said that “economically we aren’t really feeling it.”

“Maybe on paper the GDP is up right? The stock market is up. Those are great things in general, I guess. But I’m not feeling it,” Bergstrom said. “Nobody that I know personally is feeling like the economy has boosted in the last year at all. It feels like 2024, 2023.”