This is the Feb. 25, 2026, edition of “The Tea, Spilled by Morning Joe” newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered straight to your inbox Monday through Friday.
Joe Scarborough: Some called Donald Trump’s State of the Union address last night “extraordinary.” It may have been, but in ways that reflected poorly on the office and the occasion. Two things stood out.
First was the unrelenting bigotry. The president singled out Somali Americans, suggesting they were to blame for many of the country’s problems. His rhetoric carried unsettling historical echoes of the kind of scapegoating tyrannical leaders have long used to consolidate their power.
Second were his general attacks on immigration. Trump’s language has long been at odds with traditional Republicans, past presidents, and what Ronald Reagan specifically claimed to be America’s hidden strength. “We’ve always been a nation of immigrants,” Reagan said in his 1989 Farewell Address. “We can be proud of it.”
Trump has taken the opposite approach. He and his party continue pushing the lie that immigrants commit crimes at higher rates than native‑born Americans, even though study after study shows the opposite to be true. Trump’s GOP has now built the cornerstone of its agenda on that lie.
Willie Geist: Election lies are another tic he just can’t drop. Donald Trump even said again that this “should have been my third term,” suggesting the 2020 election was stolen. It’s jarring watching him deliver that in the very House chamber his supporters stormed and occupied on January 6, 2021 — the same convicts since pardoned while trying to whitewash what happened.
On tariffs, the president stopped short of directly confronting the Supreme Court justices in the room, criticizing their recent decision but not attacking them as personally as he has in recent days. It was also striking that he said, “I don’t need Congress to do tariffs, I’ll do it on my own.” House Speaker Mike Johnson jumped up to applaud the idea that the president doesn’t even need Congress.
Joe Scarborough: Mike Johnson is growing weaker by the day. Like Voldemort at the end of the last “Harry Potter” movie, his power keeps shrinking. It was interesting, given the chatter that Trump would attack the justices sitting right there, that he chose not to attack the four justices a week after saying they were owned by foreign interests.
David French: The justices can handle criticism, and their opinions show it. The key point about the tariff case that isn’t getting enough attention is that it was decided by a coalition of three Republican‑nominated justices, including Trump’s, and three Democratic‑nominated justices, which shows this wasn’t a partisan ruling but an example of a branch of government acting independently and holding to principle while so many others are just worshipping his power.
Jonathan Lemire: In the end, this was Trump’s largest audience of the year, and he entered the night with sliding approval ratings overall, especially among independents. His numbers have collapsed even on issues that were once his strengths, like the economy and tariffs.
I can’t imagine he changed anyone’s mind, let alone gained a single voter with that speech. That’s bad news for Republicans, who have to defend his policies on the ballot this November.
Beyond a few patriotic moments —saluting the men’s hockey team and honoring some genuinely heroic Americans — it felt repetitive and more like a campaign rally than a governing address. It was loud and animated but unlikely to change the trajectory of his presidency.
Ed Luce: There were so many fabrications that you almost felt tempted to double‑check whether the men’s hockey team really did win gold, because he was “flooding the zone” with such nonsense.
I imagine his strategists were horrified because this was supposed to be a serious setup for Republicans heading into the midterms on cost‑of‑living concerns, and instead he told Americans that prices were falling and even claimed drug prices had dropped 100% — which would mean they’re now free.
One of the more telling moments was watching him stumble over the word “affordability,” as if it were some strange Democratic buzzword instead of the central issue for voters.
Joe Scarborough: I was trying to remember the character who couldn’t bring himself to say he was wrong and would just mumble words in a failed effort. For Donald Trump, that word is “affordability.”
Long speeches are often boiled down to phrases or moments that make campaign ads go viral. And for Trump, the problem is that most Americans do not see immigrants as their top concern. They overwhelmingly see affordability as the main issue, and he used last night’s massive platform to mock affordability. Expect to see that coming to a campaign ad near you soon.
Mika Brzezinski: By the way, the character was Fonzie on “Happy Days.” I’m also thinking about the Democrats who stayed away. It’s hard to judge the response inside the chamber full of Republicans who were enthusiastically applauding repeated lies, distortions, and xenophobic smears. Too many were actively cheering against constitutional norms and the rule of law, all in the worship of one man. I really hope they find their voice before it is too late.
Joe Scarborough: Donald Trump still thinks he can govern alone, saying he doesn’t need Congress or the courts, even after five years in office. He hasn’t absorbed the fact that Article 2 is balanced by Article 1 and validated by Article 3. Unless he begins working with Congress to pass lasting legislation, his executive actions can be wiped away on Day 1 of the next administration. It would be good for him to stop insisting he can do it all by himself. Two centuries of history says otherwise.
“Trump hasn’t done anything for middle-class Americans, so he has to steal Biden’s accomplishments.”
— Sen. Chuck Schumer, on President Donald Trump claiming credit for a law that expanded retirement savings plans
ON THIS DATE
On this day in 1964, Cassius Clay defeated Sonny Liston to become heavyweight champion of the world. A year later, with his new name, Muhammad Ali, the champ beat Liston again in a controversial first-round knockout, seen here.
EXTRA HOT TEA
PABLO TORRE FINDS OUT …
… that he’s won! Frequent “Morning Joe” collaborator and podcaster extraordinaire Pablo Torre went home with top honors last night at the Podcast Academy Awards.
Torre won Vanguard Podcaster of the Year, and “Pablo Torre Finds Out” also scooped the award for best sports podcast.
MIKA’S GEN-Z LINGO LECTURE TO LEMIRE
ICYMI: Mika schooled Jon Lemire on Gen-Z lingoon our show this morning. You don’t want to miss this — no cap.
ONE MORE SHOT
John F. Kennedy Jr. and his wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, attend a Whitney Museum gala in 1999. Their lives and tragic deaths are the subject of FX’s controversial series “Love Story.” JFK Jr.’s nephew, Jack Schlossberg, has called it “grotesque.”
CATCH UP ON MORNING JOE
Former Rep. Joe Scarborough, R-Fla., is co-host of MS NOW's "Morning Joe" alongside Mika Brzezinski — a show that Time magazine calls "revolutionary." In addition to his career in television, Joe is a two-time New York Times best-selling author. His most recent book is "The Right Path: From Ike to Reagan, How Republicans Once Mastered Politics — and Can Again."