Donald Trump talked a long time, but workers, farmers, ICE left out of big speech | Opinion
Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech last night was loooooong. It seemed he talked about everything from crime, immigration, drug prices, taxes and inflation at home to Venezuela, Iran, NATO and Ukraine abroad. But when I reread it this morning a couple of things he didn’t say leapt out at me.
Not once did Trump mention the Border Patrol or Immigration and Customs Enforcement known as ICE, two of the more unpopular arms of his crackdown on “criminal illegal aliens.” He said servICE, choICE, offICE, prICE, justICE, but never ICE.
It isn’t hard to understand why. In the latest Washington Post poll 60% of Americans don’t like what ICE and other federal immigration enforcers are doing. Voters don’t believe Trump when he says he is cracking down on criminals. That’s one reason why Trump’s 2nd term unpopularity has now reached the same level it did after the pro-Trump Capital riot on January, 6, 2021.
Senators react, or don’t
Trump’s speech was among the most disciplined speaking efforts of his 2nd administration and so was the reaction from the four Republican Senators from Kansas and Missouri. Both notable for what wasn’t said.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-MO, was mum on X during and after the speech, previewing it on FOX NEWS with a few comments about taxes, drug prices and attacks on Democrats.
Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-MO, made some comments on Fox with the only specifics he mentioned being crime and the border. On X, he praised two St. Louis Hockey Gold medalists.
Sen. Jerry Moran, R-KS, reacted to the speech on X at more length, but basically stuck to praising Trump on border security, taxes and a strong foreign policy.
Sen. Roger Marshall, R-KS, who is up for reelection this year, said even less. On X, he reacted by saying “Your family is safer today because of President Trump.” and “Price Transparency will cut healthcare costs for every American. Let’s make it law!”
For four of Trump’s biggest supporters, they sure aren’t embracing the full spectrum of Trump administration policy and politics. You could almost imagine them holding their noses to pick out the few things they don’t think will be unpopular at home.
Which brings me to the really big thing for Kansas and Missouri that was missing from the speech. Marshall brought a Kansas farmer to the speech as his special guest, but not once did Trump tout what any of his policies have done for “farms”, “farming” or “agriculture,” kinda odd for a president who rode into office on the votes of rural America.
For those who live in more urban areas, Trump also didn’t say “manufacturing” and said “factory” only once, in an odd sentence about AI data centers.
The absence of anything substantive about growing America’s agriculture or manufacturing economy is almost admitting that his policies have failed his most loyal blue collar fan base.
That is a sure sign of coming disaster in an election year. Maybe that’s why Hawley, Schmitt, Moran and Marshall had so little to say about Trump’s big speech.
David Mastio is a national columnist for The Kansas City Star and McClatchy.
This story was originally published February 25, 2026 at 10:31 AM.
