The State of the Union is…Long (with Astead Herndon, Joanne Freeman, and Jon Finer)

Stay Tuned with Preet

Vox Media Podcast Network

Politics, Government, News, Society & Culture

4.8 • 32.4K Ratings

🗓️ 26 February 2026

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

President Trump just delivered the longest State of the Union address in recorded history. But did he say anything of substance? Preet is joined by Yale history professor Joanne Freeman, Vox editorial director Astead Herndon, and former Deputy National Security Adviser and co-host of The Long Game podcast Jon Finer to discuss the speech, its political significance, and where Trump—and Democrats—go from here. In the bonus for Insiders, the panel debates whether Trump himself believes his own BS. Join the CAFE Insider community to stay informed without hysteria, fear-mongering, or rage-baiting. Head to cafe.com/insider to sign up. Thank you for supporting our work. Show notes and a transcript of the episode are available on our website. You can now watch this episode! Head to CAFE’s Youtube channel and subscribe. Shop Stay Tuned merch and featured books by our guests in our Amazon storefront. Have a question for Preet? Ask @PreetBharara on BlueSky, or Twitter with the hashtag #AskPreet. Email us at staytuned@cafe.com, or call 833-997-7338 to leave a voicemail. Stay Tuned with Preet is brought to you by CAFE and the Vox Media Podcast Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	From Cafe and the Vox Media Podcast Network, welcome to stay tuned.
0:05.5	I'm Preet Bharara.
0:07.6	I think that the address in some ways highlighted the fact that he really doesn't have public opinion.
0:15.5	That the State of the Union address is no longer what it once was, and that this address advertised that and the implications
0:23.4	of that in a big way.
0:32.0	This week, President Trump delivered the first state of the union address of his second term.
0:36.7	Our country is winning again. In fact, we're winning so much that we really don't know
0:42.3	what to do about it. To break it all down, I'm joined by Yale History Professor Joanne Freeman,
0:48.2	Vox host and editorial director, Ested Herndon, and former national security advisor and host
0:53.1	of the long game podcast, John Feiner.
0:56.4	That's coming up.
0:57.8	Stay tuned.
1:05.3	Megan Rapino here.
1:06.7	This week on a touch more, we've got something for everyone.
1:09.9	We're talking about the U.S. women Olympians taking home more medals than the men,
1:15.4	the U.S. women's national team roster heading into the She Believes Cup,
1:19.0	and the latest on the WMBA-CBA negotiations.
1:22.5	Check out the latest episode of A Touchmore, wherever you get your podcast, and on YouTube.
1:29.5	I got in the water in the very early morning before the sun had risen, and the water was
1:35.0	pitch black. I started swimming, and I felt the water hollowing out around me and felt like
1:42.8	something really big was swimming below.
1:46.3	I'm Phoebe Judge, and this is Love.
	...

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