It's Wednesday, February 25, 2006.

I'm Albert Moller, and this is the briefing, a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview.

Well, last night, the State of the Union address by President Donald J. Trump, before a joint session of Congress,

it was a long one.

An hour and 48 minutes, it became the longest recorded State of the Union address in presidential history.

And that was President Trump beating his own record because he had set the previous record for a long address.

Now, we'll talk more about that in a moment.

But the president had indicated that this was going to be a long address. He said he had a lot to say, and he did have a lot to say. But there are a couple of things we need to notice. First of all, let's put it in the historical context. Before we look at this speech, let's just remind ourselves of the State of the Union address and what it means. This is a constitutional requirement,

not that the President speak before a joint session of Congress, but the President constitutionally

is to report from time to time on the State of the Union, report to Congress. And so in times past,

there have been presidents who tried not to do it in person.

You can consider the example of Thomas Jefferson.

You also, nonetheless, in the modern presidency, not only have the president delivering the address in person,

but using it as a major platform to speak to the American people, particularly once radio and television came along.

Now, of course, with digital media, all the more so. Another thing to note is that there is formality and decorum.

But as I said on the video yesterday,

when you look at the State of the Union address,

it's not just a precedent in American history,

which means that Congress must invite the President

of the United States

to deliver an address before a joint session of Congress.

It goes all the way back to the reign of Charles I in England when King Charles I burst

...