Donald Trump delivered a combative State of the Union address on Tuesday night that hailed what he said was an American “turnaround for the ages”.

At a time when polls suggest many in the US are dissatisfied with the current state of the nation – and with Trump’s leadership of it – the president offered little hint of a change of course.

Instead, with an eye on crucial midterm elections later this year, he delivered a sales pitch to the nation, a patriotic rallying cry to his loyal supporters and taunts for his political opponents.

It was a speech filled with theatrical flourishes – the kind of made-for-the-cameras moments the man who once hosted a reality television show seems to enjoy.

Early on, he welcomed the US Olympic men’s hockey team to the gallery. They held up their gold medals as Republicans chanted “USA!” and even Democrats stood and applauded.

Later, Trump praised military heroes including a 100-year-old World War Two veteran who received a Medal of Honor, and a Coast Guard swimmer who rescued 165 people trapped in last year’s Texas flooding and was given a Legion of Merit award for Extraordinary Heroism.

Although his speech set a record for length at 107 minutes, these moments quickened the pace of the evening and fit with the president’s larger theme of American patriotism and accomplishment.

His speech opened with familiar lines. “Our nation is back,” he said. It was the “hottest” country in the world. At one point, after blaming Democrats for creating a crisis of “affordability”, he added: “We are doing really well.”

He pointed to the rising incomes, a growing stock market, lower petrol prices, a southern border with dramatically reduced undocumented migrant crossing and tamed inflation.

“Our country is winning again,” he concluded.

The challenge for the president is that his public approval ratings are hovering around 40 percent, and the American public wants him to do more to address their concerns.

Two months ago, he gave a national address from the White House where he struck similar themes and cited similar statistics – but it hasn’t convinced the public. The president and his aides appear to be hoping that with a bigger State of the Union audience, which should measure in the tens of millions, the results will be different.

What Trump didn’t do in this speech, however, was offer much in the way of new policies.

He sprinkled the nearly two-hour address with a handful of ideas, including new retirement savings accounts for working-class Americans and a deal with AI companies to provide sufficient electricity for their plants to avoid consumers being hit with higher bills.

He made new pitches for other, older ideas, such as a healthcare plan that provides direct payments to Americans to help cover insurance premiums, a law to require all voters to prove their citizenship and a ban on providing commercial driver’s licences to undocumented migrants.

He also pledged to continue to push ahead with his broad tariff regime, even in the face of last Friday’s Supreme Court decision striking down many of the duties he had previously imposed.

Three of the justices who had ruled against the president remained expressionless as they watched on from the front row. Earlier, Trump and Chief Justice John Roberts – who penned the court’s tariff opinion – briefly shook hands, but neither man smiled.

In a speech that was frequently interrupted by cheering Republicans in the crowd, Trump’s tariff discussion prompted murmurs from Democrats and uncomfortable silences from Republicans, many of whom have been uneasy about their economic cost and the threat their unpopularity with the public might pose to their electoral chances.

If tariffs sucked the air out of the chamber, when Trump turned to immigration tempers flared.

Trump’s passages on what he said was the threat of “illegal aliens” prompted some of the most thunderous applause from Republicans in the chamber and angry shouts and icy stares from Democrats.

The immigration issue had been one of Trump’s political strengths, but his enforcement surge in Minneapolis, which resulted in the shooting deaths of two American citizens by federal agents, has significantly eroded his standing.

The president made no mention of those fatal shootings – or the “softer approach” to enforcement he had suggested might be needed in the aftermath. Instead, Trump’s speech, with its focus on crimes committed by undocumented migrants – murders, accidents and corruption – was an attempt to wrest back the issue.

“The only thing standing between Americans and a wide-open border right now is President Donald J Trump and our great Republican patriots in Congress,” he said.

That was a tacit acknowledgement that in just over eight months, Americans will head to the polls in midterm elections that will determine the composition of both chambers of Congress.

As is typical with these congressional addresses, no matter who the president is, foreign policy tended to take a back seat. Despite the massive build-up of American forces near Iran, Trump did little to make the case to the American public that a sustained US military action was necessary.

“My preference is to solve this problem through diplomacy, but one thing is certain: I will never allow the world’s number one sponsor of terror to have a nuclear weapon,” he said, and then moved on.

For the moment, the political winds are blowing in the president’s face. But Trump may believe that the public’s mood is poised for a change.

Perhaps he is convinced Americans will begin to feel the economic benefits of his policies. Or maybe he believes the mood will shift, with a renewed sense of patriotisim, during the nation’s 250th birthday celebrations this summer.

His speech, with call-outs to military heroes and gold-medal-winning hockey players in the audience, could hint that this is a political wager he has placed.

Follow the twists and turns of Trump’s second term with North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher’s weekly US Politics Unspun newsletter. Readers in the UK can sign up here. Those outside the UK can sign up here.

An armed man has been shot dead after entering the secure perimeter of US President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, the Secret Service has said.

The man was carrying a shotgun and fuel can when he was stopped and shot by Secret Service agents and a Sheriff’s deputy, authorities said.

The incident happened around 01:30 ET (06:30 GMT) on Sunday morning, when the president was in Washington DC.

The suspect has been named as Austin T Martin of Cameron, North Carolina, according to the BBC’s US partner CBS.

His family in North Carolina had reported him missing in the early hours of Sunday morning, the Moore County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement to the BBC.

The missing persons information has since been turned over to federal authorities, the sheriff’s office said.

They added that the department had no prior history involving Martin and it was not involved in the Florida investigation.

Officials are looking into whether he bought the gun along the driving route he took from North Carolina to Florida, according to CBS.

Secret Service agents fired at him after they saw him “unlawfully entering the secure perimeter at Mar-a-Lago early this morning”, agency spokesman Anthony Guglielmi posted on X.

The suspect “was observed by the north gate of the Mar-a-Lago property carrying what appeared to be a shotgun and a fuel can”, the agency said in a statement.

The man was then shot after refusing orders, Palm Beach County sheriff Ric Bradshaw said.

“The only words that we said to him was ‘drop the items’ which means the gas can and the shotgun,” Bradshaw told a news conference.

“At which time he put down the gas can, raised the shotgun to a shooting position,” he said.

At that point, agents fired their weapons to “neutralise the threat”, he said.

The officers were wearing body cameras and no law enforcement officers were injured, he added.

Bradshaw said that he does not know if the suspect’s gun was loaded, and that will form part of an investigation, which the FBI will be assisting in.

US Secret Service Director Sean Curran travelled to Florida on Sunday for “after-actions” and has “reinvigorated operational communication and agency response to critical incidents”, the agency said in a post on X.

Security at Mar-a-Lago is extremely tight, with an outer cordon of local Palm Beach sheriffs and an inner one maintained by the Secret Service. Visitors are searched, and cars and bags are swept by dogs and metal detectors.

Trump has been the target of several assassination plots or attempts.

In July 2024, Trump was shot in the ear as he stood in front of crowds in Butler, Pennsylvania. One bystander was killed and two were injured in the shooting. The shooter, 20-year-old Matthew Crooks, was immediately shot and killed by security forces and his motive remains unknown.

Months later, a US Secret Service agent spotted a rifle sticking out of bushes at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. The man, later identified as Ryan Routh, fled but was caught. The 59-year-old was sentenced to life in prison earlier this month for attempting to assassinate the president.

During an appearance on Fox Business after the fatal incident, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent blamed the the political left for “normalising” political violence, citing the two attempts on Trump’s life in 2024,

“Two would-be assassins dead, one in jail for life, and this venom coming from the other side,” Bessent said, adding: “They are normalising this violence. It’s got to stop.”

Political violence has become a prominent issue in the US, sparking debate after a series of other high-profile incidents last year, including Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s mansion being set on fire, the fatal shootings of a Democratic lawmaker and her husband in Minnesota and the public shooting of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.

Donald Trump

A wave of violence has broken out in Mexico after the country’s most wanted drug baron was killed in a security operation to arrest him involving US intelligence.

Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho”, was the leader of the feared Jalisco New Generation (CJNG) drug cartel and died after being seriously injured in clashes between his supporters and the army on Sunday.

Four CJNG members were killed during the operation in the town of Tapalpa, in the central-western Jalisco state, and three army personnel were also injured, the Mexican defence ministry said.

Retaliation for the drug lord’s death has seen violence spread to at least a dozen states, with CJNG blocking roads with burning vehicles.

Throughout Sunday, there were reports of gunmen on the streets in Jalisco and elsewhere.

Eyewitnesses filmed plumes of smoke rising over several cities including Guadalajara – one of the host cities of the forthcoming Fifa World Cup.

Jalisco’s Governor Pablo Lemus Navarro declared a code red in the state, pausing all public transport and cancelling mass events and in-person classes.

Tourists who spoke to Reuters described the resort town of Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, as a “war zone”.

Some 250 roadblocks were in place across the country during the unrest, with 65 in Jalisco, the BBC’s US news partner CBS reported. In its latest update, the Mexican Security Cabinet said four blockades remained active in Jalisco.

The cabinet says 25 people have been arrested, 11 for their alleged participation in violent acts and 14 more for alleged looting and pillaging.

Shops were on fire and about 20 bank branches were attacked in the violence, it added.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said there was “absolute coordination” between state and federal officials in response to the violence, urging people to stay “calm and informed”.

Sheinbaum added that “in most parts of the country, activities are proceeding normally”.

Several airlines have cancelled flights to Jalisco, including Air Canada, United Airlines and American Airlines.

The US has warned its citizens to shelter in place in five states: Jalisco, Tamaulipas, areas of Michoacán, Guerrero and Nuevo Leon.

The UK government said “serious security incidents” had been reported in Jalisco, adding “you should exercise extreme caution” and follow the advice of local authorities.

Late on Sunday night, US Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said El Mencho was a “top target for the Mexican and United States government as one of the top traffickers of fentanyl into our homeland.”

She said three cartel members had been killed, another three wounded and two arrested in the operation, for which the US had provided intelligence.

El Mencho, a 59-year-old former police officer, ran a vast criminal organisation responsible for trafficking huge quantities of cocaine, methamphetamine and fentanyl into the US.

The US State Department had offered a $15m (£11.1m) reward for information leading to El Mencho’s capture.

In a statement, the Mexican defence ministry said the operation was “planned and executed” by the country’s special forces.

Mike Vigil, former Chief of International Operations for the US Drug Enforcement Administration, described the operation as “one of the most significant actions undertaken in the history of drug trafficking”. He was speaking to CBS, the BBC’s US news partner.