President Trump staged a rose-colored spectacle at last night's State of the Union — the longest-ever address to Congress, from a president facing his lowest-ever approval ratings, Axios' Zachary Basu writes.

• Why it matters: A defiant Trump bragged, weaved, smiled and sparred his way through 108 minutes of prime-time television, projecting his vision of a "Golden Age" for a country that — according to recent polls — mostly isn't buying it.

4 takeaways:

1. A night of heroes: Trump shrewdly filled the chamber with people far more popular than himself — honoring gold-medal Olympians, decorated veterans and everyday American heroes in a parade of made-for-TV moments.

• Ever the showman, Trump declared Americans are "not tired of winning" before welcoming the U.S. men's Olympic hockey team into the chamber, to the only bipartisan standing ovation of the night.
• He went on to award two Purple Hearts, two Medals of Honor, a Medal of Freedom to Team USA goalie Connor Hellebuyck, and a Legion of Merit to a Coast Guard swimmer who rescued 164 Texans from floodwaters.

2. A "dirty, rotten lie": With voters souring on his economic stewardship, Trump lashed out at Democrats for adopting an "affordability" message — arguing their policies created the high prices they're now campaigning against.

• Trump counterpunched with his trademark fact-challenged hyperbole — $18 trillion in foreign investment, "plummeting" food prices, and drug cost reductions of "300%, 400%, 500%, 600%."
• Trump brushed off last week's Supreme Court ruling striking down his tariffs, insisting they'll survive under alternative legal statutes — and hinting the eventual goal was using tariffs to replace income taxes.
• Buried in the bravado were a few new populist proposals, including expanded access to retirement accounts and a plan to force tech giants to build their own power plants for AI data centers.

3. Dems take the bait: Defying warnings from Democratic leadership, Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) was ejected for holding up a sign that read "Black People Aren't Apes" — a reference to the racist video depicting the Obamas that was reposted recently by Trump's account.

• Roughly half of Democratic lawmakers boycotted the speech. Those who attended faced repeated provocations from Trump, including a challenge to stand if they agreed that "the first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens."
• "Look, nobody stands up," Trump remarked after condemning gender reassignment surgery for minors. "These people are crazy. I'm telling you, they're crazy."

4. War drums grow louder: Having ordered the largest U.S. military buildup in the Middle East since the invasion of Iraq, Trump began laying the groundwork with the American public for a potential war with Iran.

• He leveled three stark accusations: that Iran has killed and maimed thousands of Americans with roadside bombs, is "working to build missiles that will soon reach" the U.S., and is once again pursuing its "sinister ambitions" to obtain a nuclear weapon.
• With his envoys set to meet the Iranians in Geneva on Thursday for last-ditch talks, Trump declared, "I will make peace wherever I can, but I will never hesitate to confront threats to America wherever we must."

Heroes highlighted by Trump included Army Chief Warrant Officer 5 Eric Slover, a helicopter pilot wounded in last month's risky Maduro raid in Venezuela.

• Slover, who used a walker as he stood to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor, was the pilot of the lead CH-47 Chinook helicopter. Trump said Slover had been "wearing the dog tags his wife, Amy, had blessed with holy water before he left — she knew it was going to be a rough one." More on Slover.

Between the lines: Trump didn't mention fallout from the Epstein files. Several Epstein victims attended as guests of Democratic lawmakers.

The bottom line: Rather than address cratering polls or the looming midterms, Trump aimed higher — casting his presidency as the fulfillment of 250 years of American destiny.

• "The revolution that began in 1776 has not ended; it still continues because the flame of liberty and independence still burns in the heart of every American patriot," he concluded his marathon address. "And our future will be bigger, better, brighter, bolder and more glorious than ever before."

SOTU transcript ... Share this story.

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D), who was inaugurated last month, used the official Democratic response to argue a real-life contrast to the "golden age of America" President Trump portrayed in his State of the Union.

• "Democrats across the country are laser-focused on affordability in our nation's capital and in state capitals and communities across America," the former CIA officer said from the historic House of Burgesses chambers in Colonial Williamsburg.
• "In the most innovative and exceptional nation in the history of the world, Americans deserve to know that their leaders are focused on addressing the problems that keep them up at night."

Why it matters: Democrats plan to carry her message nationwide ahead of November's midterms. Party leaders point to Spanberger's double-digit victory in Virginia last November as validation of a disciplined, cost-focused campaign they now hope to replicate nationwide.

• Full text.

Above: As President Trump arrived in the chamber, he shook hands with Chief Justice John Roberts.

• Trump shook hands with all four justices who attended — Justice Brett Kavanaugh plus three who ruled against him on tariffs — Roberts and Justices Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett. They smiled and politely clapped as he made his way to the lectern. (N.Y. Times gift link)

After a dystopian vision of the AI future startled investors, tech bulls expect Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to do later today what he's regularly done in recent months — dispel fears of AI wreckage and declare the future bright, Axios' Nathan Bomey writes.

• Why it matters: Nvidia is the darling of the AI boom, so investors will scrutinize its earnings this afternoon for clues about where the industry is headed — and whether concerns about a slowdown are justified.

🎨 The big picture: Big Tech's capital expenditures explosion is a welcome development for Nvidia. It's also unnerving investors.

• Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft alone are expected to deliver capital spending of around $650 billion this year, up from $31 billion a decade ago.
• Capex growth expectations in 2026 include 100% at Alphabet, 75% at Meta and 50% at Amazon, according to Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives, a longtime tech bull.
• Keep reading.

👉 Citing the speed of AI advancements, Anthropic narrowed the central pledge of its flagship safety policy — a promise not to release AI models unless their safety can be guaranteed.

• Jared Kaplan — Anthropic co-founder, chief science officer and responsible scaling officer — told TIME: "We didn't really feel, with the rapid advance of AI, that it made sense for us to make unilateral commitments … if competitors are blazing ahead."

An Anthropic spokesperson tells Axios: "We've gone a significant step further from our prior policies by committing to publicly publish detailed reports at regular intervals on our plans to strengthen our risk mitigations, as well as the threat models and capabilities of all our models." Read the blog post.

Waymo is accelerating its rollout of robotaxis in the U.S., adding four new cities in Texas and Florida this week as self-driving technology begins to penetrate mainstream America, Axios Future of Mobility author Joann Muller writes.

• Why it matters: Armed with $16 billion in fresh capital from parent Alphabet and others, Waymo is quickly extending its lead over other players like Tesla and Amazon-owned Zoox, which are still mostly in testing mode.

The newest markets are Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Orlando.

• The service will start slowly, with riders invited on a rolling basis until Waymo adds more cars to its fleet and scales up necessary operations like vehicle charging, service and maintenance.
• By later this year, it will be more widely available, Waymo says.

🛣️ Between the lines: Now in 10 cities, Waymo has doubled the number of markets it serves in a matter of months.

• It's laying the groundwork for service in at least 20 cities, and is on track to provide more than 1 million driverless rides per week by the end of the year.

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Canada's first-ever defense-industrial strategy, published this month, suggests it, like Europe, can no longer count on the U.S. to be a security backstop, economically or militarily, Axios Future of Defense author Colin Demarest writes.

• Why it matters: It's a major break for Canada, which hasn't taken President Trump's 51st state remarks lightly.

Canadians today view the U.S. as more of a risk than a partner, according to a Globe and Mail poll conducted by Nanos Research. (Only 9% agreed that the "U.S. is a trustworthy ally of Canada.")

• "Long-held assumptions have been upended — about the end of imperial conquest, the durability of peace in Europe, and the resilience of old alliances," the plan reads.
• "In this uncertain world, it is more important than ever that Canada possess the capacity to sustain its own defense and safeguard its own sovereignty."

🔭 Zoom in: Prime Minister Mark Carney promised to "double our defense expenditures by the end of this decade," prioritize business with Canadian defense contractors and pour resources into the Arctic.

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As many as half of the world's data center projects slated to come online this year could face delays, Axios' Amy Harder writes.

• Why it matters: As tech giants sprint to build AI infrastructure, the physical — and political — limits of the power system are starting to bite.

Keep reading ... Get Axios Future of Energy.

The Olympic men's hockey final was the most-watched sporting event that started before 9 a.m. ET in U.S. history, Axios' Kerry Flynn writes from NBCUniversal data.

🧮 By the numbers: NBCUniversal said the final drew 20.7 million viewers across NBC, Peacock and USA Network on Sunday, according to data from Nielsen and Adobe Analytics.

• NBCUniversal said 26 million viewers were watching during overtime between 10:45 a.m. and 11 a.m. ET for the game-winning goal by Jack Hughes.

The most-watched hockey game ever remains the USA vs. Canada men's gold medal game at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, which started at 3:15 p.m. ET.

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Dunkin' has been leaning hard into its New England roots this winter with two new releases that seem a bit too on the nose for the "iced-coffee-in-a-blizzard" crowd, Axios Boston's Mike Deehan writes:

• A massive 48-ounce "Bucket" size iced coffee.
• A single insulated mitten for your iced coffee hand.

Dunkin' is testing the "Bucket" in some Massachusetts and New Hampshire locations. That's roughly three pounds of liquid gold priced between $7 and $10.

• The mitten is a hot pink insulated glove to protect your "sipping hand."

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