President Trump used last night's State of the Union address to portray himself as America's savior and protector, as the country marks its 250th birthday, Axios CEO Jim VandeHei says in a "Behind the Curtain" video.

🇺🇸 VandeHei says Trump "wanted to prove that he is the strong and patriotic one, and that Democrats, by contrast, are weak and weird. You saw this in the choreography from the moment he walked onto the stage until he left."

• The president "knows that while he's unpopular, Democrats are equally unpopular. Democrats haven't done a good job of proving themselves to be an acceptable alternative to Trump."

"The most poignant moment was where he isolated on this idea of: Will you stand for U.S. citizens, or will you stand for illegal immigrants?" VandeHei added.

• ⏱️ "He just taunted and taunted the Democrats. He let it hang in the air for what felt like minutes — because he understood that the imagery of Democrats sitting down when he's saying 'stand up if you stand for U.S. citizens' is brilliant politics."

🇮🇷 Another moment to tuck away and think about, VandeHei says: Trump started to lay the predicate for war with Iran.

• Trump said last night: "One thing is certain: I will never allow the world's No. 1 sponsor of terror — which they are by far — to have a nuclear weapon. Can't let that happen."

💸 Trump mostly dismissed Americans' affordability concerns, Axios' Neil Irwin and Courtenay Brown report.

• Rather than present an I-feel-your-pain message paired with a litany of policy proposals, he argued that things are looking great.

Watch the video ... Follow Axios on YouTube.

This winter has been brutally cold for many Americans — yet winters are getting shorter across most U.S. cities amid climate change, Alex Fitzpatrick writes from a new Climate Central report.

• The climate research group's analysis is based on temperatures, not calendar dates.

🌡️ Compared to 1970-1997, temperature-defined winters are now shorter in 80% of the 245 major U.S. cities analyzed.

• Winter has shortened the most in Juneau (62 days) and Anchorage (49 days), "consistent with exceptionally rapid warming in Alaska and other high-latitude locations."
• 🌴 Among continental U.S. cities, Miami's winters have shortened the most (38 days).

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1. 🏒 Most of the gold medal-winning Team USA men's Olympic hockey players met with President Trump yesterday. Trump said the U.S. women's team, which also won gold, "will soon be coming to the White House." Go deeper.
2. 🎓 Former Harvard president Larry Summers resigned his university positions following revelations about his closeness with Jeffrey Epstein. Go deeper.
3. 💉 Surgeon General nominee Casey Means said during a confirmation hearing today that she believes vaccines save lives, but didn't unequivocally urge people to get vaccinated. Go deeper.
4. 🏠 Citi announced its Blueprint for Housing Opportunity — a $60 billion, five-year housing affordability commitment to create and preserve at least 250,000 units across the U.S., including homes for essential workers. Read the announcement.

The Tooth Fairy is paying an average of $5.84 per chomper this year, brushing off two years of declines, Kelly Tyko writes from Delta Dental's annual survey.

• 💵 That's up 17% from last year ($5.01), per the survey of 1,000 parents of kids aged 6-12.

The average payout has soared from $1.30 since the survey began in 1998.

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