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President Donald Trump is giving his 2020 State of the Union speech tonight, the day before the Senate votes on whether or not he will be removed. The speech is scheduled to begin at 9 p.m. Eastern. But what time is it expected to end?
Most SOTU Speeches Last at Least an Hour, But Last Year His Speech Was 82 Minutes Long
Typically, most State of the Union speeches last about an hour or just a few minutes over an hour. So conservative estimates have Trump’s speech ending at 10 p.m. Eastern. However, Trump has a history of talking a lot longer than expected. Most of his rally speeches are 90 minutes long. So if you’re wondering just when the SOTU speech will be over, the best estimate is sometime between 10 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. Eastern.
Last year, Trump’s SOTU speech was 82 minutes long, making it the third-longest speech in State of the Union history, but still shy of Bill Clinton’s record speech in 2000 that was 88 minutes long. It’s entirely possible that Trump will try to break that record tonight.
In 2018, Trump’s speech was the third-longest State of the Union in history. That speech clocked in at 80-minutes, second only to two of President Bill Clinton’s speeches. Trump’s no stranger to long speeches. His Republican National Convention speech was 75 minutes long (compared to Mitt Romney’s 40-minute speech in 2012 and John McCain’s 55-minute speech in 2008.)
Trump’s first speech to a joint session of Congress in 2017 was almost exactly 60 minutes long, starting at 9:09 p.m. Eastern and ending at 10:09 p.m. Eastern. That’s pretty short for a Trump speech.
The longest State of the Union address on record goes to President Bill Clinton, whose 2000 address was one hour and 28 minutes long. The second-longest in history, also by Clinton, was in 1995 and lasted one hour and 24 minutes. The shortest address was Washington’s in 1790, just 833 words and about 10 minutes.
Here’s a video of Trump’s speech from 2018:
And here is Trump’s 2019 speech.
Here’s his 2017 speech, which was technically not a State of the Union, but a Joint Address to Congress.
Here’s a video of Clinton’s State of the Union address, the longest in history:
After Trump speaks, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer will deliver the Democrats’ official response to the State of the Union. Whitmer will be speaking from East Lansing High school, which is the school where her children are enrolled. Whitmer was elected governor in 2018.
Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders decided that he will not be attending Trump’s State of the Union today. Instead, Sanders will be delivering his own address at a New Hampshire rally. Then later in the evening following his New Hampshire rally, Sanders will be giving his own State of the Union response. Sanders’ rally will be at 6:30 p.m. Eastern and his SOTU response will be at 10:30 p.m. Eastern.
Other people are boycotting the State of the Union too. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Twitter: “After much deliberation, I have decided that I will not use my presence at a state ceremony to normalize Trump’s lawless conduct & subversion of the Constitution. None of this is normal, and I will not legitimize it. Consequently, I will not be attending the State of the Union.”
Ayanna Pressley is also boycotting tonight.
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