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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. We have 10 minutes left in the show. We're going to use it for a short call in on the question, will you watch President Trump's State of the Union address tonight? If so, what will you be watching for? 212-433-WNYC. Will you watch the State of the Union address tonight? Some of you may say yes, some of you may call in and say no. If so, what will you be watching for? 212-433-WNYC. Call or text 212-433-9692. Maybe in our area where most people did not vote for Trump for president, this might be a close call for some of you.

If you do not support President Trump, will you watch the State of the Union tonight? If so, what will you be watching for? I heard from one Trump critic the other day off the air who said to me he will not be watching just because he can't stand to hear the guy talk. I heard from another who seemed more calculating. He doesn't want Trump to be able to boast of any bigger ratings than absolutely necessary for the State of the Union. This person isn't going to allow himself to be counted as having watched because Trump might use just the number to his credit. What about you? If you won't be watching tonight, why not?

Also, if you will be watching, supporter or not, why make that choice? Will you be hate watching? If you're a person who think he's awful, will you be watching it as rage bait? If you're a supporter, to see how snarkily he tries to own the libs? I wonder how much anyone will be watching for policy. Like to see what he'll say he's going to do after the Supreme Court's tariffs ruling, or about affordability, or if he uses the speech to prepare the country for a war against Iran, or if he acknowledges at all that today is the fourth anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine?

It's a short call in now on the question, will you watch President Trump's State of the Union address tonight? If so, what will you be watching for? 212-433-WNYC. 212-433-9692, will you watch the State of the Union, yes or no? If so, what will you be watching for? You can call or you can text 212-433-WNYC, 433-9692, and we'll see what you have to say right after this.

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Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Will you be watching the State of the Union tonight? If so, why? If not, why not? One listener texts, "Yes, will watch." "The reason," listener writes, "It's petty, but I want to know, will he insult the Supreme Court justices to their faces? They sit right in front of him. Yes, Ukraine, Iran, et cetera." Somebody else writes, "Remember when Nancy Pelosi tore up the speech?" Cindy in Long Valley, New Jersey, are on WNYC. Hi, Cindy.

Cindy: Hi, Brian. Thanks for taking my call. I am a Republican. I voted for Kasich first time around. I did not vote for Trump second time around. I'm going to watch this evening and keep it real simple. Does he in fact give the State of the Union, or is it going to be rambling and rhetoric and big advertisements for flags on the 250th birthday of the US. I don't feel he's going to really tell us the State of the Union.

Brian Lehrer: Cindy, thank you very much. You'll be watching to see. Darlene from Brooklyn, but on vacation in Mexico right now. Jealous, Darlene. Hi, you're on WNYC.

Darlene: Thanks so much for taking my call. I am not a fan of the current president, having been, but I will be listening. I have listened to all of his speeches because I want to hear firsthand. I don't want to be influenced by anyone. I want to hear the ridiculousness myself. I will be listening for that reason.

Brian Lehrer: Can I ask, while I've got you, how are things where you are? There's all this violence in parts of Mexico after that drug kingpin was killed. Can you get out if you wanted to and come back to Brooklyn?

Darlene: Yes, they did have a curfew in Sunday evening. We are out now. We did have car bombings in this particular area, Playa del Carmen, but we did not have the extent that other parts did. It's something.

Brian Lehrer: Darlene, hank you very much. Good luck getting home. Joanna in Dobbs Ferry, you're on WNYC, and you'll be watching, I see. Hi.

Joanna: I'm going to be watching it for any ridiculousnesses that might come out. The really what I want to see is whether they're going to be any reaction to the Epstein survivors. There's a bunch of them who've been invited to it by Jamie Raskin and others. I want to see if anything happens there. Probably not. That's why I'm curious.

Brian Lehrer: Joanna, thank you very much from Dobbs Ferry. Nora, not far from you in Sleepy Hollow is making a different choice. Hi, Nora, you're on WNYC.

Nora: Hello. I won't be watching. Like one of the people you mentioned, I visibly get ill when I hear his voice and particularly his lies. Also there are a lot of reliable sources that I know I can count on for an accurate account of what really matters. I will be watching Stephen Colbert live after the State of the Union. I saw a member of the press ask the President yesterday, was the Supreme Court still invited? Congress invites the President to give them a State of Union speech. The President doesn't get to invite people. We could mainly just see some member of the press. I don't know who it was. This isn't pointed out enough. [unintelligible 00:06:24] if he had the choice to invite them or not.

Brian Lehrer: Right. In fact, I heard NPR political analyst Ron Elving make that exact point on Saturday. I brought it forward onto this show yesterday because I thought it was such a good point, and you're echoing it, too. It's not the president who invites people to the State of the Union address. It's Congress who invites the President once a year to give his version of the State of the Union. Josh in Forest Hills. You're on WNYC. Hi, Josh.

Josh: Hi, there. How are you guys?

Brian Lehrer: What you got?

Josh: I got to tell you, it's I'm going to be watching it because I always watch and I think it's honestly my responsibility to watch as an American, as a Democrat, Republican, whatever have you. I'm going to coin a new phrase unless someone else took it already, doom watching, which was exactly how I'll feel when I'm doing it.

Brian Lehrer: Josh, thank you very much. Like doom scrolling, I guess. One more, Barbara in Poughkeepsie, who's a no. Barbara, you're on WNYC. Hello.

Barbara: Hello. I will not be watching, Brian. There is an alternative, Indivisible, which is a national organization, is producing a program at the very same time. I don't have the names of the people who will be talking, but I'm sure it will be a lot more positive.

Brian Lehrer: All right. Thank you very much. I will be watching the State of the Union address. I certainly consider it part of my job. We will get your reactions and other reactions to it on the show tomorrow morning. Thank you for listening and calling in today. The Brian Lehrer show is produced by Lisa Allison, Mary Croke, Amina Cerna, Carl Boisrond, and Esperanza Rosenbaum. Our interns this spring are Arlo Bivins and Jack Walker. Zach Gottehrer-Cohen produces our daily politics podcast, and Megan Ryan is the head of Live Radio. We have Juliana Fonda and Milton Ruiz at the audio controls. Stay tuned for Alison.

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