Who sits where at Trump’s State of the Union address: A visual guide

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By Way Mullery, Annette Choi, Marco Chacon, CNN

(CNN) — President Donald Trump will address a joint session of the 119th Congress on Tuesday, after accepting House Speaker Mike Johnson’s formal invitation in January to speak.

It’s an opportunity for the president to outline his administration’s goals and address the nation’s most pressing issues.

When Trump takes the dais Tuesday night, Vice President JD Vance and Johnson are expected to be seated behind him on either side.

In front of the president, Cabinet members, Supreme Court justices, Joint Chiefs of Staff, former members of Congress and members of the diplomatic corps will be seated. Seats in the rest of the chamber are not assigned, according to the Congressional Research Service. Senators and House members are seated on a first-come, first-served basis.

The president and first lady also typically invite about two dozen guests to sit in the gallery, to help put a human face to the president’s message for both policymakers and viewers at home.

One person will be absent during the speech: the designated survivor. The designated survivor is a member of the Cabinet chosen to remain in a secure location during the speech in case of catastrophe, to ensure continuity of government. Doug Collins, the secretary of the Department Veterans Affairs, was assigned the role during the president’s address in 2025.

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Trump’s approval rating with independents hits a new low ahead of the State of the Union

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By Ariel Edwards-Levy, Jennifer Agiesta, CNN

(CNN) — When President Donald Trump gives his State of the Union address Tuesday, he will face a public that increasingly questions his priorities and expresses broad doubts about whether his proposed policies are helping the nation, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS.

Adding to the pile of alarming indicators for the president’s party heading into this year’s midterms, Trump’s approval rating among political independents has dipped to a new low in CNN polling.

Just 32% of Americans now say that Trump has had the right priorities, while 68% say he hasn’t paid enough attention to the country’s most important problems. That’s the president’s most negative reading on that question to date during either of his terms in office. At the same time, Americans say, 61% to 38%, that Trump’s policies will move the country in the wrong direction rather than the right one. And Trump’s job approval rating among all adults remains mired at 36%.

The poll’s findings suggest the scale of the task ahead of the president.

When Trump addressed Congress last year for the first time since returning to the White House, his approval rating stood at a career-high 48% in CNN’s pre-speech polling. Since then, he has lost ground across all major demographic groups, with Republicans, conservatives and White Americans without college degrees among the few groups to hold a net-positive view of Trump.

Some of the steepest declines include a 19-point drop in approval among Latino Americans and an 18-point drop among Americans younger than 45. Among political independents, Trump’s approval rating has dropped 15 points over the past year to 26%, the lowest it’s been in either of his terms.

Americans want to hear about the economy and cost of living

State of the Union addresses typically draw disproportionately friendly audiences, with supporters of the president more likely to tune in. That could give Trump an opportunity to rally his own partisans, whose support for the president has also softened over the past year.

Strong approval among Republicans stands at 49% in the poll, down from 64% just after his address to Congress last year and the first time in this term it’s dipped below the 50% mark. Nearly three in 10 Republicans say Trump hasn’t paid enough attention to the most important problems, and 16% say his policies will move the country in the wrong direction.

Asked to choose the issue they’d most like Trump to address in his State of the Union speech, 57% pick the economy and cost of living, more than quadrupling the share who want to hear him focus on any other individual topic, including immigration, the state of democracy, health care policy, crime or foreign policy. Half of Democrats say they want Trump’s speech to touch on economic issues, rising to 56% among independents and 65% of Republicans.

“Part of the reason why I think people elected Trump was because they were hurting under Biden. … I think people were expecting Trump to provide a little bit of relief to their suffering,” wrote one poll respondent, a Republican from New Mexico. “Grocery prices are just through the roof. Everything is so expensive. … So I think he needs to talk about the economy, and he needs to talk about what kind of things he’s already done.”

Trump’s job approval rating, which has hovered below the 40% mark since last autumn, stands at 36%, with 63% disapproving. Nearly half strongly disapprove of his job performance, while 19% strongly approve.

Those who approve only moderately of Trump’s performance are more likely to take issue with his priorities than with his policies. While just 6% in this group think Trump’s proposals will move the country in the wrong direction, 34% say the president hasn’t paid enough attention to the country’s most important issues.

Interrumpen los premios BAFTA de cine por insulto racista de un hombre con síndrome de Tourette

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Por Tom Page, CNN

Fue el clip escuchado en todo el mundo tras la ceremonia de los premios BAFTA del domingo por la noche en Londres: un hombre gritó un insulto racista mientras dos reconocidos actores negros, Michael B. Jordan y Delroy Lindo, presentaban un premio en el escenario.

El hombre era John Davidson, cuya historia real inspiró el filme independiente británico “I Swear”, sobre un hombre con síndrome de Tourette. Davidson, quien desde hace tiempo lucha por la concienciación sobre la condición, dijo a CNN antes de la ceremonia que le preocupaban los tics involuntarios que la caracterizan.

El actor Robert Aramayo, quien interpreta a Davidson en la película, ganó el premio de la noche a mejor actor. Davidson contó que el joven actor inglés lo estudió de cerca, haciéndole preguntas como: “Cuando tienes un tic, ¿sabes de dónde viene? ¿Y los desencadenantes de los tics?” Hablando en la concurrida alfombra roja, Davidson añadió: “Ciertas cosas —como hoy, mucha gente alrededor— me hacen sentir, ya sabes, más tics por si acaso me descontrolo. Diferentes situaciones pueden desencadenar distintas emociones y tics y esas cosas”.

El público había sido advertido antes de la ceremonia de que podrían ocurrir tics o palabrotas involuntarias, y Davidson recibió una gran ovación dentro del recinto. Tras el incidente, el presentador Alan Cumming pidió “comprensión” por el “lenguaje fuerte y ofensivo”. Recordó a la audiencia que el síndrome de Tourette es una discapacidad y que los tics son involuntarios, y dijo: “Pedimos disculpas si alguien se siente ofendido esta noche”.

Contactada por CNN, la BBC, que transmite la ceremonia con un largo retraso, reiteró ese mensaje. No respondió a preguntas sobre por qué el momento no fue eliminado de la transmisión televisiva.

Lindo, en particular, se mostró sorprendido por el estallido, pero luego continuó con la ceremonia, en la que él y Jordan presentaron el primer premio de la noche: a mejores efectos visuales para “Avatar: Fire and Ash”.

“I Swear” ha recaudado el equivalente a US$ 8 millones en la taquilla del Reino Unido hasta la fecha y se estrenará en cines de EE.UU. en abril.

Al aceptar su premio a mejor actor, Aramayo dijo: “No puedo creer que esté aquí arriba mirando a personas como usted”, señalando a Leonardo DiCaprio, quien había sido nominado por su papel en “One Battle After Another”. Aramayo continuó contando a un emocionado Ethan Hawke, otro nominado, cómo una charla que el experimentado actor dio en Julliard cambió su propia perspectiva como estudiante de actuación.

La noche más importante del cine británico se mantuvo fiel a algunas narrativas tradicionales de la temporada de premios, pero se desvió en otras.

Otorgó el premio a mejor actriz de reparto a Wunmi Mosaku de “Sinners” (por cierto, una de las pocas actrices británicas nominadas) por encima de Teyana Taylor de “One Battle After Another”. Stellan Skarsgård y Benicio del Toro, ambos ganadores de premios importantes esta temporada, perdieron ante Sean Penn como mejor actor de reparto.

“Hamnet” fue galardonada como mejor película británica, pero el título local, que ganó mejor drama en los Globos de Oro el mes pasado, se fue con relativamente poco, siendo su único otro premio el de mejor actriz para Jessie Buckley (la apuesta más segura de la temporada).

La mayor película que se fue con las manos vacías fue “Marty Supreme”. Timothée Chalamet deja Londres con un discurso sin leer y otra oportunidad de confirmar su grandeza en los premios Oscar del próximo mes. Con Aramayo fuera de competencia, nada sugiere que no lo logre.

Aunque los BAFTA repartieron reconocimientos, otorgando tres premios a “Sinners” y tres a “Frankenstein”, no pudieron negar

Who was El Mencho, the feared cartel leader killed in a military operation?

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From CNN en Español’s Gonzalo Zegarra and Rocío Muñoz-Ledo

(CNN) — Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes was a feared Mexican drug lord and the leader of a ruthless cartel accused of masterminding efforts to push fentanyl into the United States.

Once a police officer, Oseguera went on to become one of the world’s most wanted fugitives, with the United States alone offering a $15 million bounty for information leading to his arrest.

Oseguera, who formed and led the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), was an elusive figure who had been considered Mexico’s most powerful cartel boss since Sinaloa kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán was arrested last decade.

Born in July 1966 in the western state of Michoacán, Oseguera later moved to the US and was deeply involved in drug trafficking from the 1990s, according to the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). In 1994, he was convicted in California for conspiracy to distribute heroin and served three years in a US prison.

After he returned to Mexico, he worked as a police officer in the western state of Jalisco but soon resumed his criminal activities, building his influence in the shadowy world of narcotics and rising to become the head of one of the country’s most powerful and ruthless criminal empires.

Wanted by authorities in Mexico and the US, Oseguera or “El Mencho” kept a low profile – so much so that only a handful of photographs of him exist.

His death on Sunday in a Mexican military operation in Tapalpa, in the western coastal state of Jalisco, has triggered widespread unrest across parts of the country.

On the most-wanted list

Oseguera had a long career in brutality before forming CJNG. For a time, he served as chief of hitmen, or key enforcer, for the Milenio Cartel, before overseeing security and operational violence for the famed Sinaloa Cartel, whose former leader Guzmán is serving a life sentence in a US prison.

According to the DEA, CJNG emerged in the 2010s from the remnants of the Milenio Cartel, which splintered amid a power vacuum after its leader Óscar Nava Valencia was captured in 2009.

Oseguera built the group with Abigael González Valencia, leader of Los Cuinis – a family-based cartel operating in Michoacán, which served as the financial and logistical arm of CJNG and oversaw its “diverse network of money laundering operations,” according to the DEA.

But it was only through marriage to Abigael’s sister, Rosalinda González Valencia, that Oseguera gained real influence in the new entity.

“In reality, El Mencho reached the cartel’s leadership through a strategy of diplomacy via marriage,” public security analyst David Saucedo told CNN en Español. “He was indeed the chief of hitmen for ‘Nacho’ Coronel (a Sinaloa Cartel leader), but he lacked the lineage that Rosalinda, his wife, possessed,” Saucedo added.

The burgeoning cartel quickly grew its sphere of influence to claim a significant presence across Mexico and became a key player in the global drug trade.

It is a brutally violent operation responsible for assassination attempts on Mexican government officials and homicides against rival trafficking groups and Mexican law enforcement officers, according to the US State Department.

The cartel demonstrated its firepower in May 2015, when it responded to a security operation with simultaneous roadblocks across several municipalities and shot down a military helicopter. Three soldiers were killed in the clashes.

The following year, the gang was credited with a brazen kidnapping of Guzman’s son from a trendy restaurant in Puerto Vall

Trump no cederá en los aranceles porque no puede

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Análisis por Stephen Collinson, CNN

No, el presidente Donald Trump no está buscando una nueva “palabra más hermosa” en el diccionario para reemplazar sus queridos aranceles.

Fiel a su filosofía de nunca aceptar una derrota, ya está contraatacando después de que la Corte Suprema declarara ilegal su uso de poderes de emergencia para la guerra comercial.

Antes de su discurso sobre el Estado de la Unión este martes, Trump promete vengar la derrota más dañina de su segundo mandato prometiendo aranceles aún más altos a las importaciones. Sin embargo, muchos republicanos preferirían un cambio de rumbo ante la proximidad de las elecciones de medio término.

La actitud desafiante del presidente implica grandes riesgos políticos para él y su partido, y nuevas incertidumbres para una economía desigual. También ya está abriendo una nueva vía para los ataques demócratas.

Pero Trump sigue convencido de que los aranceles traerán una prosperidad explosiva, aunque el resultado más probable sea un mayor peso en el poder adquisitivo de millones de votantes estadounidenses.

“Lo que dijo la Corte Suprema es que el presidente no puede usar la IEEPA, la Ley de Poderes Económicos de Emergencia Internacional, para hacer esto”, dijo el secretario del Tesoro, Scott Bessent, a Dana Bash de CNN el domingo. “El presidente sí tiene otras facultades”.

Bessent dijo en “State of the Union” que Trump reforzará sus aranceles utilizando otras leyes como un “puente” de cinco meses hacia un régimen más permanente.

Pero el senador demócrata Andy Kim dijo a Manu Raju de CNN en “Inside Politics” que su partido ya está trabajando en una legislación para obligar a Trump a reembolsar a los consumidores por los mayores costos provocados por los aranceles, la primera de una serie de medidas destinadas a avergonzar al presidente y dificultar la vida a los legisladores republicanos.

Trump seguirá adelante por dos razones principales.

Primero, cree en los aranceles con una intensidad casi evangélica. Su fe en ellos es tan fuerte que ignora cualquier evidencia de que son un impuesto para los consumidores o de que no funcionan. Considera que la devastación de los centros industriales por la globalización —donde ganó millones de votos— es una reivindicación de las posturas proteccionistas que sostiene desde los años 80.

“He utilizado los aranceles de manera muy efectiva durante el último año para hacer que Estados Unidos vuelva a ser grande”, dijo el presidente el viernes, ignorando nuevos datos que muestran un déficit comercial anual sin cambios y una disminución de empleos manufactureros.

La segunda razón por la que Trump se niega a ceder es que los aranceles son un medio para sus fines últimos: una autoridad presidencial sin restricciones y el rechazo a un sistema constitucional que, por diseño, reparte el poder en el Gobierno.

Esto quedó en evidencia con el comentario más revelador de la airada conferencia de prensa de Trump el viernes tras la decisión de la corte, cuando le preguntaron por qué no trabajaba simplemente con el Congreso para aprobar nuevos aranceles.

“No tengo que hacerlo. Tengo el derecho de imponer aranceles”, respondió.

Trump ha utilizado los aranceles de manera más expansiva que cualquier presidente moderno, de una forma que va mucho más allá de la política económica. Si una nación extranjera lo enfada, es castigada; como Brasil, que recibió un arancel del 50 % por investigar a su amigo, el expresidente Jair Bolsonaro, por presunta injerencia electoral. Si un líder mundial muestra insuficiente deferencia, su país paga el precio. Por ejemplo, Tru

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