Healey comes out swinging against Trump in election-year address
January 23, 2026
A year ago, when Donald Trump was on the verge of returning to the White House for a second term, he was barely a shadow in Gov. Maura Healey’s annual address. She never said the name “Trump,” and the only mention of a US president was a passing reference to John F. Kennedy’s 1961 speech in the same room where she stood.
Not so much any more.
Healey on Thursday did not hesitate to bash Trump in her latest State of the Commonwealth speech. Life here is too expensive, she said, and the president is “making it worse.” Healey said Trump “throws tantrums like a two-year-old,” and she slammed the aggressive Immigration and Customs Enforcement campaigns unfolding across the country as failing to make America safer.
“In this moment, my job as governor is to provide what the federal government isn’t: stability, security, and how about a little common sense?” she said, looking out over the assembled crowd of deputies, lawmakers, labor leaders, and other guests who filled the House chamber.
Two big things have changed to fuel Healey’s more assertive, prosecutorial tone this time around. Massachusetts has now experienced a full year of impacts from Trump 2.0, from massive federal funding cuts to food aid delays to business-spooking tariffs. It’s also an election year for Healey, who is hoping to secure another term in large part by contrasting herself with a president who remains deeply unpopular with Massachusetts Democrats and independents.
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Published by MassINC