Tuesday night’s State of the Union had its share of partisan theater from the Democrats who bothered to show up. They spent most of the evening planted in their seats, arms crossed, offering silence where most Americans would expect at least a nod to common decency. But then something unexpected happened.
President Donald Trump called for an end to congressional insider trading, and Democrats actually stood up and clapped.
“As we ensure that all Americans can profit from a rising stock market, let’s also ensure that members of Congress cannot corruptly profit from using insider information,” Trump said. It’s hard to believe that the applause that followed came from both sides of the aisle, but it did. It was a rare moment of genuine, unexpected bipartisanship in a room where there wasn’t much bipartisanship to be had.
Trump looked genuinely thrown off. And he said so. “They stood up for that?” he asked. “I can’t believe it.”
Then came the line of the night.
“Did Nancy Pelosi stand up if she’s here?”
.@POTUS: As we ensure that all Americans can profit from a rising stock market, let’s also ensure that members of Congress cannot corruptly profit using inside information. Pass the STOP Insider Trading Act WITHOUT DELAY.
“Did Nancy Pelosi stand up? Doubt it.” 🤣 pic.twitter.com/sTKvLYTcms
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 25, 2026
The dig was brutal, and I think you could hear some gasps, too, and for good reason.
Nancy Pelosi has long been the poster child for exactly the kind of behavior Trump was calling out. Her family’s stock portfolio has generated eye-popping returns throughout her career in Congress, a fact that has drawn bipartisan ridicule but, bizarrely, no accountability.
Sure enough, just weeks before Tuesday’s speech, it came out that Pelosi had sold roughly $295,000 worth of PayPal stock in late December 2025. In the weeks that followed, PayPal shares cratered more than 27%, including a brutal 17% single-session drop after a weak earnings report. The timing was, to put it charitably, impeccable.
For our VIPs: Democrats Have Nothing Left to Offer but Hate
This is not new territory. For years, reform advocates have pushed legislation to close the loophole that lets lawmakers trade on information the rest of us don’t have, including the Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments (PELOSI) Act, first introduced in 2023.
Then there’s the Stop Insider Trading Act, the bill Trump specifically called on Congress to pass Tuesday night. Speaker Mike Johnson has publicly backed the idea of reining in congressional stock trading.
A whopping 86% of Americans support banning insider trading by members of Congress. That number cuts across every demographic, every party, every income bracket. The public is not confused about this issue. Congress is. Let’s hope we can get it done.
Trump’s Pelosi jab was sharp, well-timed, and entirely warranted. But the real story is that the moment even had to happen — that we’re still, in 2026, debating whether it’s acceptable for the people who write the laws to profit from knowing what those laws will say before anyone else does.
The applause was nice. The bill would be better.
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