He touted what he called “the hottest economy anywhere in the world,” and called for a bipartisan push to eradicate the Aids epidemic in the United States in a decade.

But the picture in the US Congress is anything but unified two years into Trump’s presidency, with Democrats controlling the House of Representatives, Republicans in charge of the Senate, and Trump finding himself stymied at every turn.

After two years of a presidency in which Trump has driven an already polarised country into bitter, even violent debate over almost every aspect of politics, his words likely fell on many deaf ears.

The moment Trump swung onto his favourite topic of building a wall on the Mexican border to stop what he called an “onslaught” of illegal immigrants, Democrats shook their heads and became restless.

Trump’s single-minded drive - and failure - to get congressional funding for that wall is at the heart of the division that his speech claimed to be trying to resolve.

Democrats say that Trump’s warnings about illegal immigrant murderers amount to political fearmongering and they refuse to give approval.

The resulting standoff has turned what might have been a relatively minor funding debate into an existential test of political strength in the buildup to 2020 presidential elections.

In December, Trump took revenge on Congress by triggering a crippling five-week partial shutdown of government.

Democratic House speaker Nancy Pelosi, who was seated behind Trump for the State of the Union, exacted her own reprisal by forcing the speech to be delayed by a week.

On Tuesday, when Trump delivered the traditional line that “the state of our union is strong”, Pelosi just slightly shook her head in disagreement.

She frequently checked her copy of the president’s speech as he delivered, grimacing at some lines, placidly skimming others.

She visibly scoffed in disbelief when Trump said only “politics or ridiculous partisan investigations” can slow down the “economic miracle” of the US.

Tensions between the two could soon escalate, with Trump threatening to renew the shutdown or declare a national emergency so that he can bypass Congress and give himself power to take military funds for his project.

“I will get it built,” he said firmly, to cheers from Republicans and silence from Democrats.

Women wore white, men wore dark suits: contrast laid bare gender gap between Democrats and Republicans

Abrams narrowly lost her bid in November to become America’s first black female governor, and party leaders are aggressively recruiting her to run for US Senate from Georgia.

Abrams called the recent partial US government shutdown a political stunt that “defied every tenet of fairness and abandoned not just our people, but our values”.

The 72-year-old Trump harkened back to moments of American greatness, celebrating the moon landing as astronaut Buzz Aldrin looked on from the audience and heralding the liberation of Europe from the Nazis.

He led the House chamber in singing happy birthday to a Holocaust survivor sitting with first lady Melania Trump.

“Together, we represent the most extraordinary nation in all of history. What will we do with this moment? How will we be remembered?” Trump said.

For all of Trump’s talk about political unity, he could not resist denouncing liberal Democrats who have gained power in the House, best personified by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has proposed a 70 per cent tax on the richest Americans.

“We are born free, and we will stay free. Tonight, we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country,” Trump said.

As Trump spoke, Ocasio-Cortez could be seen smiling broadly.

Additional reporting by Associated Press, Bloomberg and Reuters