There’s a reason he’s eschewed other opportunities to hold the attention of the nation even as he runs well behind Donald Trump in both national and battleground state polls.

The path through Thursday night looked steep for President Biden.

There’s a reason he’s eschewed other opportunities to hold the attention of the nation even as he runs well behind Donald Trump in both national and battleground state polls.

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The heckler who shouted at President Biden during his State of the Union address Thursday night was identified as the father of a fallen Marine — and later arrested over the disruption.

“America’s safer today than when I took office,” Biden, 81, was in the middle of saying before he was interrupted from the chamber’s balcony.

“Abbey Gate!” Steve Nikoui yelled down at the president. “Second Battalion, First Marines!”

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Progressive Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) led a chorus of far-left Democrats who accused President Biden of coming “dangerously close” to sounding like former President Donald Trump during his State of the Union address Thursday. 

During his speech, Biden referred to the alleged killer of 22-year-old Georgia nursing student Laken Riley as “an illegal." 

Castro charged that Biden’s word choice was “incendiary and wrong.”

"My guest for this year's State of the Union was the widow of a North Texas rancher who was murdered by a neighbor who didn’t want Latinos living next door,” Castro wrote on X. “Across Texas, many families can tell similar stories of hate and harassment inspired by the rhetoric of Donald Trump.”

“The rhetoric President Biden used tonight was dangerously close to language from Donald Trump that puts a target on the backs of Latinos everywhere,” he added. “Democrats shouldn’t be taking our cues from MAGA extremism.”

“Let me be clear: No human being is illegal,” Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) tweeted.

“As a proud immigrant, I'm extremely disappointed to hear President Biden use the word ‘illegal,’” Rep. Chuy García (D-Ill.) similarly wrote on X.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) also knocked Biden for the off-script moment, telling CNN that the president "should've said 'undocumented,' but it's not a big thing."

President Biden sought to allay concerns about his age during his State of the Union speech Thursday, speaking loudly and at a fairly rapid clip in a lengthy address that featured several off-the-cuff exchanges with Republicans.

“In my career, I’ve been told I’m too young,” Biden, 81, reflected near the tail-end of his 68-minute speech. “I’ve been told I am too old.”

“My fellow Americans, the issue facing our nation isn’t how old we are, it’s how old our ideas are. Hate, anger, revenge, retribution are among the oldest of ideas. But you can’t lead America with ancient ideas that only take us back.”

Many of Biden’s allies saw his address to the nation as a golden opportunity to belie narratives about infirmity and cast him as an energetic president who is fully in command.

Over three-fourths of voters have said they have serious concerns about Biden’s age in a raft of recent polling. Biden is the oldest US president in history and would be 86 at the end of a second hypothetical term.

At times, Biden appeared to have a froggy throat but powered through it and tangled with rowdy Republicans in the House chambers to showcase his vitality.

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The House Sergeant at Arms approached far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) for donning a red "Make America Great Again" hat in the House chamber during the State of the Union, according to the congresswoman.

"What I found to be outrageous, is the Sergeant at Arms came up and told me that I needed to take the hat off," Greene told Right Side Broadcasting Network.

"I refused to take it off," she added. "I said 'I certainly understand. You do what you need to do, I'll pay a fine, I'll do -- whatever, a warning ... you can haul me out of here, go ahead and try it.'"

Wearing hats in the House chamber -- unless for reasons of religious observance -- violates a policy that dates back more than 100 years. Greene is widely seen as a potential contender to be former President Donald Trump's running mate

The Georgian previously blasted Senate Democrats after they considered loosening the chamber's dress code to accommodate Sen. John Fetterman's (D-Penn.) penchant for baggy sweaters and shorts instead of a snappy business suit.

Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) panned President Biden's speech to the nation as a campaign stunt.

"I just hope that someday that we would see the State of the Union [address] as a State of the Union," Crenshaw told CNN. "I could've read all that in a fundraising email from the Biden campaign."

"It was divisive. It was an attack ad against Republicans. I don't know how that wins you friends if you're trying to win a general election."

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) shared Thursday what he chatted about with Vice President Kamala Harris as they waited for President Biden to arrive on Capitol Hill to deliver his State of the Union address. 

“We had some small talk,” Johnson told Fox News host Sean Hannity, noting that he and Harris had “a lot of time” to chat as the waited for the late-arriving president. 

“I asked her if her parents had been alive, did they survive to see her serving as vice president, and she lamented that they had not, and she asked me about mine,” the House speaker said. 

Johnson said he told Harris that he “lost my dad three days before I got elected to Congress. So he didn't get to see this either.”

“We agreed that our parents are enjoying this from heaven,” he added, calling the exchange “a nice moment.”

President Biden called out billionaires like Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, as well as other wealthy Americans, while floating a major corporate tax hike during his State of the Union address Thursday night.

Biden, 81, is lagging behind former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, as polls show high disapproval among voters for his handling of the economy.

In Thursday’s speech, the president responded to that by calling for a 28% corporate tax rate in an attempt to reverse Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

The White House in a Thursday morning fact sheet said Biden will also demand a 25% income tax on those with a net worth of more than $100 million.

Biden also called for an increase in the corporate minimum tax rate to 21% for companies recording more than $1 billion in profits from its current 15%.

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Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) dinged President Biden for referring to Laken Riley's killer as "an illegal" during an off-script moment in his State of the Union address.

"He should've said undocumented, but it's not a big thing, OK?," Pelosi told CNN during a post-speech interview.

"Well, we usually say undocumented," she added when pressed.

Pelosi was generally full of praise for Biden's address, calling it "spectacular."

President Biden came out swinging against Donald Trump during his State of the Union address Thursday night — referencing his predecessor over a dozen times, but refusing to do so by name.

Biden, who repeatedly used the phrase “my predecessor” when mentioning Trump, began his speech by arguing the former president fueled the biggest threats to hit the US since the Civil War.

“My purpose tonight is to both wake up this Congress, and alert the American people that this is no ordinary moment either,” the 81-year-old president said. “Not since President Lincoln and the Civil War have freedom and democracy been under assault here at home as they are today.”

“January 6th and the lies about the 2020 election, and the plots to steal the election, posed the gravest threat to our democracy since the Civil War,” Biden reiterated later in the speech, facing Democratic and Republican members of Congress.

By the time Biden concluded his 68-minute speech, he had referred to his “predecessor” a staggering 13 times.

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House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Thursday that he was prepared to introduce President Biden to lawmakers before his State of the Union address, as is customary, but that the commander in chief “missed his cue.”

“I was prepared to do it but he jumped the gun,” Johnson told Fox News host Sean Hannity. “He missed his cue.”

Johnson suggested that Biden’s tardiness may have been a reason why he rushed into his speech.

“He was about 15 or 20 minutes late upon arrival,” the House speaker noted. “I haven't yet heard why that was but yeah, he jumped in there and began his speech.”

“I was going to do it formally. But I never got the opportunity.”

Johnson added that he didn’t want to interrupt the president once he began speaking because it would be “disrespectful.”