Addressing his first divided Congress, Biden says 'the soul of this nation is strong'

Former President Donald Trump, who is running for the White House again in 2024, released a brief video response to Biden's address, painting a much grimmer picture of the nation and pointing to the state of crime, inflation and the southern border as the "real state of the union."

"But the good news is we are going to reverse every single crisis, calamity and disaster that Joe Biden has created," Trump said in the two-minute video. "I am running for president to end the destruction of our country and to complete the unfinished business of making America great again."

Separately, Trump live-reacted to Biden's address on Truth Social, posting on the social media site over 30 times to comment on Biden and others in the chamber -- including mocking Biden for frequently saying "folks."

-ABC News' Olivia Rubin

"It's time for a new generation to lead," Sarah Huckabee Sanders said as she wrapped up her remarks giving the Republican response to the State of the Union address . "This is our moment. This is our opportunity."

It will be a generation, she said, "born in the waning decades of the last century, shaped by economic booms and stock market busts, forged by the triumph of the Cold War and the tragedy of 9/11."

"A generation brimming with passion and new ideas to solve age-old problems," she continued. "A generation moored to our deepest values and oldest traditions, yet unafraid to challenge the present order and find a better way forward."

The Arkansas governor, the youngest state leader in the nation, took a moment to tout her soon-to-be-released education proposal. School choice has emerged as a leading Republican issue the past few election cycles, and Sanders said her plan is "the "most far-reaching, bold conservative education reform in the country."

Biden told ABC News' Will Steakin that he thought the reception to his State of the Union speech was “nice” when asked what he thought of the occasionally rowdy reaction from some Republicans while he spoke.

“Rowdy? I thought it was a nice reception," Biden said with a smile and laugh.

His remarks were met with several rounds of GOP interjections, notably when he spoke about how Republicans could try to cut Social Security and Medicare -- although he noted he wasn’t saying the “majority” of Republicans wanted to do so, and Speaker McCarthy has ruled it out.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, delivering the Republican response to the State of the Union, offered a bleak picture of Biden's presidency.

"In the radical left's America, Washington taxes you and lights your hard-earned money on fire but you get crushed with high gas prices, empty grocery shelves and our children are taught to hate one another on account of their race but not to love one another or our great country," she said. "Whether Joe Biden believes this madness or is simply too weak to resist it, his administration has been completely hijacked by the radical left."

Sanders called Biden "unfit to serve" as she criticized his handling of the southern border, crime, the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and more.

"Every day we are told we must partake in their rituals, salute their flags and worship their false idols," she said of Democrats. "All while big government colludes with big tech to strip away the most American thing there is: your freedom of speech. That's not normal. It's crazy. And it's wrong."