Live: President Donald Trump delivers his State of the Union address

One relatively new tradition for State of the Union addresses is for the President, the first lady and other prominent politicians to invite guests that embody particular issues they want to highlight.

The White House has released the full list of Trump's guests.

They include:

State of the Union addresses are not entirely ceremonial; they often include new policy announcements and outline the President's priorities.

Commentators have speculated that Trump will use the speech to declare a national emergency, thereby allowing him to bypass Congress and build his long-promised wall along the Mexican border. His advisers have been on TV networks all day promising that Trump will deliver a message of bipartisanship and unity.

But, as the Washington Post's columnist Greg Sargent writes, don't believe it.

Welcome to our live blog of President Donald Trump's second State of the Union address, due to start at 9pm ET (1pm AEDT).

Even before tonight, there has been drama aplenty. The speech was supposed to occur last month but Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who returned to the Speaker's chair when Republicans lost control of the House in the midterm election, blocked Trump from delivering it in the House Chamber during the unprecedented 35-day government shutdown.

That power tussle will be very visible tonight.

Sitting right behind Trump in the House of Reps will be, yep, Speaker Pelosi. We'll be watching for her poker face.