In his speech to Congress on Tuesday night, President Donald Trump laid out his plans for the future in a nearly two-hour long speech. “The American dream is unstoppable,” he said, sharing his vision in trademark fashion, amid exaggerations, long-debunked falsehoods and threats, mocking Democrats who failed to hold him accountable when they had the chance. He accused trading partners of “robbing America,” and claimed that America “will take back the Panama Canal,” before adding that “one way or another,” he’s going to annex Greenland. “God saved me from an assassination attempt,” he said, ”and I will make America great again.”
In a tension-filled Congress, the president made a heavily divisive speech, accusing Democrats of being perpetually disgruntled, incompetent and incapable of making concrete proposals. He called them “lunatic extremists,” “inept,” “incompetent,” to name a few epithets. “The Democrats kept saying we needed a new law to fight illegal immigration. But in the end what we really needed was a new president. I did more in four weeks than my predecessor did in four years,” he said amid applause from Republicans and disdainful silence from Democrats.
Congressman Al Green, Democrat of Texas, was ejected after shouting at Trump that he should be ashamed of his lies. He was removed from the chamber as some of his fellow party members timidly waved microscopic signs against Musk, while others left the room. This was the only protest. Otherwise it was an act of self-praise for Trump and his administration.
The sweeping changes he proposes will clash with reality, given his fondness for facile solutions. Eventually the budget will have to pass a vote in Congress, and there, although majorities are in Republican hands, they are not so strong that they can block the filibuster. There will inevitably be a shutdown because no Democrat will throw a lifeline to House Speaker Mike Johnson to pass a Continuing Resolution and avoid a forced shutdown of government operations.
Since the day he took office six weeks ago, he has imposed an avalanche of changes and questionable decisions that have unsettled the American government.
Military leaders, who were in the front row seats to the president’s right this evening, have been the subject of an unprecedented purge: gone are the chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Charles Q. Brown Jr. as well as the chief of naval operations and the deputy chief of staff of the Air Force. The commander of the Coast Guard was dismissed in a two-line email.
The diplomatic corps, which by traditional deference attends this annual event, is deeply perplexed by the White House chief’s friendly overtures to Russian President Vladimir Putin and the rift with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Canada and Mexico, the United States’ two biggest trading partners, were taken head-on with an inexplicable trade war. Denmark and Panama have been thrown into turmoil by his comments of territorial annexation.
“We will bring law and order back to our cities run down by the lunatic leftist radicals,” whom he went on to accuse of spreading ‘toxic ideologies in the schools,’ claiming to have banned the teaching of “gender” and the cutting of funds to policies supporting informed sexuality, claiming that he had now defeated the “woke” ideology.
He commended the “swift and relentless action” taken by his administration in the past six weeks and said it was “just getting started.” He praised the work of Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. He insisted that the trade war he launched with tariffs will be good for the country. He said Congress “must pass the tax cuts that citizens are waiting for,” and addressing Democratic congressmen directly, he said he was “sure you will vote for my proposal, otherwise I doubt you will be reelected.”
The president also reiterated some of his campaign promises, such as the elimination of taxes on tips and overtime. He then promised that “we will go to Mars and plant the American flag.”
Speaking on foreign policy, Trump said he had received a letter from the Ukrainian president stating that Zelensky wants to return to negotiations for a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine. “We have had serious discussions with Russia and we have received strong signals that they are ready for peace,” Trump said. “Wouldn’t that be wonderful?” He then gave his own new take on the Ukraine-Russia war after saying just weeks ago that it was Ukraine that launched the military offensive, this time blaming Biden for “the ineffective handling of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan that encouraged Russia to invade Ukraine. Putin saw what happened and thought he had a chance.”
He also said again that Social Security pays pensions to millions of people who are over 100 years old, a debunked claim also denied by the head of Social Security himself. In a flurry of accusations to allies and friendly countries, he said “we have been exploited for years by almost every single country in the world, and we will not allow that to happen again,” specifically mentioning China, Brazil, India, Mexico and Canada. Trump also referred to South Korea, among Washington’s key international allies, saying their tariffs are “four times higher than ours, and we have helped them a great deal, not just militarily.” He then went on to justify massive cuts in U.S. foreign aid, ridiculing projects like the supposed ”$8 million to promote the LGBTQ+ community in the African nation of Lesotho, which no one has ever heard of.”
“Get ready for an incredible future, because America’s Golden Age is just beginning and it will be like nothing you’ve ever seen. God bless you,” President Donald Trump concluded, amid applause from Republicans and silence from Democrats.
