By Michael D. Shear and Luke Broadwater
President Donald Trump vowed not to lift tariffs on America’s biggest trading partners in his first address to Congress earlier this week, but appeared ready to reduce tensions with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine just days after an Oval Office blowup in which he threatened to abandon a key ally fighting an invasion.
During the 100-minute speech — the longest presidential address to Congress in modern history — Trump read aloud a message of gratitude that Zelenskyy had posted on social media earlier in the day. Trump said he appreciated the message, and had received “strong signals” from Russia that the country was eager for peace.
“Wouldn’t that be beautiful?” Trump said.
He was less conciliatory toward Canada, Mexico and China after imposing tariffs earlier in the day that roiled global markets and drew rebukes from the countries’ leaders. The president said nothing in his speech Tuesday night to suggest that an extended trade war might yet be averted.
“Whatever they tariff us, other countries, we will tariff them,” he said. “Whatever they tax us, we will tax them. If they do non-monetary tariffs to keep us out of their market, then we do non-monetary barriers to keep them out of our market.”
Together, the president’s remarks underscored the chaotic, whiplash nature of the opening weeks of Trump’s second term. Much of the lengthy speech was filled with grievances about his treatment by Democrats and exaggerations about his accomplishments. It capped a six-week blitz of actions since Trump took office, a period in which he has fired government workers, frozen foreign aid, upended international alliances, pardoned rioters and issued a flood of executive orders.
“Six weeks ago, I stood beneath the dome of this Capitol and proclaimed the dawn of the Golden Age of America,” Trump said, repeatedly appearing to veer from his prepared remarks. “From that moment on, it has been nothing but swift and unrelenting action to usher in the greatest and most successful era in the history of our country.”
From the first moments of his address, Trump faced heckling from Democrats as he declared that “America is back.” Democrats barely applauded, while Republicans enthusiastically cheered. When Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, repeatedly yelled “you don’t have a mandate” and refused to sit down, it exposed the deep divisions in Congress and the country.
“Mr. Green, take your seat,” Speaker Mike Johnson ordered him.
When he refused, he was escorted out.
“The people sitting right here will not clap, will not stand, and certainly will not cheer for these astronomical achievements,” Trump said, striking a note of self-pity that he had not gained the acceptance from Democrats in the chamber. “They won’t do it no matter what.”
There have been other outbursts during presidential speeches in recent years, including by Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., during the Biden administration and Joe Wilson, R-S.C., during the Obama administration. Both remained in the chamber after interrupting the president.
Just days after threatening to abandon a European ally at war and kicking off a trade war, Trump offered no new policy proposals, repeatedly denigrated former President Joe Biden and mocked Democrats in the audience for their inability to stand in the way of his agenda.
The president did not dwell on foreign policy, though he again threatened to annex the Panama Canal, saying that “my administration will be reclaiming the Panama Canal, and we’ve already started doing it.”
He said he wanted to construct a “golden dome” to protect the United States from missile strikes and to create a new shipbuilding office, and tried to entice Greenland to leave Denmark and join the United States. He also announced that the United States had apprehended a terrorist who organized the bombing of the Abbey Gate during the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.
Trump spent much of his time telling the stories of Americans he invited to watch his address in the gallery, including the victims of violent immigrants and a boy with cancer who dreamed of becoming a police officer.
Throughout, he appeared to obsess over his political rivals. At one point, he motioned to Democrats, saying the system of justice in the country had been taken over by “radical left lunatics.” In response, progressive members of the party held up panels that said “False” and “That’s a lie.”
A number of Democrats staged a small protest, standing up and turning their backs toward Trump with T-shirts that said “resist” on the back. Instead of risking being removed by the sergeant-at-arms, the group quietly walked off the House floor.
Other Democrats chose to walk out of the speech, including Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., who wore a shirt that said “No Kings Live Here.”
“I could not in good conscience sit through this speech and give an audience to someone who operates with lawless disregard for Congress and the people of this nation,” said Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass.
Trump accused Democrats of ignoring the “common sense revolution” that he and his administration had begun to put in place. He addressed his opponents in the audience with contempt, gloating about his election victory, mocked them for his ability to evade prosecutions and called Biden the worst president in American history.
At one point, the president compared the treatment he received on the internet to the victims of revenge porn, saying “nobody gets treated worse than I do online.”
Trump claimed falsely that he had inherited an “economic catastrophe” from Biden. In fact, the United States had the strongest economy in the world when Trump took over, but it has been showing signs of strain in recent weeks amid federal funding cuts and tariffs.
The president focused on what he claimed was fraud in the federal bureaucracy discovered by Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency. For several minutes, Trump listed off foreign aid and diversity programs that his government had eliminated, mocking them as unnecessary.
“Eight million to promote LGBTQI+ in the African nation of Lesotho, which nobody has ever heard of,” the president said.
House Republican leaders have advised their members to stop holding in-person town halls amid a torrent of large-scale protests targeting some of the budget cuts Musk is overseeing. Even so, a number of Republican lawmakers jumped to their feet and cheered as the president referred to Musk, who was sitting in the gallery.
As he had in past speeches, Trump repeated false and exaggerated claims throughout the speech, prompting reactions from the Democrats in the chamber.
“That’s not true,” Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the former House speaker, said quietly and shook her head as Trump ticked through debunked claims about the impossible ages of people collecting Social Security. Republicans, in contrast, cracked up and one yelled out “Joe Biden” when Trump asserted that someone on Social Security was older than 300.
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