In the longest address to Congress in modern presidential history, Trump repeated many of the themes that filled his election campaign and spent little time presenting new policies, as presidents traditionally do in such cases, writes The New York Times. «In 43 days we have achieved more than most administrations achieve in four or eight years, and we are just beginning», — announced Donald Trump.
Presidents often address a joint session of Congress to outline their agenda for the coming year. Trump did not present new policy programs and spent little time on the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, which he promised to end. A day after Trump temporarily suspended American aid supplies, he made it clear that he was ready to reset relations. Trump reported that he appreciated the message from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in which he stated that Ukraine «is ready to sit at the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring about lasting peace». Donald Trump read Zelensky's letter, which noted the «strong leadership» of the American president. Trump also stated that he held «serious» talks with Russia, and they made it clear that they too are «ready for peace». «It's time to stop this madness», — he said. «It's time to stop the killings. It's time to stop the senseless war. If you want to stop the war, you must talk to both sides». At the same time, the figure of $350 billion in aid from the US was mentioned again, although it has been repeatedly refuted by facts.
Trump also did not address how to prevent the government shutdown next week. Despite Republicans controlling the House and Senate, there are still disagreements on how best to continue the funding battle. The president reiterated that he wants Congress to allocate more money for immigration security while simultaneously reducing taxes, but how lawmakers will achieve this remains unclear.
Despite markets falling in response to the introduction of tariffs and the start of a trade war, Trump reported that he would continue this policy, stating that new tariffs would take effect on April 2. He called the market reaction a «slight excitement». Meanwhile, the «Dow Jones» index fell by more than 670 points (1.55%). The broader S&P 500 — by 1.76% (according to Bloomberg, the loss amounted to more than $3 trillion), and Nasdaq — by 2.64%.
«Other countries have been using tariffs against us for decades, and now it's our turn to start using them against these other countries», — Trump explained his strategy.
The president also spent a few minutes listing a wide range of programs that Elon Musk's team cut, noting that this work revealed «hundreds of billions of dollars in fraud». But even Musk's team claims that the savings amounted to only $105 billion, and these claims have not been verified. NYT found that in DOGE they mistakenly indicated savings based on contracts that had already ended and miscalculated the figures.
Democrats protested throughout the evening: one representative was expelled, others held signs in silent disagreement. In response, Trump claimed that it was the Democrats who left him a country besieged by crises, and that his administration is working to eliminate them. He also paid great attention to Joe Biden, mentioning him more than a dozen times. He accused the Biden administration of a range of problems, including the high cost of eggs, crime, and drugs crossing the border, and accused him of weakness towards China.
In conclusion of his speech, President Trump stated that he is only beginning to implement his program: «The Golden Age of America is just beginning».
Photo: The New York Times