“This is the golden age of America,” Trump said right at the beginning of the speech. “We will never go back to where we were just a short time ago,” the president pointed out. He is said to have taken over the country in a “crisis”, but since then, according to him, “it has achieved a transformation that no one has seen before”. “It’s truly a turnaround for the ages,” boasted the head of the White House.
He only briefly mentioned Russia’s war in Ukraine, which began four years ago and which Trump had previously promised to end within 24 hours. The US president said his administration was “working hard” to end the “killings and massacres between Russia and Ukraine where 25,000 troops are dying every month”. He repeated his claim that this war “would never have broken out” if he had been president at the time.
He devoted more space to Iran, against which he does not rule out military intervention due to its nuclear program and to which Washington has already sent warships. “My preference is to resolve this issue diplomatically. But one thing is certain, I will never allow the world’s largest sponsor of terror, which they are by far, to have a nuclear weapon. That cannot happen,” he declared.
Trump praised his anti-immigration policies, saying that the US borders are more secure than ever. “We will always allow people to come here legally,” he added. In connection with immigration and cases of misuse of public funds, he spoke of “Somali pirates who plundered Minnesota.” “If we can find enough of these frauds, we will have a balanced budget overnight,” Trump said. Meanwhile, the federal budget deficit in fiscal year 2025 was $1.8 trillion.
A retired congressman and a goalie medal
He mentioned Venezuela, whose authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro was arrested this year, as a “new friend and partner”. During the speech, he introduces one of the released opponents of Maduro, who met his relative in the hall to applause.
Democratic Congressman Al Green, who was holding a protest sign that read “Black people are not monkeys,” was escorted out of the room right before the president’s speech, in an apparent reference to the AI video of former President Barack Obama that Trump recently shared. So far, the Republican president introduced the men’s hockey team that won gold at the Olympics to applause and accepted Trump’s invitation. Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the US’s highest civilian honor, the White House chief announced.
Also in the room are some of the Supreme Court justices who last week scuttled the flagship of Trump’s economic policy – high import tariffs that the president had previously announced without congressional approval under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Trump has now indicated that he intends to reimpose the high tariffs without specifying which path he will take.
Defense of tariffs and promises of cheaper healthcare
“Almost every country and corporation wants to keep the deal they already made. Knowing that the legal power I have as president to make a new deal could be much worse for them, they will continue down the same successful path we negotiated before the unfortunate involvement of the Supreme Court,” the president said in a speech.
The head of the White House, who according to Reuters was about to declare an “economic victory” even as many Americans complain about rising prices, also spoke of the need to reduce the cost of medical care for Americans and increase the affordability of housing. “I want to stop all payments to the big insurance companies and instead give this money directly to the people,” said the president, who this year launched TrumpRx, a website offering lower drug prices, among other things. The president also called on Congress to prohibit institutions from buying small single-family homes. “We want houses for people, not corporations,” the president said.
The speech comes at a difficult time for Trump. Polls show the president’s approval rating is falling, with Republicans looking to defend narrow majorities in both houses of Congress in the fall election.
Photo: Manuel Balce Ceneta, CTK/AP
Donald Trump with his wife Melania before the speech
At the same time, disputes over additional funding for the Department of Homeland Security after the deployment of immigration agents in American cities are paralyzing another key part of the Trump administration’s agenda.
Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger delivered the traditional answer from the other side for the Democratic Party. “Tonight, the president did what he always does. He lied, scapegoated, distracted, and offered no real solutions to our country’s pressing problems, many of which he is actively making worse,” she chided the president.
More than two dozen Democratic lawmakers skipped Trump’s speech and took part in a protest in front of the Capitol.
Photo: Jessica Koscielniak, Reuters
view of the congress hall
