It’s time for Donald Trump’s (second) first address to Congress (which will be just like a State of the Union address, only not called the State of the Union). Tonight in Washington, D.C., the trade-warring, government-gutting new president makes a big speech to a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol — which Elon Musk hasn’t already sold to condo developers. Below are live updates on the run-up to the big event and the speech itself.
Presidential dignity has not been notable in this speech, but Trump’s weird little snipe at Elizabeth Warren as “Pocahontas” — an allusion to an ancient Republican slur against Warren based on her claim of having Cherokee ancestors in an academic document many many years ago — shows that bad MAGA jokes never get too old.
And it prompted more walk-outs:
Trump touted Blackrock’s purchase of two ports in Panama as a victory in his push to take over the Panama canal. The president shouted out Secretary of State Marco Rubio as the point person in the America First effort. “Good luck, Marco,” Trump said. “We know who to blame if it goes wrong.”
There had been a lot of talk that Trump would back off threats to retake the Panama Canal because of the steps Panama had taken to reduce Chinese involvement in canal operations. But tonight Trump flatly said of the canal “we’re taking it back.” He also said the United States would eventually gain control of Greenland “one way or another,” leaving it to the imagination what he might be willing to do for this conquest.
This isn’t anything new, but Trump’s attack on the legitimacy and the very existence of transgender people during a speech to a joint session of Congress is still gobsmacking. Calling gender reassignment surgery an affront to “how God made them” is a way of declaring these Americans legally dead and vulnerable to every kind of discrimination.
Perhaps the most surprising thing about Trump’s speech is the extended time he is devoted to “law and order,” beyond the harsh measures he wants to take against immigrants that he accuses of systemic criminality. Criminal justice is not principally a federal responsibility, and despite Trump’s constant assertions on the 2024 campaign trail that American cities are convulsed by violent crime, official statistics don’t back that up at all. So his proposal for a federal death penalty for those who kill police officers will probably be popular but will have little or no impact on crime.
Which had a very racist name (Trump didn’t mention that):
In his extended paean to Laken Riley as an example of Americans murdered and threatened by illegal immigrants thanks to “Joe Biden’s open borders policies,” Trump missed the chance for a tiny bit of bipartisanship by failing to acknowledge the significant Democratic support for the Laken Riley Act beefing up deportation rules for those convicted of even non-violent crimes, which as Trump noted, was the first law he signed as the 47th president. No, it was all him.
American farmers were some of the hardest workers hit by Trump’s trade war with China during his first term. In the second, they are already taking significant hits — with China announcing 15 percent tariffs on major American agricultural exports like chicken, wheat, corn and cotton. Still, Trump is pretending that everyone will enjoy the short-term impacts of his preferred economic policy. “Have a lot of fun,” Trump told farmers during his speech, adding “I love you, too.”
Many of Trump’s business community backers have argued that his tariff proposals are simply bargaining tools, and even as he imposed 25 percent tariffs this very day on Canada and Mexico, his Commerce Secretary expressed the wishful hope that these measures might be retracted almost immediately, probably to stem a big drop in stock markets. But Trump made it very clear in this speech that he is committed to tariffs as a permanent source of federal revenues and to force relocations of investments now made overseas. For good or for ill (and most economists think for ill) Trump is committed to the 19th century gospel of protectionism as a matter of principle.
And Musk is sitting right there:
Trump recently demanded a $4 trillion increase in the national debt limit to accommodate his agenda of tax cuts and increased spending on defense and border security. Yet he pledged a balanced federal budget. The last time that happened, of course, was during Bill Clinton’s administration; the budget became unbalanced when George W. Bush pushed through high-end tax cuts as a “refund” to Americans.
It’s part of his plan to effectively sell American citizenship (replacing an already existing visa program that doesn’t have “gold” in the name):
Trump’s litany of examples of government “waste” will have fact-checkers scrambling; some have already been exploded. But they mostly involve small amounts of money devoted to various projects overseas, presumably to support the administration’s efforts to shut down USAID. Trump also rattled off a long list of supposed centenarians receiving Social Security benefits. Who knows where he’s getting any of these “facts,” but even if true they don’t represent a rounding error on any of the major categories of federal spending. But they are music to the ears of Elon Musk’s MAGA fans
But as I noted in a post this morning, the quasi-agency also kind of sucks at math and has repeatedly screwed up while reporting the money it has saved.
Observes the New York Times’ Annie Karni:
The first and only openly transgender member of Congress, [Representative Sarah McBride] knew that trans rights would be under attack in this speech. She has been sitting silently through the speech, not holding up any signs. It is in keeping with how she has behaved since arriving in Congress, knowing that she is a unique target and determined not to take the bait and staying laser-focused on economic issues.
Trump championed DOGE and called out Musk in the audience, who then took a bow as Republicans gave him an ovation:
But one House Democrat just has a mini-whiteboard:
Unless there is an abrupt change of tone, Donald Trump is in the process of delivering not a traditional address to Congress but a MAGA rally speech. It’s all red meat for his party base, and so far, doesn’t even seem aimed at persuading the previously unpersuaded.
Instead of reaching out to the opposition as presidents typically do in such speeches, Trump pointed at “these people” in the Democratic seats of Congress as stubborn in their refusal to acknowledge his accomplishments, and essentially said he would move on without them. Democrats sat silently during this dressing-down, some holding signs reading “Musk Steals.”
Early in Trump’s speech, Speaker Mike Johnson directed the sergeant at arms to remove Texas Democratic congressman Al Green from the chamber for shouting and refusing to take his seat. I don’t recall that happening when Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene disrupted Joe Biden’s State of the Union Address in 2022
Just minutes into the president’s speech, Democratic Rep. Al Green stood up and yelled out that Trump had “no mandate” to cut Medicaid. After House Speaker Mike Johnson warned that he could be removed, Green continued to yell. “Get him out of here,” Vice-president J.D. Vance mouthed. Johnson obliged him, and Green was removed.
Trump began his speech vowing that he would usher in the “greatest and most successful” era in American history. “Our country is on the verge of a comeback the likes of which the world has never witnessed, and perhaps will never witness again,” he said, on a day when the stock market tanked due to his tariffs taking effect. “America is back,” he said, as Republicans broke into several “USA” chants.
Republicans are giving Trump an overlong standing ovation. Thankfully none of them were killed on January 6, 2021, or they would have missed this.
He hasn’t laid them off yet:
From the pre-released excerpts of his speech:
I am also working tirelessly to end the savage conflict in Ukraine. Millions of Ukrainians and Russians have been needlessly killed or wounded in this horrific and brutal conflict, with no end in sight. The United States has sent hundreds of billions of dollars to support Ukraine’s defense. Meanwhile, Europe has sadly spent more money buying Russian Oil and Gas than they have spent on defending Ukraine – by far! And Biden has authorized more money in this fight than Europe has spent.
But don’t expect anything he vows to actually bring those prices down anytime soon.
Update: He’s going to blame Biden:
Donald Trump already has the distinction of delivering the longest (on average) speeches to a joint session of Congress on record: an hour and 20 minutes for his four annual speeches during his first term, according to The American Presidency Project. (His 2019 speech, clocking in at an hour and 22 minutes, was the third longest ever, behind only Bill Clinton’s 1995 and 2000 addresses). But Trump is also known for going off script, particularly during his 2024 presidential campaign, when he often delivered what he called “The Weave,” long rambling discourses down strange rabbit holes. So don’t be too shocked if the 47th president goes on for some time in his return to the joint Congressional podium. His staff is probably praying he doesn’t go too far off message while he’s at it.
From the excerpts of Trump’s speech handed out ahead of time:
Whatever they tariff us, we tariff them. Whatever they tax us, we 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. We will take in trillions of dollars and create jobs like we have never seen before.
And then reverse everything the next day?
Trump is expected to introduce some “special guests” during his speech, likely either celebrities or “real people” who illustrate some Trump accomplishment or agenda item. But one “special guest” who will need no introduction is DOGE warlord, X owner, and chief Trump campaign financier Elon Musk, who will indeed attend:
But as I noted in a preview of the speech earlier today, it could be problematic figuring out where Musk should sit. He’s not a member of the Cabinet, even though he attended Trump’s first Cabinet meeting, but placing him in the galleries might suggest he’s a disruptive outsider instead of a faithful service of The Boss. You sure don’t want him near the Supreme Court justices who may ultimately rule on the legality or constitutionality of the vast and controversial powers he has deployed. Perhaps a third seat behind Trump should be set up so that Musk can abut House Speaker Mike Johnson and Vice-President J.D. Vance. But in any event, his gestures of approval of Trump’s remarks should be monitored in case they become a bit stiff-armed.
As to whether U.S. Capitol Police will allow Musk to bring in the new chainsaw he recently received from Argentinian president Javier Milei: probably not. (Update: definitely not.)
If the Capitol gets destroyed by an asteroid tonight, Doug Collins will get to pick up the pieces:
Probably not.
Since it’s a heavily staged and scripted speech in an environment where the president is greeted (at least by his own partisans) like a conquering hero before an unusually large audience of viewers (augmented within minutes by media coverage and hype from social media influencers), it’s reasonable to expect that a speech like tonight’s will give the chief executive a “bounce” in public approval. To be sure, Donald Trump could use one at the moment: his initially positive approval-disapproval ratio has all but melted away during his first six weeks in office, and media coverage of DOGE-generated chaos and unpopular Trump policy initiatives hasn’t helped. But in a country as polarized as ours and with a president as universally known as the 47th, changes in public opinion are likely to be glacial.
Consider what happened after last year’s Joe Biden State of the Union Address on March 7. He gave what was by most accounts his best speech in a long, long while, demonstrating the vigor and combativeness so many had found lacking as the 46th president grew older. Democrats were thrilled. But as the days went by, it became obvious the speech did little or nothing for Biden’s national popularity. His job approval rating remained stagnant, and less than four months later a poor debate performance wounded him so badly that he soon dropped out of the general election race. So the odds of some game-changing performance by Trump tonight are low.
In addition to the official party response from Minnesota U.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin, many congressional Democrats have invited fired federal workers to attend Trump’s joint address. Lawmakers may also wear colors, as noted by the Cut’s Andrea González-Ramírez:
Pink for the rights of women and families, black to meet the somberness of the political moment, yellow and blue in support of Ukraine: Democratic lawmakers are expected to communicate their opposition to Donald Trump during the president’s joint address to Congress on Tuesday night by color-coordinating. “Pink is a color of power and protest,” New Mexico representative Teresa Leger Fernández, chair of the Democratic Women’s Caucus, told Time. “It’s time to rev up the opposition and come at Trump loud and clear.”
Members of Congress protesting Trump, a budding authoritarian who is wrecking American institutions, via their wardrobe choices echoes Democrats’ past history with pink pussy hats and kente stoles — it’s not exactly the most effective way to dissent.
Veteran journalist and political historian Jeff Greenfield had a clever item for Politico Nightly looking forward to Trump’s speech to Congress tonight:
If you were betting on the least likely sentiments to emerge from Donald Trump’s speech to the Congress, you might choose among these:
— a hat tip to Black history month and the civil rights movement;
— a call for a long-term agreement on immigration reform;
— strong support for NATO, “an alliance forged through the bonds of two world wars that dethroned fascism, and a Cold War, and defeated communism;”
— a summons to “direct, robust and meaningful engagement with the world…based on vital security interests that we share with our allies all across the globe;”
— a shout-out to Justin Trudeau and Canada;
— support for paid family leave;
— repeated calls for unity, proclaiming that “we are one people, with one destiny. We all bleed the same blood. We all salute the same great American flag. And we all are made by the same God.”
The joke, of course, is that these were all passages in Trump’s first speech to a joint session of Congress in 2017. MAGA politics have gotten a lot darker, crazier and more divisive over these eight years.
A little while ago:
As a consequence of the first official day of Trump’s supposed new tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China, the DJI dropped more than 670 points on Tuesday. The news so bad that Commerce secretary Howard Lutnick came out and suggested that the tariffs might be scaled back on Wednesday (triggering a rise in the pre-markets).
Though Trump’s joint address to Congress will be just like an annual State of the Union address, it won’t technically be called one, since it’s coming so soon after the new president’s inauguration. This naming convention has been going on since Reagan. The American Presidency Project, which tracks SOTU speeches, swears it’s just as important, though: “The impact of such a speech on public, media and congressional perceptions of presidential leadership and power should be the same as if the address was an official State of the Union.” So there.
The president’s speech is set to begin at 9 p.m. E.T. and every major television network will be broadcasting and live-streaming it. If you have to choose, you might as well watch it on PBS since they might not have any federal funding by this time next year.
Earlier today I wrote a preview of tonight’s speech and noted five things I thought the president would need to accomplish, including “impose order on the chaos”:
Silicon Valley’s famous slogan for corporate takeovers, “move fast and break things,” has been the central operating principle of the second Trump administration. Again, this pleases the MAGA base that more than anything else wants to “break things,” but doesn’t convey a coherent and responsible agenda. This matters not just to potential Trump supporters or opponents in the general public, but to major corporate and financial movers and shakers who need confidence in the administration’s sanity, and to international audiences already shocked by Trump’s contempt toward traditional alliances and commitments.
A big major speech is exactly the right context in which Trump can lay out some sort of vision of governance that involves measured and calculated steps toward defined objectives, not just the tactics of Bronze Age warlords happy to pillage conquered territory and award warfighters with plunder and trophies. This is perhaps most important to his own allies in government, who crave assurance that their turbulent chief won’t change directions to their peril with every passing whim.
Read the rest here.
