President Donald Trump touted his newly imposed tariffs and basked in Republican applause for his administration's swift early actions, while drawing a wave of protests from Democrats as he spoke to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday.
Leaning into culture wars, Trump inveighed against transgender rights, “they/them” pronouns, and diversity, equity and inclusion programs. He celebrated his crackdown on migration. He repeatedly taunted his predecessor, Joe Biden, saying the former president imposed “insane and very dangerous open border policies.”
“Wokeness is bad,” Trump said. “It’s gone.”
Trump was heckled and disrupted by congressional Democrats in the room, who shouted at him not to cut Medicaid, waved an eclectic mix of signs to protest him and periodically shouted antagonistically at the president.
Here are five takeaways from the speech — and how it sets up the rest of Trump's 2025.
Trump defends his tariffs
Trump defended the sweeping 25% tariffs he imposed Tuesday on products from Canada and Mexico, saying “now it’s our turn” after other countries have levied them against the U.S.
“It’s very unfair,” Trump said as scores of Republicans stood up to applaud his tariffs, with the president saying they “are about protecting the soul of our country.”
It's a sign of how Trump has transformed the traditionally pro-free trade GOP, though there is some unease in the party about the tariffs' effects on prices and the broader economy.
“There’ll be a little disturbance,” Trump added. “But we’re OK with that. It won’t be much,” the president added.
The tariffs sent stocks tumbling Tuesday, and some Democrats shouted “stock market!” as Trump spoke.
Trump also promised an economic revival and blamed ongoing problems like inflation and egg prices on Biden.
Trump outlines his policy agenda
Trump spent significant time on issues ranging from transgender athletes to the work of the Department of Government Efficiency. But the biggest thing Congress may work on this year will be a massive tax and spending bill, and Trump outlined his priorities.
Trump reiterated his calls for cutting taxes and including several campaign-trail tax promises in a bill later this year — specifically nixing taxes on tips and overtime. Congressional Republicans are wrestling with the feasibility of those proposals as they seek to pass a big party-line bill advancing core pieces of Trump's agenda. They are still seeking to find room for the trillions of dollars in tax breaks that Trump has called for.
The president also called for repealing the CHIPS and Science Act, a bipartisan law that passed the Senate 64-33 and was signed by Biden in 2022.
“We should get rid of the Chip Act,” Trump said, referring to the law that invests in domestic research and semiconductor manufacturing.
Democrats heckle, wave signs and interrupt
Within minutes of Trump’s speech beginning, Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, interrupted and heckled him, yelling, “You have no mandate to cut Medicaid.” He was escorted out after refusing to stop shouting. There were other unintelligible shouts from Democrats during the speech. At another point in Trump’s speech, several Democratic members walked out of the chamber in protest.
A group of House Democrats waved signs that read “MUSK STEALS,” “SAVE MEDICAID,” and “PROTECT VETERANS.” Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., brought a whiteboard and wrote different messages on it through Trump’s speech, including “NO KING” and “LIES.”
Some Democrats laughed out loud when Trump said the era of rule by “unelected bureaucrats” is over, and pointed at Trump’s billionaire adviser Elon Musk, who sat in the gallery and watched.
Other Democrats skipped Trump’s speech entirely, including Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who wants to lead his party’s strategy, and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the vice chair of the Appropriations Committee and the recent former Senate president pro tempore.
The top three Democratic leaders in each chamber attended. They, like most others in the party, sat quietly and listened without disrupting the president’s remarks, as Democrats work through their loss in 2024 and how best to advance their agenda and oppose Trump's in 2025 and beyond.
Trump soaks in GOP adulation
It's been months since Trump played to the crowd at one of his signature political rallies. But he got a hero’s welcome and a standing ovation from Republicans in the Capitol, who regularly leapt to their feet to applaud him.
As Trump said he’s waging the “most sweeping border and immigration crackdown in American history,” and touted actions he has taken, the GOP side of the aisle erupted into chants of “Trump! Trump! Trump.”
Trump had no olive branch to offer his opponents, instead needling Democrats at the beginning of his speech, saying there was nothing he could say that would make them clap or smile — and later blasting “radical left lunatics” who he called weak on crime. In response, some Democrats yelled, “January 6th!” referring to Trump’s pardons of rioters who stormed the Capitol, some of whom attacked police officers.
Biden offered during his first address to Congress to team up on “bipartisan” goals — a term he used multiple times in 2021 — like infrastructure, cancer research and access to education.
Trump, meanwhile, chided Democrats early in his speech for refusing to give him enough. He set the tone early by calling Biden “the worst president in American history” and played to a longtime presidential tradition: blaming his predecessor for problems facing the country.
“Everybody here — even this side — I appreciate you,” Trump quipped, drawing laughter from the GOP side of the aisle.
Ukraine, Panama Canal and Greenland
Trump lamented the billions of dollars that the U.S. has spent to help Ukraine defend itself from Russia’s incursion, drawing ironic and extended applause from Democrats who support the military and economic assistance.
“You want to keep it going for another five years?” Trump asked.
“Pocahontas says yes,” he said, using a derisive nickname for Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., which prompted numerous Democrats to walk out of the chamber.
Trump also kept up his calls for bringing the Panama Canal and Greenland into U.S. control.
“We didn’t give it to China. We gave it to Panama. We’re taking it back,” Trump said of the Panama Canal.
“We need Greenland for national security and international security,” the president continued, while calling it a “very, very large piece of land.”
“I think we’re going to get it. One way or the other we’re going to get it,” he said, as Republicans applauded and laughed.
This story first appeared on chof360.com. More from NBC News:
