President Donald Trump in his first address since returning to the White House declared ‘America is back’ – but was quickly interrupted in a chaotic scene at the US Capitol.
Trump told a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night that since he began his second term six weeks ago, there has been ‘nothing but swift and unrelenting actions to usher in the most successful and greatest era in our history’.
He said his administration has accomplished ‘more in 43 days than most administrations accomplished in four years, eight years, and we are just getting started’.
Democratic Rep Al Green stood up and shouted at the president: ‘You have no mandate.’
Trump paused his speech as Republican lawmakers chanted ‘USA! USA!’ to try to drown out Green’s protest.
The chamber broke out in shouting and jeering between members of the two parties.
Green, who waved a walking stick in protest, was removed from the chamber a short time later.
Continuing his speech, Trump proclaimed that ‘our country will be woke no longer’.
‘We believe whether you’re a doctor, a lawyer or air traffic controller, you should be hired and promoted based on skill and confidence, not race or gender,’ he said to cheers.
‘You should be hired based on merit, and the Supreme Court in a brave and very powerful decision, has allowed us to do so.’
Trump also blamed former President Joe Biden for letting the egg prices get ‘out of control’.
Trump entered the House chamber just before 9.15pm.
First Lady Melania Trump, wearing a gray dress suit, entered shortly after 9pm, followed by her husband’s Cabinet members. Melania clapped and watched her husband as he greeted lawmakers and some supporters wearing MAGA hats.
His speech was to a joint session of Congress, but was not a State of the Union address that US presidents deliver annually to lawmakers typically in the first few months of the year.
Trump was expected to speak about what he has done since starting his second term a month-and-a-half ago, and what he plans to do over the next four years.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson in a letter in January invited Trump to address Congress on March 4 ‘to share your America First vision for our legislative future’.
Trump teased his address on Monday morning, posting on his Truth Social platform: ‘TOMORROW NIGHT WILL BE BIG. I WILL TELL IT LIKE IT IS!’
The theme of his speech is Renewal of the American Dream, White House officials told Fox News. It will include four sections: Trump’s accomplishments so far, what he has done for the economy, his push for Congress to provide more border security funds, and his plans for global peace.
‘President Trump has accomplished more in one month than any president in four years, and the renewal of the American Dream is well underway,’ said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, adding it ‘will be must-see TV’.
It comes four days after Trump got into a shouting match with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office during a meeting that was supposed to end with the latter signing a rare mineral deals toward peace and ending the war with Russia.
As Zelensky continued to push for security guarantees from the US, Vice President JD Vance cast the Ukrainian president as ungrateful. Trump decided to end the meeting with Zelensky, who left without signing a deal.
Trump on Monday afternoon said Zelensky ‘should be more appreciative’ and criticized him for saying that he thinks the war will continue for a very long time.
By Monday night, a White House official stated that the US was ‘pausing and reviewing our aid (to Ukraine) to ensure that it is contributing to a solution’.
‘The President has been clear that he is focused on peace,’ stated the official. ‘We need our partners to be committed to that goal as well.’
On Tuesday, Zelensky did an about-face and said he ‘stands ready to work under Trump’s strong leadership to get a peace that lasts’. The Ukrainian president offered his country’s rare earth minerals for security guarantees and promised to ‘sign it in any time and any convenient format’.
‘None of us wants an endless war. Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer,’ wrote Zelensky on X (formerly Twitter). ‘Nobody wants peace more than Ukrainians.’
Hours before his address, Trump reportedly told his advisers he wanted to announce the deal in his remarks, but that it had not yet been signed.
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