A poll afterwards gave the speech modestly positive reviews… but Melania’s face told you what you really needed to know
Donald Trump gave his first ‘joint address to congress’ of his second term as President last night, and it was full of delights and nightmares.
It’s basically a State of the Union address, but they don’t call it that the first time after an election.
The Democrats…well they did their best. Some wore pink. Some held up signs with slogans like “pay your taxes” and “Elon lies” to distract Trump and catch the cameras. One heckled the President and got booted out. But at least they were trying.
CNN’s poll afterwards gave the speech modestly positive reviews… but Melania’s face told you what you really needed to know.
1. Made this sinister threat about a territory of a Nato ally
After sending a weird message to the people of Greenland, urging them to somehow vote to join America voluntarily, Trump looked down the lens and said: “We need it, for international world security.
“And I think we’re going to get it. One way or another…we’re going to get it.”
2. Prompted laughter with this line
“The days of rule by unelected bureaucrats are over,” Trump said, while Elon Musk looked down from the gallery.
If you listen, you can hear people laughing.
3. Had a Democrat congressman removed from the chamber
Speaker Mike Johnson warned Democrats they faced being kicked out if they disrupted the President’s speech.
That didn’t deter Representative Al Green, who refused to sit down and repeatedly shouted “He has no mandate”.
So Johnson ordered the 78-year-old to be removed by security. It might have been the first time in history such an incident has taken place at a joint address or State of the Union.
Republicans, of course, took it with the supreme grace and decorum they’re famous for, chanting “Hey Hey Hey Goodbye” as he was led out of the chamber.
4. He got a standing ovation for demanding the death penalty for cop killers, after pardoning dozens of people who attacked police officers
Trump asked congress to pass a law mandating the death sentence for people who murder police officers, to rapturous applause, and appreciation from Stephanie Diller, the wife of a murdered NYPD officer, who he’d invited to sit in the gallery.
He didn’t mention any of the dozens of people who assaulted police officers in and around the building where he stood on January 6th, 2021 – and whom he branded heroes and granted unconditional pardons.
5. Gave this exquisite explanation for his new oligarch visa
So a week ago, Trump announced a “Gold Card” – a special new visa type that allows you to pay $5m in cash in exchange for a visa and route to citizenship – something he said would be open to, for example, Russian oligarchs.
In all fairness, we should note that this isn’t hugely different from the Tier 1 (investor) visa the UK used to have – which was nicknamed the “Golden Visa”.
The visa allowed anyone who invested £2m in qualifying projects to come to the UK and apply for permanent residence.
The visa was scrapped in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and after a study found a “small minority” of individuals using the route posed a “high risk” of money laundering or other criminality.
Anyway, describing this policy to congress, he said: “It goes on sale very, very soon for $5m…it’s like the Green Card, but better and more sophisticated.
6. He said there will be “a little disturbance” from tariffs
Let them eat cheeseburgers, Trump may as well have said as he defended his bonkers tariff plan to Congress.
“Tariffs are about making America rich again and making America great again and it’s happening and it will happen rather quickly,” he said. “There’ll be a little disturbance, but we’re ok with that. There won’t be much.”
Meanwhile, on Fox Business News last night David Kelleher, owner of David Auto Group and a Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram store said some of his trucks were increasing in price by $20,000 overnight because of the tariffs.
Why such a big jump? Well, the aluminium used in components for trucks crosses the border not once, but as many as six times during the manufacturing process – and could be liable for the 25% tariff on 3 of those occasions.
7. Absolutely bodied Marco Rubio
Marco Rubio, or ‘Little Marco’, as Trump used to call him when he was a Presidential rival, previously described his current boss as a “con artist” and someone who is “wholly unprepared to be president of the United States.”
He later urged Americans not to hand “the nuclear codes…to an erratic individual.”
It’s all cool now tho, because he’s Trump’s Secretary of State. You’ll remember him from the memes of the in the Zelensky meeting melting into the yellow sofa like Homer Simpson slowly walking back into the hedge. That was Marco.
And how did Trump reward his stoicism in such an awkward situation?
By shouting him out from the podium during his speech, noting he was in charge of trying to get the Panama Canal back and saying: “Good luck, Marco. Now we know who to blame if anything goes wrong.”
8. Used a racial slur against a Senator to her face
Trump has for a long time referred to Elizabeth Warren, who is part Native American, as “Pocahontas.”
Well, he called her that name to her face in a grumpy aside during the speech. Republicans, of course, laughed.
9. Prompted this enthusiastic response from his wife