On March 4, President Donald J. Trump delivered an address to a joint session of Congress, the first of his second term. His speech lasted more than 90 minutes, the longest such speech in modern history.
It was a chance for Mr. Trump to lay out his vision for the next four years, with an opportunity to reach across the aisle in hopes of uniting a divided America.
It did not happen.
The divide appeared simply to grow wider through the parties’ vastly different responses to Mr. Trump’s speech. On the left, Democrats sat in silence, holding signs reading “Save Medicaid,” “Musk Steals,” and “False.” Their silence was only broken when they booed or jeered.
Rep. Al Green (D-TX) was removed from the chamber for a breach of decorum within the first 10 minutes, when he stood and kept repeating that Mr. Trump had “no mandate” to cut Medicaid.
As the speech wore on, some members, including Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL), and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), left the chamber.
Mr. Trump could not help but comment on it all.
“I realize there is absolutely nothing I can say to make them happy or to make them stand or smile or applaud,” he said.
Mr. Trump also mentioned the “Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE),” an unofficial government agency, and how it is “headed by Elon Musk,” which was followed by raucous applause and a standing ovation from Republicans, one of 103 during the speech.
Mr. Musk, the world’s richest man, is a problematic figure, primarily because he has been tasked by the president to slash programs and departments across the federal government in a search for “waste, fraud, and abuse.” But Mr. Musk has not been elected to any office, and he has not gone through a Senate confirmation process.
Trump and his officials have repeatedly bragged about the money that DOGE has saved, but in looking at the federal budget, and federal debt as a whole, there is $35.8 trillion. The DOGE cuts have upended programs and resulted in the elimination of thousands of jobs, but the money saved could be considered computational errors making up 0.1-0.2 percent of the total federal budget.
Democrats have spoken out against the job cuts and, in an act of protest, they brought fired federal workers to Mr. Trump’s address.
“What the Democrats are showing with our guests is that it’s the American people who are being hurt by the actions of Elon Musk and Donald Trump,” Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL) said to The New York Times.
Republicans also invited symbolic guests, including Payton McNabb, a former high school athlete who was injured by a transgender woman while playing volleyball, and Alexis Nungary, whose daughter was killed by an undocumented immigrant.
Mr. Trump mentioned putting “America First,” mused about “America [being] back,” and lauded the “American Dream.” In fact, he mentioned the word “America” more than 50 times. He called his presidency “our presidency” to create a sense of unity, ironically in a room where half the people sat and did not applaud his words.
As he wound down, Mr. Trump talked about his energy plans, and he used the phrase “Drill Baby Drill” to highlight utilizing more oil and gas instead of pushing toward renewable energy.
Overall, Mr. Trump’s address can be seen as a kind of victory lap. He focused on how different his administration was from the previous one, repeatedly bringing up how his election victory was a “comeback,” and how he won all seven swing states in November’s presidential election.
Hard and actual facts were in short supply, and his rhetoric will almost surely confuse and mislead a large number of Americans, who hear “budget cuts,” compelling personal anecdotes, and patriotic language and wonder how anyone might disagree with what Mr. Trump said.
