On March 4th, President Trump delivered his address to a joint session of Congress – the first one since beginning his second term. It was quite symbolic of the political polarization that is embedded within our society today, with one side of the room, the Republicans, seeming to give a standing ovation every time, while the Democrats barely applauded at all. Let’s break down Trump’s speech and the opposition’s response:
The speech
Donald Trump delivered a boastful and partisan campaign-style speech, with much of its content being red meat for his Republican and MAGA supporters. It clocked in as the longest such speech in American history, at just under 100 minutes.
He boasted about his accomplishments in the last six weeks, declaring that “America is back!” He praised the actions of Elon Musk and DOGE in dismantling and changing many government programs. Such actions have proved controversial, though, with recent polls showing that many Americans think that the sweeping changes being made to the government have gone too far or are happening too quickly.
The President leaned into issues MAGA likes – his changes to transgender policy, the dismantling of diversity initiatives, making English the official language of the United States, and changing the name of Alaska’s Denali (the highest point in the U.S.) back to Mount McKinley. Ironically, many in Alaska have opposed the renaming of the mountain.
Trump spoke about cracking down on illegal immigration, an issue he leaned into more than the economy and prices. This is for good reason, too, as the President’s recently-implemented tariffs on Canada, China, and Mexico are highly expected to make prices go up. This is ironic, as the issue of high prices is one of the things that got Trump over the finish line in 2024 in the first place. Another point the President scantily mentioned was the price of eggs, for which he blamed his predecessor, Joe Biden, for letting the “price of eggs get out of control”. In fact, egg prices have actually gone up recently, in part due to an outbreak of bird flu. Presidents like to blame predecessors for the problems happening under their term, but at some point, the President has to be the one at fault.
As usual, the President’s speech had its fair share of lies. He claimed that DOGE had found billions of dollars worth of fraud, which is different from what they have said they found. Trump claimed that there were lots of dead people 120 years or older who have gotten Social Security payments, something which his own Social Security administrator has said was not true. He claimed once again that the U.S. has sent over $350 billion to Ukraine when in reality, they have only sent $115 billion. Even Europe has sent more aid than the U.S. (around $130-140 billion). There were many more lies, but this article would be way longer if I listed all of them.
The President called on the Republican-controlled Congress to implement his legislative priorities, including more funds for deportations, major tax cuts, enhanced police protections, a new crime bill, mandating the death penalty for those who kill police officers, and creating a “Golden Dome” missile defense system similar to that of Israel’s “Iron Dome”.
Lastly, there were some made-for-TV moments. He unveiled an executive order renaming a wildlife refuge for a girl allegedly killed by undocumented migrants. Trump named a 13-year-old cancer survivor an honorary Secret Service agent. He announced the admission of a high school student to West Point and the capturing of a terrorist behind the 2021 Abbey Gate bombing in Afghanistan, which killed 13 U.S. service members.
The opposition’s response
The opposition response was quite lackluster. Democrats had been struggling in the last few weeks on how to respond to Trump’s action, and it showed during this speech. Democrats’ response consisted of holding up signs protesting Trump during the speech, which is quite tacky in my opinion and reminded me of an auction house.
However, the formal Democratic response to the address, which was delivered by Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, was disciplined and poised. Slotkin focused on her background as a former CIA officer with a Republican father and a Democratic mother, who served Republican president George W. Bush and Democratic president Barack Obama, and as someone who won in a state that Trump also carried in 2024. She said that changes to government must not be made “recklessly”, warned that Trump’s tax cuts would come at the expense of things important to other people, criticized Musk and “his gang of 20-year-olds” actions in sifting through people’s private information (including Social Security accounts), and said that she was thankful that Reagan was in office during the Cold War and not Trump. “Trump would have lost us the Cold War,” Slotkin proclaimed at one point.
In my opinion, this sort of discipline was a much better response to the speech than the angry heckles of the cane-waving Congressman Al Green, who interrupted Trump’s address and had to be forced to leave the chamber. Democrats can learn from Slotkin’s response.
Emil Ordonez, a rising college freshman, is the founder and editor-in-chief of Polinsights. He has been deeply passionate about politics and history since learning every U.S. President at the age of five. He was compelled to start this blog after meeting many people who were misinformed or had become apathetic about how society worked. He hopes to provide factual knowledge and insights that will encourage people, especially the young, to get more engaged in their respective communities. In his free time, he edits for Wikipedia and makes maps for elections. He aspires to work in Congress or even the White House in the future.
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