Partisan Taunts and Defiant Protests: Trump’s First Speech to Congress

from New York Times I'm Michael Babar. this is the. [Music]. daily in his first address to Congress. on Tuesday night president Trump took a. highly partisan Victory lap as. Democratic lawmakers openly protested. against. him today my colleague Maggie hman walks. us through the speech and the reactions.

to it in the. [Music]. [Applause]. room it's Wednesday March. [Music]. 5th so Maggie are you ready to begin I. am Michael okay well.

thank you for joining us at. 11:40 p.m. 11:41 and thank you for. having me thank you for correcting my. time stamping it only feels. appropriate so Maggie describe the scene. for us on the house floor as all of this. gets underway on Tuesday night Mr. Speaker the president of the United. States so Michael about 15 minutes after.

9:00 p.m. the announcement goes out that. the president of the United States is. going to be walking in already this is a. different setting than we are used to. for this kind of a speech because. normally there is an escort committee. it's a bipartisan escort committee right. and Democrats help walk in the. Republican president Republican members. help walk in a Democratic president this. year Democrats decided not to be part of. that committee so right away this was a. new moment and newly partisan and newly.

partisan and there were other signs of. democratic protest he's being applauded. by Republicans who are you know trying. to touch him as he's walking down the. aisle most Democrats are refusing to. stand if any did I see any who did right. and usually both parties stand just out. of respect for the office for the most. part yes and it foretold a very very. intensely partisan night that was about.

to. come thank you very much thank you very. much it's great honor thank you very. much speaker Johnson Trump reaches the. lecturn and then he starts to speak. members of the United States Congress. thank you very much and to my fellow. citizens America is back.

and there's huge cheers from. [Applause]. Republicans and Trump relives his. election Victory the presidential. election of November 5th was a mandate. like has not been seen in many decades. we won all seven swing States giving us. an electoral college victory of. 312 votes he claims false.

that his popular vote win was by a large. margin it it was not there was nothing. historic about it other than that it. happened but he seemed to be doing that. deliberately as he has in the past to. suggest in this room before the entire. country and this live televised address. that he has a mandate yes and he does. have a mandate he just doesn't have the. Mandate that he keeps saying he does MHM. but so at that moment as he's declaring. this democratic Congressman Al Green who.

has been firmly against Trump for a very. long time stands up and he starts to. Heckle the president we won the popular. vote by big numbers and won counties in. our. country and heckling is not as unusual. as it once was for this kind of. important speech but green seem to go. further than your average Heckler right. th this was.

green continuing to stand literally. waving his Cane brandishing it almost as. if it was a sword essentially and. refusing to. [Applause]. sit members are directed to uphold and. maintain decorum in the house and to. cease any further disruptions that's. your warning despite repeated calls for. him to do so by the house Speaker I. should add Maggie I was watching this on. television as well I noticed at this.

moment not only that the speaker is very. frustrated JD Vance stands up and. signals with his thumb that it's time to. eject Congressman green it was an. astonishing moment and what green was. doing was astonishing too I mean this. was just a sustained protest in a. chamber where decorum is valued but both. JD Vance and house Speaker Mike Johnson. both of whom because of their roles were. seated behind the president and standing.

at various points were trying to get the. sergeant-at-arms. attention to have that person come and. eject a sitting member of Congress which. is an uncomfortable moment take your. seat finding that members continue to. engage in willful and concerted. disruption of proper decorum the chair. now directs the sergeant-at-arms to. restore. order which is exactly what ends up. happening that is exactly what ends up. happening and it gave Donald Trump a.

moment that he clearly wanted H this is. my fifth such speech to Congress and. once again I look at the Democrats in. front of me and I realize there is. absolutely nothing I can say to make. them happy or to make them stand or. smile or applaud nothing I can do Trump. was trying to set up this notion that. whatever he does Democrats are going to. oppose it and therefore Democrats are. unreasonable and Bad actors and again.

this is his perspective I'm just saying. what he is trying to set up and that. they are not going to endorse him no. matter. what okay after this set of back and. force between the president and unhappy. Democrats we finally get to the meat of. this speech right so from that moment. Trump begins to describe the version of. America that he defeated in 202 for in.

his telling and the one that he's. sweeping away mhm and it is one that to. use a word he uses often is woke and. what are the examples of this woke. version of America that he's sweeping. away we have removed the poison of. critical race Theory from our Public. Schools it's a pretty familiar list. Michael for anyone who has listened to a. trump campaign speech it's culture War. issues and I signed an order making it. the official policy of the United States. government that there are only two. genders male and female it's men who.

have transitioned to be women playing in. women's sports that's a a big one that. he focuses on I also signed an executive. order to ban men from playing in women's. sports he focuses specifically on a. young woman in the audience Payton McNab. three years ago Payton McNab was an. Allstar High School athlete one of the. best preparing for a fure hit in the.

head with a spiked volleyball that was. spiked by a transgender woman on the. opposing team he smashed the ball so. hard in Payton's face causing traumatic. brain injury partially paralyzing her. right side who apparently suffered a. head injury because of it pton is here. tonight in the gallery and Payton from. now on schools will kick the men off the. girls team or they will lose all federal. funding.

and then he pivots as you know we. inherited from the last Administration. an economic catastrophe and an inflation. nightmare very abruptly to the. government that he. inherited and to that end I have created. the brand new Department of government. efficiency go and he starts going. through a list of programs and it's long. that he says are programs that that Doge.

musk's effort has identified as spending. that Trump considers wasteful just. listen to some of the appalling waste we. have already identified in many cases. it's foreign aid $45 million for. diversity equity and inclusion. Scholarships in Burma it's. promoting efforts in Africa $8 million. to promote. lgbtqi. Plus in the African nation of Leo which.

nobody has ever heard of he sort of. mocks the name of a country there he. mispronounces another country he goes. through this lengthy list and $20. million for the Arab Sesame Street it's. very hard to know how accurate this list. is because a lot of what has been put. out there by Doge as their cost cutting. measures some is accurate some is not. $47 million for improving learning. outcomes in Asia Asia is doing very well.

with. learning he does all of this to. laughter by JD Vance behind him by Mike. Johnson behind him by house members. sitting on the Republican side of the. aisle under the Trump Administration all. of these scams and they're far worse but. I didn't think it was appropriate to. talk about them they're so bad right. he's very pointedly mocking the federal. government in a pretty unfamiliar way. for this setting correct and not just.

the federal government but the federal. bureaucracy which is composed of workers. and in some cases there are his. supporters among people working in this. government and he controls it and is. going to have to figure out how to get. people to respond to what he wants. without sounding disdainful of them and. we've taken back the money and reduced. our debt to fight inflation and other. things and then it felt like he was. turning the page from what he inherited. and dislikes and wants to sweep away as.

you just put it to this new vision for. government that he's creating that's. right and the neon sign blinking for. that new government is tariffs if you. don't make your product in America. however under the Trump Administration. you will pay a tariff and in some cases. a rather large one. he major tariffs on goods from Mexico. and goods from Canada right these are he. announced just hours before this speech.

yeah that's right Le less than 24 hours. before the speech started and he makes. clear that he's not only doing those. tariffs but that come the beginning of. April the system is not fair to the. United States and never was and so in. April 2nd there is going to be tariffs. essentially around the globe in the form. of reciprocal tariffs April 2nd. reciprocal tariffs kick in and whatever. they tariff us other countries we will.

tariff them that's reciprocal back and. forth whatever they tax. us we will tax them which may inevitably. increase costs for us consumers that's. right and he goes specifically to. talking about the agriculture Community. our new trade policy will also be great. for the American Farmer I love the. farmer he describes himself as loving. America's farmers who will now be. selling. into our home Market the USA because.

nobody is going to be able to compete. with you but that group of people are. really concerned about the tariffs that. are coming and and Trump does. acknowledge that there might be quote. little bit of an adjustment period it. may be a little bit of an adjustment. period as these tariffs come into. place he's acknowledging these tariffs. are going to hurt American farmers. that's not his normal mode to admit that.

tariffs might make someone miserable but. he's doing so because he knows this. group of Americans voted for him in. large numbers yes and he Michael I think. truly believes that it will be shortterm. our farmers are going to have a field. day right now so to our Farmers have a. lot of fun I love you too he is a huge. believer in tariffs he doesn't just see. it as a tool he sees it as a a. money-making device for the country and. he believes correct l or not that the.

markets will correct and that things. will ultimately be okay but if we truly. care about protecting Americans children. no step is more crucial than securing. America's borders and from there he goes. on to the other major item in this new. government that he's creating and that. is border security and cracking down on. undocumented immigrants since taking. office my Administration has launched. the most sweeping border and immigration. crack down he talks specifically about.

and we quickly achieve the lowest. numbers of illegal border crossers ever. recorded thank you border crossings he. says it's now the lowest in US history. it's not clear that that's true but it. certainly is the lowest in about 25. years right and he's clearly very proud. of that and goes from that really to. blaming Biden and democrats for the. situation that he says he inherited. because of Joe Biden's insane and very.

dangerous open border policies they are. now strongly embedded in our country but. we are getting them out and getting them. out fast and he talks about how Biden. and Democratic lawmakers had talked. about a new border Bill and that is true. they did talk about it and they didn't. get one done and he says that it turns. out the media and our friends in the. Democrat Party kept saying we needed new. legislation we must have legis. legislation to secure the Border but it.

turned out that all we really needed was. a new. president new legislation wasn't needed. we just needed a new. [Applause]. president right he's saying I am the. reason border crossings went down we. didn't need anything to go through. Congress and the reason that felt. significant is that one of the questions. I think I'm going to suspect you agree.

that hovered over this speech before it. even started was how this group of. lawmakers was going to relate to a. President Who since taking office has. consistently circumvented them right he. has been shutting down agencies that. Congress funds he's been freezing. federal spending that Congress has. appropriated and what struck me about. this particular moment is you have the. president saying to members of Congress. I didn't even need you or want you to. get anything done on the border I did it.

on my own and they're cheering so in a. sense they're cheering their own. powerlessness and that was striking. that's true and Trump has done so much. by executive action and that has meant. just doing and runs around Congress. including taking actions that he is. required legally to notify Congress. about and he's not doing it and instead. of objecting you are just seeing these. house members cheering him on.

we really don't get these living. breathing moments where you're not just. reminded that the members of the House. and Senate in the Republican Party are. neutered but they are endorsing the fact. that they are neutered right and are. basically bowing to Trump even as he. takes away their power even as he takes. away their power correct.

[Music]. we'll be right. [Music]. back like eventually Trump turns from. talking about domestic accomplishments. to his vision for foreign policy which. is as we've talked about with you on the.

show in the past this unusual. combination of America First and America. the imperialist correct to further. enhance our national security my. Administration will be reclaiming the. Panama Canal and we've already started. doing talked again about how he wants to. take over the Panama Canal and I also. have a message tonight for the. incredible people of Greenland and then. he turned to Green land which he has.

been talking about wanting to acquire in. some fashion for a. while we strongly support your right to. determine your own future and when he. first started talking about Greenland he. actually sounded less bellicose and firm. than he has in the past and if you. choose we welcome you into the United. States of America we need Greenland for. National Security and even International. security and we're he talked about.

wanting them to join the us as if it was. a choice whereas in the past it's. generally been I'm going to get you. right perhaps even by military force. right but then he got to that point. eventually anyway in the speech and. after going from sort of an invitation. it went to something much more. declarative M and I think we're going to. get it one way at the other way going to. get. it and from there he pivots to what was.

essentially the biggest subject of the. past week as it relates to him which is. Russia and Ukraine that's right and I'm. also working tirelessly to end the. Savage conflict in Ukraine he starts out. by saying he's working tirelessly to end. this fight and he looks over at the. Democrats sitting in their section in. the house chamber he clearly believed. that he was going to get some Shear for. saying that he wanted to end the war did. not did not and then eyeballs the.

Democrats do you want to keep it going. for another five. years yeah yeah you you would say pocah. says. yes and then singles out Elizabeth. Warren who he consistently mocks as. Pocahontas because she previously had. claimed that she had Native American. Heritage and he goes from that sort of. making fun of the Democrats. to being fairly.

conciliatory about President zinski of. Ukraine earlier today I received an. important letter from president zalinski. of Ukraine he says he got a letter from. zilinski I'm not actually clear that he. got a letter or that he got a tweet but. either way he's reading from a piece of. paper and nobody wants peace more than. the ukrainians he said my team and I. stand ready to work under President. Trump's strong leadership to get a peace.

that lasts we do really value how much. America has done to help Ukraine. maintain its sovereignty and. Independence it says Ukraine is ready to. come to the negotiating table as soon as. possible to bring lasting peace. closer and it's notable because Trump. had this extraordinary unprecedented. blowout Beatdown of zalinski by Trump. and JD Vance in the Oval Office on.

Friday and then halting the Aid on. Monday right to Ukraine from the US. correct and then getting a little bit of. a concession from zalinski on Tuesday. and that seemed to be enough for Trump. to say okay we can go back to the table. and Trump clearly wants people to. believe that when he makes a threat he. means it so he turned off the aid and.

the point seems to have been received by. zalinsky and and we'll see where it goes. so what Trump does in this section of. the speech are saying is he's saying to. both zinsky and the world see. my stick based approach my. hammer seninsky approach worked and so. now I will resume negotiations with him. correct and he's doing it in a way where. he can show that he is starting again. but that it was zinsky who bowed and.

that is always very important to Trump. okay so talk about how the speech. eventually comes to an end so toward the. end a history teacher named Mark Fogle. was detained in Russia and sentenced to. 14 years in a penal colony rough stuff. Trump starts talking about Mark Fogle. who was a Pennsylvania school teacher. who had been imprisoned in Russia for. for a few years but last summer I.

promised his 95-year-old mother. Maline that we would bring her boy. safely back. home after 22 days in office I did just. that and they are here. tonight Trump's advisers helped secure. his. release but Trump makes this pretty. abrupt transition from talking about. Mark Fogle as fate would have it Mark. Fogle was born in a small rural town in.

Butler Pennsylvania have you heard of it. to talking about himself I just happened. to go there last July 13th for a rally. because he describes how he was talking. to fogle's mother at his rally Trump's. rally in July of 2024 in Butler. Pennsylvania and that is where I met his. beautiful Mom right before I walked onto. that stage and that moments after they. were talking. gunfire rang out and a sick and deranged.

assassin unloaded eight bullets TR snip. faced the bullet of a would be assassin. right I was saved by God to make America. great again I believe. that and Trump proceeds to describe. himself as saved by God and this is a a. statement he made at various points. during the campaign but it reflects a. belief that both he and his advisers. have which is that that there is. something Divine about his victory.

there's something Divine about the fact. that he was saved and that he is being. swept back into office to save the. country which is a very different thing. to say as a candidate than to say in a. joint address to Congress because. suddenly you have the president saying I. believe I was put here by God to save. the country before members of Congress. correct and you have a sitting president.

saying essentially everything that he. said on the campaign Trail repeatedly. despite having. won my fellow Americans get ready for an. incredible future because the Golden Age. of America has only just begun it will. be like nothing that has ever been seen. before thank you God bless you and God. bless. America so when this spee was over I'm. curious what you were thinking this is.

not your first Trump joint address to. Congress it's probably your. fifth yes and certainly the longest so. after I was thinking about how long it. was uh it was the longest I was thinking. about how struck I was at how little. forward-looking there was in this speech. there there were a few things but mostly. it was a celebration of trump and it was. a celebration of his last 40 some OD. days in office and it was a celebration. of all all the things that he campaigned. on in.

2024 but what that translates to for the. rest of a presidency let alone the rest. of this year was not answered in this. [Music]. speech well Maggie thank you very much. Michael thank you. [Music].

on Tuesday night in the Democratic. response to Trump's speech Senator Alysa. slotkin of Michigan directly addressed. demoralized members of her party don't. tune out it's easy to be exhausted but. America needs you now more than ever and. suggested that under Trump democracy. it's self is now at risk I've seen.

democracies flicker out I've seen what. life is like when a government is rigged. you can't open a business without paying. off a corrupt official you can't. criticize the guys in charge without. getting a knock at the door in the. middle of the night so as much as we. need to make our government more. responsive to our lives today don't for. one moment fool yourself that democracy. isn't precious and worth saving. we'll be right.

[Music]. back here's what else you need to know. today the times reports that is part of. President Trump's sweeping campaign of. cost cutting the Internal Revenue. Service is preparing to eliminate as. much as 50% of. staff experts say that such a major.

reduction in Staffing could jeopardize. the ability of the IRS to complete its. basic mission of collecting. taxes and a Supreme Court ruling on. Tuesday further restricted the ability. of the Environmental Protection Agency. to regulate pollution the question. before the court in the case was whether. under the Clean Water Act the EPA could. penalize the city of San Francisco for.

violating policies on the release of. Wastewater into the Pacific. Ocean City officials argued that the EPA. rules were so vague that it was. impossible to know when the city had. violated them a claim that the Supreme. Court Justices endorsed as they struck. down The epa's. [Music]. rules today's episode was produced by m. s ASA chur V Michael Simon Johnson and.

Eric krupy it was edited by Rachel quer. contains original music by Dan Powell. and was engineered by Alyssa Moxley our. theme music is by Jim brunberg and Ben. Lansford of. wonderl special thanks to Nick Pitman. [Music].

[Music]. that's it for the daily I'm Michael. bobar see you tomorrow. [Music].