President Trump gave his Joint Address to Congress (which would be called the State of the Union Address in any other year of his presidency but his first) on 4 March 2025. He delivered his speech at a time when he is enjoying a positive approval rating according to most pollsters, which was virtually unheard of during his first term.
He has certainly taken aggressive action to deliver on his promises, such as in the case of cracking down on illegal immigration and the peace in Ukraine. However, on certain issues, he perhaps took a little too aggressive action—ever since it became clear that his 25 per cent tariffs on Mexico and Canada would in fact be coming into effect, major American stock indexes have been falling.
Still, President Trump arrived at the Capitol in a noticeably good mood, with his wife, First Lady Melania Trump, also in attendance. He started his speech by confidently proclaiming that ‘America is back’. However, when he proceeded to list the economic data favourable to his administration, such as the jump in small business optimism, it was a little too much for some Democrat attendees. On the forefront of that disruption was Representative Al Green of Texas, who had to be escorted out of the Chamber by a Sergeant at Arms at the order of House Speaker Mike Johnson.
Once order was restored, President Trump went to talk about one of the signature issues of his first and third presidential campaigns, border security. As he reminded all, he declared a national state of emergency on the US–Mexico border right after taking office. Last month, he pointed out, illegal border crossings sunk to the lowest level ever recorded, as a result of President Trump’s executive action. Later into his speech, he quipped: ‘The media and our friends in the Democratic Party kept saying new legislation is needed to secure the border. But it turned out all we needed was a new President.’
In response to the continued jeers from the Democrats, the POTUS stated: ‘I look at the Democrats in front of me, and I realize that there’s absolutely nothing I can say to make them happy, or to make them stand, smile, or applaud.’
He then listed a number of things that certainly did not make Democrats happy—even if they may make most Americans happy—, such as ordering a federal hiring freeze, pausing all US foreign aid, and doing away with the previous administration’s electric vehicle mandate. He also touted the ending of political prosecutions in the country. When he brought his own criminal cases brought against him by the Biden administration’s DOJ, he flippantly asked Democrats: ‘How’d that work out?’
‘The media and our friends in the Democratic Party kept saying new legislation is needed to secure the border. But it turned out all we needed was a new President’
Next, President Trump listed the actions he took to curtail what Elon Musk, who was in the Gallery for the speech, called ‘the woke mind virus’. The POTUS has terminated all DEI programmes by the federal government, prioritizing merit-based appointments instead; ordered that biological men be barred from competing in women’s sport; and declared through another Executive Order that the United States government only recognizes two genders: male and female.
As Elon Musk was in the room, the newly established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was evidently also mentioned by the President. He enumerated all the ridiculous, wasteful spending the government did under the previous administration, which had been widely publicized before, such as $20 million to finance the Arabic version of the classic American children’s puppet show Sesame Street; or $8 million to promote LGBT causes in the small African nation of Lesotho. All these cuts in government spending are made by the new administration to make way for the prolonged 2017 tax cuts; as well as new tax exemption on tips, overtime, and social security, as President Trump promised during his campaign.
A wholesome moment came during the speech when 13-year-old brain cancer survivor and law enforcement enthusiast Devarjaye ‘DJ’ Daniel was made an honourary member of the Secret Service. Later President Trump spoke of his ambitious expansion projects for the United States which he had spoken about in his second inaugural address, namely the Panama Canal and Greenland, as a reminder to all that he had not forgotten about those.
President Trump only brought up the Russo–Ukrainian war near the end of his long speech. He said he is working hard to bring peace to the region and end the bloodshed, Also, he shared that President Zelenskyy of Ukraine had sent him a letter in which he wrote that ‘Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible,’ as President Trump cited it, and he is ready to sign the proposed mineral rights deal.
Watch Donald Trump’s Joint Address to Congress in Full Below
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