US President Donald Trump speaks during an address to a joint session of Congress in the House Chamber of the US Capitol in Washington, DC.
Image: Jim WATSON / AFP
Donald Trump declared "America is back" Tuesday in his first address to Congress since returning to power, facing instant Democratic hostility as he touted radical social and economic policies, while hailing his billionaire adviser Elon Musk.
With Musk, the world's richest person, among those attending the primetime televised speech, the 78-year-old Republican said after less than two months back in power he is "just getting started."
The "American dream is unstoppable," he declared with his speech clocking in at more than one hour and 40 minutes.
Almost every line got loud applause from Republican Party members, including on two occasions when Trump singled out Musk, who stood up to salute the Congress.
But protests also began within minutes.
One Democratic congressman, Al Green, was ordered ejected because he refused to stop heckling, claiming Trump has no mandate to dismantle healthcare programs, and shaking his walking stick at the president.
Other Democrats silently held up placards including "False" and "Musk steals" and "That's a lie!"
And at one moment, numerous Democrats yelled "January 6!" at Trump, referring to his supporters' violent attack on the Capitol in 2021 after he refused to concede his election loss.
The Republican president was undeterred, hailing his first six weeks and vowing to press on with his polarizing bid to reshape the US government and end the Ukraine war -- whatever the cost.
Trump reverted to his tried-and-tested reality TV instincts. At one point he called attention to a boy with brain cancer who dreamed of becoming a policeman and -- in front of Congress -- was handed an official ID by the head of the Secret Service.
But in what mostly sounded like a campaign speech rather than an address to the nation, Trump made no attempt to reach out to opponents.
He got big cheers from supporters on pronouncing that his culture war on diversity programs and transgender rights meant "our country will be woke no longer."
He claimed that he was trying to resolve an "economic catastrophe," despite actually inheriting the strongest developed economy in the world from his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden.
He defended his disruptive economic moves -- even as the trade war he launched against Canada, China and Mexico is prompting jitters on world markets.
After a torrent of warnings that tariffs will badly hurt US exporters, including politically powerful farmers, he conceded they would bring "a little disturbance."
"Have a lot of fun," Trump said to farmers, whom he said "I love."
And after enumerating a series of murders committed by migrants, Trump got big applause when he vowed to "wage war" on Mexican drug cartels.
Well before he had finished, dozens of Democrats had already walked out.
Trump is pushing to extend presidential power to its limits, with the popular vote behind him and a Republican-controlled House and Senate doing his bidding.
Aided by tech tycoon Musk, Trump has cracked down on the federal bureaucracy, firing thousands of workers, shuttering entire agencies and decimating foreign aid.
But there are early signs in the polls that Trump's sweeping cuts and his failure to tackle inflation are hitting his popularity.
Trump is also upending US foreign policy with his pivot to Moscow over the Ukraine war, which has stunned Kyiv and allies alike.
Days after a televised row in the Oval Office with Ukraine's leader Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump reiterated it was time to end the "senseless war" but did not address growing accusations that he is following the Kremlin's lead, while ignoring ally Ukraine.
He said he had just received a letter from Zelensky in which the Ukrainian president said he was "ready" for peace negotiations and could sign a US-Ukraine minerals sharing deal "any time."
Trump also doubled down on his controversial vows on "taking back" the Panama Canal and getting Greenland from Denmark by "one way or another."
Democrats have so far struggled to counter Trump's flood-the-zone strategy and his hogging of the news cycle with constant press conferences.
The Democratic rebuttal to Trump's address will be provided by new Michigan senator Elissa Slotkin, a 48-year-old former CIA analyst and rising star in the party.
Related Topics: