US President Donald Trump boasted about “winning so much” as he defended his administration’s increasingly unpopular policies during the longest-ever State of the Union address to Congress.
Trump began by painting an optimistic picture, declaring America was “bigger, better, richer and stronger than ever before.”
“Tonight, after just one year, I can say with dignity and pride that we have achieved a transformation like no one has ever seen before, and a turnaround for the ages,” Trump said.
Trump hopes the primetime speech, broadcast across all major networks, will help him to sell that message to voters after a deeply divisive first year back in power.
Underwater in opinion polls, Trump fears his Republican Party will lose control over Congress in the November midterms, paralysing the rest of his second term and exposing him to a possible third impeachment.
Trump tried at points to appeal to bipartisan patriotic sentiments, introducing a series of surprise guests that included US military heroes; a former political prisoner released after his administration toppled Venezuelan President Nicolas Nicolás Maduro; and the Olympic gold-medal-winning US men’s hockey team.
He then announced he was awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest civilian honour, to the team’s goalkeeper.
He also handed Medals of Honor, the highest military award, to a helicopter pilot wounded in January’s attack to topple Maduro and also to a 100-year-old Korean War veteran.
Trump met with heckles while defending policies
Trump championed his immigration crackdowns and his push to preserve widespread tariffs that the Supreme Court just struck down.
He drew applause only from Democrats while describing the high court’s overturning his policies, which he called “an unfortunate ruling” while insisting “everything was working well” before it came down.
The president vowed to plow ahead, using “alternative” laws to impose the taxes on imports and telling lawmakers, “Congressional action will not be necessary.” He also boldly declared that some day tariffs would “substantially replace” the modern income tax system.
Trump argued that the tariffs are paid by foreign countries, despite evidence that the costs are borne by American consumers and businesses. “It’s saving our country,” he added.
Trump became more aggressive midway through the speech, attacking his opponents who often heckled throughout the speech, saying “you should be ashamed of yourselves.” Later he pointed at Democrats and proclaimed, “These people are crazy,” adding, “Democrats are destroying our country.”
Democratic Rep. Al Green was escorted from the chamber after he unfurled a sign of protest that read “Black People Aren’t Apes!”
The sign appeared to be a reference to a racist video the president posted that depicted former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama depicted as primates in a jungle. Green was also removed during Trump’s address last year.
A warning to Iran
Trump claimed that Iran is seeking missiles that could reach the United States and repeated his insistence that the country would never be allowed to build a nuclear weapon.
Iranians, he said, “are at this moment again pursuing their sinister nuclear ambitions.”
Trump said, “My preference is to solve this problem through diplomacy.”
“But one thing is certain, I will never allow the world’s number one sponsor of terror — which they are, by far, to have a nuclear weapon,” he added.
The president also recounted US airstrikes last summer that pounded Tehran’s nuclear capabilities, and lauded the raid that ousted Maduro in Venezuela — as well as his administration’s brokering of a ceasefire in Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza.
Less mentioned was Trump’s having strained US military alliances with NATO, thanks to his push to seize Greenland from Denmark and his failure to take a harder line with Russian President Vladimir Putin in seeking an end to its war in Ukraine.
Additional sources • AP, AFP