Well, at least he didn’t give a Nazi salute, declare war on Canada or pull the plug on Nato. You never know these days. But this was the night that Donald Trump finally turned the once reverential occasion of a speech to Congress into just another sordid campaign rally.
Deigning to address the branch of government he has so comprehensively sidelined in his first six weeks in office, Trump went off script and went long (a record 100 minutes). He lied, he weaved, demonised immigrants, he sold his economy as the greatest ever, he played the victim, he praised Elon Musk, he lambasted Joe Biden, he repeated himself and he lied some more.
And how Republican senators and representatives lapped it all up. They leaped to their feet countless times, clapping and cheering, shouting, “Yes!” and “Thank you!”, chanting, “USA! USA! USA!” and “Trump! Trump! Trump!” and “Fight! Fight! Fight!”
Among them was congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, sporting a red “Trump was right about everything” cap and clutching a mini-Stars and Stripes as if listening to him in a sports arena on the campaign trail.
But this was a Trump rally with a difference, putting all the tensions and faultlines and sickness of the American body politic on full display. Half the chamber was made up of Democrats, forced to sit and have their noses rubbed in the dirt like Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy at last week’s Oval Office shakedown.
They looked grim, they looked glum, they looked as if they were reliving the 5 November election nightmare all over again. More than a dozen Democratic women wore pink in protest. When Trump entered, Democrat Melanie Stansbury held up a sign that said, “This is NOT Normal,” until Republican Lance Gooden across the aisle, grabbed sign out of her hand and tossed it in the air.
Once Trump got going, several Democrats held up round black signs that said, “Protect veterans”, “Save Medicaid” and “Musk steals”, and when flipped around, the signs said “False” on the back, so they could factcheck Trump instantly (those arms must have got tired).
Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib began with a piece of paper on which “That’s a lie” was handwritten but later upgraded to a mini-white board that said at various points: “That’s a lie!”, “You cut cancer research”, “What about the immigrants that worked for you?”, and “Cut Elon, NOT Social Security.”
Most spectacularly, when Trump began his speech by declaring that the presidential election of 5 November “was a mandate like has not been seen in many decades,”Republicans quickly jumped to their feet with chants of “USA! USA!”, while congressman Al Green rose, cane aloft, and shouted, “You have no mandate to cut Medicaid!”, prompting House Speaker Mike Johnson to order the House serjeant at arms to escort him from the chamber. Republicans cheered and shouted “Get out!” and “Na na na na … goodbye!”
‘It’s a lie!’ shout Democrats
Rarely has the divide across the aisle been so bitter and glaring. It was hard to believe that, when Trump first stood on this spot eight years ago, he repeatedly called for unity, proclaiming: “We all bleed the same blood. We all salute the same great American flag. And we all are made by the same God.”
There was none of that in 2025. These are the days of miracles and thunder, of owning the libs and perhaps owning chunks of the world too. Trump described his own presidency as the most successful in history, beating George Washington into second, and Biden’s as the worst ever.
Then he whined: “I look at the Democrats in front of me and I realise there is absolutely nothing I can say to make them happy or to make them stand or smile or applaud – nothing I can do.
“I could find a cure to the most devastating disease, a disease that would wipe out entire nations or announce the answers to the greatest economy in history, or the stoppage of crime to the lowest levels ever recorded, and these people sitting right here will not clap, will not stand and certainly will not cheer for these astronomical achievements.”
Poor unloved, unappreciated Donald. But Speaker Johnson and vice-president JD Vance giggled like mischievous schoolboys. Republicans again stood to applaud and Democrats remain riveted to their seats in silence.
The president went on to trumpet his “department of government efficiency” and all heads turned to look at Elon Musk, wearing a suit, in the public gallery. Republicans again hollered in praise as Musk, nodding and saluting, milked it for all it was worth.
But later, when Trump declared that “the days of being ruled by unelected bureaucrats is over”, some Democrats laughed, stood up and pointed at the tech oligarch who is taking a chainsaw to the federal government.
Just as at a rally, Trump did the weave, talking at length about illegal immigration and transgender children, then circling back later to do it all again. Congressman Jamie Raskin could be seen making a looping gesture as if to say: this is getting repetitive.
An exultant, ego-driven Trump boasted: “The media and our friends in the Democrat Party kept saying we needed new legislation, we must have legislation to secure the border. But it turned that all we really needed was a new president.”
Among the senators, Chuck Schumer stared down at his phone. Dick Durbin looked bewildered. Amy Klobuchar grimaced. Cory Booker seemed crestfallen – his belief in the better angels of our nature had been mugged by reality.
As the night wore on, several Democrats walked out in protest, some revealing shirts that read “Resist” on the back. One shirt said, “No kings live here”; another said, “President Musk”.
The clashes continued. When Trump repeated a false claim that millions of dead people over 100 years old are receiving social security payments, Democrats shouted, “It’s a lie!”
When Trump admitted “there will be a little disturbance” from tariffs but “we’re OK with that”, a Democrat objected: “No, we’re not!” A Republican retorted loudly: “We’re good, we’re good.”
When Trump declared “we are also once again giving our police officers the support, protection and respect they so dearly deserve”, several Democrats yelled back, “January 6!”
When Trump said the US needs Greenland for national security, adding that “One way or the other, we’re gonna get it,” a Democrat shouted, “Not a king!”
But when, with British ambassador Peter Mandelson looking on, the president remarked on how the US had sent billions of military aid to Ukraine, it was Democrats who started clapping, while the party of cold war warrior Ronald Reagan sat on its hands.
Trump asked sarcastically: “You want to keep it going another five years?” Then he spotted Senator Elizabeth Warren and said mockingly, “Yeah, Pocahontas says yes.” Warren fought hard to retain a cold smile as she continued to applaud.
Yet still Trump kept going, delivering a speech that somehow managed to be both menacing and boring at the same time, spending less than two minutes on inflation and prices, the issue that was arguably central to his election. At one point there was even a yawn on the Republican side from congresswoman Nancy Mace. People have been primaried for less.
When it was over, however, Mace went up to him and gushed: “Best speech ever!” Greene was not far behind with: “Mr President, that was a great speech!” Other voices chimed in: “Home run!”, “Slam dunk!”, “You rocked it, Mr President.”
By then the Democrats had bolted for the door, having metaphorically done what Nancy Pelosi did five years ago when she tore up Trump speech’s in this chamber. They had given hope to the resistance and shown the world what they are against. Now can they show the world what they are for?
Source: US Politics - theguardian.com
