President Donald Trump delivered an address to a joint session of the United States Congress in the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives Tuesday, a month and a half after he took office as the 47th president of the United States.
At over 99 minutes, Trump's speech is reported to be the longest from any modern president, casting a vision for what Trump refers to as a "golden age" in American history. He laid out several requests for Congress after he and his administration had taken swift executive actions in their first 43 days that have had a wide-ranging influence on the American political and societal landscape.
With outbursts from congressional Democrats, Trump offered sharp criticisms about the consequences of LGBT ideology and illegal immigration while defending federal workforce layoffs and his tariffs policy.
1. Rep. Al Green is ejected from the chamber
As Trump touted his victory in the 2024 presidential election and noted that he won the electoral college and popular vote in addition to the overwhelming number of counties in the United States, congressional Democrats interrupted.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., directed members of Congress to "uphold and maintain decorum in the House and to cease any further disruptions."
"Members are engaging in willful and continuing breach of decorum and the chair is prepared to direct the Sargeant at Arms to restore order to the joint session," he said.
The camera focused on Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, one of the president's most vocal critics who has already begun working to impeach him and shouted as Trump attempted to speak.
When Johnson directed Green to take his seat, he remained standing. Johnson ordered the House sergeant at arms to "remove this gentleman from the chamber."
While Green expressed the most vocal opposition to the speech, Democrats held up signs throughout the address that read "Musk steals," referring to Elon Musk, X CEO and director of the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency tasked with eliminating government waste.
Other signs held up by Democrats simply said "false" and "Save Medicaid." Democrats also vocally pushed back on the president's assertion that Social Security payments are being made to dead people.
After his ejection, Green spoke with reporters in the White House traveling press. According to a press pool report, he clarified that he yelled that the president had "no mandate" to cut Medicaid.
"It's worth it to let people know that there are some people who are going to stand up," Green told reporters.
2. Trump highlights plight of female athletes competing against trans-identified males
Trump noted that he had made "it the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female," touting his executive order banning trans-identified males from women's sports.
He highlighted the impact of policies that allow trans-identified males to compete in women's sports on former high school athlete Payton McNabb.
"Three years ago, Payton McNabb was an all-star high school athlete, one of the best, preparing for a future in college sports," Trump said. "When her girls' volleyball match was invaded by a male, he smashed the ball so hard in Payton's face, causing traumatic brain injury, partially paralyzing her right side and ending her athletic career. It was a shot like she's never seen before."
As Trump spoke, the camera panned in on McNabb. The president noted her presence in the House gallery. He vowed to her that "From now on, schools will kick the men off the girls' team or they will lose all federal funding."
"If you really want to see numbers, just take a look at what happened in the women's boxing, weightlifting, track and field, swimming or cycling where a male recently finished a long-distance race five hours and 14 minutes ahead of a woman." He described the presence of trans-identified male athletes in women's sports as "demeaning for women" and "very bad for our country."
3. Trump urges Congress to cut taxes, touts plans for tariffs
Trump called on the members of the 119th U.S. Congress to "pass tax cuts for everybody." He told Democrats, "I'm sure you're going to vote for those tax cuts because otherwise, I don't believe the people will ever vote you into office." The president insisted, "I'm doing you a big favor by telling you that."
The president elaborated on his vision for tax cuts, which includes "permanent income tax cuts all across the board." He said "to get urgently needed relief to Americans hit especially hard by inflation, I'm calling for no tax on tips, no tax on overtime and no tax on Social Security benefits for our great seniors."
"I also want to make interest payments on car loans tax deductible but only if the car is made in America," he said. "We want to cut taxes on domestic production and all manufacturing."
Trump also touted his intention to make companies that do not make their products in the U.S. pay a tariff.
"Other countries have used tariffs against us for decades, and now it's our turn to start using them against those other countries," the president said, unveiling his intention to begin imposing reciprocal tariffs on other countries beginning April 2.
4. Trump memorializes Americans killed by illegal immigrants, renames wildlife refuge
Trump focused heavily on immigration policy in his speech. After introducing Alexis Nungaray, Trump detailed how her 12-year-old daughter Jocelyn was murdered in June 2024 by "two illegal alien monsters from Venezuela released into America by the last administration through their ridiculous open border."
According to Trump, "The death of this beautiful 12-year-old girl and the agony of her mother and family touched our entire nation greatly."
Trump recalled how he promised Alexis Nungaray that "we would always remember your daughter," announcing that he had signed an executive order naming a national wildlife refuge near where the 12-year-old girl lived, the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge in Texas, in her honor. He held up the order for everyone gathered in the chamber to see.
Trump also highlighted the 2024 murder of 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley at the hands of an illegal immigrant with a criminal record.
After acknowledging the presence of Riley's mother, Allyson, and sister, Lauren, in the House gallery, he expressed gratitude that "The very first bill I signed into law as your 47th president mandates the detention of all dangerous criminal aliens who threaten public safety."
"It's called the Laken Riley Act," he said.
He assured Riley's surviving relatives that "America will never, ever forget our beautiful Laken Hope Riley."
5. Trump vows to 'wage war on the cartels,' asks Congress for border security funding
Throughout Trump's remarks, the theme of border security loomed large.
Lamenting that "the territory to the immediate south of our border is now dominated entirely by criminal cartels that murder, rape, torture and exercise total control … over a whole nation" and pose "a grave threat to our national security," Trump asserted that "the cartels are waging war on America."
"It's time for America to wage war on the cartels," he proclaimed. "I have sent Congress a detailed funding request laying out exactly how we will eliminate these threats to protect our homeland and complete the largest deportation operation in American history."
Trump asserted, "Americans expect Congress to send me this funding without delay so I can sign it into law." He urged Johnson and U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., to "get it to me," adding, "I'll sign it so fast you won't even believe it."
6. Trump asks Congress to ban 'sex changes on children'
Trump said that his administration is "working to protect our children from toxic ideologies in our schools" and introduced January Littlejohn, who sued her daughter's Florida school district after officials helped her 13-year-old "socially transition" and use they/them pronouns.
"Teachers and administrators conspired to deceive January and her husband while encouraging her daughter to use a new name and pronouns," Trump said. He identified Littlejohn as a "courageous advocate against this form of child abuse."
Trump pointed to "stories like this," referring to examples of schools working to keep parents in the dark about their children electing to adopt a new gender identity and pronouns at school, as the reason why he "signed an executive order banning public schools from indoctrinating our children with transgender ideology."
He mentioned his executive order "to cut off all taxpayer funding to any institution that engages in the sexual mutilation of our youth."
"And now, I want Congress to pass a bill permanently banning and criminalizing sex changes on children and forever ending the lie that any child is trapped in the wrong body," Trump declared. "This is a big lie."
He delivered a "message to every child in America," informing them, "You are perfect exactly the way God made you."
7. Trump announces capture of 'top terrorist' involved in Abbey Gate bombing
Toward the end of his remarks, Trump announced that one of the leaders behind the August 2021 attack in Afghanistan that killed 13 American service members as U.S. military forces were attempting to withdraw from the country was recently apprehended in Pakistan.
"We have just apprehended the top terrorist responsible for that atrocity and he is right now on his way here to face the swift sword of American justice," Trump said.
Trump expressed gratitude to the government of Pakistan "for helping arrest this monster."
Two U.S. officials familiar with the issue told Axios that Pakistan acted on CIA intelligence to arrest Mohammad Sharifullah, who is said to be a commander with the Islamic State Khorasan.
In his speech, Trump described the development as a "momentous" occasion for the family members of those who lost their lives in the attack. He outlined how he had a call with victims' family members, where "they did nothing but cry with happiness."
"They were very happy, as happy as you can be under those circumstances," he said.
Originally published by The Christian Post
