‘America is back!’ Donald Trump bellowed kicking off his first joint address to Congress as the 47th President, marking the fifth time he’s spoken to a gathering of the House and Senate.
But this was Trump’s lengthiest and, by far, his most effective effort yet.
There were no overtures to bipartisanship, no reaching across the aisle. This was a president certain of the direction that he wants to take the country – and willing, if not determined, to crush his opposition if necessary. And given the Democrats behavior last night, they deserved every bit of it.
Trump walked into the House chamber triumphant on Tuesday evening with a net positive job approval rating (in many polls above 50 percent), facing down a Democratic party that is favored by just 21 percent of the public, according to a recent survey. Now, they may sink even lower after their unhinged performance, in the face of what was a patriotic speech from the president.
Right off the bat – Trump reminded the country how he was able to secure such an overwhelming mandate from the American public.
‘We won the popular vote by big numbers and won counties in our country 2,700 to 525 on a map that reads almost completely red for Republican,’ he said.
Trump was also clear on why he believes he was elected: to restore the wisdom of the average American to government, a ‘common sense revolution.’
‘America is back!’ Donald Trump bellowed kicking off his first joint address to Congress as the 47th President, marking the fifth time he’s spoken to a gathering of the House and Senate .
Trump (pictured addressing congress) walked into the House chamber triumphant on Tuesday evening with a net positive job approval rating (in many polls above 50 percent), facing down a Democratic party that is favored by just 21 percent of the public.
‘Common sense has become a common theme, and we will never go back. Never,’ he said.
Indeed, his record of accomplishments after 40 days is impressive.
He has effectively ended the greatest mass migration crisis in the nation’s history. He punctuated that point with the most impactful line of the night.
‘The media and our friends in the Democratic Party kept saying we needed new legislation to secure the border. But it turns out all we really needed was a new President!’ he declared to roars from the Republicans.
Indeed in January 2024, Biden lamely claimed that he had ‘done all I can do’ to secure the then-lawless US/Mexico border. Turns out Joe was wrong and Trump is capitalizing on his predecessor’s fecklessness.
The president also gave plenty of air-time to his administration’s historic effort to root out waste, fraud and abuse in government.
‘Thank you, Elon,’ he said, looking up to the DOGE chief seated in the mezzanine, decked out in a suit and tie. ‘Thank you very much, we appreciate it.’
‘Even this side appreciates it, I believe,’ Trump quipped, gesturing at the glum Dems.
He was relishing it – sounding more like a standup comedian then a staid politician.
‘Just listen to some of the appalling waste we have already identified,’ he read, reeling off DOGE’s greatest hits.
‘$40 million to improve the social and economic inclusion of sedentary migrants. Nobody knows what that is.’
‘$8 million to promote L.G.B.T.Q.I.+ in the African nation of Lesotho, which nobody has ever heard of.’
The White House apparently has no concerns with the furious criticism from the mainstream media and Democrats over the new Department of Government Efficiency. They think it is a political winner at a time when public trust in the federal government is extremely low.
Only 22 percent of Americans in a new Pew poll say they trust the government to do what is right. When faith in an institution is that low, radical change is more than tolerable.
And some of the most striking scenes last night weren’t delivered from the rostrum.
Democrats – sitting on their hands or waving silly signs making them look like bidders at an auction – made this too easy.
Some of the most striking scenes last night weren’t delivered from the rostrum. Democrats – sitting on their hands or waving silly signs making them look like bidders at an auction – made this too easy.
Representative Al Green of Texas, had to be removed from the chamber as he angrily ranted and waved his cane at the president.
His shouts – inaudible to the audience at home – a fitting metaphor for all these petty protests: utterly useless.
Some boycotted the speech entirely. Others staged silent walk outs wearing black T-shirts with the word ‘resist,’ as if that had any effect other than making them look sophomoric.
Former speaker Nancy Pelosi just seethed.
Democrats couldn’t muster a standing ovation for Marc Fogel, the school teacher detained by Russia in 2022 and sentenced to 14 years in prison. Trump secured his release last month.
Marc and his 95-year-old mother, who had approached Trump on the campaign trail to plead for help for her son, sat smiling in the gallery.
Democrats limply reacted to 13-year-old brain cancer survivor DJ Daniel being made an honorary member of the Secret Service. And while everyone else in America was crying for DJ, the punditary glared in disgust.
For some reason the moment incensed MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and Niccole Wallace who ranted in their post-speech coverage.
‘This is disgusting’ spat Maddow. ‘The president made a spectacle out of praising a young man.’ Wallace evoked January 6 and said one of the most vile things I’ve ever heard on cable news – that she hoped DJ didn’t grow up to commit suicide.
When the president announced that a senior ISIS-K commander, suspected of masterminding the Abbey Gate suicide bombing in Afghanistan that killed 13 US servicemembers, had been captured – the Democrats were stone-faced.
And the biggest news of the evening came nearly 90 minutes into the speech – and even that landed like a lead balloon on the Left.
Trump announced that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had sent him a letter essentially apologizing for instigating an ugly confrontation in the Oval Office Friday – and declaring his commitment to pursuing peace with Russia.
What a dramatic development, a remarkable turn of events, but that too was met with disdain by the president’s opponents.
Time and again, Democrats and their advocates in the media sneered when any normal person would have cheered. No wonder their popular support – and ratings – are in retreat.
Sure, the address had its’ partisan moments. Trump called Biden the ‘worst president in American history’. When discussing the manipulation of the US justice system, he pointed at the Democrats and called them ‘radical left lunatics.’
‘We’ve ended weaponized government where, as an example, a sitting president is allowed to viciously prosecute his political opponent, like me. How did that work out? Not too good. Not too good,’ he mocked.
And he pilloried his favorite target Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren as ‘Pocohontas,’ recalling how she once claimed to be a minority after a blood test confirmed she was 1/1024th Native American.
But Trump’s insight is that one must be ruthless when your opposition is so unhinged. And it isn’t like Democrats covered themselves in glory.
Remember how Speaker Pelosi stood behind Trump during his first term and tore his 2020 State of the Union speech in half. In 2024, Biden took great delight sticking his finger in the eyes of Republicans, firing multiple broadsides at ‘my predecessor’ without ever mentioning Trump by name — 13 times in all.
Representative Al Green of Texas (pictured), had to be removed from the chamber as he angrily ranted and waved his cane at the president.
Democrats limply reacted to 13-year-old brain cancer survivor DJ Daniel being made an honorary member of the Secret Service. For some reason the moment incensed MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow (pictured) and Niccole Wallace who ranted in their post-speech coverage.
Some boycotted the speech entirely. Others staged silent walk outs wearing black T-shirts with the word ‘resist,’ as if that had any effect other than making them look sophomoric. Former speaker Nancy Pelosi (pictured) just seethed.
The president put his finger on it when he said Tuesday: ‘I look at the Democrats in front of me and I realize there is absolutely nothing I can say to make them happy or to make them stand or smile or applaud.’
‘So, Democrats sitting before me, for just this one night, why not join us in celebrating so many incredible wins for America? For the good of our nation, let’s work together and let’s truly make America great again.’
But they won’t. Let’s be honest – this ‘common sense revolution’ will be contested. But, hopefully, it won’t be defeated.
How refreshing to listen to a speech by an American president who isn’t apologizing for the nation’s perceived sins, or pledging to hamstring American potential to satisfy some amorphorus foreign diktats, or laundry-listing a mind-mumbling list of federal giveaways (all funded by the taxpayers, mind you).
In a rousing close, Trump declared the ‘golden age of America has only just begun. It will be like nothing that has ever been seen before.’
After years – perhaps decades – of decline, I’ll clap for that.
