Trump says he’s ‘just getting started’ in address to rowdy US Congress

Donald Trump constantly denigrated his predecessor Joe Biden but held out an olive branch to Ukraine in a rowdy and record-breaking State of the Union-style address to the US Congress in which he claimed a mandate for “bold and profound change”.

The 47th president laid out an alternative vision of democracy in which taxes would be cut, the public service would be shrunk and the executive branch of government – his administration – would “reclaim power from this unelected bureaucracy”.

US President Donald Trump departs following a joint session of Congress.Credit: Bloomberg

Before a highly charged and divided joint sitting of the House of Representatives and Senate, Trump delivered a long, rally-like speech that was heavy on political venom – rather than the unifying tone of most such addresses – and drew nearly as much jeering from Democrats as it did applause from Republicans.

Having on Tuesday suspended US military aid to Ukraine after his televised blow-up with that country’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump used the speech to soften his approach and hold out hope the two men might salvage their relationship.

Trump read from a letter he received from Zelensky declaring he was prepared to sign a deal giving the US access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals and “ready to work under President Trump’s strong leadership to get a peace that lasts”. The letter mirrored a post Zelensky made earlier in the day on X.

“I appreciate that he sent this letter,” Trump said. “Simultaneously, we’ve had serious discussions with Russia and have received strong signals that they are ready for peace. Wouldn’t that be beautiful? It’s time to stop this madness, it’s time to halt the killing.”

The president’s political opponents heckled frequently – especially when Trump declared “the days of rule by unelected bureaucrats are over”, pointing out Trump’s billionaire backer and unelected razor gang chief Elon Musk was seated in the gallery.

A Democratic member of Congress holds a Ukrainian flag as President Donald Trump addresses the joint sitting.Credit: AP

Other Democrats held up paddles saying “False”, “Musk steals” and “Save Medicaid”. Some dressed in pink to protest against Trump’s policies on women and families, while a handful of others wore or brought the colours of the Ukrainian flag, yellow and blue. Al Green, a long-serving Democratic congressman from Texas, was ejected by House Speaker Mike Johnson after repeated interjections.

The speech broke the record for longest presidential address to Congress, clocking in at about an hour and 40 minutes. Trump traversed almost all the executive orders and policies from his first 44 days back in power – from migrant deportations to withdrawing from international treaties and renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America – and declared “we are just getting started”.

“Our country is on the verge of a comeback the likes of which the world has never witnessed and perhaps will never witness again,” he said with customary hyperbole. And though his electoral college margin was much slimmer than Barack Obama’s in 2008, he again claimed to have “a mandate like has not been seen in many decades”.

Elon Musk gestures as President Donald Trump name-checks him during his address to the US Congress.Credit: AP

On trade, Trump defended his deployment of tariffs, including those on US neighbours Mexico and Canada, which came into effect earlier in the day, and asserted they served a higher purpose beyond punishing other nations for their economic policies or border transgressions.

“Tariffs are not just about protecting American jobs – they’re about protecting the soul of our country,” Trump said. “Tariffs are about making America rich again and making America great again ... There may be a little disturbance, but we’re OK with that. It won’t be much.”

In a development that may have implications for the AUKUS defence pact, under which Australia is due to buy American-made nuclear-powered submarines, Trump announced his intention to resurrect the US commercial and military shipbuilding industry.

He said he would create a new “office of shipbuilding” in the White House and “offer special tax incentives to bring this industry home to America, where it belongs”.

Democrats held up signs in protest of Donald Trump and his agenda.Credit: Bloomberg

Trump revealed the US was receiving into custody an alleged Islamic terrorist, Mohammad Sharifullah, who he said had orchestrated the 2021 bombing of Kabul airport in Afghanistan during the chaotic US withdrawal.

Thirteen US service members and 170 Afghans were killed in the attack. Trump thanked the government of Pakistan for “helping arrest this monster”, and said Sharifullah was being brought to the US to be charged.

The speech was packed with shoutouts to guests in the gallery – family members of slain police officers or victims of horrific crimes committed by illegal immigrants.

Trump also returned to some of his favourite international preoccupations: reclaiming the Panama Canal and taking control of Greenland – the large, sparsely populated Danish territory that sits mostly to the north of the Arctic Circle.

“If you choose, we welcome you into the United States of America,” Trump said, before adding: “We need it for international world security, and I think we’re going to get it. One way or the other, we’re going to get it.”

The speech recounted Trump’s social reforms and his war on so-called wokeness, including ridding the federal government of diversity hiring practices, banning transgender people from the military and declaring there are only two genders – male and female.

“Our country will be woke no longer,” he said. “Wokeness is trouble. Wokeness is bad. It’s gone, and we feel so much better for it.”

Credit: Matt Golding

All told, Trump set out an expansive and grandiose agenda to restore what he called “the righteous cause of American liberty”. Buoyed by his comfortable election win – which he again detailed at the start of his speech – Trump repeated his belief that he was saved from the assassin’s bullet in Pennsylvania by God, for the purpose of restoring America’s lost glory.

“Americans have given us a mandate for bold and profound change,” he said. “This will be our greatest era.”

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