NY Times….
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President Trump, delivering an address to a joint session of Congress six weeks into his second term, described the country he inherited from former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. as overrun by violent immigrants and crushed under high prices. He lauded the flurry of action he has taken so far, adding that he was “just getting started.”
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Mr. Trump vowed to balance the budget and “reclaim power” from bureaucrats, and praised the billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency for rapidly reshaping the government. The president also showed no signs of backing away from his aggressive use of tariffs, including levies against Mexico and Canada that have caused economic upheaval.
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Mr. Trump frequently mocked Democrats during his remarks, while Democratic lawmakers staged a series of protests. Representative Al Green, Democrat of Texas, was ejected after heckling the president early on, and some Democrats later walked off the floor….
The Hill….
President Trump touted his administration’s early accomplishments in the first address to Congress of his second term.
“Six weeks ago, I stood beneath the dome of this Capitol and proclaimed the dawn of the Golden Age of America. From that moment on, it has been nothing but swift and unrelenting action to usher in the greatest and most successful era in the history of our country,” he’ll say, according to excerpts released ahead of the speech.
Minutes after Trump began his address to Congress on Tuesday night, Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) heckled the president. Speaker Mike Johnson had Green removed from the chamber.
The speech, his fifth to Congress, comes against the backdrop of newly levied tariffs on the nation’s closest trading partners, Canada and Mexico.
The tariffs, which went into effect in the wee hours and drew sharp rebukes from those nation’s leaders, may be short-lived, though. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in late afternoon that a deal to end them could be announced as soon as Wednesday.
It comes just 10 days before a potential government shutdown. Efforts to try to avert it will ramp up Wednesday, with both Trump and Elon Musk expected to talk to Republicans….
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Trump asked farmers to “bear with me again” when it comes to tariffs during his address Tuesday night.
“The tariffs will go on agricultural product coming into America and our farmers starting on April 2nd. It may be a little bit of an adjustment period. We had that before when I made the deal with China, $50 billion of purchases, and I said ‘Just bear with me,’ and they did, they did,” the president said, seeming to make a reference to his first term.
“Probably have to bear with me again, and this will be even better,” Trump added…
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President Trump talked tough on tariffs after imposing 25-percent import taxes on Canada and Mexico, and raising tariffs on China to 20 percent.
“Tariffs are about making America rich again,” he said. He added that “tariffs are about protecting the soul of our country.”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Tuesday that Trump would “probably” announce a compromise with the two countries in the coming days.
Markets tanked Monday and Tuesday after the tariffs were announced, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average of major U.S. companies losing 1.6 percent of its value in Tuesday trading….
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NPR….
TRUMP: “Now, for the first time in modern history, more Americans believe that our country is headed in the right direction than the wrong direction. In fact, it’s an astonishing record 27-point swing since Election Day alone.”
More people have said the country has been headed in the wrong direction than the right one for a long time. In an average of the polls compiled byRealClearPolitics it’s been that way every month since June 2009 after former President Obama was sworn in.
And despite improvements in those views since Trump won the election, mostly due to Republican enthusiasm, more people continue to say the country is headed in the wrong direction.
The latest NPR/PBS News/Marist poll finds 54% think the country is headed in the wrong direction, while 45% said it’s headed in the right direction. That is a significant improvement from December when 64% thought the country was headed in the wrong direction, again, largely due to Republicans.
RCP has the average at 51% wrong direction, 43% right direction. It’s an improvement, but not net-positive….
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TRUMP: “We found hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud. And we’ve taken back the money and reduced our debt to fight inflation and other things, taking back a lot of that money.”
The Department of Government Efficiency effort has made many claims about taxpayer money saved by cutting the federal workforce, terminating contracts and leases and other actions in the last month. Almost all of them are overstated and misleading, including those in Trump’s lengthy monologue tonight.
DOGE’s latest top line savings claim is $105 billion, with a fraction of that amount displayed on a “wall of receipts.” NPR’s review of the “receipts” finds DOGE has deleted errors worth billions from its data, added new errors to its totals and frequently overstates savings. All of the line items Trump mentioned in his speech are real grants or contracts. But they likely offer little “savings” because of termination costs and the fact that many of them have already budgeted and spent to their limit. There’s no evidence that any of these terminations are the result of fraud being discovered….
NY Post….
President Trump announced that the US will move to acquire Greenland, touting its strategic importance.
“We need it, really, for international — world security,” Trump said.
“One way or the other — we’ll get it,” he added before addressing residents of the Danish territory.
“We’ll keep you safe, we’ll make you rich, and together we will take Greenland to heights that you have never thought possible before.”…
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After President Trump’s speech concluded, the Democratic side of the chamber quickly emptied while Republicans lingered.
Throughout the president’s wide-ranging address to the joint session of Congress, about three dozen Democrats bailed on his speech at various times.
Several Democrats had skipped the speech altogether, but gaps in the crowd on the right side of the chamber (from Trump’s vantage point) quickly piled up during his address.
Most of the Dems that left early did so quietly, while others flashed hand-held paddle signs knocking the president.
Note….
I’ll have more tomorrow when the dust settles….
image… Reuters….
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