# Trump declares administration ‘just getting started’ in address to Congress



Throughout the address, which lasted about one hour and 40 minutes, a jocular Trump touted his administration’s “swift and unrelenting action” and praised the work of his billionaire adviser , who has led his administration’s efforts to dramatically downsize the federal government through his so-called “department of government efficiency”. “Thank you, Elon,” Trump said, gesturing to Musk, who was seated in the house gallery overlooking the chamber where Democrats waved paddles that read “Musk steals”.

Trump seized the high-profile moment to defend his administration’s action during the first weeks of his return to power, including, according to his tally, nearly  and more than 400 executive actions.

“The people elected me to do the job, and I am doing it,” he said, making no mention of the legal challenges that have stalled many of his actions and deepening fears that his trade war will plunge the country into economic turmoil.

Trump also expanded on his “America first” foreign policy vision, just days after a dramatic Oval Office meeting with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, spiraled out of control as Trump and  berated him over a perceived lack of respect. During his remarks, Trump recited from a letter Zelenskyy had shared earlier in the day, indicating that he was ready to return to the negotiating table to end Russia’s three-year war. The US had simultaneously received “strong signals” from Russia that Moscow was “ready for peace”, Trump said. “Wouldn’t that be beautiful?”

Elsewhere, Trump envisioned the US expanding. He declared that his administration was in the process of “reclaiming the Panama canal” and repeated his threat to take control of Greenland: “One way or the other, we’re going to get it.”

With performative flair, Trump offered a sampling of initiatives he said Musk’s team had identified as wasteful, among them the creation of an Arab Sesame Street, “making mice transgender” and promoting LGBTQ+ rights in Lesotho, the African country he said “nobody has ever heard of”.

“This is real,” he exclaimed, drawing laughs from half of the chamber. Trump claimed that Musk’s cost-cutting efforts had identified “hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud”. But his estimate vastly overstated the savings Doge , a figure which itself is based on accounting that multiple reports have found is riddled with  and .

Early in the night, as Trump bragged about the size of his electoral college and popular vote victory – “a map that reads almost completely red for Republican” – Democrats heckled and booed, prompting the House speaker, , to bang his gavel and demand decorum. “You don’t have a mandate,” shouted the Texas representative, Al Green. When the congressman, who last month said he would %20%E2%80%94%20On,Green's%20full%20speech%20online%20here%20.) against Trump, refused to be seated, the speaker .



Trump claimed a mandate for “bold and profound change”, though at 1.5 points his winning margin in the popular vote was  and three points less than Joe Biden’s four years earlier.

Trump’s address to Congress came just hours after he  against three top trading partners that  and raised fresh concerns of inflation. Just after midnight on Tuesday, the US slapped 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada and doubled to 20% the levy he imposed on Chinese products last month. Trump vowed a tit-for-tat retaliation – “whatever they tariff us, we tariff them” – and insisted the new levies would grow the economy and create jobs, even as economists warned the polices could harm consumers and make inflation worse.

“Tariffs are about making America rich again and making America great again,” Trump said, adding a caveat: “There’ll be a little disturbance, but we’re OK with that. It won’t be much.”

New tariffs would take effect on 2 April, Trump said, one day later than he preferred to ensure the announcement wasn’t mistaken for an April Fools joke. However, he conceded that there may be “a little bit of an adjustment period”.

He blamed the soaring price of eggs on his predecessor’s energy policies while pledging his “” would help usher in a new era of domestic drilling.

In accordance with tradition, Trump’s arrival in the chamber was announced by the sergeant at arms. As he walked to the dais, Trump appeared to revel in the cacophonous applause of congressional , who have declined to rein in the president even as he threatens their authority as an independent branch of government.

Seated behind the president, Vance and Johnson could barely contain their glee, as they stood to applaud Trump’s every promise, boast and threat.

Past presidents have used the first major speech as an opportunity to reach across party lines and offer areas of common ground. Trump did the opposite. He taunted his political foes, blaming his predecessor for the price of eggs and claiming his victory ushered in a wave of tech investments that wouldn’t have happened if Kamala Harris had won the election. At one point he called Joe Biden the “worst president in American history”, drawing applause from Republicans.

“Why not join us in celebrating so many incredible wins for America,” Trump chided stone-faced . At least a handful of Democrats walked out of the speech early.



But several Democrats chose to skip the event, including , who instead shared her live reactions to the speech on the social media platform BlueSky. Before the address, several congressional Democrats and elected officials joined a virtual pre-buttal, “Calling BS”, to slam the Trump administration’s actions so far.

“I don’t need to legitimize his lies by being in the room,” Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut said on the livestream, adding that Democrats needed to make clear that the president was “transparently and brazenly lying to the American people”.

Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts said he planned to attend Trump’s speech as a way to show solidarity with Americans who were “rejecting Donald Trump’s hateful vising for our country”.

Following Trump’s address, the newly elected Democratic senator Elissa Slotkin of the battleground state Michigan . “We’ve gone periods of political instability before,” she said. “And ultimately, we’ve chosen to keep changing this country for the better.”

This article was amended on 10 March 2025. An earlier version said Al Green had filed articles of impeachment against Trump; he has said he intends to but has not done so yet.
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