US President Donald Trump on Tuesday delivered his first State of the Union address to the nation during his second term. The speech came right after the Supreme Court struck down Trump's global tariffs last week.
Trump also broke his own record for the longest State of the Union address, with his speech lasting about 1 hour and 48 minutes.
Some heated parts of the address did not go down well with the Democrats, who were a minority in the audience. Meanwhile, some other parts saw even Republicans hesitating to take Trump's side.
Here are 5 key takeaways from the address:
1. Unfortunate tariff talks
The president slammed the the Supreme court for striking down his tariffs agenda last Friday and called the ruling “very unfortunate.”
Then he continued to insist that the tariff revenues were “saving” the U.S., ignoring the fact that the levies haven’t made a significant dent in government debt.
The moment led to a rare show of unity between the Democrats and some of the Republicans, who did not respond with applause like they did during the rest of the speech.
Trump claimed that he had leverage with other tariff authorities, and said that the congress should not bother codifying the tariffs into law.
Teump also said, “I believe the tariffs paid for by foreign countries will, like in the past, substantially replace the modern-day system of income tax, taking a great financial burden off the people that I love.”
As nice as that sounds, tariffs do not bring in enough to replace income tax. The United States imports around $3 trillion worth of goods a year. The US government, meanwhile, raises about $3 trillion from income taxes.
2. Slamming Democrats
Another heated moment from the night came when Trump asked the audience to stand if they agreed with the statement, "the first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens." When many of the Democrats who were present did not stand, Trump said that they should be ashamed.
Democratic Reps. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota then began shouting at Trump, admonishing him. They left the chamber after that.
Before the speech had started, when Trump was making his way into the chamber, Rep. Al Green of Texas held a sign that read "BLACK PEOPLE AREN'T APES!" referring to a video Trump shared of Obama last week. A verbal altercation ensued. Multiple Republicans tried to get Green to put down the sign. Green was later escorted out of the House.
3. The economy is fine
Democrats were also made targets when Trump blamed them for making the high cost of living an issue. He then claimed that the costs of major goods in the country were falling.
Trump claimed gas was below $2.30 per gallon in some states and that mortgage rates and prescription drug prices were falling. AAA, however, shows the average price isn’t that low in any state.
He also claimed the stock market was rising, “Millions and millions of Americans are all gaining,” he said.
Many polls show that voters are frustrated with the economy and the stock market, which are showing volatility.
Just 39% of U.S. adults approved of Trump’s handling of the economy in February, according to AP-NORC polling. The first hour of Trump's speech, however, was focused on the “roaring economy."
4. Election cheating
Trump also continued to reiterate his claims that “cheating was rampant during the American election.”
About nine months from now, voters in the US will decide who gains control of the Congress.
“They want to cheat. They have cheated, and their policy is so bad that the only way they can get elected is to cheat,” Trump said of Democrats. “And we’re going to stop it. We have to stop it.”
Trump has been pushing for Congress to pass stricter voter ID legislation dubbed the “Save America Act.”
5. No mention of ICE
The US president also took the time to appreciate the country’s Hockey team and gave out congressional medals during the night, moments which saw some of the biggest applause throughout the speech.
However, many things went unmentioned.
Trump, for example, made no effort to address the ICE killings in Minneapolis and the groups agressive tactics in many of the states. He also refused to acknowledge that many Americans disapproved of his handling of deportation and immigration.
There was, of course, no mention of the Epstein files.
With inputs from AP
