In his first major speech to Congress in his second term, President Donald Trump made it clear that he intends to advance the Magazine agenda.
Naturally, he threw up the confusion and controversy of the past 43 days filled with historic victory. And although he provided little new details about what he had planned for the future, it is clear that he should expect more of the same thing.
Trump, for example, sounded eager to expand his trade war and eager to promote a new round of “mutual tariffs” that will come into effect on April 2nd. We argue that these duties are in countries that have their own duties on US goods or have VAT. He mentioned the European Union, India, Brazil and South Korea as targets of tariffs, along with China, Canada and Mexico, which already impose tariffs. Trump said “may be a little adjustment period” for American agricultural exporters.
Meanwhile, Trump insisted he “balances the federal budget,” but supported big new income and business tax plans, including hints, overtime payments and repeating the promises of a Social Security Income Exemption campaign. It's hard to see how that mathematics is added. Trump also rattled over a dozen absurd contracts that Musk's team claimed to have cancelled. Trump denounced Joe Biden on the topic of rising egg prices, saying his team was “working hard” to lower them but did not provide details.
One of the big question marks in the speech was how Trump will treat Ukraine after the explosion of the oval office on Friday and the subsequent administration's moratorium on aid to the state. On Tuesday morning, Ukrainian President Voldimir Zelenki created a social media post that appears to succumb to some of Trump's demands, calling Friday's disastrous meeting “disappointing.”
In his speech, Trump said “I am grateful that he sent the letter,” adding that Russia “sent a strong signal that they are ready for peace.” “Isn't that beautiful?” he added. However, he did not provide further details on what the peace arrangements would look like.
Trump boasted that his administration has ended “will” and “diversity, equity and inclusion” not only in the federal government but also in the private sector. In addition to the typical accusations of unauthorized immigrants who committed crimes, Trump attacked trans athletes. One of his invited guests was injured in Trump's words, “her girl's volleyball game was invaded by a man.”
“Nostalgia is troubled. It's bad, it's gone,” he said. “And we felt so good about it, right?”
During the speech, Democrats tried to show their protest in a variety of ways. Rep. Al Green (D-TX) was first confused by his speech and was escorted from the room by House of Arms Sergeant. Others embraced small signs that they had written phrases like “Save Medicaid” or “Musksteel,” or that they had chosen to leave for themselves. But in the end, Trump's speech was not meaningfully confused.
