Trump delivered his longest address to the US Congress. What the media is writing
US President Donald Trump addressed Congress with an address on the state of affairs in the country. He announced the beginning of the "golden age" and spoke about the economic success of the United States in the longest message in history. At the same time, Trump did not speak out on a number of important issues, such as relations with Iran. How the Western media reacted to the speech of the head of the White House is in the Izvestia digest.
Associated Press: Trump announced the longest message to Congress about the state of affairs in the United States
US President Donald Trump has delivered his annual address to Congress. He claimed to have achieved great success, insisting that he had triggered an economic boom at home and established a new world order abroad. Trump's main goal was to convince increasingly wary Americans that the economy is stronger than many believe, and that they should vote to maintain the current state of affairs by supporting Republicans in the midterm elections in November. In total, Trump spoke for a record 108 minutes, beating the previous record set last year by eight minutes.
Associated Press
The president mostly avoided his usual bombast, only occasionally deviating from the script, mainly to lash out at Democrats. As with similar speeches in his first term, Trump relied on a number of unexpected invited guests to effectively emphasize his position. Among them were American military heroes and a former political prisoner released after American troops overthrew Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
The invitation of the United States men's Olympic gold medal-winning ice hockey team drew some of the loudest applause of the evening. The President announced the awarding of goalkeeper Connor Hellebuyck with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States. He also presented the Purple Heart Medal to Andrew Wolfe, a National Guard soldier who was wounded while serving on the streets of Washington.
Reuters: Trump declared a "golden age" in a message to Congress
In his message to Congress, Trump boasted that he had ushered in America's "golden age," seeking to create an aura of success despite falling approval ratings and growing voter disillusionment ahead of the midterm elections in November. Responding to calls from Republican lawmakers who fear losing their majority in Congress, Trump devoted the first hour of his address to the economy, saying he had slowed inflation, raised the stock market to record highs, signed massive tax breaks and lowered drug prices.
Reuters
However, it remained unclear whether his optimistic assessment would be able to alleviate Americans' discontent about the cost of living. Trump tried to blame his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden for high prices, but opinion polls show that voters hold Trump responsible for not taking sufficient measures to alleviate the housing affordability crisis, despite the fact that he tirelessly focused on this issue during his election campaign.
Throughout most of the speech, Trump was surprisingly restrained, mostly sticking to a pre-prepared text and avoiding his usual stream-of-consciousness digressions. However, he showed his belligerent side by discussing tougher immigration policies, and exchanged insults with several Democratic lawmakers.
Bloomberg: Trump shrugged off concerns about the U.S. economy
Addressing one of the largest audiences, perhaps at the most difficult moment of his second term, Trump repeatedly returned to the same thesis about the economy: "Everything is going great." Trump was determined to create a more favorable economic situation for Americans, seeking to mask housing affordability issues, which will be the main issue of the upcoming midterm elections, through statistics and self-aggrandizement.
Bloomberg
"Inflation is falling rapidly. Incomes are growing rapidly. The booming economy is thriving like never before," Trump boasted at the beginning of his nearly two—hour speech. The US president did not even consider it necessary to put forward new policy ideas to address the rising cost of living. And where he admitted that voters might have some concerns about the cost of living, he followed his hackneyed pattern of shifting the blame to others.
Nevertheless, Trump did not shy away from controversial issues, criticizing Democrats on immigration and provoking them to create dramatic tension. One of these moments was Trump's accusation of Somali migrants for fraud worth billions of dollars in Minnesota — it was this justification that he used to toughen measures against migrants in the state, which caused a wide public outcry after the murder of two American citizens.
Politico: Trump's message may backfire in November
During his speech, Trump avoided some mistakes. He did not criticize the Supreme Court, did not attack members of his own party, and avoided lengthy and angry deviations from the script. At the same time, the president avoided some important issues. Trump did not offer any new ideas on housing or healthcare, did not mention the scandals with Jeffrey Epstein, did not specify his policy towards Iran, around which he is building up air and naval forces.
Politico
For better or for worse, this speech was unlikely to change the political trajectory of Trump's second term. Historically, a long speech has in some ways been almost indistinguishable from Trump's daily speeches in the Oval office, aboard the presidential plane, or on the driveway to the White House. For some leaders of the presidential party, mindful of his penchant for political self-destruction, this may be a cause for relief. Republicans wake up on Wednesday morning without any political problems they didn't have the day before.
However, the current state of affairs during the midterm elections does not favor the Republican Party. Trump is on the defensive on many issues that determine the course of the election. One of the party's representatives expressed concern that the speech did not inspire enough hope for the future.
The Washington Post: the Democrat was taken out of the meeting room because of a poster protesting against Trump
Just minutes after the start of the annual address, Congressman Al Green, Democrat from Texas, was kicked out of the hall, apparently for holding a sign in protest that read "Black people are not monkeys!" The inscription on the poster was a reference to a video that Trump posted on social media earlier this month, where former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama were depicted as monkeys. Although Trump later deleted the video, he refused to apologize for its publication.
The Washington Post
Green, a member of the African-American congressional caucus, was at the front of the room and held his poster even before the president entered the room. Some Republicans asked him to put down the poster, while others tried to snatch it from his hands. Green remained standing and silently held his placard even after Trump began to speak.
Less than two minutes into Trump's speech, when the president declared that the United States was "bigger, better, richer and stronger than ever before," Green was escorted from his seat. He shook his cane and exchanged tense remarks with Republican lawmakers, including Representative Pat Fallon, who grabbed a poster. Last March, Green was also kicked out of the meeting room when Trump spoke at a joint session of Congress. Other Democratic lawmakers shouted at Trump during the address, but they were not escorted out of the hall.
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