Trump's Trials - A recap of President Trump's Tuesday night address to Congress

Episode Date: March 5, 2025

In his address to a joint session of Congress, President Trump talked about his work to secure the border, slash the size of the government, and his new tariffs. He also repeated his plans to take over Greenland and the Panama Canal, and suggested that an end to the war in Ukraine might be close.Support NPR and hear every episode sponsor-free with NPR+. Sign up at plus.npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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And I'm Steve Inskeep. We hear what the president said to Congress. He proclaimed that in his view, America is back. For more than 90 minutes, he talked of securing the border, slashing government and imposing tariffs. And he said he did not expect much support from Democrats. These people sitting right here will not clap, will not stand, and certainly will not cheer

for these astronomical achievements. They won't do it, no matter what. The opposition party did spend most of his speech stony faced, seated, or protesting. NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez was listening to all of those minutes, and he joins us now. Franco, good morning. Good morning, Steve.

What was it like? Yeah, I mean, there was always some kind of tension in these kind of speeches, but last night that tension was really so much higher. I mean, in the first five minutes, a Democratic congressman, Al Green of Texas stood up in protest. He was waving his cane and calling out that Trump didn't have a mandate. And when he wouldn't sit down, House Speaker Mike Johnson actually had him escorted out

of the chamber, which was a first as far as I can remember. And throughout the speech, Republicans were cheering, Democrats were holding up these signs that read things like false and save Medicaid. And just repeatedly, Trump would go after former president Joe Biden by name and calling Democrats radical left lunatics. I mean, the partisan nature of this speech is really likely what this is going to be remembered for. Well, the president certainly celebrated some of his more

divisive or partisan achievements. Yeah, Trump actually spent a lot of time touting the work of Elon Musk and his project to cut costs, known as the Department of Government Efficiency. And he got into some of the nitty gritty, giving this long list of examples that he said were being cut. Here's a small part.

$40 million to improve the social and economic inclusion of sedentary migrants. Nobody knows what that is. $8 million to promote LGBTQI plus in the African nation of Lesotho, which nobody has ever heard of. Now, Steve, Trump's critics have said some of these cuts were for necessary services like aid for starving children.

And in some cases, the White House did acknowledge this and rehired people. But NPR has also looked into some of the claims of savings posted on the Doge website and documents show that most of those savings don't actually exist. Well, did the president talk about his plans for the year ahead? This can be a table setting moment. Yeah, a little bit. He asked Congress to pass his tax cuts. He talked about a plan that he announced this week to expand production of critical minerals in the U.S. But he really spent most of his time talking about things that he's already done. Well, did he use guests in attendance to make his points, as presidents often do?

He did. He did. And that kind of shows, you know, the priorities. A lot of the guests were victims of crime or worked in law enforcement. There was this really heartwarming moment when Trump honored a 13-year-old boy who has fought brain cancer. He was dressed in a police uniform, and Trump said he had a special surprise for him. Tonight DJ we're going to do you the biggest honor of them all. I am asking our new secret service director Sean Curran to officially make you an agent of the United States Secret Service. Trump's secret service director then came out and gave him a badge and a hug.

In this 90 minute or more speech, Franco, did anything go unsaid? Well, I mean, one of the biggest concerns Americans have is their grocery bills. And Trump promised to cut high prices, but we really didn't hear anything new about those plans. He just blamed Biden. That's White House correspondent Franco Ordonez. Franco, thanks so much. Thanks, Steve.

We want to go back to the president's speech last night to a joint session to Congress. President Trump criticized U.S. allies who he said had taken advantage of this country. He also repeated his plans to take over Greenland and the Panama Canal. And he suggested that an end to Russia's war on Ukraine might be close. This made us want to think about how Trump thinks about the world. So we asked NPR senior national political correspondent Mara Liason to consider that. Good morning, Mara. Good morning.

So Trump has always been very forthright, blunt, whatever you want to say about what he thinks. But just looking at his remarks last night, what did they tell us about Trump's worldview? They told us a lot. Foreign policy was not the number one topic last night, but his remarks reminded us that in Trump's worldview, alliances are not a big factor. In his worldview, the United States stands alone. Sometimes alliances are burdens. They're a hindrance. Here's what he said last night about Greenland. He sent two kind of different messages at the same time. I also have a message tonight for the incredible people of Greenland. We strongly support your right to determine your own future. And if you choose, we welcome you into the United States of America.

We need Greenland for national security and even international security. And we're working with everybody involved to try and get it but we need it really for international world security and I think we're gonna get it one way or the other we're gonna get it yeah so two messages one pretty conciliatory you get to determine your own future the other that veiled thread at the end we're gonna get it one way or another and he made similar remarks about Panama and the Panama Canal. Last night he said the US will be quote, reclaiming the Panama Canal.

He said the canal was built by Americans for Americans. And he said the US had already taken the first step by pointing to a purchase of Chinese owned ports around the canal by the investment firm BlackRock. And he repeated something also that he has long maintained, which is that the U.S. is taken advantage of by both its allies and its adversaries, friend and foe, and that's why the country needs reciprocal tariffs. Here's what he said.

We have been ripped off for decades by nearly every country on earth, and we will not let that happen any longer. Yeah, and Trump doesn't feel that the US needs to engender goodwill by using soft power, and that's a big break from the past. As our colleague Franco Ardonia's noted earlier in the show, Trump spent a lot of time last night listing USAID projects overseas that he thinks are wasteful, and in the past there's been a bipartisan consensus for a long time that if the US spent small amounts of money overseas, it would engender goodwill and keep those countries on our side and not Russia's and China's. So in this worldview, Mara, does the US have allies? I mean, and if so, who are they?

Well, that's a very good question. Last week in an Oval Office photo op, he said, I am not aligned with anyone. And you know, the United States just voted in the United Nations with North Korea, Belarus, Iran, and Russia. That's never happened before. Normally you vote with countries that you're aligned with because of your mutual belief in certain values and principles.

That's not part of his worldview. He also has a special animus for Europe. Western democracies were our closest allies, but now the president has been repeating Kremlin talking points, seeming to side with Russia in the conflict with Ukraine. But in terms of the EU, he posted last week, the EU was designed to screw us.

Having said that, he believes the US can use his deal-making abilities to forge peace, whether it's in the Middle East or Ukraine. Last night he said he'd received a letter from Ukraine's President Zelensky. Here's what he said. President Trump, Ukraine, President Zelensky, Ukraine Regarding the agreement on minerals and security, Ukraine is ready to sign it at any time that is convenient for you.

I appreciate that he sent this letter, just got it a little while ago. Simultaneously, we've had serious discussions with Russia and have received strong signals that they are ready for peace. Wouldn't that be beautiful? Wouldn't that be beautiful? So this, of course, comes after last week's disastrous meeting between Zelensky and Trump in the Oval Office ended with Zelensky leaving the White House without a deal about minerals because Trump thought he was being disrespectful. So before we let you go, Mara, as briefly as you can, how far has President Trump moved

U.S. policy on issues from what we've considered kind of the normal parameters set by previous administrations, both Republican and Democrat? Very far. During a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron last week, Trump said, quote, his administration is making a decisive break with the foreign policy values of the past administration, and frankly, the past. And he is absolutely correct. He's made a huge break. For 80 years, America was the lynchman of NATO, the leader of the Western Alliance, and he has spurned European leaders, as I said, repeated Kremlin talking points, called Zelensky a dictator, and refused to say that about Vladimir Putin. So it's been a very big break.

That is NPR senior national political correspondent, Mara Lyson. Mara, thank you. You're welcome. Before we wrap up, a reminder, you can find more coverage of the Trump administration on the NPR Politics Podcast, where you can hear NPR's political reporters break down the day's biggest political news with new episodes every weekday afternoon. And thanks as always to our NPR Plus supporters who hear every episode of the show without sponsor messages. You can learn more at plus.npr.org.

I'm Scott Detrow. Thanks for listening to Trump's terms from NPR.