On Tuesday, March 4th President Donald Trump addressed the joint congressional session in the U.S. Capitol, which turned out to be the longest recorded State of the Union in history. Trump spoke about many of the issues currently dividing the nation, including the Russia-Ukraine War, the Israel-Hamas War, the climate crisis, the border crisis, and a struggling economy.
The increasing political polarization was mirrored by remarks put forth by congressional representatives, throughout the speech. The first ten minutes consisted of fireworks between the two parties, as the Republicans chanted “USA” and the Democrats held up signs of protest, similar to if they were present at a silent auction
The biggest disruption came from Texas’ 9th district representative Al Green, who, by shouting and waving his cane, spoke out against Trump’s decision to cut Medicaid. After two warnings from Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, he was removed from the room.
Online, his speech was met with both support and opposition. According to CNN, “Roughly 7 in 10 speech-watchers said they had at least a somewhat positive reaction to Trump’s speech tonight, with a smaller 44% offering a very positive response.”
President Trump covered many political topics, but he also honored various individuals and families throughout the night. These included former volleyball player Payton McNabb, the family of murder victim Laken Riley, the family of murder victim Corey Comperatore and 13-year-old cancer survivor Devarjaye “DJ” Daniel.
Biology teacher, Ms. Jerren Pittaluga, voiced her unease about President Trump’s legitimacy and the true intentions behind those who were honored at the address.
“I am concerned about him making the kid who had cancer, an honorary member of the Secret Service. Earlier this year, he created executive orders that cancelled research for pediatric cancer research, so it feels very disingenuous,” she said.
Trump also addressed the numerous executive orders he has implemented since entering office, the first of which was his declaration of a national emergency on the United States-Mexico border. He chose to deploy U.S. Military and Border Patrol reported that, “illegal border crossings last month were by far the lowest recorded ever.”
According to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, this is true. The highest number of encounters at the border in the 2024 fiscal year was around 300K and in the 2025 fiscal year the highest was a little over 100K. When President Trump took office, the encounters were roughly 50K.
Moreover, he addressed the controversial decision to freeze all federal hiring, all new federal regulations, and foreign aid. According to Reuters, there were about 172,017 planned federal job cuts last month. Just this week, Trump announced a plan to cut nearly 80,000 federal jobs from the Department of Veterans Affairs. This drastic action has caused distress for many families in the U.S. especially in Northern Virginia and the DC area, where numerous individuals are employed by the federal government.
Igniting further debate on this subject, Elon Musk, multi-billionaire and administrator of the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), was present in the chamber during the address. DOGE is responsible for the firing of thousands of federal workers, and the billionaire’s close relationship with the president has caused many individuals to worry about the administration’s true financial intentions.
Later in the address, Trump discussed the termination of the Green New Deal, which he coined the “Green New Scam” and America’s withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord. According to Trump, the Paris Agreement was “costing us trillions of dollars that other countries were not paying.” Along with these, we also withdrew from the World Health Organization and the United Nations Human Rights Council.
In his address, President Trump stated, “I have directed that for every one new regulation, 10 old regulations must be eliminated.”
Further, he discussed the contentious removal of critical race theory from public school curriculums as well as the official policy of the U.S. government stating that there are only two genders, male and female. Adding on to this, Trump discussed the ban that prevents biological males from participating in women’s sports.
Transitioning from his discussion on social changes, Trump also explained his efforts to change the economy.
“Among my very highest priorities is to rescue our economy and get dramatic and immediate relief to working families,” Trump announced.
Utilizing his popular phrase “Drill, baby, Drill,” he tackled the topic of oil in our country. Trump’s administration is addressing the natural gas pipeline in Alaska, which he hopes will bring in large investments from countries including Japan and South Korea.
Various politicians responded to the president’s speech, with their thoughts and opinions.
“As you heard tonight, President Trump has been very effective in creating what I would call a “parallel universe” for his supporters — a set of ideas that either have no basis in reality or, in the great scheme of things, are nowhere near the most important concerns of the American people,” Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders stated.
Sanders also claimed that President Trump lies to his supporters and provided examples of said lies related to the border, the 2020 election, climate change and many other issues.
AP Government & Politics teacher, Ms. Pam Mahony, commented on the congressional address and the ripple effect she believes it will have moving forward.
“Various groups are now using this speech for more political theater than a serious way to introduce legislative proposals. It has been going on for a couple of decades, but it has certainly been accelerating in the past few years. Moving forward, I think that we’re seeing a readjustment of foreign policy, posture, and a possible redefinition of executive power.”
