“America is back!” President Donald Trump declared this on Tuesday, March 4, during his address to a joint session of Congress. Though not formally a State of the Union address, since those typically occur after the President has been in office for a year, the President’s address laid out his plans and priorities for the year, as a typical State of the Union would. Along with upcoming plans, President Trump boasted about all of the accomplishments that his administration has completed thus far. After nearly every sentence, raucous applause broke out from the Republican side of the chamber, accompanied by telling silence from the Democratic side. The Democrats did not maintain silence throughout, however. Signs of rebellion were evident in various forms, such as heckling, fashion statements, and messages written on paddles. Throughout his speech, President Trump talked about many things, but many comments centered around immigration, the economy, and cutting government spending.
Immigration
Immigration appeared to be President Trump’s favorite child during his speech since he did not stop bragging about his policies. From touting the “most sweeping border and immigration crackdown in American history,” to referencing a supposed 21 million people that came into the United States during the Biden administration, many of the President’s claims stretched the truth. While many migrants have entered the United States in the past four years, the total provided by Customs and Border Protection data is 14 million — much less than the 21 million that the President claimed. Of the approximately 14 million migrant encounters at the border, less than one percent (fewer than 120K) were found to have criminal backgrounds. There are incidents where migrants with criminal backgrounds entered the United States and were not apprehended, but the rate of occurrence of these incidents is a far cry from what President Trump’s speech would suggest. Claiming that “Many of them were murderers, human traffickers, gang members, and other criminals…,” and using descriptors such as “savages” or “monsters” is very effective at painting the migrants as the “other.” Dehumanization on such a large scale has sweeping, devastating effects on the ideology of the American people. There have been incidents where illegal immigrants have committed violent crimes, such as in the case of Laken Riley, a nursing student at Augusta University, who was killed last year by an illegal immigrant. Laken’s mom and sister were present at the address to Congress, despite Laken’s father commenting that “I feel like she’s being used somewhat politically… It makes me angry. She was much better than that.” No one should be subjected to the fate that Laken faced, but that does not mean it is indicative of a larger pattern that all migrants are criminals.
The economy
President Trump was very proud of his economic reforms during his speech. To him, “The American dream is surging bigger and better than ever before.” Talk of tariffs dominated the conversation. The President explained that reciprocal tariffs will go into effect at the beginning of April, though they may be applied sooner. Many economists are worried about these tariffs, however. While the U.S. has large trade imbalances, this is not necessarily bad. A lot of the time, when countries earn dollars that they have earned in trade to invest back into the U.S., is a significant factor in keeping lower interest rates. Some domestic producers/retailers can benefit from President Trump’s policies, but the cost of importing raw materials will almost definitely rise. Accompanied by supply chains in chaos, the consumer faces a severe risk of bearing the burden of this new tariff strategy.
Government “efficiency”
Praising the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and its leader, Elon Musk, President Trump was very excited by the supposed government waste that has been found and cut. Once again, numbers were greatly exaggerated. Between taking credit for contracts canceled during the administration of other presidents, providing very little documentation/proof of their savings, and giving misleading descriptions of what contracts were for, DOGE efficiency has been overstated. During his speech, President Trump listed numerous areas where DOGE has significantly cut down spending, listing things such as $8 million spent on creating transgender mice. What the President did not mention was that the hormones tested on mice were attempting to see how hormone treatments affect human health. For example, breast cancer rates were observed in mice taking testosterone. With context, this spending seems much more reasonable, which is most likely why the President chose to omit it. According to President Trump, “The days of rule by unelected bureaucrats are over,” yet DOGE, the organization supposedly leading this charge, has an unelected bureaucrat (Elon Musk) at the helm.
the path ahead
President Trump’s speech to Congress was one of triumph. Declaring victory in virtually all of the policy issues he ran on, the President was shown incredible support from his party and incredible discontent from the opposition. Time will tell how these policies play out, but all Americans should be concerned at the clear division on display during the nearly 100 minutes that the President spoke. President Trump expressed a desire and expectation that Nov. 5, 2024, would go down in American history. It very well may, but perhaps not for the right reasons as we watch our country splinter in half before our eyes.