Sen. Elissa Slotkin delivered the Democratic response to Trump's address.
President Donald Trump addressed a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night, six weeks into his historic return to the White House.
During the speech, Trump said "America is back" and defended the tariffs on key U.S. trading partners. He touched on immigration and the mineral deal with Ukraine, but neglected to go into detail on his economic plan. The speech was also met with protests and disruptions from Democrats.
Trump took aim at Democrats after they booed and interrupted his speech, saying "there is absolutely nothing I can say to make them happy or to make them stand or smile or applaud."
He then made a weak attempt at pitching unity, asking them for "just one night, why not join us in celebrating so many incredible wins for America." As Trump said the words, Vice President JD Vance was seen laughing behind him.
“Within hours of taking the oath of office, I declared a national emergency on our southern border, and I deployed the U.S. military and border,” Trump touted. “And what a job they've done as a result."
He added that “illegal border crossings last month were by far the lowest ever recorded ever,” before criticizing former President Joe Biden for his immigration record and calling him “the worst president in American history.”
FACT CHECK: This is in the eye of the beholder.
Trump’s victory was clear, but by historical standards, it was no landslide.
Trump has reason to celebrate winning both the Electoral College and the popular vote. In fact, he became only the second Republican to win the popular vote since 1988, after George W. Bush in his 2004 reelection win. Trump won each of the seven battleground states that political analysts said would decide the election.
In addition, the vast majority of U.S. counties saw their margins shift in Trump’s direction, both in places where Republicans historically do well and places where Democrats generally have an edge.
On the other hand, Trump’s margins of victory — both in raw votes and in percentages — were small by historical standards, even for the past quarter century, when close elections have been the rule, including the 2000 Florida recount election and Trump’s previous two races in 2016 and 2020.
Trump’s victory also came without a big boost for downballot Republicans. Republicans lost a little ground in the House, which was already narrowly divided, and while Republicans flipped the Senate, Democrats won four Senate races in key battleground states even as former Vice President Kamala Harris was losing those states to Trump.
— Aaron Sharockman, PolitiFact
New Mexico Democratic Rep. Madeleine Stansbury, who was sitting on the aisle, held up a sign that said, "THIS IS NOT NORMAL." GOP Rep. Lance Gooden of Texas then appeared to rip it out of her hands and threw it on the floor of the chamber.
