Trump talks tough but Congress is beset by divisions

The depth of the rift running through the United States, and just how irreconcilable the Republicans and Democrats are right now, became clear in the very first minutes of President Donald Trump's speech to Congress.

The 47th US president heaped praise on himself.

"We have accomplished more in 43 days than most administrations accomplished in four years, or eight years," said Trump to thunderous cheers of his supporters, "and we're just getting started!" 

The Republican half of the hall repeatedly stood up and chanted, "USA! USA!," the Democratic members of Congress remained seated, mostly in icy silence.

Many Democrats held up signs reading "False!" or "Musk steals!" 

Democratic representative Al Green was expelled from the chamber for interrupting Trump's speech with animated heckling. Many female Democrats wore pink clothing to signal their opposition to the new president.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump Jr, the president's son, commented on his father's speech on Elon Musk's social media platform X. Trump Jr. called the Democrats "crybabies," "full blown communists" and "an embarrassment."

'America is back!'

The atmosphere was heated, but Donald Trump looked unfazed by it all.

"In fact, the whole thing was more like a campaign speech than a classic" speech to Congress, said Stormy-Annika Mildner, director of the Aspen Institute in Berlin.

She highlighted how the speech was peppered with harsh jabs at the previous Biden administration.

It started with the slogan: "America is back!" Trump then listed his government's achievements to date: exiting several multilateral organizations, renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the "Gulf of America" and establishing the rule that there are only two genders.

This, Trump said, is a "revolution of common sense" that is sweeping the world.

But the fact is, the rest of the world barely earned a mention in this speech. 

For almost 100 minutes, longer than any other US president before him, Donald Trump focused squarely on the US and on himself.

He also praised his advisor's measures to reduce bureaucracy. Elon Musk's DOGE agency has saved 105 billion dollars in just six weeks, Trump said.

The figure cannot be independently verified: It came from Musk's agency itself.

Customs duties ― coming soon to cars?

Trump also repeated his defense of his tariff policy, although many economists warn tariffs risk boosting consumer prices in the US. The President hinted that further tariff measures could soon be imposed on the European and Indian car industry.

According to Mildner, Trump has "a view of tariffs that contradicts the economic mainstream and, to a large extent, the policies of the past. Trump believes that tariffs are paid by companies from abroad and not passed on to his own population, and that is, of course, not true."

It is particularly interesting that Trump has "sort of hedged his bets with his own farmers when it comes to the fact that he also wants to impose tariffs on agriculture."

The president said there would be "a bit of unrest at first. But that's okay for us. It won't be much."

According to Mildner, this statement shows that Trump is aware that his policies will lead to problems, "but he is also very good at creating a certain narrative and then convincing those who stand to suffer economically."

"In his first administration," said Mildner, "it certainly worked out."

Whether he will continue to succeed with this if inflation continues to climb remains to be seen.

Six minutes of foreign policy

In his speech, Trump barely touched on foreign policy.

Only after more than an hour did he turn his attention to the world's trouble spots. According to an analysis by CNN, he spent just under five minutes on Ukraine and a mere 49 seconds on Gaza.

Trump announced that he had received a letter from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in which the latter had declared his willingness to "come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer."

Zelenskyy, Trump said, is now ready to sign the planned raw materials deal with the US. That followed unprecedented scenes in the White House when the Ukrainian president was reprimanded by Trump over his request for security guarantees for his ravaged nation, after three years of war against Russia. 

However, there no longer seems to be talk of any such protections. Trump did not mention them in his speech, and he has already rejected the idea several times before.

Trump explained that he had also received "strong signals" from the Russian leadership that they also sought "peace" in the conflict with Ukraine. However, Trump did not give any detail on what the roadmap to peace might look like. 

He was less conciliatory on other foreign policy issues. Once again, he threatened to bring the Panama Canal back under US control and reiterated his intention to take over Greenland, which is rich in natural resources and an autonomous territory of Denmark. 

"We're going to get it ― one way or another," Trump said. 

Brandon Bohrn from the Bertelsmann Foundation said he did not expect direct US military action over Greenland. However, he anticipated that the pressure on Denmark and Greenland will mount, maybe with an increased US military presence in the region.

US expert Mildner said she expects American companies to buy into Greenland's infrastructure — as with the Panama Canal — and with US government support.

She saw this as a more realistic option, but stressed that, "the uncertainty and animosity that this would create internationally would, of course, be enormous."

The political temperature will, in particular, be felt by those who were long US allies.

"Ultimately, the West is dismantling itself through the US, without other powers having to do anything," Mildner said.

Powerless Democrats

Many Democrats quietly expressed their dissatisfaction during Trump's speech. Many had scarves, ties and badges with the yellow and blue colors of Ukraine; some left the chamber in protest. House Representative Jasmine Crockett wore a T-shirt bearing the slogan "Resist."

But Donald Trump was undaunted, telling his friends, his foes and the world at large: "We are going to renew the unlimited promise of the American dream."

This article was adapted from German.