On Feb. 24, President Donald Trump delivered his State of the Union Address, saying that the “golden age of America” has begun, crediting his administration with economic transformation.
Trump opened the address by talking about the change that the U.S. has seen in the past year.
“Tonight, after just one year, I can say with dignity and pride that we have achieved a transformation like no one has ever seen before, and a turnaround for the ages,” Trump said. “We will never go back to where we were just a short time ago.”
During the address, Trump spoke about his approach to accomplishing his administration’s goals, such as taking steps to reduce the “wildly inflated” cost of prescription drugs.
“Under my just-enacted, most-favored nation agreements, Americans who have for decades paid by far the highest prices of any nation anywhere in the world for prescription drugs will now pay the lowest price anywhere in the world for drugs, anywhere, the lowest price,” Trump said.
Trump called upon Congress to pass a bill preventing investment firms from buying single-family homes.
“Last month, I signed an executive order to ban large Wall Street investment firms from buying up, in the thousands, single-family homes,” Trump said. “And now I am asking Congress to make that ban permanent, because homes are for people, not corporations.”
Trump talked about how his tariffs benefited the economy, calling the Supreme Court’s recent decision, which ruled that many of Trump’s tariffs were unconstitutional, “very unfortunate.”
“The legal power that I, as president, have to make a new deal could be far worse for [foreign countries],” Trump said. “So [the tariffs] will remain in place under fully approved and tested alternative legal statutes.”
Trump claimed that “many of the wars [he has] settled” was because of “the threat of tariffs.”
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger criticized the speech and claimed that listeners did not hear the truth from Trump in the official Democratic response to the address.
“Is the president working to make life more affordable for you and your family?” Spanberger said. “We all know the answer is no.”
Trump sparked controversy amongst the House when he talked about his efforts to remove undocumented immigrants.
When Trump talked about alleged fraud in Minnesota’s Somali-American communities, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) interrupted the address, shouting, “that’s a lie” and “you’re a liar” at the president.
The interruptions continued later when Rep. Rasida Tlaib (D-MI) shouted “you’re killing Americans,” during the address.
Trump talked about the ongoing conflict in Iran, saying Iran is “again pursuing their sinister ambitions.”
“My preference is to solve this problem through diplomacy,” Trump said. “But one thing is certain: I will never allow the world’s number one sponsor of terror, which they are by far, to have a nuclear weapon. Can’t happen.”
Trump awarded Congressional Medals of Honor to Eric Slover, a helicopter pilot wounded in the Maduro raid and to E. Royce Williams, a 100-year-old Korean War veteran. Members of the National Guard who were shot in D.C. were honored with Purple Hearts.
Trump ended his speech by saying that the U.S. is entering a new era.
“These first 250 years were just the beginning,” Trump said. “The golden age of America is now upon us.”