Trump addresses Congress following his tumultuous first weeks in office

President Donald Trump took credit for “swift and unrelenting action” in reorienting the nation’s economy, immigration and foreign policy Tuesday in an address to Congress and the American people about his turbulent first weeks in office.

Here’s the latest:

Speaker Johnson: ‘It was really shameful what the Democrats did’

House Speaker Mike Johnson told Fox News there may be a censure resolution brought to discipline Texas Rep. Al Green.

Green was removed from the chamber for disturbing Trump’s address.

Slotkin keeps things concise

“It’s late,” she began, “so I promise to be a lot shorter than what you just watched.”

Slotkin’s response to Trump’s speech was as concise as the president’s was wordy.

The Michigan senator’s address clocked in at around 11 minutes, compared to the about one hour and 40 minutes Trump’s speech took.

Slotkin implored listeners, “Don’t tune out. It’s easy to be exhausted. But America needs you now more than ever.”

Conservative immigration group criticizes Trump’s immigration ‘gold card’ plan

The Federation for American Immigration Reform, which backs immigration restrictions, predictably applauded Trump for his actions since Jan. 20 and the agenda he laid out in his speech. The group took him to task, though, for touting a $5 million “gold card” path to citizenship for wealthy buyers.

“Rather than a plan to allow people to buy their way into our country, the president should put forward a long overdue proposal to reform our legal immigration system that selects new immigrants based on merit, not money,” said Dan Stein, the group’s president.

Slotkin says the country will endure despite political division and upheaval

“We’ve gone periods of political instability before, and ultimately, we’ve chosen to keep changing this country for the better,” Slotkin said.

Slotkin closed her response to Trump’s speech by saying, “This isn’t the first time we’ve experienced significant and tumultuous change as a country.”

She described herself as a student of history and said that the U.S. is resilient and has emerged stronger from periods of social and political upheaval in the past.

Slotkin says grocery prices are rising, but they aren’t by much

“Grocery prices and home prices are going up, not down,” Slotkin said. “And he hasn’t laid out a credible plan to deal with either of those.”

Grocery prices aren’t actually rising by much, except for high-profile items such as eggs. Grocery costs, on average, have risen just 1.9% in the past year. At the peak of inflation in 2022, grocery prices soared more than 13% in a year.

Slotkin says Trump’s actions would have gotten him fired in the real world

“No CEO in America could do that without being summarily fired,” she said.

Slotkin criticized a Trump administration effort led by Musk for firing scores of federal employees only to rehire them then after realizing those dismissed worked on critical issues.

She suggested that Musk himself would have lost his job if he had done similarly in the business world.

Slotkin seeks to set the tone for Democrats

Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin said that President Donald Trump is “trying to deliver an unprecedented giveaway to his billionaire friends,” in Democratic response to his first joint congressional address of his second presidency.

Slotkin is attempting to present a refined economic message as the Democratic Party continues to struggle to unify around a strategy to counter Trump.

Democratic Response underway

Michigan Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin is giving the Democratic response to Trump’s speech from Wyandotte, Michigan, where she noted that both she and Trump won with voters last November.

She opened her remarks promising to keep things much tighter than Trump, who set a record for a joint address to Congress by talking for around an hour and 40 minutes.

Trump singles out ‘Islamic terrorism’ during Ramadan

“America is once again standing strong against the forces of radical Islamic terrorism,” Trump said in reference to a 2021 attack in Afghanistan that killed more than a dozen American servicemembers and around 170 Afghan civilians.

Muslims around the world, including an estimated 4.5 million who live in America, began observing on Friday the holy month of Ramadan, during which many fast, gather and commit to strengthening their faith.

Trump sets record for longest address to a joint session of Congress

Trump has set a record for the longest address to a joint session of Congress. And it wasn’t even close.

He talked for more than an hour and 40 minutes, breaking the previous record set by President Bill Clinton’s 2000 State of the Union address, which ran 1 hour, 28 minutes and 49 seconds.

That’s according to the American Presidency Project at the University of California at Santa Barbara, which has tracked speech length since President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.

Trump’s speech is not technically a State of the Union since he only took office about six weeks ago. But his lengthy address is nonetheless the longest offered to a joint session of Congress.

Trump concludes his speech

“The golden age of America has only just begun,” he told Congress as he finished his speech after speaking for nearly 100 minutes.

Republican lawmakers rose to their feet and cheered the conclusion of Trump’s address, pumping their hands in the air while chanting “Fight! Fight! Fight!”

Democrats quickly streamed from the chamber while GOP lawmakers tallied to shake hands with the president.