President Trump's First 100 Days- 18 (34252546021)

Trump address to joint session of Congress

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

, the 45th

president of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

, addressed a

joint session of the United States Congress A joint session of the United States Congress is a gathering of members of the two chambers of the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States: the Senate and the House of Representatives. Joint sessions can be held on a ...

on Tuesday, February 28, 2017. It was his first public address before a joint session. Similar to a

State of the Union Address The State of the Union Address (sometimes abbreviated to SOTU) is an annual message delivered by the president of the United States to a joint session of the United States Congress near the beginning of each calendar year on the current conditi ...

, it was delivered before the

115th United States Congress The 115th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States of America federal government, composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C., from January 3, 2017, to January ...

in the Chamber of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

in the

United States Capitol The United States Capitol, often called The Capitol or the Capitol Building, is the seat of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, which is formally known as the United States Congress. It is located on Capitol Hill ...

. Presiding over this joint session was the House speaker, Paul Ryan, accompanied by Mike Pence, the

vice president A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on ...

in his capacity as the president of the Senate. During his speech, President Trump announced the creation of the

Office of Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement The Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement (VOICE) Office was a U.S. government agency established within the Department of Homeland Security under the Trump administration in February 2017. President Donald Trump directed it be established by E ...

(VOICE) in the

United States Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terr ...

. Veterans Affairs Secretary

David Shulkin David Jonathon Shulkin (born July 22, 1959) is an American physician and former government official. In 2017, Shulkin became the ninth United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs and served under President Donald Trump. He was the Under Secretar ...

was the

designated survivor In the United States, a designated survivor (or designated successor) is a named individual in the presidential line of succession, chosen to stay at an undisclosed secure location, away from events such as State of the Union addresses and pre ...

and did not attend the address in order to maintain a

continuity of government Continuity of government (COG) is the principle of establishing defined procedures that allow a government to continue its essential operations in case of a catastrophic event such as nuclear war. COG was developed by the British government befo ...

. He was sequestered at a secret secure location for the duration of the event.

Reception

Fact-checkers noted that although Trump's speech to Congress had "fewer untrue statements than many of his remarks",True: Trump's speech included several false or misleading statements
''Los Angeles Times'' (March 1, 2017). the address nevertheless included numerous false and misleading statements on a variety of issues, including the federal budget,

immigration and crime Immigration and crime refers to the relationship between criminal activity and immigrant communities. Research suggests that people tend to overestimate the relationship between immigration and criminality, and that the media tends to erroneously ...

, immigration and the economy, welfare, and the job impact of the

Keystone XL The Keystone Pipeline System is an oil pipeline system in Canada and the United States, commissioned in 2010 and owned by TC Energy and as of 31 March 2020 the Government of Alberta. It runs from the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin in Alberta ...

and Dakota Access Pipelines. The speech was considered more optimistic, conciliatory and politically conventional and "presidential" than Trump's typically

populist Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term develop ...

manner of speaking, at a time in which he was receiving historically low approval ratings. President Trump’s approval rating was 53% on February 24th 2017, according to Rasmussen Reports - Presidential Daily Poll.

Democratic responses

For the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

, former Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear provided the response; activist Astrid Silva of Nevada offered another response for the party in Spanish. Beshear spoke at a diner in Lexington, Kentucky. Senator Bernie Sanders of

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

(an independent who caucuses with the Democrats in the Senate) responded to the speech in a 14-minute video posted to Facebook, in which he criticized Trump for failing to make any mention of

income inequality There are wide varieties of economic inequality, most notably income inequality measured using the distribution of income (the amount of money people are paid) and wealth inequality measured using the distribution of wealth (the amount of we ...

criminal justice reform Criminal justice reform addresses structural issues in criminal justice systems such as racial profiling, police brutality, overcriminalization, mass incarceration, and recidivism. Criminal justice reform can take place at any point where the cr ...

, or

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

.Jaclyn Reiss
Bernie Sanders rails against Trump after speech
, ''Boston Globe'' (March 1, 2017). Sanders also stated: "President Trump once again made it clear he plans on working with Republicans in Congress who want to repeal the

Affordable Care Act The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and colloquially known as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Pres ...

, throw 20 million Americans off of health insurance, privatize Medicare, make massive cuts in Medicaid, raise the cost of prescription drugs to seniors, eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood, while at the same time, he wants to give another massive tax break to the wealthiest Americans." According to the Democratic think-tank

Center for American Progress The Center for American Progress (CAP) is a public policy research and advocacy organization which presents a liberal viewpoint on economic and social issues. It has its headquarters in Washington, D.C. The president and chief executive offic ...

, Trump made 51 false or manipulative statements during his speech.

Viewership

Trump's speech was aired live on 11 broadcast and cable news networks, and viewed on TV by an estimated 47.7 million people in the United States. Total cable and network viewers Broadcast networks Cable news networks

References

External links

Remarks by President Trump in Joint Address to Congress
at

whitehouse.gov whitehouse.gov (also simply known as wh.gov) is the official website of the White House and is managed by the Office of Digital Strategy. It was launched on July 29, 1994 by the Clinton administration. The content of the website is in the ...

*
About the address
at

* by

The White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 180 ...

President Trump Addresses Joint Session Congress
on C-SPAN
Former Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear Delivers Joint Session Democratic Response
on C-SPAN
Former Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear Delivers Joint Session Democratic Response
(transcript) {{Portal bar, Modern history, United States, Politics 115th United States Congress 2017 in American politics 2017 in Washington, D.C. 2017 in the United States 2017 speeches February 2017 events in the United States Presidency of Donald Trump Speeches by Donald Trump Joint sessions of the United States Congress Trump speech to joint session of Congress, 2017 Articles containing video clips

Reception

Democratic responses

Viewership

See also

References

External links