Protest in pink, woke no more: Some key moments from Trump’s 100-minute address to Congress

WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump gave the longest-ever address to a joint session of Congress by any US president on March 4 (March 5 in Singapore), clocking in at more than one hour and 40 minutes.

His speech beat the record set by Democratic president Bill Clinton in his State of the Union address in 2000.

Here are some key moments from Mr Trump’s speech:

Democrats’ walkout

Before Mr Trump’s speech on March 4, former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi advised her fellow Democrats not to become part of the story. That did not work out so much.

Shortly after Mr Trump began his remarks, Democratic Representative Al Green from Texas stood up and shouted that the President did not have a mandate to cut safety net programmes.

Republicans are trying to pass a spending Bill that could significantly slash spending on popular social programmes, including the Medicaid health insurance plan for low-income people, to pay for Mr Trump’s desired tax cut plan.

Representative Nancy Mace, a Republican, yelled at Mr Green: “Sit your a** down!”

He remained standing.

The ruckus did not end, and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson directed the sergeant-at-arms, in charge of maintaining order in the chamber, to

escort Mr Green out

. Republicans cheered as Mr Green relented – waving his cane in the air – and was led out.

Mr Green told reporters afterward: “It’s worth it to let people know that there are some of us who are going to stand up against this president’s desire to cut Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security.”

Dozens of Democrats also walked out in the first hour of the speech.

Some turned their backs as Mr Trump spoke, revealing messages like “Resist” and “No Kings live here” on the backs of their shirts before exiting.

Others stared bleakly, had their face in their hands or were looking at their phones.

Small round signs were seen amid a crowd of Democrats that read “Save Medicaid”, “Protect Veterans” and “Musk Steals”, in reference to the drastic cost-cutting actions of Mr Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (Doge).

Protest in pink

In a more unobtrusive way to show protest, a number of Democratic lawmakers turned up with a collective fashion choice of pink, blue and yellow clothing.

Scores of female lawmakers, including Ms Pelosi, donned pink outfits, creating a show of unity and solidarity in a room otherwise dominated by blue and gray suits.

The colour choice was different but the aim was similar to Mr Trump’s 2019 State of the Union address, when Democratic women wore white to celebrate 100 years of women having the right to vote, projecting a picture of calm displeasure during the President’s remarks.

Many also wore scarves, striped ties, or lapel ribbons in the yellow and blue of the Ukrainian flag, as a sign of solidarity for a war-torn ally they consider the Trump administration to have betrayed.

The speech came just after Mr Trump had ordered a pause in American military aid to Kyiv, and the atmosphere was markedly different from Mr Biden’s March 2022 address to Congress, five days after the start of the Russian invasion.

That occasion marked a demonstration of unity from both sides of Congress, and both chambers, as Democrat and Republican alike rose at Mr Biden’s beckoning to offer solidarity with the Ukrainian people.

That unanimity is decidedly a thing of the past in the Washington of the “America First” movement, which has Mr Trump as its standard-bearer.

Egging them on

The No. 1 issue that helped get Mr Trump elected was inflation and the cost of basic goods like groceries. It was a subject the President was not eager to discuss during his address.

When he did, he kept the blame on former president Joe Biden’s administration while providing little detail on how he would bring down, for example, the cost of eggs.

“Joe Biden, especially, let the price of eggs get out of control,” Mr Trump said.

Egg prices are at an all-time high, but largely because bird flu outbreaks have led to shortages by wiping out millions of hens.

“Secretary, do a good job on that,” Mr Trump said, presumably to Ms Brooke Rollins, the new Secretary of Agriculture.

Mr Trump spent time discussing his actions on hot-button social issues, each of which earned him rousing applause from the Republicans in the chamber.

They included renaming the Gulf of Mexico and a mountain in Alaska, making English the official language of the country, ending government diversity programmes and preventing transgender girls and women from playing in female sports teams.

All of those were a result of Mr Trump’s executive orders and came at a stroke of his Sharpie. The price of eggs, that is harder.

High praise for Musk

Mr Trump did not have much to propose in terms of bringing down costs other than what he said during the election campaign – increased energy production and cutting what he called fraud and waste in the federal government, both of which may impact inflation indirectly over time.

He introduced Mr Musk as the spearhead of that effort to cheers in the room, crediting the tech billionaire with identifying “hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud”, an assertion that far exceeds what the administration has claimed so far.

“Thank you, Elon, he’s working very hard,” Mr Trump said, as Mr Musk stood up in the gallery to cheers from Republican lawmakers. “He didn’t need this,” Mr Trump added.

A few hours before Mr Trump’s arrival, a dozen protesters outside the US Capitol waved signs reading “Stand up to tyranny” and “Musk must go”. Mr Trump seemed to provide a direct retort during his speech, as he warned: “We’re just getting started.”

13-year-old boy named Secret Service agent

In an emotional moment during the speech, Mr Trump named a young man with brain cancer a Secret Service agent, drawing applause from the crowd.

Speaking on law and order, Mr Trump said he signed an executive order which would make the death penalty mandatory for anyone who murders a police officer, and asked Congress to pass tougher laws for repeat criminal offenders.

He then looked at a young audience member – 13-year-old DJ Daniel – whom he said has “always dreamed of becoming a police officer”.

In 2018, Daniel was diagnosed with brain cancer and was told then that he would have only five months to live.

“We’re going to do you the biggest honour of them all”, Mr Trump said to him. “I am asking our Secret Service director Sean Curran to officially make you an agent of the United States Secret Service.”

Daniel, who appeared to be in shock, was met with hugs from those around him.

Mr Curran was famously pictured by Mr Trump’s side the day

he was shot in Butler, Pennsylvania,

on July 13, 2024.

Woke no more

Since retaking office, Mr Trump has moved to remove affirmative action and diversity, equity and inclusion programmes from federal hiring practices that he said have prevented applicants from getting the jobs based on merit and skill.

He also spoke about his ban on transgender athletes in women’s sports, and efforts to get the “woke ideology” out of schools and the military.

“Wokeness is trouble. Wokeness is bad. Wokeness is gone,” he said.

Greenland: We’ll get it

Mr Trump doubled down on his controversial vow to acquire Greenland from Denmark by “one way or another”.

He pledged to the autonomous Danish territory’s population that “we will keep you safe”.

“We need it really for international world security – and I think we’re going to get it. One way or the other we’re going to get it,” said Mr Trump .

“Together, we will take Greenland to heights like you have never thought possible before.”

He also promised that the US would be “taking back” the Panama Canal.

Ukraine is ready for talks

World leaders were watching Mr Trump’s speech closely, a day after he paused all military aid to Ukraine.

The suspension followed an Oval Office blow-up in which Mr Trump and his deputy J.D. Vance angrily upbraided Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in front of TV cameras.

In his speech, Mr Trump said he received a letter from Mr Zelensky saying Ukraine was prepared to sign a rare earth minerals deal that had been left in limbo after their clash.

Quoting the letter, Mr Trump said: “The letter reads, ‘Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer. Nobody wants peace more than the Ukrainians.’”

He added: “Simultaneously, we’ve had serious discussions with Russia and have received strong signals that they are ready for peace... Wouldn’t that be beautiful?”

The pause in aid threatened Kyiv’s efforts to defend against Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion three years ago, and further rattled European leaders who were worried that Mr Trump is moving the US too far towards Moscow.

‘Nobody’s heard of Lesotho’

The US President, defending his sweeping aid cuts, mocked tiny Lesotho as a country “nobody has ever heard of”.

He highlighted the landlocked African constitutional monarchy as he gave a long list of past US aid projects.

“Eight million dollars to promote LGBTQI+ in the African nation of Lesotho,” Mr Trump said, struggling with the pronunciation.

“Which nobody has ever heard of,” he added, as Republican lawmakers laughed while Vice-President Vance and House Speaker Johnson grinned behind him.

Lesotho has one of the highest rates in the world of HIV/Aids, which the US has sought to address by providing medication and other social support, including raising awareness among sexual minorities who face stigma.

The US has committed more than US$630 million (S$834 million) since 2006 to anti-HIV/Aids efforts in Lesotho, according to the US embassy there.

The Trump administration on returning to office has cancelled more than 90 per cent of US foreign assistance, saying it is not in the US interest and that the money would better go to tax cuts.

Mr Trump in his first term showed little interest in Africa, notoriously being quoted as using an epithet to describe immigrants from the continent. REUTERS, AFP