Trump begins address to Congress following his tumultuous first weeks in office

Washington, Mar 5 (AP) President Donald Trump has begun his address to Congress and the American people, laying out his plans for the months ahead.

Trump's dizzying first weeks in office have featured a dismantling of the federal government, tensions with America's allies and a trade war compounding economic uncertainty.

Here's the latest: Democrats invoke Trump's Jan. 6 pardons as he talks about law and order' Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas., first shouted “January 6th” as Trump recounted his plans for combatting crime throughout the country. At least a dozen Democrats joined in the repeated chant as Trump discussed the need to crack down on violent criminals.

Trump pardoned around 1,500 rioters who stormed the US Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, in a bid to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Trump's Democratic rivals are fundraising off his speech “HOLY COW!!!!!” reads the subject line of an email from former Vice President Kamala Harris seeking contributions to the Democratic National Committee.

Harris and the Democratic Party's prodigious fundraising operation raised more than $1 billion in their campaign against Trump. But the former vice president has continued to solicit contributions under the “Harris Fight Fund.” That's the post-election label for the “Harris Victory Fund,” a joint fundraising operation of Harris' campaign, the DNC and state Democratic parties.

Trump echoes campaign rhetoric with law and order' message “As we reclaim our sovereignty, we must also bring back law and order to our cities and towns," he said. "In recent years, our justice system has been turned upside down by Radical Left lunatics." Trump has long promoted a tough-on-crime agenda and sought to paint Democratic-led cities as besieged by violence, despite statistics showing a downward trend in violent crime after a spike during the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump's comments also echo his campaign trail rhetoric about the need for more aggressive policing. He suggested last year that “one rough hour” of law enforcement action would tamp down retail theft. He has also advocated for ensuring that officers “have immunity from prosecution.” Trump lauds his wife's work to criminalise revenge porn Trump praised his wife for lobbying for a bill that would make it a federal crime to post intimate imagery online, whether real or fake. He thanked the Senate for passing the measure.

The president called it a “terrible, terrible thing” to publish such images online. He then seemingly joked: “I'm going to use that bill for myself, too, if you don't mind.” Trump says tariffs make Americans rich, while economists say his taxes make people poorer “Tariffs are about making America rich again and making America great again," Trump said. "And it's happening. And it will happen rather quickly. There'll be a little disturbance, but we're okay with that. It won't be much.” Trump is banking on the idea that taxing imports is the road to riches for the United States. Most economists say Trump's tariffs would hurt the country, as they're tax increases that could raise the costs of goods in ways that could also harm economic growth. Trump suggests that the impact on inflation would be minimal.

When the Yale University Budget Lab looked at the tariffs that Trump imposed Tuesday on Canada, Mexico and China, it found that inflation would increase a full percentage point, growth would fall by half a percentage point and the average household would lose about $1,600 in disposable income.

Trump says agricultural products imported from abroad may be very dirty and disgusting' “Those goods that come in from other countries and companies, they're really, really in a bad position in so many different ways," Trump said. "They're uninspected. They may be very dirty and disgusting as they come in and they pour in and they hurt our American farmers.” Laying out more details on how he plans to stimulate the farming economy, Trump argued that increasing US tariffs on agriculture products from abroad would protect domestic producers at home while acknowledging, “It may be a little bit of an adjustment period.” But tariffs wouldn't necessarily stop farm products from coming aboard, only make them more expensive for US consumers.

Trump's immigration fast-track for rich immigrants Trump is touting a plan he announced on Feb. 26 to offer a “gold card” for prospective rich immigrants.

“For $5 million, we will allow the most successful job creating people from all over the world to buy a path to US citizenship," Trump said. "It's like the green card, but better and more sophisticated." The programme will replace an existing one offering US visas to investors who spend about $1 million on a company that employs at least 10 people.

Under Trump's plan, investors would have to pony up $5 million. They would have to pay taxes in the US, Trump said.

More than 100 countries around the world have something similar.

But some countries, including Spain and the US, have ended their programmes. Spain's programme was criticised for causing soaring housing prices, while there were security concerns over the UK programme.

Trump brags about gender policy “I signed an order making it the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female," he said.

Trump's order actually states that there are only two immutable sexes, and it was one of a series Trump has signed that target the rights of transgender people.

The orders paved the way for kicking transgender people out of the military, denying changes to the sex marker on passports and erasing any mention of transgender people from a website commemorating the Stonewall riot, among others. And they're facing legal challenges.

Two judges in the past week have kept on hold a policy to block federal funding for gender-affirming health care for transgender people under age 19.

Trump says Democrats will pay a price for opposing his tax cuts, but the record suggests otherwise Trump taunted Democrats for opposing his tax cut plans, which could cost anywhere from $5 trillion to $11 trillion over 10 years, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a fiscal watchdog.

“I'm sure you're going to vote for those tax cuts because otherwise I don't believe the people will ever vote you into office," he said.

Of course, Democrats know what happened after they opposed Trump's 2017 tax cuts, many of which are set to expire next year because they were funded through debt. There was no political penalty for opposing Trump's cuts that Democrats portrayed as favoring those with extreme wealth.

In the 2018 midterms, Democrats picked up a majority by gaining 40 seats, their strongest gain since the 1974 elections.

Trump says tariffs will help farmers, but farmers brace for uncertainty Trump said farmers need to “bear with me again” as he imposes tariffs.

“I love the farmer,” he said.

But the retaliatory action from other countries could hurt farmers' bottom lines by billions of dollars collectively if they remain in place long term, and consumers could quickly see that result in higher prices at the grocery store.

The exact toll is hard to predict at this stage. But tariffs make farmers uneasy about investing in expensive equipment.

“Farmers are very concerned,” said Steve Kuiper, a director at the Iowa Corn Growers Association.

Trump dismisses the African nation of Lesotho Trump said: “$8 million to promote LGBTQI+ in the African nation of Lesotho, which nobody has ever heard of.” Trump cited the funding as an example of government waste uncovered by his administration and the Department of Government Efficiency.

Trump's move to freeze foreign aid has significantly impacted a program that fights HIV in Lesotho, a poor nation in southern Africa. The program was started by Trump's Republican predecessor, former President George W. Bush.

Trump calls out woman injured by transgender athlete One of Trump's orders is intended to ban transgender athletes from participating in girls' and women's sports. At least 24 states have already passed similar laws and a federal version sputtered this week in the US Senate.

“From now on, schools will kick the men off the girls team or they will lose all federal funding," Trump said during his speech.

Like others, he portrays the order as a way to protect girls and women.

In the audience was Payton McNabb, a former North Carolina high school athlete who suffered a concussion and neck injury that ended her athletic career after a ball hit by a transgender athlete struck her in a 2022 match.

The president of the NCAA said last year he was aware of fewer than 10 active NCAA athletes who identified as transgender.

No checks for dead people Trump said: “Believe it or not, government databases list 4.7 million Social Security members from people aged 100 to 109 years old. It lists 3.6 million people from ages 110 to 119.” The databases may list those people, but that does not mean they are getting paid benefits, as Trump implied.

Social Security's acting administrator, Lee Dudek, said last month: “The reported data are people in our records with a Social Security number who do not have a date of death associated with their record. These individuals are not necessarily receiving benefits.” Part of the confusion comes from Social Security's software system, which is based on the COBOL programming language and has a lack of date type. This means that some entries with missing or incomplete birthdates will default to a reference point of more than 150 years ago.

Republicans cheer on Musk Multibillionaire Elon Musk stood at Trump's invocation of his Department of Government Efficiency.

The tech mogul waved as Republicans in the chamber cheered him. (AP) AMS AMS

Source: PTI