President Donald Trump delivered a defiant speech before a joint session of Congress last night, defending his first month and a half in office and outlining his vision for his second presidential term. The speech offered few concessions toward Democrats and made former President, Joe Biden, a scapegoat for much of what Trump claims are America’s problems. In this Q&A, Thomas Gift assesses the highlights from the speech and what it means for Trump’s agenda. 

How do you assess last night’s address to Congress by President Donald Trump?

Yesterday, President Trump delivered an address to a joint session of the US Congress laying out his plans for his second term in the White House. It was a combative, no-apologies speech — there’s no other way to spin it. Trump doubled down on every single policy: tariffs, deportations, DOGE, calling for a negotiated peace in Ukraine. We know that policy change during Trump’s first month and a half in office has come at a breakneck speed. This was the president trying to defend that unrelenting agenda. On domestic policy, Trump signaled that he’s going to continue to give Democrats whiplash. On foreign policy, Trump doubled down on his transactional, “America First” doctrine that emphasizes brokering deals by exerting US power. This is the “flood the zone” strategy of Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon, which throws out policy change at a rapid pace in the hopes that critics can’t keep up.

President Donald J. Trump, GlQBxkQWkAAn 7f, marked as public domain, more details on Wikimedia Commons

Trump made former President, Joe Biden, the focal point of many of his attacks. How effective is this strategy now that Biden is no longer in office?

Biden was the scapegoat that Trump couldn’t stop talking about. He blamed him for everything from high inflation, to a crisis at the US-Mexico border, to being weak on China, to “woke” policies that Trump says are dividing America. Trump seems to have conveniently forgotten his promise that, if he were elected, he’d turn around the country around on day one of his presidency. True to form, Trump sounded like he was giving a stump speech in New Hampshire before the primaries rather than delivering a presidential address before Congress. Of course, that’s Trump comfort zone. He’s never been one to give lofty, idealistic speeches. He’s never been one to try to elevate the level of discourse in politics. Instead, it’s all about grievance, and it’s all about shifting culpability. For Trump, Biden is the gift that keeps on giving.

Texas Representative Al Green was ejected from the chamber last night after yelling “you don’t have a mandate!’ to Trump. What was that about?

Democrats can say that Trump doesn’t have a mandate. It’s certainly true that the national popular vote was relatively close – Trump only beat former Vice President Kamala Harris by about 2.3 million votes. At the same time, Trump was the first Republican to win the popular vote in 20 years, and 89 percent of counties shifted to the right in 2024 compared to 2020, which is significant. Trump also secured a greater share of the Latino, Black, and youth vote than he did four years ago. If Democrats focus on the fact that this election wasn’t a landslide, rather than reassessing how they can better court working-class Americans, they risk repeating their mistakes in the 2026 midterms. To their credit, some Democrats have shown a willingness to rethink their strategies and move to the center, particularly on divisive cultural issues.

Were there any new developments on Trump’s hopes to strike a peace deal on Ukraine?

Trump seemed more open to restarting talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in last night’s speech. He reiterated his claim that “If you want to end wars, you have to talk to both sides,” referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Still, Trump also read aloud a message of gratitude from Zelensky, noting his appreciation. It remains to be seen whether Trump and Zelensky can overcome their considerable personal differences, compounded by what was a disastrous Oval Office meeting, that blew up a peace deal last week. Trump did confirm that Zelensky intends to sign a rare earths mineral deal with the US. That could act as a de facto security guarantee by giving the US vested interests in Ukraine going forward. Nonetheless, it’s clear that Zelensky wants more from both America and Europe on this front.

• This interview is based on comments Thomas Gift made on CNN’s “Newsroom” on 5 March 2025. 
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• Note: This article gives the views of the author, and not the position of USAPP – American Politics and Policy, nor the London School of Economics.