SOTU 2025 – Trump’s finest hour and Democrats’ worst

Last night, Donald Trump delivered what under any other circumstances, anyone would call a State of the Union (SOTU) address. But of course this is Trump’s first address to a joint session of Congress since his reelection. It is also his first such address since returning to office after a four year enforced absence. For that reason alone, everyone simply calls it an “address to a joint session.” Considering the attitude Democratic Members of the Senate and House displayed, that’s just as well. America has an unofficially divided legislature and even a divided judiciary. How these divisions will resolve, is in large part for the people to decide.

Run-up to SOTU 2025

Breathless commentators didn’t quite know what to expect of Trump or his speech last night (March 4, 2025). RealClearPolitics’ Philip Wegmann did anticipate one thing that came to pass: Trump setting a record for the longest such speech. But even he could not anticipate any concrete legislative proposal, other than quoting Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.), Speaker of the House, as predicting “fireworks.” Many other commentators speculated, many in great hope, that Trump would announced American withdrawal from NATO, or even the UN.

The Gateway Pundit thought the Democrats had planned to disrupt the proceedings with New Years Eve party-style “noisemakers.” Left-wing commentary site Axios said the same – and also suggested a “clash” between “traditionalists” and militants within the Democratic Party.Brian Glenn from Real America’s Voice made that apparent guess:

A large bag, like stuffed purses, if you will. What can be inside those purses? I don’t know, but we might hear them a little bit later during this speech. But you can certainly feel the excitement in the capital, in this area, as we get ready for President Trump’s first visit there, here on the House floor in DC.

Trump himself had dropped this clue on Truth Social:

TOMORROW NIGHT WILL BE BIG. I WILL TELL IT LIKE IT IS!

Doug Collins, Secretary of Veterans’ Affairs, did not attend. Trump named him the “designated survivor,” in case anyone attacked the Capitol last night. (No one did.)

At 9:00 p.m. EST last night, the program began. Promptly at 9:13 p.m. EST, the House Doorkeeper, according to tradition, intoned:

Mister Speaker, the President of the United States!

Donald Trump walked in, last to arrive, of course. A Democrat held up a sign reading “This is not normal.” A Republican snatched it and tossed it into the air. After about ten minutes of meet-and-greet, he took the lectern on the middle level as Speaker Johnson introduced him:

Ladies and gentlemen, I have the high privilege and distinct honor to introduce to you the President of the United States!

Shortly thereafter, President Trump began to speak.

America is back!

Donald Trump’s SOTU address began with a simple statement that should not have been provocative, but was:

America is back!

The White House released some excerpts shortly before the speech began; TGP published those as guests were arriving.

Speaker Johnson had predicted “fireworks,” and “fireworks” broke out almost at once. Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) saw fit to interrupt the speech. As Trump outlined a forty-one-percent increase in small-business optimism, Green launched into a diatribe both unhinged and indecipherable. Speaker Johnson took over at once:

Members are directed to uphold and maintain decorum in the House and to cease any further disruptions. That’s your warning.

Which Green did not heed, so Johnson reiterated:

Members are engaging in willful and continuing breach of the quorum, and the chair is prepared to direct the sergeant at arms to restore order to the joint session. Mr. Green, take your seat. Take your seat, sir. Take your seat.

Green did not “take [his] seat.” Not only that, but half the chamber seemed to be shouting at the other half. So Johnson said,

Finding that members continue to engage in willful and concerted disruption of proper decorum, the chair now directs the sergeant at arms to restore order. Remove this gentleman from the chamber!

Which the Sergeant-at-arms did, to a cacophony of catcalls.

The Sergeant-at-arms did not take down the ceremonial mace, symbol of the House’ authority, and “present” it to Rep. Green. He merely stood beside it as his men ushered Rep. Green out. Immediately afterward, Trump observed that nothing he could say would make Democrats happy.

I could find a cure to the most devastating disease, a disease that would wipe out entire nations or announce the answers to the greatest economy in history or the stoppage of crime to the lowest levels ever recorded. And these people sitting right here will not clap, will not stand, and certainly will not cheer for these astronomical achievements.

President Trump just got brutally honest about the Democrats: "I look at the Democrats in front of me, and I realize there is absolutely nothing I can say to make them happy or to make them stand or smile or applaud."

"I could find a cure to the most devastating disease, a… pic.twitter.com/3VoKX1nCbY— George (@BehizyTweets) March 5, 2025

This morning, Rep. Green explained what he was shouting about:

The President said he had a mandate, and I was making it clear to the President that he has no mandate to cut Medicaid. I have people who are very fearful. These are poor people, and they have only Medicaid in their lives when it comes to their health care. I want him to know that his budget calls for deep cuts in Medicaid. We need to save Medicaid, protect it.

We need to raise the cap on Social Security. There’s a possibility that it’s going to be hurt, and we have to protect Medicare. These are the safety net programs that people in my congressional district depend on. This President seems to care less about them and more about the number of people he can remove from the various programs that have been so helpful to so many.

Whether this was actually what Green said, is impossible to determine. In any case, any budget cuts probably are in administration, not benefits. And elimination of waste and fraud might be the only thing to save those programs.

In any case, Trump called on Democrats to work with him “for the good of the nation.” Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) looked furious, especially when Trump described his EO against men in women’s sports.

Other highlights and lowlights

Aside from that, The Gateway Pundit recorded these highlights – and lowlights. Trump declared an end to “weaponized government.” He then said to the Democrats, “How did that work out?”

Trump: "We have ended weaponized government where, as an example, a sitting president is allowed to viciously prosecute his political opponent, like me."

"How did that work out?" pic.twitter.com/2GjEl1iqnH— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) March 5, 2025

Several Democrats walked out of the chamber, not needing the Sergeant-at-arms (with or without the mace) to usher them out. They stripped off their jackets, revealing black T-shirts with the word RESIST, in bold white, on front and back. Many others carried disk-like signs on handholds, with messages like “Musk Steals,” “Save Medicaid,” or the word “FALSE.”

Democrats "resist" with homemade signs on popsicle sticks pic.twitter.com/qiGo2W96Gg— Silverloch (@SilverlochMedia) March 5, 2025

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) did not even attend.

Trump drew uproarious laughs describing the kind of wasteful line items Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has uncovered.

Thank you, Elon. You’re working really hard. He didn’t need this. Everybody appreciates it. Even this side appreciates it. Just listen to some of the appalling waste we have already identified.

$22 billion for housing & cars for illegal aliens

$45 million for DEI scholarships in Burma

$40 million for inclusion of sedentary migrants

$8 million to promote LGBTQ+ in Lesotho

$60 million for Afro-Colombian empowerment

$8 million for making mice transgender

$32 million for left-wing propaganda in Moldova

$10 million for male circumcision in Mozambique

$20 million for Arab Sesame Street

$1.9 billion for Stacey Abrams & decarbonization

$3.5 million for lavish fish monitoring

$1.5 million for voter confidence in Liberia

$14 million for social cohesion in Mali

$59 million for illegal alien hotel rooms

$250 thousand for vegan climate action in Zambia

$42 million for social change in Uganda

$14 million for public procurement in Serbia

$47 million for learning outcomes in Asia

$101 million for DEI at the Department of Education

By slashing all the fraud, waste, and theft, we can defeat inflation, bring down mortgage rates, lower car payments and grocery prices, protect our seniors, and put more money in the pockets of American families.

NEW: President Trump gives a hilarious shoutout to Elon Musk and DOGE, listing all the ridiculous waste of taxpayer dollars.

"Thank you, Elon. You're working really hard. He didn't need this. Everybody appreciates it. Even this side appreciates it. Just listen to some of the… pic.twitter.com/mxIvC59FTV— KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) March 5, 2025

Trump brought the house down again by saying what the government really needed to stop the border invasion:

All we really needed was a new President!

POTUS: The media and our friends in the Democratic Party kept saying we needed new legislation to secure the border.

But it turns out all we really needed was a new President! pic.twitter.com/EkQk65CrV7— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 5, 2025

Trump told the story of a 13-year-old neurological malignancy survivor who appeared in Secret Service uniform, with wallet ID. The Service made him an honorary member. And not one Democrat stood to honor this boy. Later, MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace reacted with unfathomable sarcasm:

I hope he has a long life as a law enforcement officer, but I hope he never has to defend the United States capitol against Donald Trump’s supporters. And if he does, I hope he isn’t one of the six who loses his life to suicide.

JUST IN: MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace politicizes young DJ’s moment at Trump’s speech, says she hopes he doesn’t k*ll himself because of something like Jan 6.

Holy sh*t

“I hope he has a long life as a law enforcement officer, but I hope he never has to defend the United States… pic.twitter.com/2wHSzECggL— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) March 5, 2025

Trump described the hundreds of billions of dollars sent to fund the war in Ukraine. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) stood up and clapped. Trump took notice:

You want to keep it going for another five years? Yeah, you would say— Pocahontas says, Yes.

Perhaps trying to appear undaunted, Sen. Warren clapped for twenty seconds more.

In closing, Trump promised a return to the greatness that produced things like the Golden Gate Bridge – or the Wright Brothers’ achievement.

SOTU 2025

Trump did set a record for the longest joint-session or SOTU speech a President ever gave – 100 minutes. By all accounts, no one described the night as boring.

Sen. Elise Slotkin (D-Mich.) delivered a ten-minute rebuttal. She filled her speech with Cold War-era rhetoric, which those of us who lived through that period recognize as hypocritical. Democrats today descend spiritually from Sen. George S. McGovern (D-S.D.), whose sympathies lay with Russia then. Or rather with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the most thoroughgoing experiment in planned economies and official featherbedding. But of course today’s Russian Federation is protective, not destructive, of family values.

CNAV noticed Speaker Johnson’s forbearance in not ordering the Sergeant-at-arms to “present the mace.” No House Sergeant-at-arms has “presented the mace” since the First World War. But on July 29, 1994, Rep. Carrie Meek (D-Fla.), then Speaker pro tempore, threatened Rep. Maxine Waters with presentation of the mace if she did not stop talking. Rep. Waters stopped. This time, the Sergeant-at-arms stood next to it, as if to say, “Don’t make me bring it over there.”

Donald Trump gave the best speech of his career so far. Democrats, through their lack of appreciation, show either unreasoning hate or actual, near-treasonable disloyalty. How this will play out is anyone’s guess. But the best by-phrase, as during the speech, might be “never a dull moment.”