Trump’s speech, which contained a number of falsehoods and which also saw him double down on his divisive agenda, was the longest presidential speech to lawmakers on record.
Senator Bernie Sanders couldn’t bring himself to listen to President Trump’s first address to Congress after his election win, walking out half way through.
After a tumultuous first six weeks in office, in which Trump has alienated allies, imposing tariffs, cosying up to Putin and attacked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the Republican spoke to a joint session of Congress setting out his vision for his second term.
Trump’s speech, which contained a number of falsehoods and which also saw him double down on his divisive agenda, was the longest presidential speech to lawmakers on record.
Trump made a number of claims about the economy, social security and foreign assistance that have already been fact-checked and proven to be false.
At one point, he claimed to have inherited “an economic catastrophe and an inflation nightmare” from the Biden administration. The reality is that when Biden left office in January, inflation had fallen sharply from its peak in June 2022, and real gross domestic product consistently exceeded expectations in 2023 and 2024.
One senator decided enough was enough and decide to walk out of Trump’s speech halfway through.
Bernie Sanders of Vermont simply told reporters: “My speech is going to be better.”
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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