Donald Trump boasts of his 'extraordinary success' in his maiden State of the Union address to congress

David Gardner6 February 2019

President Donald Trump proudly boasted about the “incredible progress” and “extraordinary success” of his first year in office and declared his achievements had created a “new American moment” in his maiden State of the Union address to US Congress.

Forsaking the confrontational rhetoric that fuelled his rise to the White House, Mr Trump urged lawmakers to work together and insisted: “There has never been a better time to start living the American dream.’”

He claimed his administration was ‘building a safe, strong and proud America.’

There was none of the political attacks that fill the president’s Twitter feed. Instead, he said he was “extending an open hand” to Democrat lawmakers to work with him and his ruling Republicans “to seek out our common ground and to summon the unity we need to deliver for the people.”

Trump announced plans to keep Guantanamo Bay open during his speech
Getty Images

Notwithstanding his record low public approval levels and a deeply divided nation, the president was determined to strike an optimistic note in his first address to the joint chamber of Congress.

“To every citizen watching at home tonight, no matter where you have been, or where you come from, this is your time,” he said. “If you work hard, if you believe in yourself, if you believe in America, then you can dream anything, you can be anything, and together, we can achieve anything.”

While his prime-time speech was received rapturously by Republicans in Congress, many no doubt concerned about the Commander-in-Chief’s unpopularity to their own fate in a mid-term election year, Democrat lawmakers showed little enthusiasm for the new, softer Trump.

Melania Trump wore a cream-colored Christian Dior suit to the State of the Union address
Getty Images

At one point during the 90-minute speech, there were hisses of disapproval from the Democrat benches at his proposal to restrict the number of relatives immigrants can bring into America.

Mr Trump didn’t mention the probe into his campaign’s alleged ties to Russia that he has labelled in the past as a “Democratic witch hunt.” But he didn’t shy away from pushing his controversial immigration policies.

Donald Trump's first State of the Union address lasted an hour and 20 minutes
Getty Images

As well as his £20 billion border wall with Mexico, Mr Trump also wants to end international Green Card lotteries in favour of a more merit-based system.

In keeping with his message of inclusion, however, he added that he was “extending an open hand to work with members of both parties, Democrats and Republicans, to protect our citizens, of every background, colour, and creed.”

He also redoubled his recent pledge to offer a path to citizenship for 1.8 million young illegal immigrants, dubbed Dreamers, who were brought to America as children by their parents and feared deportation after he ended an Obama-era programme protecting their right to be in the US.

There were more scowls from Democrats when Mr Trump announced that he planned to reverse Barack Obama’s decision to shut down the Guantanamo Bay Cuban prison camp for terrorist captives.

He also claimed credit for repealing the “core of the disastrous Obamacare” even though the Republicans failure to replace the Obama administration’s milestone healthcare reforms were seen as a major legislative defeat for Mr Trump.

Members of the congressional black caucus staged a silent protest and wore colourful items of traditional clothing to make a stand against the president’s alleged recent description of some African countries as “s***holes.”

In one of his few pugnacious moments, Mr Trump alluded to his public spat with professional athletes who led protests against racial injustice by kneeling during the American national anthem, declaring that paying tribute to the flag is a “civic duty.”

Rather than follow tradition by setting out his policies for the next 12 months, Mr Trump listed his “successes” of the previous year, citing the 2.4 million jobs created during that time, the record low levels of unemployment and the larger pay packets Americans would be taking home as a result of his tax cuts.

“The era of economic surrender is totally over,” he said, harking back to a campaign theme that America wasn’t being bullish enough with its trading partners. He claimed his presidency had “turned the page on unfair trade deals.”

Wife Melania was in the chamber, as well as daughter Ivanka with her husband Jared Kushner and the president’s older sons Donald Jr. and Eric,

Mr Trump said: “We have faced challenges we expected, and others we could never have imagined. We have shared in the heights of victory and the pains of hardship.

“‘We have endured floods and fires and storms. But through it all, we have seen the beauty of America’s soul, and the steel in America’s spine.”

He called on Congress to “summon the unity” to help rebuild the nation’s crumbling infrastructure, although he didn’t detail how he planned to do it.

Joe Kennedy, a great-nephew of President John F Kennedy, delivered the Democratic rebuttal, describing the Trump presidency as “chaos.”

“Many have spent the past year anxious, angry, afraid,” he said. “Bullies may land a punch, they might leave a mark. But they have never, not once, in the history of our United States, managed to match the strength and spirit of a people united in defence of their future,” he added.

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