WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump is expected to layout efforts to rapidly cut the size of the federal government in his joint speech to Congress Tuesday night, as critics veer over his authority and threaten lasting damage.
The speech comes as Trump is taking a rapid break from his previous administration, both internationally and domestically. On Friday, President Trump and Vice President JD Vance faced a fierce confrontation with Ukrainian President Voldymi Zelenkie in their oval office, shaking international relations and spurring concerns from critics that the White House is separating its Democratic allies and approaching Russia, an authoritarian by-product.
Tuesday’s speech – Trump’s first speech to Congress in a second term – gives him the opportunity to further justify reforms to lawmakers and the public, both at home and abroad, and to preview what comes next.
The president plans to use the address to promote what he considers as the administration’s first success, and also says the White House is hosting guests, according to guests who said they had benefited from Trump’s first term of office and senior White House officials.
The theme of Trump’s speech is “renewing America’s dreams,” said a senior administration official.
The president is likely to focus on immigration, new tariffs, and the Department of Government Efficiency efforts to fire federal workers and fire federal workers, as well as the administration’s efforts to eliminate federal diversity, equity and inclusion programs, a senior government official told NBC News last week.
According to White House officials, Elon Musk, who led Doge’s efforts despite not acting manager for the initiative, will be presenting in the speech.
“There will be many moments because of a lot of surprises and TV,” another executive official said.
In his last co-published speech, his 2020 union speech, Trump awarded right-wing talk show host Rush Limbaugh to the Medal of Freedom. (70-year-old Limbaugh passed away a year later.)
According to White House officials, Trump cannot travel the country to amplify his message a few days after the address, as typical for the president. Officials added that the president and his team believe he has achieved many of his agendas from the White House, and that they are used to explaining his message from his perch in an oval office.
“The priority is to make sure businesses are resolved here in the White House,” the official said, adding that post-address plans could change.
Instead, Vance travels outside Washington to highlight key points in the president’s speech, senior managers said. He will begin on Wednesday with a trip to the southern border, according to a spokesman for the vice president. Vance will tour the processing facility in Eagle Pass, Texas, and become the best Trump administration official to visit the border so far in Trump’s second term.
Vance played a key role in Friday’s militant meeting with Zelenkie. Zelensky is an unprecedented public conflict with US allies, later cheered by current and former Russian officials. The move was criticized by Democrats, and many Republicans have since doubled the administration’s criticism of Zelensky.
Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin brings a democratic response to the joint speech. The president’s opposition usually chooses someone to be considered as an ascending political star to lay out the party’s priorities and perspectives on the administration. Slotkin won Michigan’s competitive Open Senate seat in November, surpassing then-President Kamala Harris in a presidential bid.
Slotkin’s speech leaps towards the background of security as a former CIA analyst, according to sources familiar with her speech. The senator will also highlight a positive economic vision and discuss what Democrats will move forward, sources said.
Members of Congress usually invite guests to join presidential speeches to highlight specific issues.
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., asked the Democrat Caucus to bring guests “stricken by Trump administration policies,” according to a spokesman. The spokesman said Schumer plans to bring in two Medicaid recipients, a child with spinal muscular atrophy.
Trump’s national speech in 2020 reflects the campaign speech, halting his economic and migration records due to covid just a month before the country grounds. At the end of his remarks, house speaker Nancy Pelosi then tore a copy of the president’s speech.
