Today's Edition
WASHINGTON (AFP, REUTERS)
US President Donald Trump boasted Tuesday of a "turnaround for the ages" in his State of the Union speech, seeking to see off mounting challenges at home and abroad ahead of crucial midterm elections.
Trump painted a rosy picture of his achievements in his longest-ever speech to the US Congress and largely struck a measured tone. The speech was met with repeated standing ovations, but was notably short on actual policy announcements.
Regarding Iran, Trump said his "preference" was for a diplomatic solution.
The US President began what became a record-breaking one hour and 47 minute State of the Union by painting an optimistic picture, declaring America was "bigger, better, richer and stronger than ever before."
"Tonight, after just one year, I can say with dignity and pride that we have achieved a transformation like no one has ever seen before, and a turnaround for the ages," Trump said.
Trump meanwhile put dollars and cents at the heart of his speech, suggesting his aides, who have been pushing him for weeks to speak more about the economy, have prevailed for now. He offered a broad-based sweep of kitchen-table economic issues - housing, health care, utility bills, crime, retirement - but stopped short of acknowledging that many Americans are still struggling with the high cost of living, including food and house prices.
In Trump’s telling, inflation, mortgage rates and gas prices are falling, while the stock market, oil production and foreign direct investment are booming along with construction and factory jobs.
The 79-year-old hopes the primetime speech, broadcast across all major networks, will help him to sell that message to voters after a deeply divisive first year back in power.
Trump sought to seize on national enthusiasm over Team USA's gold medal winning Olympic ice hockey performance by inviting the players to join him in the Chamber to massive cheers and chants of "USA!" He then announced he was awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom -- the country's highest civilian honor -- to the team's goalie.
And he handed Medals of Honor -- the highest military award -- to a helicopter pilot wounded in January's attack to topple Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and also to a 100-year-old Korean War veteran.
Trump left the door open for a peaceful resolution with Iran, noting that negotiations were continuing and said "my preference is to solve this problem through diplomacy."
He also boasted that Venezuela was now shipping oil to the United States after Washington ousted its leader.
At about the hour mark, Trump called on Congress to pass a law imposing additional ID requirements for Americans to vote.
Trump also briefly shook hands with several of the Supreme Court justices in attendance but went on in his speech to declare their striking down of his use of coercive trade tariffs against countries all over the world as "very unfortunate."
