Trump airs familiar grievances, charts MAGA plan in address before bitterly divided Congress

Sen. Elissa Slotkin delivered the Democratic response to Trump's address.

Last Updated: March 5, 2025, 12:09 AM EST

President Donald Trump addressed a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night, six weeks into his historic return to the White House.

During the speech, Trump said "America is back" and defended the tariffs on key U.S. trading partners. He touched on immigration and the mineral deal with Ukraine, but neglected to go into detail on his economic plan. The speech was also met with protests and disruptions from Democrats.

Mar 04, 2025, 9:55 PM EST

Trump claims 'gold card' for immigrants will be ready soon

Trump touted his "gold card" immigration plan, which would give citizenship status to foreign applicants who pay $5 million.

He claimed it will be available "soon."

"These people will have to pay tax in our country," he said.

Mar 04, 2025, 9:54 PM EST

There are two audiences tonight

I'm sitting in the House chamber right above Trump, and the split screen in front of me is remarkable. On the Republican side, the audience is sitting in rapt attention, laughing at Trump's jokes and encouraging him with applause. The energy on the Democratic side, meanwhile, is cold and often actively hostile, with several half-shouted cries of protest.

President Donald Trump speaks during an address to a joint session of Congress in the House Chamber of the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on March 4, 2025.
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

—Nathaniel Rakich, 538

Mar 04, 2025, 9:53 PM EST

Claim: Elon Musk found people in the Social Security system as old as 369

FACT CHECK: This is misleading.

Elon Musk shared a chart on X and said he found millions of people in a Social Security database over the age of 110, including 1 who was in the 360-369 age bracket.

The acting Social Security commissioner said that people older than 100 who do not have a date of death associated with their Social Security record “are not necessarily receiving benefits.” Recent Social Security Administration data shows that about 89,000 people aged 99 and older receive Social Security payments.

Government databases may classify someone as 150 years old for reasons peculiar to the complex Social Security database or because of missing data, but that doesn’t mean that millions of payments are delivered fraudulently to people with implausible ages.

— Aaron Sharockman, PolitiFact

Mar 04, 2025, 9:51 PM EST

Economic anxiety has been growing

Trump just promised to "reverse the damage" of the Biden economic agenda and "make America affordable again," and blames the former president for letting the prices of eggs "get out of control." But if that will take time to accomplish, political damage for Trump may set in first. Last month the University of Michigan released new data from its popular Index of Consumer Sentiment, which measures how optimistic Americans are feeling about the economy. The estimate was lower than any ICS score during the 2024 election.

—G. Elliott Morris, 538

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