Nia-Malika Henderson, Columnist

A Speech Long on Gloating, Short on Plans

Presidents typically use addresses to Congress to lay out a policy agenda. Donald Trump mostly ripped into his predecessor and trolled Democrats.

March 5, 2025 at 10:00 AM UTC

By Nia-Malika Henderson

Nia-Malika Henderson is a politics and policy columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. A former senior political reporter for CNN and the Washington Post, she has covered politics and campaigns for almost two decades.

Channeling his inner talk-show host.
Photographer: Win McNamee/AFP/Getty Images

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It was one of the most contentious speeches given to Congress by an American president, lots of sizzle but little substance. For an hour and 40 minutes Tuesday night, President Donald Trump ripped his predecessor, gloated about his electoral victory and dared Democrats to do anything other than sit through his joint address to a bitterly divided Congress.

Mostly, Democrats sat, though some walked out and Texas Representative Al Green was tossed for challenging Trump’s claim of a sweeping electoral mandate. Republicans cheered as Trump conjured up his own reality, often based on faulty polls. The spectacle mirrored the country, which is also starkly divided along partisan lines, with Democrats unsure of the way forward and Republicans largely in lockstep with Trump.