2017 Donald Trump speech to a joint session of Congress
President Donald Trump addressing the Congress, with Vice President Mike Pence and House Speaker Paul Ryan .
View from the Executive Gallery of the House Chamber
Donald Trump , the 45th president of the United States , addressed a joint session of the United States Congress on February 28, 2017. It was his first public address before a joint session. Similar to a State of the Union Address , it was delivered before the 115th United States Congress in the Chamber of the House of Representatives in the United States Capitol .[ 6] Presiding over this joint session was the House speaker , Paul Ryan , accompanied by Mike Pence , the vice president in his capacity as the president of the Senate .
Reception
Fact-checkers noted that although Trump's speech to Congress had "fewer untrue statements than many of his remarks",[ 7] the address nevertheless included numerous false and misleading statements on a variety of issues, including the federal budget, immigration and crime , immigration and the economy , welfare, and the job impact of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access Pipelines .[ 7] [ 8] [ 9] [ 10] [ 11] [ 12]
The speech[ 13] was considered more optimistic, conciliatory[ 14] and politically conventional[ 12] and "presidential"[ 15] [ 16] than Trump's typically populist manner of speaking, at a time in which he was receiving historically low approval ratings.[ 15] [ 17] President Trump’s approval rating was 53% on February 24, 2017, according to Rasmussen Reports - Presidential Daily Poll.[citation needed ]
Speech
President Trump announced the creation of the Office of Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement (VOICE) in the United States Department of Homeland Security .[ 18] [ 19]
Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin was the designated survivor and did not attend the address in order to maintain a continuity of government . He was sequestered at a secret secure location for the duration of the event.
Democratic responses
For the Democratic Party , former Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear provided the response; activist Astrid Silva of Nevada offered another response for the party in Spanish.[ 20] Beshear spoke at a diner in Lexington, Kentucky .[ 21] [ 22]
Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont (an independent who caucuses with the Democrats in the Senate) responded to the speech in a 14-minute video posted to Facebook, in which he criticized Trump for failing to make any mention of income inequality , criminal justice reform , or climate change .[ 23] Sanders also stated: "President Trump once again made it clear he plans on working with Republicans in Congress who want to repeal the Affordable Care Act , throw 20 million Americans off of health insurance, privatize Medicare , make massive cuts in Medicaid, raise the cost of prescription drugs to seniors, eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood , while at the same time, he wants to give another massive tax break to the wealthiest Americans."[ 23]
According to the Democratic think-tank Center for American Progress , Trump made 51 false or manipulative statements during his speech.[ 24]
Viewership
Trump's speech was aired live on 11 broadcast and cable news networks, and viewed on TV by an estimated 47.7 million people in the United States.[ 25] [ 26]
Total cable and network viewers [ 27]
Network
Viewers
FNC
10,765,000
NBC
9,144,000
CBS
7,156,000
ABC
6,065,000
CNN
3,944,000
Fox
3,076,000
MSNBC
2,683,000
Broadcast networks
Cable news networks
See also
References
^ The New York Times (February 28, 2017). "President Trump's Address to the Joint Congress (Full Speech)" . Retrieved May 10, 2017 – via YouTube.
^ NBC News (February 28, 2017). "President Donald Trump's 2017 Joint Address To Congress: Full Speech" . Retrieved May 10, 2017 – via YouTube.
^ PBS NewsHour (February 28, 2017). "Watch President Trump's full address to a joint session of Congress" . Retrieved May 10, 2017 – via YouTube.
^ "Full speech: Trump delivers first address to Congress" . CNN. February 28, 2017. Retrieved May 10, 2017 – via YouTube.
^ CNBC (March 1, 2017). "President Donald J. Trump's Address To A Joint Session Of Congress (Full Speech)" . Retrieved May 10, 2017 – via YouTube.
^ "Trump to address a joint session of Congress on Feb. 28" . The Washington Post . Retrieved January 25, 2017 .
^ a b True: Trump's speech included several false or misleading statements , Los Angeles Times (March 1, 2017).
^ Glenn Kessler & Michelle Ye Hee, Fact-checking President Trump's address to Congress , Washington Post (February 28, 2017).
^ CBS This Morning (March 1, 2017). "How California voters reacted to President Trump's Congress address" . Retrieved May 10, 2017 – via YouTube.
^ USA Today (March 1, 2017). "Fact-checking Trump's first address to Congress" . Retrieved May 10, 2017 – via YouTube.
^ The New York Times (March 1, 2017). "Analysis: President Donald Trump's Address to Congress" . Retrieved May 10, 2017 – via YouTube.
^ a b CBS News (February 28, 2017). "Breaking down President Trump's address to Congress" . Retrieved May 10, 2017 – via YouTube.
^ "Donald Trump's Congress speech (full text)" . CNN . March 2017. Retrieved May 10, 2017 .
^ Davis, Julie Hirschfeld; Shear, Michael D.; Baker, Peter (February 28, 2017). "Trump, in Optimistic Address, Asks Congress to End 'Trivial Fights' " . The New York Times . Retrieved March 1, 2017 .
^ a b Thrush, Glenn (March 1, 2017). "5 Key Takeaways From President Trump's Speech" . The New York Times . Retrieved March 1, 2017 .
^ Smith, Alexander; Hanrahan, Mark (March 1, 2017). "Speech hailed as Trump's most presidential moment was "all him": Pence" . NBC News . Retrieved March 1, 2017 .
^ Smith, Lizette Alvarez, Jess Bidgood, Mitch; Tavernise, Sabrina (March 1, 2017). " 'Today, He Acted Like a Politician': Voters' Reactions to Trump's Speech" . The New York Times . Retrieved March 1, 2017 . {{cite news }}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link )
^ Griffin, Andrew (March 1, 2017). "Donald Trump creates Voice agency to publish list of crimes by immigrants" . The Independent . Archived from the original on May 1, 2022. Retrieved March 1, 2017 .
^ "Presidential address: Trump calms tone in first speech to Congress – as it happened" . Guardian . February 28, 2017. Retrieved March 1, 2017 .
^ "Democrats Pick Ex-Kentucky Governor To Respond To Trump Speech To Congress" . NPR . February 24, 2017. Retrieved February 25, 2017 .
^ Steve Beshear's full rebuttal to Trump's joint address (video), Washington Post (March 1, 2017).
^ Cheryl Truman, Eatery gains world attention hosting Beshear's reply to Trump speech , Lexington Herald-Tribune (March 1, 2017).
^ a b Jaclyn Reiss, Bernie Sanders rails against Trump after speech Archived March 23, 2019, at the Wayback Machine , Boston Globe (March 1, 2017).
^ "Trump's Speech to Congress Contained Dozens of Lies, Falsehoods, Inaccurate, or Misleading Statements" . thenewcivilrightsmovement.com . March 2017. Retrieved May 10, 2017 .
^ Ariens, Chris (March 1, 2017). "Pres. Trump's Address to Congress Watched By 47.7 Million on TV" . adweek.com .
^ "Nearly 48 Million Americans Watch Pres. Donald Trump's First Address to Congress" . www.nielsen.com . March 1, 2017. Archived from the original on April 26, 2019. Retrieved January 31, 2018 .
^ Edelman, Adam (March 1, 2018). "Trump's address to joint session of Congress clocks in at 9 million viewers shy of Obama's 2009 speech" . NYDailyNews. Retrieved February 3, 2018 .
External links
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Legend: Address to Joint Session
Written message
Written message with national radio address * Split into multiple parts
† Included a detailed written supplement
‡ Not officially a "State of the Union"Presidents William Henry Harrison (1841) and James Garfield (1881) died in office before delivering a State of the Union
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