US President Donald Trump's speech to a joint session of Congress in coming hours will act as an extension – and explanation – of the rapid change he's unleashed in just 44 days of his new term.
He will face his biggest audience on Tuesday evening (Wednesday lunch AEDT) yet as he pushes for congressional Republicans, who have narrow majorities, to turn his agenda into law – the outcome of which will go a long way toward shaping the success of his presidency.
Republicans have largely rallied around the president, but there have been early cracks in party unity over some of the administration's actions to cut government services and Trump's recent rhetoric toward Ukraine.
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Late Monday, Trump paused military aid to Ukraine, which is already raising concern among some Republicans even as many have praised Trump for last week's Oval Office showdown with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
On Tuesday, the Ukrainian leader said that the row with Trump "did not go the way it was supposed to," describing it as regrettable and noting that Ukraine is ready to negotiate.
Trump's speech is also coming on the same day as 25 per cent tariffs against Mexico and Canada went into effect, causing a volatile morning on the markets amid fears of a global trade war and raising alarm among some Republican senators about the impact on their states.
In response, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced retaliatory tariffs on some American goods.
"This is a very dumb thing to do," he said, in remarks he said were directed at Trump. "We two friends fighting is exactly what our opponents around the world want to see."
The White House announced Monday evening that "The Renewal of the American Dream" is the theme of the speech.
"Tomorrow night will be big," Trump wrote Monday on social media. "I will tell it like it is."
Here is what to watch during Trump's first address to Congress of his new administration:
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He'll try to deliver on his campaign pledges
After becoming the first Republican in two decades to win the popular vote, Trump now faces pressure to deliver on campaign promises, like lowering prices.
His party has full control of Congress, but given how fast political winds can shift in Washington, Trump's advisers have made speed their priority in pushing his agenda – targeting the two-year window before the 2026 mid-term elections.
Trump himself has taken a lesson from his first term – he's not waiting for the perfect moment to execute on his promises. Instead, he signs executive orders almost every day, sometimes deciding only in the minutes beforehand which to sign.
One Trump adviser said a goal of the president's speech would be connecting his flurry of early moves to the lives of average Americans. Trump will likely address his plan to lower prices, although the specific contours of his speech were still coming together on Monday.
Explaining rapid changes
Since taking office a second time, Trump has overseen a dramatic reshaping of the federal government, much of it at the hand of the Department of Government Efficiency and Elon Musk.
The world's richest man, who has emerged as one of the most visible and influential advisers to Trump, will be in the House chamber for the speech, a White House official told CNN, and will be held up as a leading example of the administration's swift action to change Washington.
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Entire agencies – which in a previous age would be sending their priorities to the White House for inclusion in the speech – have been gutted in the new Trump era. Tens of thousands of federal workers have lost their jobs.
Not all Republicans are fully on board. Some legislators have been bombarded with constituent phone calls and voters at town halls who are angry at the dramatic cuts to the federal government.
How much will he speak to foreign affairs?
Trump's speech will be heavily focused on his domestic agenda, an official told CNN, with Trump previewing his core policy proposals for the next four years.
Still, one of the main areas of interest is how the president uses the global stage to address the wars abroad, specifically between Russia and Ukraine – and how hard a line he takes against Ukraine after pausing aid.
Trump has discarded decades of American foreign policy orthodoxy, forging ahead in pursuit of new deals with countries such as Russia – while other allies such as Ukraine are left as collateral damage. Foreign ambassadors who customarily attend the address have been scrambling to explain the changes to their capitals.
It was only a year ago that Biden administration officials tried to get Olena Zelenska, the wife of Ukraine's president, to Washington as a guest at the 2024 State of the Union speech (she couldn't make it, citing scheduling conflicts). Trump's address comes four days after Trump castigated her husband in the Oval Office.
Trump said a day ahead of the speech that he would address the Ukraine situation.
"Well, I'll let you know. We're making a speech, you probably heard about it, tomorrow night, so I'll let you know tomorrow night," he said on Monday when asked if he thought the mineral deal with Ukraine was dead.
How Democrats respond
Back in 2020, Trump's rivals felt emboldened. After his address that year, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi could be seen on camera ripping up a copy of his speech.
An open question this year is how Democrats respond in the room. Party leaders are still scrambling to settle on a message and a plan for how to present a counterbalance to Trump, mindful of the drubbing that Democrats took in the November elections.
The party has tapped freshman Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan to deliver the formal rebuttal, an often thankless task that can still elevate a junior politician's profile. A former CIA analyst and member of the US House, Slotkin won Michigan last year at the same time that Trump carried the state.
Made-for-TV moments
Ever the television showman, Trump has long relied on an element of surprise for his primetime addresses to Congress.
While the president's speechwriting team has been working on multiple drafts, aides said that Trump has spent little time on the address – aside from a few theatrical moments that are intended to resonate with the audience on television and inside the House chamber.
Trump is expected to take a victory lap, touting his election win – something he argues delivered him a mandate to enact sweeping change, despite its relatively small margin – as well as lauding what one senior White House official referred to as the "successes and accomplishments" from his first six weeks in office.
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