Trump celebrates the advancement of his ultra-right agenda in Congress: "This has just begun"

WashingtonThe shipment of migrants in Guantanamo, the persecution of trans people, the exit from the WHO or the dismantling of the US administration. Donald Trump has described the relentless actions and the deployment of the ultra agenda that he has carried out during his first month and a half in power as "the common sense revolution". "What I have just described is only a small fraction of the common sense revolution that is now, thanks to us, sweeping the entire world. Common sense has become a common theme, and we will never go back, never, ever allow this to happen," said the US president in his first speech in Congress on Tuesday.

In an intervention of more than an hour and forty minutes in the joint session of the two parliamentary chambers, the longest remembered in a joint session in the last 25 years, Trump has boasted of the chaos that has unleashed inside and outside Washington and has warned: "This has only just begun." The president has defended his commitment to tariffs, his turn in the war in Ukraine with the rapprochement with Russia, his expansionist ambitions regarding the Panama Canal and Greenland, and the decision to recruit Elon Musk for his government.

After his second in command, JD Vance, said that there is no freedom of expression in Europe, Trump has claimed that he has returned "freedom of expression" to the United States in the face of "censorship" woke. This Tuesday, hours before appearing before Congress, Trump threatened to cut off federal funding for universities that allow "illegal protests." In a post on Truth Social, he said that those students who protest "will be permanently expelled or, depending on the crime, arrested."

Purge against the opposition

"My administration will take back power from that unaccountable bureaucracy and we will restore true democracy to America. And any federal worker who resists this change will be removed from office immediately, because we are draining the swamp. The days of unelected bureaucrats are over," he said, directing the purge of the civil service.

Musk, who has also attended the Congress session as a guest of Trump, on this occasion did wear a suit and tie, instead of the characteristic black "Make America Great Again" cap and short-sleeved T-shirts. From the lectern, Trump has again praised his cuts at the head of DOGE to dismantle the American administration. "Thank you, Elon. He is working hard. He should not have done it [get involved in the government]. We appreciate it, even that side," Trump said, pointing to the Democratic bench in a clear gesture of mockery.

Trump's threat to terminate any federal worker who refuses to follow his orders is another step in the assault on the US democratic system. The label "bureaucrats" that the president has used is broad and also includes officials at the Department of Justice. In recent days, Trump's circle, especially Musk and Vice President JD Vance, have targeted judges who have blocked the tycoon's executive orders.

On several occasions, Musk has called for prosecutions to be openedimpeachment against the judges and in his recent interview on Fox he attacked the separation of powers: "If the will of the president is not implemented, we do not live in a democracy, but in a bureaucracy." Trump, who also adopted Musk's idea of creating a department to cut public spending, seems to have liked the phrase too and used it tonight. The courts have become the main line of defense against Trump's absolutist aspirations and his team is already creating a campaign to delegitimize them.

A congressman, expelled

Trump’s triumphal speech tonight bore more resemblance to the sheer bombast he displayed at the Republican convention than to that of a sitting president. The Republican caucus cheered the president’s every line, and that was if it weren’t for the opposition of the Democratic minority — including Congressman Al Green, who was ejected from the session for repeatedly calling Trump “no mandate to cut Medicaid” and then refusing to return to the Republican convention as a Trumpist.

Behind Trump, flanking him, sat Vance – who also presides over the Senate – and thespeaker House Speaker Mike Johnson. During the nearly two-hour speech, they have not stopped standing up and sitting down every time they applauded their leader's words. The image was also an inevitable reminder of how Trump, in addition to controlling the White House, also has Congress. Not to mention the conservative majority in the Supreme Court. A whole Trumpist show full of moments designed only to give spectacle, like when Trump officially named a 13-year-old brain cancer survivor as a secret service agent, to fulfill his great wish.

Trump has sold his fear campaign against migrants and the declaration of a state of emergency at the border, which has allowed him to deploy military personnel to support the border patrol, as a success. "They listened to my words and chose not to come, much easier this way," said the president, who claims that since he has been in the White House, the number of migrants crossing the border has decreased.

The reality is that the number of entries across the border had already begun to fall since June of last year, when former President Joe Biden approved an executive order that cut the right to asylum and accelerated deportations. Trump has asked congressmen to approve more federal funds to be able to advance his anti-immigration agenda "without delay."

Trump's speech before Congress coincided on the same day that the trade war against the United States began. Mexico and Canada with tariffs of 25% and 20% for China. "Tariffs are about making America rich again and making America great again, and it's happening, and it's going to happen pretty quickly. There will be a little disruption, but we're OK with that. It won't be much," Trump insisted. While the president doubled down on trade tariffs, hours earlier his Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick, told Fox that tariffs on Canada and Mexico could be reversed as of Wednesday.

Panama and Greenland

Expansionist ambitions regarding the Panama Canal and Greenland have once again made an appearance tonight. "My administration will reclaim the Panama Canal and we have already begun to do so," Trump said in reference to the announcement by the American investment fund BlackRock regarding the purchase of two ports on the Panama Canal. The agreement comes after Trump accused the Panamanian government of allowing China's influence. He repeated this idea in his speech. "We have hit China, we have hit Panama, we will take it back," the tycoon insisted.

Trump also sent a message to Greenland, which is currently an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. "We strongly support your right to determine your own future, and if you choose to do so, we welcome you to the United States of America. We need Greenland, for national security and even for international security, and we are working with all the stakeholders to try to get that, but we really need you to confirm that, 'we will get it.'"