Trump’s first speech to a Joint Session of Congress on Tuesday night was the first of his second administration and focused heavily on the issues that impact Pennsylvanians.
Trump’s first speech to a Joint Session of Congress on Tuesday evening touched on key Pennsylvania issues. The President began his address discussing increased border security under his administration, and his focus on limiting the flow of fentanyl coming into the country. The drug was responsible for 4,700 deaths of Pennsylvanians in 2023. Trump also mentioned the high costs of goods and services and specifically mentioned the previous administration for “letting the price of eggs get out of control.”
“Their policies drove up energy prices,” Trump said at one point that received raucous applause from Republicans and several interruptions from Democrats. “They pushed up the cost of groceries and drove the necessities of life out of reach for millions of Americans. I am fighting every day to reverse this damage and make America affordable again.” Many political experts think this was the deciding factor in Trump’s ability to flip the nation’s largest battleground state.
Pennsylvania Democrats objected to Trump’s celebrations of lowering prices, and released a preemptive fundraising email before Trump took the podium. “The Trump Administration has done ZERO things to lower prices for families,” they said. “Instead, they’re spending all of their time and all of our money on random nonsense, from targeting our nation’s transgender athletes, to going after pronouns, to propping up Elon Musk as a figurehead.”
Pennsylvania voters were largely split along party lines, according to CNN, in their reactions to the President’s speech. His comments – which ran a record length for a presidential address to Congress – received mostly positive reviews from those who voted for him in 2024. upporters applauded Trump for “taking back things that never should have gone away,” as one voter put it, but others criticized President Trump for taking several shots at Democrats in attendance.
Trump also celebrated the return of Butler, Pennsylvania native Marc Fogel, a history teacher that was initially sentenced to a 14-year prison sentence in Russia. Moscow acknowledged that Fogel was wrongfully detained upon his release in mid-February. Trump blamed the Biden Administration for the amount of time Fogel spent in Russian detention, and said the former president “barely lifted a finger to help him.” Trump invited Fogel’s family, including his 95-year-old mother, to the speech, where she was seated next to First Lady Melania Trump. While several Democrats stood to applaud Mr. Fogel as he pumped his fist to the crowd, the reaction was mostly split on party lines.
Butler, the site of the first attempt on Trump’s life back in July, was also referenced when the president paid tribute to Corey Comperatore, a firefighter who was in attendance and killed after he was struck by a stray bullet. Comperatore was shielding his wife and daughters, who were also in attendance.
