Washington, D.C., US – US President Donald Trump said he was working ‘to end the savage conflict in Ukraine’.

He was addressing a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, six weeks after he returned to the White House. His record long speech celebrated his decisions, saying that ‘America is back’.

Trump said the US had sent hundreds of billions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine.

“You want to keep it going for another five years?” he asked, addressing Democrats in the gallery.

“Europe has sadly spent more money buying Russian oil and gas than they have spent on defending Ukraine,” Trump claimed.

He seemingly dismissed fears that US relations with European countries were increasingly becoming strained.

“We’re getting along very well with them and lots of good things are happening,” he said.

He said he had received a letter from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that indicated that Kyiv was willing to ‘come to the negotiating table’ to build a ‘lasting peace’.

Democracy ‘at risk’ under Trump

In a video recorded in response to Trump’s speech, Senator Elissa Slotkin of the Democratic Party took aim at Trump’s economic policies.

She accused him of giving an ‘unprecedented giveaway’ to the US’ billionaires.

Slotkin pointed out that Trump’s tariffs will increase prices, arguing that a ‘trade war’ would damage manufacturing and agriculture.

“For generations America has offered something better,” Slotkin said, referring to US democracy, which she warned is ‘at risk’.

“It’s at risk when the president can pick and choose which rules to follow, when he ignores court orders and the constitution itself, or when elected leaders stand by and just let it happen,” she said.

She called for the US to maintain its alliances in order to tackle global issues and criticised Trump’s public clash with Ukrainian President Zelensky in the Oval Office.

‘Building on’ Abraham Accords

Trump celebrated the signing of the Abraham Accords during his first term in office, calling it ‘one of the most groundbreaking peace agreements in generations’.

He said his administration would ‘build on that foundation’ to ‘create a more peaceful and prosperous future’ in the Middle East, which he described as a ‘rough neighbourhood’.

Trump said that ‘a lot of things are happening in the Middle East’, in an apparent reference to the conflict in Gaza and other conflicts.

Panama Canal and Greenland

Trump hailed his raft of decisions, vowing to take the Panama Canal and have Greenland ‘one way or another’.

“We didn’t give it to China, we gave it to Panama and we’re taking it back,” Trump said, vowing once again to retake the Panama Canal.

“We need Greenland for national security and even international security,” he said.

“And I think we’re going to get it. One way or another we’re going to get it,” he said, vowing to keep Greenland ‘safe’, telling Greenland ‘we’d welcome you in the US, if you choose’.

He said he supported the right of the people of Greenland to determine their own future.

As part of his national security policies, Trump announced that the US would create a new ‘office of shipbuilding’.

“We used to make so many ships,” he said.

Trump hails Musk’s DOGE

Trump then went on to address his latest creation, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

“We’ll be ending the flagrant waste of taxpayers dollars,” he pledged.

“Perhaps you’ve heard of it, perhaps,” he said, referring to DOGE.

He thanked Elon Musk, who saluted at him from the gallery.

He claimed that the measures had uncovered ‘hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud’ and that the administration had ‘taken back the money’ to fight inflation.

DW