What Trump was talking about before Congress: 5 main topics

US President Donald Trump delivered his State of the Union address to the US Congress.

Photo: video frame

The speech—including a standing ovation from Republicans—lasted one hour and twenty minutes. In approximately 5 thousand words, issues of domestic policy, including the economic bloc, and numerous external problems - including relations with Russia - were fit.

For the first time since taking office, Trump spoke to Congress, in one of the chambers of which the majority passed to opposition democrats.

Women members of the Democratic Party made their silent statement by coming to the hall in white clothes: this color is one of the symbols of the suffragette movement. In this way, they expressed their views on the Trump administration's handling of issues important to women, from health care to equal pay.

“The agenda that I will lay out is not Republican or Democratic. This is the agenda of the American people,” Trump said.

Russian service with the BBC chose five significant topics covered by the American president.

INF Treaty with Russia

Фото: Depositphotos

“We really don’t have a choice,” Trump said, once again outlining the US position on the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

Last week usa announced exit from the Treaty signed in 1987 between the USSR and the USA. Russia responded by also announcing the suspension of participation in the treaty. “Our response will be mirrored,” President Putin said then, adding that “all proposals, as before, in this area remain on the table.”

In his address to Congress, Trump reiterated that the United States followed every letter of the Treaty, while Russia consistently violated the provisions of the INF Treaty.

“Perhaps we can negotiate a different agreement by including China and others. Probably no. In this case, we will surpass them both in terms of spending and innovation,” Trump promised.

The reaction of the Chinese side he mentioned to the suspension of the Treaty was previously unambiguous: the Chinese Foreign Ministry called on Washington to resolve differences through dialogue and return to the fulfillment of the terms of the treaty.

International politics: Syria, Afghanistan and North Korea

As expected, Trump announced the date for the second US-DPRK summit. The American leader will meet with Kim Jong Un 27-28 February in Vietnam.

The first ever meeting of the leaders of the two countries Took place in June 2018. In a joint statement made following the summit, North Korea announced its fundamental readiness to strive for denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula (the parties interpret this goal differently - Pyongyang insists on the withdrawal of American nuclear forces from South Korea). The United States responded by promising Pyongyang security guarantees.

Photo: facebook.com/WhiteHouse

Speaking to Congress on Tuesday, Trump said: "I believe that if I had not been elected president, we would now be at war with North Korea." The president added that he now has “good relations” with Kim Jong-un.

At the same time, Trump did not indicate in which particular Vietnamese city he would talk with the head of North Korea — the most likely candidate cities are sources of CNN and the New York Times called Hanoi and Da Nang.

Speaking about the state of affairs in the Middle East, Trump also confirmed his intention to withdraw US troops from Syria and Afghanistan: “It’s time to say welcome home to our brave warriors.” This time, Trump decided not to repeat previous statements that ISIS forces had been completely defeated, but noted that more than 20 miles of Syrian and Iraqi territory had been liberated from their influence. These data were previously confirmed by US Central Command spokesman Joseph Votel.

At the same time, many experts on the Middle East continue to insist: ISIS in Syria is still strong, the terrorist group continues to take responsibility for numerous explosions and attacks in the region.

Trump also believes that the time has come to withdraw the US military from Afghanistan. In his opinion, their presence in this country should replace the peace talks on a political settlement of the situation.

It is noteworthy that several hours before Trump’s statement in Moscow, negotiations between representatives of the Taliban movement and key government figures in Afghanistan were completed. One of the initiators of the talks was the Russian government. According to observers of CNN and BBC, Moscow is doing everything possible to get the role of the United States, who took an active part in the political life of the country and have fought the Taliban in Afghanistan since the beginning of the 2000-s. Shortly before the talks in Moscow, the United States supported the Taliban’s initiative to create a representation of this Islamist organization in the Qatari capital Doha and, on its basis, to create a platform for peace talks.

"Outrageous Investigations"

Photo: video frame

“There can be no peace and law when there is war and investigation,” Trump said in the first half of his speech. And although he did not name specific names or details, the American media immediately noted that we were talking about Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 American elections and possible ties to it by Trump and his circle.

In addition, several committees of the House of Representatives, where Democrats are now setting the agenda, are gradually deploying their own parallel investigations into various aspects of Trump and his administration.

In December, lawyer Michael Cohen, recently close to the president, was sentenced to prison. He pleaded guilty to financial fraud and bank frauds, as well as violating election laws: Cohen paid two women who had declared their close relationship with the then future US president, and did not declare these payments as a contribution to the electoral fund.

Trump’s words reminded American journalists of the famous statement of the 37th US President Richard Nixon, also made during an address to Congress, in order to divert attention from the scandal: “I believe that the time has come to put an end to this investigation. […] One year of Watergate is enough.”

Venezuela

In an address to the congress, Trump again expressed support for the Venezuelan opposition.

“We stand with the people of Venezuela in their noble quest for freedom, and we condemn the brutality of the Maduro regime, whose socialist policies have taken this nation from the richest in South America to a state of abject poverty and despair,” Trump said.

Photo: screenshot from official Twitter

This statement was made by the American president against the background of the ongoing protests in Venezuela. So, last Saturday, both Nicolas Maduro’s supporters and his opponents, who supported Juan Guaydo, who came to the fore in the Venezuelan parliament, dominated by the opposition, declared acting as president, took to the streets. Soon after this, Trump recognized Guaido as head of state.

In this issue, the United States seriously disagree with Russia: President Putin expressed support for Maduro.

Trump Wall

Фото: Depositphotos

Much of Trump's speech focused on illegal immigration, allowing him to return to the thorny issue of building a wall on the southern border. He reiterated that he intends to push for construction on the border with Mexico “to stop illegal migration from Latin American countries.”

In his speech, Trump said millions of migrants live in the United States, respecting and abiding by American laws and enriching American society. He added that he favors increasing the number of legal migrants: “But they must do so legally,” the president said, adding: “For the love of our citizens [...] I ask you to protect our insecure southern border.”

#SOTUhttps://t.co/kL6SoClx4K

- Donald J. Trump (@ realDonaldTrump) February 6, 2019

What else did trump talk about

The White House administration is going to launch special programs to combat childhood cancer and the AIDS epidemic. How exactly they will work is still unclear. Trump also promised that he was going to propose a program to the Legislative Assembly, as a result of which prescription drugs could become cheaper, writes “Voice of America«.

The head of the White House demanded to ban abortions in late pregnancy;

Trump has pledged a new trade agreement with Mexico that will replace the North American free trade agreement;

He recalled the withdrawal from the Iran nuclear agreement and the introduction of the “most stringent sanctions” against Tehran;

He proposed a “mirror” bill regarding trade tariffs in relation to other countries - the administration proposes to charge US partners the same taxes as those that America pays for the export of its products;

He recalled the recognition by the White House of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and the Holocaust and the shooting of believers in the synagogue of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Why congress did not want to listen to Trump in January

It was originally planned that Donald Trump will speak at the 29 congress in January, but in mid-January, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, member of the Democratic Party Nancy Pelosi asked the President to transfer the appeal on another date or send it in writing. The reason is “security issues” due to shatdaun.

At the same time, some Democrats spoke out more harshly. For example, influential Congressman Hakeem Jeffries tweeted: “Person #1 [as Donald Trump is designated in the criminal case against his former lawyer Michael Cohen] will not be allowed to address Congress on the State of the Union until the government is restored. Welcome to life under the New Democratic Majority."

Only on January 25, Donald Trump suspended a record shutdown that lasted 35 days - the government was initially stopped due to Congress’ refusal to allocate funds for the construction of a wall on the border with Mexico.

What does the wall on the border with Mexico?

Tramp demanded to highlight 5,7 billion dollars for the wall construction project on the border with Mexico. This idea itself was contained in Trump's election promises, although he noted then that Mexico should undertake the construction costs, but she refused such an offer.

Democrats in Congress refuse to finance the construction of this wall, especially since the exact cost of such construction is still unknown.

George W. Bush has already tried to implement a similar project - with him a fence with a length of 650 miles (about 1000 kilometers) appeared. This construction cost the budget $7 billion.

The US Department of Homeland Security previously estimated the cost of constructing the “Trump Wall” at $25 billion.

According to a poll commissioned by ABC and the Washington Post, conducted at the height of the shutdown on January 9-11, only 42% of Americans more or less supported building a wall, but a year earlier this was even lower - only 34%.

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