President Donald Trump, the consummate showman, is hyping his primetime address Tuesday to a joint session of Congress.
“TOMORROW NIGHT WILL BE BIG. I WILL TELL IT LIKE IT IS!” the president touted in a social media post on the eve of his first major speech to Congress since the start of his second presidential administration six weeks ago.
Trump has been moving at warp speed since returning to the White House on Jan. 20, and he is expected to use the closely watched address to tout his many accomplishments — some of which have been very controversial.
During his first six weeks back in office, Trump has signed a flurry of executive orders and actions — 82 as of Tuesday, according to a Fox News count. His moves not only fulfilled some of his major campaign trail promises, but also allowed the returning president to flex his executive muscles, quickly putting his stamp on the federal government and making major cuts to the federal workforce, dramatically altering U.S. foreign policy, implementing steep tariffs on the nation’s top trading partners and also settling some long-standing grievances.
TUNE IN: LIVE COVERAGE OF TRUMP’S ADDRESS TO CONGRESS TONIGHT ON FOX NEWS
The president will tout his domestic and international accomplishments, spotlight what the Trump administration has done for the economy, make a renewed push for Congress to pass additional border security funding and detail his plans for peace around the globe, according to details from the White House that were shared first with Fox News.
FIRST ON FOX: WHAT TRUMP WILL SAY IN HIS PRIMETIME SPEECH
The theme of the speech is “The Renewal of the American Dream.”
“The renewal of the American Dream is underway already. Look at all that President Trump has accomplished in his first month as president. He’s going to highlight some of those accomplishments,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said hours before the address in an appearance on Fox News’ “Fox and Friends.”
Here are five things to watch for when Trump speaks to Congress, the nation and the world.
Trump will deliver his address hours after his 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico — the nation’s neighbors and top trading partners — kicked in.
FORMER PRESIDENTIAL SPEECHWRITERS ON WHAT TRUMP NEEDS TO SPELL OUT IN HIS ADDRESS
The speech will likely offer him a platform to explain his controversial tariff moves, which have been widely panned by critics, and to outline how he will combat continued inflation.
Democrats and even some Republicans warn that the tariffs could further boost inflation and raise prices even higher. Additionally, Democrats argue that “Donald Trump has done nothing to lower costs for you.”
Inflation, which dogged former President Joe Biden for much of his four years in the White House, was a key issue that boosted Trump back to the presidency.
However, Trump has not talked much about inflation since returning to power, other than to blame Biden for continued high prices. He has acknowledged that consumers could feel “some pain” from his tariffs but has said they are necessary to help boost the nation’s manufacturing.
“IF COMPANIES MOVE TO THE UNITED STATES, THERE ARE NO TARIFFS!!!,” Trump wrote in a social media post hours ahead of his address.
Arguably the biggest attention-grabber during the opening weeks of Trump’s second administration has come from his recently created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Trump named Elon Musk — the world’s richest person and the chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX — to steer DOGE.
POLITICAL STRATEGISTS WEIGH IN ON WHAT TRUMP NEEDS TO DO IN HIS SPEECH
DOGE has swept through federal agencies since Trump was inaugurated, rooting out what the White House argues was billions in wasteful federal spending. It has also taken a meat cleaver to the federal workforce, resulting in a massive and controversial downsizing of employees. The moves by DOGE have triggered a slew of lawsuits in response.
Trump has defended and applauded the moves made by DOGE. While public opinion polling suggests that Americans approve of slashing government waste and shrinking a bloated bureaucracy, a growing number have a negative view of Musk and worry that he has too much power.
The speech gives Trump an opportunity to explain Musk’s mission with DOGE.
Trump is expected to detail his plan to end the war in Ukraine, which was triggered three years ago by Russia’s invasion of its neighbor.
The speech comes four days after last week’s verbal clash in the Oval Office between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trump and Vice President JD Vance. The tense meeting and Trump’s booting of the Ukrainians out of the White House, which put on hold a mineral resources deal between Washington and Kyiv, was seen as a key step toward reaching a deal to end the bloody war with Moscow.
However, on Tuesday, Zelenskyy said he was ready for peace negotiations after a “regrettable” meeting in the White House.
The speech gives Trump a platform to explain his diplomatic efforts and fend off criticism from Democrats and a handful of Republicans that he is reading out of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s playbook.
“He’s going to dive into foreign policy – talk about his intention to end the war in Ukraine,” Leavitt said in her “Fox and Friends” interview.
Trump told reporters on Monday that he would talk about the minerals deal in his address.
Border security has long been Trump’s signature issue and was a key element in his successful 2024 campaign to win back the presidency, and since returning to the White House, the president has cracked down on illegal immigration.
Trump suspended asylum efforts and launched a mass deportation program, but he and his administration want to speed up efforts, and he’ll use his speech to ask Congress for help.
Leavitt highlighted that Trump is “going to make an ask of Congress tonight: We need more border funding to continue these deportations.”
Which Donald Trump will show up in front of Congress; will it be a disciplined president who mostly sticks to his teleprompter, or will it be the freewheeling and unpredictable Trump who zigzags between topics and issues in what he likes to call “the weave?”
Will it be a bipartisan Trump who makes appeals for national unity, or a partisan president relitigating past grievances?
And how will lawmakers in the House chamber respond to the address?
Republicans are expected to enthusiastically applaud the politician who single-handedly transformed their party from a conservative bastion to a more populist, America First and MAGA-dominated party.
But what will Democrats do?
Primetime presidential addresses to Congress, once staid events, have become much more rowdy in the past decade and a half, starting with GOP Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina shouting “You lie!” at then-President Barack Obama during his 2009 address to Congress.
Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
