House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who encouraged his fellow Democrats to attend President Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress on Tuesday, described the speech as “the most divisive” in American history after its conclusion.
Jeffries, D-N.Y., said the president “did not try to unite the country” nor did he address “serious economic challenges facing everyday Americans.”
“Instead, President Trump promoted the reckless Republican budget that sets up the largest cut to Medicaid in our country’s history. Democrats will continue to fight hard to make life better for the people, and together we will get through this turbulent moment,” the top House Democrat said in a statement.
Trump’s speech, which lasted about an hour and 39 minutes, addressed a range of topics, from his administration’s fight against the illegal immigrant crisis to more touching moments where the president honored special guests in the chamber.
In a post-speech interview, Jeffries accused Trump and his administration of “repeatedly” lying and making things about him and “never about the American people.”
“It’s always about him and never about the American people. This is why the economy is crashing. Things haven’t gotten better. They’re getting worse,” Jeffries said, adding that “the free world is falling apart because Donald Trump is playing footsie with Vladimir Putin.”
In his criticism, Jefferies heavily focused on Trump assuring Americans that funding for social security, Medicaid and Medicare will not be cut unless fraud or abuse is detected, describing those promises made by the president and the Republican Party as lies.
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“They’re going to go after Social Security benefits. I think that was clear after this speech. And we know that they are proposing the largest Medicaid cut in American history that’s going to hurt children, hurt families, hurt people with disabilities, shut down hospitals and close nursing homes,” Jeffries said, referencing proposed tax cuts.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has previously stated that Republicans are “not talking about in any way reducing benefits” for the programs Jeffries is concerned about.
“What we’re talking about is efficiencies in the programs to make them work better for the people who receive those benefits and to make them longer lasting to sustain the programs,” Johnson said.
The Democratic leader did not share any praise for the president’s speech, despite there being some moments that would seemingly be celebrated by all, such as swearing a 13-year-old cancer survivor in as an honorary Secret Service agent and telling a high school senior his application to West Point was accepted.
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Jeffries did not publicly comment on anything specific besides his concerns about potential cuts to government programs in his post-speech interview, but he did criticize the “Republican agenda” as a whole multiple times.
“What’s going to move this country back in the right direction is for the American people to fully understand the implications of this very divisive and extreme agenda that is being unleashed on the American people,” Jeffries said, in part.
