Press Releases

Maine First District Congresswoman Chellie Pingree released the following statement tonight after President Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress:

What the American people heard tonight wasn’t some vision for a better future, or a common-sense plan to tackle our nation’s most pressing challenges, but a bizarre spectacle of lies, fearmongering, score-settling, and Orwellian-level propaganda from the President of the United States.

From parroting Russian talking points about the war in Ukraine, to his delusional belief that Elon Musk and DOGE are making our country stronger, to the repeated attacks on marginalized communities, the President’s rhetoric was self-serving, teeming with disinformation, and utterly failed to meet this critical moment in our nation’s history.

Economic anxiety is the highest it’s been in 25 years. The costs of basic necessities continue to rise. Now we’re in full-blown trade wars with our closest trading partners—disputes that will undoubtedly lead to higher prices, and even more stress for hardworking families. And a growing number of Americans are deeply concerned about this Administration’s destructive, illegal, and unconstitutional actions. For a vast majority of people, the President did nothing to ease these concerns. If anything, he only added to them.

My guest tonight, Seth Kroeck, is one of the many American farmers who has been directly impacted by the President’s illegal freeze on federal funds, which continues to have significant impacts on producers and rural communities. Tonight, President Trump claimed that he ‘loves the farmers.’ But rather than express any empathy about the challenges they are enduring—which he has caused—he said the tariffs he’s imposing will help farmers sell their products in the U.S. But farmers like Seth know this is nowhere close to the reality they’re now facing. Placing tariffs on our largest trading partners doesn’t give our farmers the certainty they need. Farmers need common sense and export markets, not trade wars.

Joint addresses to Congress give Presidents a unique opportunity to clearly lay out for Congress and for the American people that their policies are helping make our country better. To convey to the nation–and to the world–that the state of our Union is strong. President Trump utterly failed in his argument tonight.

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