Donald Trump declared “America is back” Tuesday in his first address to Congress since returning to power, touting his radical policies in the face of raucous Democratic hostility while proclaiming a breakthrough on Ukraine. In the longest presidential speech to lawmakers on record, the Republican repeatedly hailed billionaire advisor Elon Musk’s controversial assault on the federal bureaucracy and said his administration was “just getting started”. “The American Dream is unstoppable,” said Trump in a speech lasting over one hour and 40 minutes, which beat Bill Clinton’s record for his State of the Union speech in 2000. Almost every line got loud applause from Republican Party members, including on two occasions when Trump singled out SpaceX and Tesla tycoon Musk, who stood up to salute Congress. But protests also began within minutes. One Democratic congressman, Al Green, was ejected because he refused to stop heckling Trump over healthcare programs, and shaking his walking stick at the president. Other Democrats silently held up placards including “False” and “Musk steals” and “That’s a lie!” And at one moment, numerous Democrats yelled “January 6!” at Trump, referring to his supporters’ violent attack on the Capitol in 2021 after he refused to concede his election loss. The 78-year-old president was undeterred, hailing his first six weeks and vowing to press on with his polarizing bid to reshape the US government and end the Ukraine war — whatever the cost. Trump reverted to his tried-and-tested reality TV instincts. At one point he called attention to a boy with brain cancer who — in front of Congress — was handed an official ID by the head of the Secret Service. But in what mostly sounded like a campaign speech rather than an address to the nation, Trump made no attempt to reach out to opponents and at times mocked them. To cheers of “USA” and “Trump, Trump, Trump”, he proclaimed that his culture war on diversity programs and transgender rights meant “our country will be woke no longer.” He claimed that he was trying to resolve an “economic catastrophe,” despite inheriting the strongest developed economy in the world from his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden. He defended his disruptive economic moves — even as the trade war he launched against Canada, China and Mexico is prompting jitters on world markets. “We have been ripped off for decades by nearly every country on earth,” Trump said. After a torrent of warnings that tariffs will badly hurt US exporters, including politically powerful farmers, he conceded they would bring “a little disturbance.” And after enumerating a series of murders committed by migrants, Trump got big applause when he vowed to “wage war” on Mexican drug cartels. Well before he had finished, dozens of Democrats had already walked out. Trump is pushing to extend presidential power to its limits, with the popular vote behind him and a Republican-controlled House and Senate doing his bidding. Aided by Musk, Trump has cracked down on the federal bureaucracy, firing thousands of workers, shuttering entire agencies and decimating foreign aid. “The days of rule by unelected bureaucrats are over,” Trump said. But there are early signs in the polls that Trump’s sweeping cuts and his failure to tackle inflation are hitting his popularity. Trump is also upending US foreign policy with his pivot to Moscow over the Ukraine war, which has stunned Kyiv and allies alike. Days after a televised row in the Oval Office with Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump said Ukraine’s leader had told him he was now ready for talks with Russia and a US minerals deal. “I received an important letter from President Zelensky of Ukraine. The letter reads (that) Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer,” Trump said. Trump also doubled down on his controversial vows on “taking back” the Panama Canal and getting Greenland from Denmark by “one way or another.” Democrats have so far struggled to counter Trump’s flood-the-zone strategy and his hogging of the news cycle with constant press conferences. On the Democrats’ rebuttal speech, Senator Elissa Slotkin aimed her sober address at middleclass Americans, calling Trump and Musk “reckless” at home and giving up on “American leadership” abroad. Ukraine US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy has told him Kyiv was ready for talks with Russia and the finalization of a US minerals deal, days after the pair’s explosive White House meeting. The dramatic collapse of Kyiv and Washington’s wartime alliance has played out in the open since the televised dispute in the Oval Office last week, followed by Ukraine’s top ally suspending crucial military aid. Zelenskyy has since sought to bring Trump back onside, posting on social media that their clash was “regrettable” and he wanted “to make things right”. In his address to US Congress later on Tuesday, Trump read aloud from a letter he said he recently received from Zelenskyy, which matched the social media statement. “The letter reads, ’Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer. Nobody wants peace more than the Ukrainians,” Trump told US lawmakers in his first address since returning to office. “We do really value how much America has done to help Ukraine maintain its sovereignty and independence.’” Addressing Congress, Trump added that, “regarding the agreement on minerals and security, Ukraine is ready to sign it at any time that is convenient for you.” Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, has meanwhile offered to host Russia-Ukraine peace talks. “Tell Trump that I expect him here with Putin and Zelenskyy,” Lukashenko proposed to the three leaders in a video interview with US blogger Mario Nawfal, reported by state news agency Belta on Wednesday. “We are going to sit down and calmly make an accord,” said Lukashenko, adding there had to be a deal with Zelenskyy “since a large part of Ukrainian society is with him”. Green Land President Donald Trump urged Greenland to choose to join the United States but vowed to take the Danish-ruled island “one way or the other” — a bid Denmark swiftly rejected on Wednesday. “That won’t happen,” Danish Defence Minister Trouls Lund Poulsen told public broadcaster DR. “The direction that Greenland wants to take will be decided by Greenlanders,” Lund Poulsen said. In a partisan speech to Congress on Tuesday, Trump offered only passing lines on world affairs, focusing on his domestic goals like rounding up undocumented immigrants and slashing government spending. But he underlined his expansionist vision of the United States, as he repeated his aspirations to take Greenland and claimed an initial victory on retaking control of the Panama Canal. One week before general elections in Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark with an independence movement, Trump said he had a message for the “incredible people” of the sparsely populated but mineral-rich and strategically-placed island. “We strongly support your right to determine your own future, and if you choose, we welcome you into the United States of America,” Trump said. But he made clear he would not give up if persuasion fails, saying: “One way or the other we’re going to get it.” “We will keep you safe, we will make you rich, and together, we will take Greenland to heights like you have never thought possible before.” China and Russia have been stepping up activity in the Arctic as climate change opens further sea routes. Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen called for cool heads to prevail. “I think everyone, including us, should be cautious about having all kinds of opinions about the future” of Greenland, he told Danish television TV2. US threats to take Greenland would once have been thinkable, with Denmark a treaty ally of the United States under NATO. But Trump has made clear he has little patience for European allies, which he again denounced for not spending more on their militaries, with Trump instead seeing a return to an era of big powers taking what they want. He has similarly vowed to take back the Panama Canal, the crucial link between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans that the United States handed to Panama at the end of 1999. Trump declared triumph after Hong Kong firm CK Hutchison decided to sell its Panama ports to a US-led consortium. Drug Cartels US President Donald Trump vowed Tuesday to “wage war” on Mexico’s drug cartels, which he accused of rape and murder as well as “posing a grave threat” to national security. “The cartels are waging war on America, and it’s time for America to wage war on the cartels, which we are doing,” he told Congress in his first address since returning to power. The warning came hours after Trump slapped 25 percent tariffs on Mexico and Canada, citing a lack of progress in stemming the flow of drugs such as fentanyl into the United States. Cracking down on gang members and undocumented immigrants is a key priority for the Trump administration, which designated several Latin American cartels as foreign terrorist organizations last month. “The territory to the immediate south of our border is now dominated entirely by criminal cartels that murder, rape, torture and exercise total control,” Trump told the joint session of Congress. “They have total control over a whole nation, posing a grave threat to our national security.” Faced with mounting pressure from Trump, Mexico extradited 29 alleged drug traffickers to the United States last week. Lesotho US President Donald Trump speaks during an address to a joint session of Congress at the US Capitol US President Donald Trump on Tuesday mocked tiny Lesotho as a country “nobody has ever heard of” as he defended his sweeping cuts in aid. Trump highlighted the landlocked African constitutional monarchy during an address to Congress as he gave a long list of past US aid projects. “Eight million dollars to promote LGBTQI+ in the African nation of Lesotho,” Trump said, struggling with the pronunciation. “Which nobody has ever heard of,” Trump added, as Republican lawmakers laughed and Vice President JD Vance and Speaker Mike Johnson grinned behind him. Lesotho has one of the highest rates in the world of HIV/AIDS, which the United States has sought to address by providing medication and other social support, including raising awareness among sexual minorities who face stigma. The United States has committed more than $630 million since 2006 to anti-HIV/AIDS efforts in Lesotho, according to the US embassy there. The United States last year also signed a $300 million deal to promote health and crop production in Lesotho through the Millennium Challenge Corporation, which awards US funding to developing countries that meet standards on democracy and good governance. The Trump administration on returning to office has cancelled more than 90 percent of US foreign assistance, saying it is not in the US interest and that the money would better go to tax cuts. Under the guidance of South African-born billionaire Elon Musk, Trump has effectively shut down the US Agency for International Development. Trump in his first term showed little interest in Africa, notoriously being quoted as using an epithet to describe immigrants from the continent.