President Trump repeatedly attacked his predecessor, former President Biden, during his speech to Congress on Tuesday night, at one point calling him “the worst president in American history.”
Trump, who referenced Biden and his administration more than a dozen times in his speech, suggested Biden had an “open southern border” and said his administration inherited “an economic nightmare” from the Biden administration.
Trump touted that migrant crossings at the U.S. southern border are now down during his presidency, and said he was fighting “to reverse this damage” on the economy.
Towards the end of his remarks, Trump called out the chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal, which was one of the biggest bruises on Biden’s presidency. Trump announced the U.S. apprehended a terrorist he said was responsible for the bombing at Abbey Gate in Afghanistan that killed 13 U.S. service members and dozens of Afghan civilians.
“He is right now on his way here to face the swift sword of American justice,” Trump said, prompting applause in the chamber.
“Such incompetence was shown that when [Russian President Vladimir] Putin saw what happened he said, ‘guess this is my chance,’” he added, noting that he spoke recently with family members of the servicemembers who died in the bombing.
Since he returned to the White House in January, Trump has repeatedly talked about his predecessor. He mentioned Biden at various speeches and Oval Office appearances in the weeks before Tuesday’s joint address, blaming him for rising prices of some goods, particularly eggs, and calling him “a disaster” with “horrible” policies.
During the address, he called the Biden team “a failed administration” while introducing the family of Laken Riley in the chamber. Riley was killed roughly a year ago by a Venezuelan migrant and her murder became a rallying cry for Trump during the 2024 race.
“Joe Biden’s insane and very dangerous open border policies – they are now strongly embedded in our country but we are getting them out and getting them out fast,” Trump said, referring to migrants who entered the country illegally.
The president then mocked Biden and fellow Democrats for suggesting congress had to act to crack down on immigration.
“Our friends in the Democrat Party kept saying we needed new legislation,” Trump said. “We must have legislation to secure our border. But it turns out, all we really needed was a new president.”
And the president alluded to the 2024 race when he said that companies wouldn’t be investing in the U.S. if Vice President Harris had won in November.
Trump slammed the CHIPs and Science Act, which was one of Biden’s signature achievements that aimed to boost domestic semiconductor production and passed Congress with bipartisan support.
“Your CHIPs Act is a horrible, horrible thing,” he said. “You should get rid of the CHIPs Act and whatever’s left over, Mr. Speaker, you should use it to reduce debt or any other reason you want to.”
He also ripped Biden’s actions on the environment and energy, saying the former president’s environment restrictions “were making our country far less safe and totally unaffordable” and he mocked Biden’s “insane electric vehicle mandate.” The Biden administration aimed to have at least half of new vehicles sold in the country to be zero-emission cars by 2030.
Other jabs at Biden included Trump saying his predecessor gave too much help, without asking for anything in return, to Ukraine after Russia’s invasion and that he didn’t do enough to secure the release of Marc Fogel, who was released from Russian prison last month.
Trump also went after familiar Democratic foes, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), using his derogatory “Pocahontas” nickname for her during his speech.
