“Our nation has returned. Stronger, better, richer and more powerful than before.” Donald Trump opened the State of the Union address with those words, the first of his second term as President of the United States. “In less than five months our country will celebrate the 250th anniversary of our glorious American independence. You haven’t seen anything yet; we will only get better: this is America’s golden age,” he said. “After just one year” of this term, “I can say with dignity and pride that we have delivered a transformation like never before. We will never go back to where we were. America has never been so respected.” Democratic Representative Al Green was removed from the chamber after displaying a sign reading ‘Black people are not monkeys’, an apparent reference to a video Trump recently shared depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as monkeys.

Early in the address, Trump highlighted what he described as progress on illegal immigration: “For months there has not been a single crossing at the border.” He then outlined the effects of his economic policies. “We were a dead country, now we are the fittest country. Inflation has fallen, gasoline prices have dropped. We have secured $18 trillion in foreign investment. Thousands of new businesses are forming, oil production has increased and we have just received from Venezuela, our new partner, more than 80 million barrels,” the president said, also drawing attention to a “huge tax cut.”

Amid repeated applause, Trump claimed record employment results: “100% of the jobs created under my administration are in the private sector.” “We’re winning too much…,” he quipped, and, “speaking of victories,” paid tribute to the national hockey team, fresh from their triumph at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics and present for the address. “They beat a fantastic team from Canada. They won, as did the women’s team, which will soon visit the White House.”