THE
ACADIANA
ADVOCATE
T H E A C A D I A N A A D V O C AT E.C O M
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W e d n e s d ay, M a r c h 5, 2025
REIGN ON
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DESPITE WEATHER THREAT, REVELERS CELEBRATE MARDI GRAS
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By BEN CURTIS
President Donald Trump addresses a joint session of Congress at the Capitol in Washington on Tuesday.
Trump trumpets ‘swift and unrelenting’ action STAFF PHOTO By BRAD BOWIE
King Gabriel LXXXVI, John Albert Guilliot, waves to his subjects as King Gabriel’s Parade rolls on a windy Fat Tuesday.
President updates Congress on his turbulent first few weeks in office
BY ZEKE MILLER and MICHELLE L. PRICE Associated Press
STAFF PHOTOS By BRAD BOWIE
ABOVE: Queen Suzanne Simonne’ LXVII Hailey Rae Leonard waves to her subjects at the Lafayette Mardi Gras Festival Parade on Monday. LEFT: An attendee uses a large net to bring in the beads during the Lafayette Mardi Gras Festival Parade. RIGHT: Queen of Carnival, Evangeline LXXXVI Bella Elisabeth Cortez, waves to the crowd during Queen Evangeline’s Parade on Monday. BELOW: A rider taunts the crowd with throws at the King’s Parade on Tuesday.
STAFF PHOTO By BRAD KEMP
STAFF PHOTO By BRAD KEMP
A float rider gets ready to toss beads to the crowd during the Queen’s Parade as it rolls through downtown on Monday.
MARDI GRAS 2025 STAFF PHOTO By BRAD BOWIE
WEATHER HIGH 67 LOW 51 PAGE 6B
INSIDE, 1B
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump took credit for “swift and unrelenting action” in reorienting the nation’s economy, immigration and foreign policy Tuesday in an address to Congress and the American people about his turbulent first weeks in office, as Democratic legislators immediately registered their dissent with stone faces, placards calling out “lies” and one legislator’s ejection. Trump’s joint address to Congress was the latest marker in his takeover of the nation’s capital, where the Republicanled House and Senate have done little to restrain the president as he and his allies work to slash the size of the federal government and remake America’s place in the world. With a tight grip on his party, Trump has been emboldened after overcoming impeachments in his first term and criminal prosecutions in between his two administrations to take sweeping actions that have featured a dismantling of the federal government, tensions with America’s ä Louisiana allies and a trade war congressmen compounding economic invite guests uncertainty. to Trump “It has been nothing but swift and unrelenting ac- speech. tion,” Trump said of his PAGE 5A opening weeks in office. “The people elected me to do the job, and I am doing it.” Trump, who has billionaire adviser Elon Musk orchestrating his efforts to slash the size and scope of the federal government, said he is working to “reclaim democracy from this unaccountable bureaucracy” and threatened federal workers anew with firings if they resist his agenda. Musk, who was seated in the House gallery, received a pair of standing ovations from Republicans in the chamber, as Trump exaggerated and shared false claims about alleged government “abuse” uncovered by the Tesla and SpaceX founder and his team of disrupters. Trump repeated false claims that tens of millions of dead people over 100 years old are receiving Social Security payments, prompting some Democrats to shout, “Not true!” and “Those are lies!” Trump spoke at a critical juncture in his presidency, as voters who returned him to the White House on his promise to fix inflation are instead finding economic chaos. All the gains the S&P 500 have made
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100TH yEAR, NO. 248