Article snippet: March 5 to preserve protections for young immigrants living illegally in the U.S., both issues that have been stalled by partisan gridlock. The president used the 47-minute speech as a warm-up act for the 2018 midterm elections, even though the White House billed it as an official event, and not a political one, meaning taxpayers footed the bill. He took repeated shots at Democratic congressional leaders Rep. MORE, who is running for Senate in the fall. Trump also attacked Democratic incumbent Sen. MORE (Ohio) for voting against his tax overhaul, which the president said is bolstering the economy. "We had no Democrats. Nobody. Not one, including your other senator. He voted against it,” Trump said. “If they ever took over, your taxes would go way up and you would see some bad things happen.” A jobs report released Friday showed the economy adding 200,000 jobs in January. It also showed some wage growth, another data point suggesting a strengthening economy. But Trump’s speech came against a backdrop of a precipitous sell-off in U.S. stock markets. Cable networks showed the Dow Jones average plummet as Trump spoke. Losses were around 500 to 600 points down when Trump began his speech but was down more than 1,000 points when Fox News and CNN broke away to cover the market drop. The Dow was down nearly 1,500 points at 3:12 p.m., after enduring a previous fall last week. But in a sign of the volatility, it rose about 400 points minutes later. It closed down more than... Link to the full article to read more