Trump hails American exceptionalism, rails at 'communism' in Mount Rushmore speech
On the eve of Independence Day, US President Donald Trump at Mount Rushmore urged Americans to protect freedoms against what he called a 'communist' threat from progressive Democrats, also targeting immigrants.
US President Donald Trump spoke on Friday, July 3, at the Mount Rushmore monument in South Dakota on the eve of Independence Day, calling on Americans to protect the freedoms envisioned by the nation's founders 250 years ago against what he portrayed as the 'communist' threat posed by progressive Democrats.
Trump cited a 'resurgence of the communist menace' in the country, including from 'newcomers' who he said embrace ideas totally opposed to the American way of life. His language evoked the Red Scare of the 1950s, when alleged communists were persecuted and blacklisted across America.
The president had been making similar points about gains by democratic socialists for a week, but delivered his most pointed argument on Friday. This comes as Americans grapple with persistent inflation and high gas prices since the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Republican lawmakers, increasingly uneasy that the conflict could cost the party control of at least one chamber of Congress in November's midterm elections, have seized on a recent string of successes by left-wing Democratic candidates.
'Four progressive candidates, including three democratic socialists, won competitive Democratic primaries in New York City last week and in Colorado on Tuesday,' the source states. Progressive candidates have also won contests in Kentucky, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas. Trump last week called their victories 'the greatest threat to our country since its founding.'
At one point on Friday, Trump said newcomers need to be expelled. 'We resolve and swear for all to hear that the citizens of the United States of America will vanquish communism quickly ... We will send them quickly away, and we will continue to build our country bigger and better, stronger than ever before. America will never be a communist country!' Trump said, before seguing to the midterms. 'We can only lose the midterms if we allow ourselves to lose the midterms.'
On Saturday, Trump was scheduled to address a crowd on the National Mall in Washington ahead of a massive fireworks show, amid a searing heat wave that has disrupted Fourth of July celebrations across a large swath of the country. At Mount Rushmore, the temperature was a cool 18 degrees Celsius.
