President Trump marked the 250th birthday of the United States Saturday night with a speech paying tribute to the “glory” of America while vowing to protect it from the “cancer” of communism.
“For 250 years, the United States of America has been the hope, the promise, the light, and the glory among all of the nations of the world, all over the world. They tried to be like us. Nobody can be like us,” Trump said to a cheering crowd of more than 150,000 people on the National Mall who braved a thunderstorm-forced evacuation to hear the president speak in the 11 p.m. hour.
Amid boasts of the country’s triumphs — highlighted by the recognition of Medal of Honor winners, the presentation of American flags from important military battles, and the astronauts of Artemis II appearing on stage — Trump warned about the looming threat of the far left.
It was one of the most inspiring, informative presentations I've ever seen,
However, on the other side of the tracks, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, sitting at George Washington's desk, blasted America for all that is supposedly wrong with her. With us.
Be informed, not misled.
President Trump said, "Our warriors did not fight communism on battlefields across the world, only to have that menace rear its ugly head right back here in America. We’re not going to let it happen."
“All these talks from the communists, they haven’t got a chance,” he claimed in response to candidates backed by the Democratic Socialists of America triumphing in several Democratic primaries this cycle.
“We don’t want communists in our country,” he added. “Never worked, and it never will work.”
“We like to stop a threat like that immediately,” he said, describing communism as “like a cancer. You got to cut it out, you got to cut it out fast.”
“Unlike so many others in the world, in this country we have freedom of speech, freedom of religion, equal justice under the law. Although I wasn’t treated that well, but we won’t get into that,” Trump said.
The big delay
The president started his speech one hour and 45 minutes late after severe weather forced organizers to evacuate the Mall shortly after 7 p.m. Many sought shelter in nearby federal buildings and rushed to make it back through security in time to hear the president, who joked that he would have given his speech at 4 a.m. if even just one person had returned.
“One of my very brilliant people backstage said, ‘Don’t worry about it, sir, we can do it maybe next week,'” Trump joked. “I said, ‘It doesn’t work next week.’ This is the big day. We want July 4. We’re not looking for July something else.”
Over 150,000 people of the original 250,000 returned following the lightning storm and rain.
Some spectators refused to leave, booing as the organizers announced the evacuation. Those who did leave faced a mad rush to get back into the secure area, with people pushing to get through the magnetometers while chanting “U-S-A, open the gates.”
Later in the evening, when the storm had passed, and people had returned to the venue, the President told them:
“That show tonight, you heard it was over. And what happened? You came back,” Trump observed. “And this American flag still waves, proud and free and beautiful. We have thrived and flourished because our founders were great. Our cause was just. Our people are brave. Our culture is exceptional. And our destiny is written by God."
“One out of every 100 Americans gave their lives in the fight for independence,” he reflected while noting the flags “remind us of who these heroes were and what they gave us.”
The president then recalled the heroism of William Carney, who escaped slavery to become a Union soldier in the 54th Massachusetts Infantry during the Civil War. Carney was participating in the 1863 assault on Fort Wagner, South Carolina, when his regiment’s color bearer was shot. Despite suffering multiple severe wounds, he kept the flag raised. When he returned to Union lines, Carney famously stated, “The old flag never touched the ground!” Carney became the first African American to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Likewise, the flag that draped over the casket of Abraham Lincoln in Philadelphia’s Independence Hall was displayed before Saturday’s crowd.
Trump then recalled a story of a mother and daughter in Nazi-occupied Belgium stitching together a homemade American flag as a plea for liberation in 1944. On the day they were freed, they gifted the flag to an American soldier whose grandfather was the famous Francis Scott Key, author of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” the U.S. National anthem. Present decades later to salute the flag was the next generation of the Key family, including Major Kyle Key, an Army veteran of 23 years.
George Washington's desk.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani decried capitalism and the US’ involvement in foreign wars during an address marking America’s 250th anniversary Friday — while sitting at George Washington’s desk.
If you look very closely at the desk, you will notice that Mamdani is actually sitting on the wrong side of Washington's desk.
He began his speech by advocating against the original intent of our Founding Fathers and common sense.
The speech argued America was exceptional because “nothing is fixed into place,” as fulfilling the values of freedom enshrined in the Declaration of Independence remains a work in progress.
So-called Progressivism, or socialism, which is actually communism, has no "fixed" values. No fixed truth. Truth to the Leftist is always changing, being twisted to move culture one way or the other for the Leftist advantage.
The Left is always trying to rewrite our founding documents to advance their socialist-communist agenda.
Redistribution of wealth
The mayor took several veiled swipes at Trump, his hardline immigration crackdown, and his wealthy peers.
“We see masked agents terrorizing our streets, eating food cooked by our undocumented neighbors before spiriting them away in unmarked vans,” he said. “We see a nation whose immense wealth has been built by those with calloused, dirt-streaked hands … a nation that has allowed so much of that wealth to be held in the soft hands of a precious few.”
Screeds against the wealthy were arguably undercut by his use of George Washington’s desk — which Mamdani’s press team volunteered was older than the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office.
Historians generally consider Washington, a slaveowner with vast inherited wealth and landholdings, to have been one of the richest men in the colonies. His peak net worth stood at roughly $700 million adjusted for inflation, making him the third-wealthiest president behind Trump and John F. Kennedy, according to one analysis.
Takeaway
President Trump concluded with an optimistic vision of the future, proclaiming that “at 250 years, we may be the oldest constitutional republic on earth, but our country is just getting started, because the best is yet to come.”
“This is only the dawn of the Golden Age of America, and on this 250th 4th of July, we declare, just as they did two and a half centuries ago, that for our country, for our children, for the cause of liberty, we are going to take our country to new levels, to levels not reached."
“We’re going to make it bigger, better, stronger, and we’re going to love it even more. And I just want to thank you … and I want to thank everybody, and we love you all, and it’s an honor to be your president.”
Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Engaged. Be Bold. Be Prayerful.