Trump took the stage at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., around 11:15 p.m. Eastern Time on Saturday night after a severe thunderstorm warning and inclement weather earlier in the day cast doubt upon how and when Trump’s keynote address would be delivered.The president claimed 150,000 people still attended the event despite brief rain and lightning strikes in the afternoon that forced attendees at the America 250 celebration to evacuate and seek shelter in nearby federal buildings. Many subsequently left the National Mall, somewhat thinning the crowd for the speech and fireworks display.
Trump nonetheless declared the event a monumental success and called it “one of the most joyous and glorious milestones of all time.” The speech alternated between nonpartisan, patriotic themes and references to “communism,” a talking point that has become a rallying cry for the White House after several members of the Democratic Socialists of America won congressional races in New York and Colorado over the last two weeks.Trump brought up communism less than ten minutes into the speech in what appeared to be an improvised deviation from the pre-written remarks.“Americans will never let anyone take our freedom away,” Trump said. “And all these talks from the communists, they haven’t got a chance. We don’t want communists in our country. Never worked, and it never will work.”Trump’s sharpest rebuke of the political ideology came after honoring multiple military veterans who fought in World War II.“America will never be a communist country, won’t happen,” 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. We’d like to stop a threat like that immediately, and before it begins. Just like a cancer, you’ve got to cut it out, you’ve got to cut it out fast.”Saturday night’s speech came one day after New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani released a video on social media that sparked backlash from critics who said it painted an overly negative picture of the U.S. on the eve of its 250th birthday. Trump spoke that night in front of Mount Rushmore, where he warned there “is a resurgence of the Communist menace in our land.”US CELEBRATES ITS 250TH BIRTHDAY: PHOTOSThe president also used Saturday’s speech to urge passage of the SAVE Act, praise U.S. military operations in Iran, and tout his record on the Second Amendment. He also honored members of the Artemis II mission and said the U.S. would go to Mars one day.“Together, we are also reasserting the truth that American strength and power is not something to be ashamed of; it is something that we are very, very proud of,” Trump said. “This country has been the greatest force for peace and justice on Earth. In the last century, we defeated tyrants, demolished evil, and saved freedom again and again and again.”
