During the next thirty minutes, the inspiring and optimistic address Americans had been promised to celebrate 250 years of this nation never came. Instead, Donald Trump delivered one of the most radical and dangerous speeches of either of his presidencies, declaring that the Democratic Party was made up of communists, promising that communists would be sent into exile, and outlining a plan that he said would ensure Republicans "will not lose an election for a hundred years."
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt had previewed the speech on Air Force One, telling reporters that the President was "set to give an inspiring, an optimistic address tonight at Mount Rushmore, where he will answer the age-old question, ’What does it mean to be an American?’" She promised it would "defend the ideas that make America the greatest country in the history of the world." It was supposed to be about all of us. About 250 years of collective promise. About the country we have built together and the promise we leave for the next 250 years.
Instead, what Trump delivered was a declaration of political war against half the nation. It was McCarthyism, resurrected in real time, on the eve of America’s birthday, beneath the carved faces of the very men who built a republic founded on the right to dissent. And it was not subtle. It was not coded. He said it out loud, word by word, and what he laid out is a plan to dismantle the United States of America as we have known it and rebuild it in his image.
Here is what he said. He didn’t begin with threats. Like every authoritarian movement before it, the speech did not begin with punishment. It began with belonging. Before the word "exile" ever left his mouth, he first defined who counted as a "real" American.
"The birth and survival of the American nation under God is quite simply the best and most incredible thing ever to happen on this planet by human hands ever," he said. "No other country has done more good for this world than the United States of America."
He is appeasing people who want to reshape our country in the name of God. He is setting up Christian nationalism, the idea that this is a nation that belongs to one faith, tradition, and one set of people. And he said "no country has done more good," as if every war he is alluding to was fought by Americans alone. He forgets, or he does not care, that we had allied forces standing beside us along the way. This is the same man who posted last night that NATO is "ridiculous" and "one sided." He takes credit for collective achievements while dismantling collective defense.
"Americans did not bow before a king or a government, but kneelled only before Almighty God," he continued.
And then he moved to culture. This is where the speech shifted from patriotic pageantry into something much darker, because he was no longer just celebrating America. He was defining who belongs in it.
"The identity of a nation is the destiny of a nation," he said. "Here, the old world sent its bravest, boldest, and most resilient, its fiercest, most faithful, and freedom loving. These men and women brought values, traditions, and customs transmitted over the centuries in Britain and stretching back even further to Athens, Jerusalem, and Rome."
Notice the places he names. Britain. Athens. Jerusalem. Rome. Now notice what he does not name. He does not mention Africa or the enslaved people. He does not mention Asia. He does not mention Central or South America. He does not mention the Indigenous nations that were here for thousands of years before any of those civilizations set foot on this continent. He is painting a picture of who built this country, and it is a picture that leaves out most of the people who actually did.
One of the most disgusting diatribes I have ever read.