The New York Times headlined Trump’s Mount Rushmore speech as a “Divisive Culture War Message.” They write: “Down in the polls and failing to control a raging pandemic, the president cast himself as waging battle against a `new far-left fascism’ that imperils American values and seeks to erase history…. His appearance amounted to a fiery reboot of his re-election effort, using the holiday and an official presidential address to mount a full-on culture war against a straw-man version of the left that he portrayed as inciting mayhem and moving the country toward totalitarianism…. Mr. Trump appears, by design or default, increasingly disconnected from the intense concern among Americans about the health crisis gripping the country. More than just a partisan rally, it underscored the extent to which Mr. Trump is appealing to a subset of Americans to carry him to a second term by changing the subject and appealing to fear and division.”
CNN is more of the same: “Trump Tries To Drag America Backward.” On this Fourth of July, they write, “when many Americans are wrestling with the racist misdeeds of the country’s heroes and confronting an unrelenting pandemic with surging cases, their commander-in-chief is attempting to drag America backward — stirring fear of cultural change while flouting the most basic scientific evidence about disease transmission. In a jaw-dropping speech that amounted to a culture war bonfire, President Donald Trump used the backdrop of Mount Rushmore Friday night to frame protesters as a nefarious left-wing mob that intends to ‘end America.’ Those opponents, he argued, are engaged in a ‘merciless campaign to wipe out our history, defame our heroes, erase our values, and indoctrinate our children.’” They add that Trump is playing to “the fears of a minority ... who view the rise of Black Lives Matter as a threat to the historical dominance of White people. He described the goals of protesters who are attempting to right the wrongs of history as `alien to our culture, and to our values.’”
