President Donald Trump took three shots within 24 hours at congratulating his nation on its 25th anniversary. The first speech, late in the evening of July 3 at Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota, was an attack aimed at “communists,” immigrants, and liberal Democrats, in which the immigrants were closely associated with the “communist menace.” The President described that menace this way: “As we approach this magnificent anniversary, we see our American identity under a renewed attack. A generation after we fought and won the Cold War against the menace of communism, there is now a resurgence of the communist menace in our land, including from newcomers to our country who embrace ideas totally opposed to our way of life and our great success.”
In a letter to Americans published by the New York Post July 4, the President took a far more moderate tone, beginning by celebrating America for constantly “winning,” and telling the story of the defeat of British regular troops by Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island militiamen in the Battles of Lexington and Concord.
Trump then spoke on the National Mall at 11:00 p.m. July 4, a speech delayed both by extreme heat and thunderstorms, which at one point caused police to clear the Mall and tell early-arriving crowds to take shelter in public buildings.
In this speech the President reportedly mixed inflated declarations of American exceptionalism ("For two and a half centuries our American Republic has stood as the crowning achievement of human history. And we’re doing better now than we’ve ever done before.") with flags and honors to distinguished veterans—but also recurred to his new myth, that “communism” is menacing America in the form of opponents to his administration, of any kind. He demanded Congress pass the SAVE Act to restrict mail-in and other voting.