Trumps Salute to America was unifying
Marc Thiessen
The Resistance warned us that if we elected an authoritarian such as Donald Trump, eventually there would be tanks in the streets of our nations capital. Well, on Thursday, their predictions finally came true. Im kidding, of course, but some on the left are not. Harvard Law professor Laurence H. Tribe tweeted a photo of tanks arriving in Washington for Trumps Salute to America and declared The resemblance to days before Tiananmen Square is chilling. At Tiananmen Square in Beijing in 1989, the Chinese regime broke up pro-democracy protests with tanks and troops in a military action that resulted in a still-uncertain number of deaths that is believed to range between several hundred and several thousand. Totally (in)comparable situation.
Of all the stupid freak-outs we have experienced since Trump was elected, the hyperventilation over his Fourth of July address and celebration on the Mall may be the stupidest.
His critics called his decision to insert himself into the Independence Day celebrations virtually unprecedented. Sorry, but Trump is not the first US president to give a major speech on the Fourth of July. Harry S. Truman once delivered an Independence Day address in front of the Washington monument.
President Donald Trump sang the praises of the US military and American heroes of the past two and a half centuries Thursday as he skirted politics in a rousing Independence Day speech in Washington.
What a great country, Trump exclaimed in an address saturated with patriotism and exceptionalism.
For Americans, nothing is impossible.
As combat aircraft, including the rarely seen B2 stealth bomber flew overhead, Trump scrolled through myriad events of US history, from groundbreaking inventions to battlefield victories, drawing cheers of USA! USA! from an enthusiastic rain-soaked audience of tens of thousands on the National Mall in Washington.
In front of a massive statue of a seated Abraham Lincoln, the heroic 19th century president, Trump used the traditionally politics-free holiday to deliver shoutouts to each arm of the military, as well as singling out first responders and the controversial Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agencies that have been criticized for their treatment of migrants.
But he disappointed critics who had warned that Trump, the first president in decades to make a keynote speech on the July 4 holiday, was hijacking the celebration to bolster his own political standing and attack Democratic rivals.
Instead, in a trickling rain, he repeatedly ascribed a singular greatness to the country, declaring it the most exceptional nation in the history of the world.
Today, we come together as one nation with this very special Salute to America. We celebrate our history, our people, and the heroes who proudly defend our flag the brave men and women of the United States military! he said.
Our nation is stronger today than it ever was before. It is its strongest now, he said.
Surrounded by the top officers of the Pentagon, and a panoply of invited Republican officials and VIP donors, the event allowed Trump to stake a strong claim to patriotic fervor 16 months ahead of a presidential election with polls showing his potential Democratic rivals holding a significant edge over him. Trump originally wanted a grand military parade for the holiday, ostensibly inspired by Frances rollout of its military might on its own national day. But instead, he got a scaled-back version, with some US armored vehicles parked for display and a flyover by the presidents own Air Force One jet, the B2 bomber, attack helicopters, and the Navys Blue Angels flying team. It was a military show that has been absent from the US capital for decades, and Trumps foes blasted it ahead of time as a show of militarism
Presidents Woodrow Wilson, John F. Kennedy, Gerald Ford, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush all gave Fourth of July addresses from Independence Hall in Philadelphia. And, in 1986, Ronald Reagan delivered a Fourth of July address from the deck of an aircraft carrier, the USS John F. Kennedy, strategically placed in front of the Statue of Liberty. Trumps address took this tradition to new heights on Thursday. Democrats complained before the speech that Trump was politicising the Fourth of July. He did nothing of the sort. In a speech reminiscent of his outstanding remarks last month at Normandy, Trump delivered a soaring presidential address a celebration of the greatness of our country.
As we gather this evening, in the joy of freedom, we remember that we all share a truly extraordinary heritage, Trump said. Together, we are part of one of the greatest stories ever told the story of America.
He went on tell that story from our struggle for independence, the fight to abolish slavery and secure womens suffrage and civil rights. He called out the many great Americans who defined our national character from the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman and Jackie Robinson.
The writer is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute
