Trump’s angry words, virus darken US July 4th weekend
WASHINGTON: The United States marked an unusually somber Independence Day on Saturday, with President Donald Trump bashing domestic opponents and China – but praising the country’s coronavirus response, despite a record surge in cases.
Across the country, virus fears dampened or nixed Main Street parades, backyard barbecues and family reunions on a day when Americans typically celebrate their 1776 declaration of independence from Britain.
Instead of adopting a unifying tone, Trump – facing a tough reelection and eager to mobilize his political base – railed against protesters demanding racial justice after unarmed African American George Floyd was killed by a white police officer.
“We are now in the process of defeating the radical left, the Marxists, the anarchists, the agitators, the looters,” Trump said.
Anti-racism protesters who have marched in cities across America are “not interested in justice or healing. Their goal is demolition,” he said.
Speaking from the White House lawn, Trump addressed a crowd that included frontline health workers battling Covid-19, which has killed nearly 130,000 Americans.
He accused China – where the outbreak originated – of a coverup that allowed the illness to race across the globe, but hailed American “scientific brilliance.”
“We’ll likely have a therapeutic and or vaccine solution long before the end of the year,” he said. Some of the US leader’s sharpest words were for the media, which he accused of a campaign to smear opponents as racists.
“The more you lie, the more you slander, the more you try to demean and divide, the more we will work hard to tell the truth and we will win,” Trump said .
Trump’s divisive address came as popular beaches on both coasts – normally packed on July 4th – were closed as California and Florida suffer alarming surges in Covid-19 infections. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti warned citizens to “assume everyone around you is infectious.”
Florida on Saturday marked a new daily high in confirmed virus cases at 11,458 – far more than any other state.
Miami Beach imposed a curfew and made mask-wearing mandatory in public, yet some Florida beaches remained open.
Health officials have been bracing for a new spike in virus cases after this weekend, which they see as a potential tipping point for more infections.
The US virus death toll is fast approaching 130,000, roughly one-quarter the world’s total.
Fireworks displays are typically a high point of the holiday, but an estimated 80 per cent of the events have been cancelled this year.
We are now in the process of defeating the radical left, the Marxists, the anarchists, the agitators, the looters. Donald Trump
WASHINGTON: Demonstrators chanting ‘ Black Lives Matter’ exchange words with activists waving pro-Trump signs outside a fortified White House: America’s Independence Day was marked in Washington on Saturday by confrontation and disunity.
As it struggles to contain the coronavirus and reckons with waves of protesters demanding racial justice, the United States is deeply polarized, with the gulf seemingly insurmountable on a day usually marking patriotism and unity.
The one thing people outside the White House — surrounded by an imposing police cordon — and on the nearby National Mall seemed to be able to agree on was that this was not where they wanted America be.
“We should be celebrating our unity, diversity, liberty, we shouldn’t be looking at each other as enemies ready to go to war,” pro-Trump transgender activist Kristy Pandora Greczowski told AFP.
Mary Byrne, 54, who came with her two sons, said she was worried about the “antagonism” that currently reigns.
“We are not talking to each other anymore, we are yelling at each other. We need to look inside to see what’s wrong with us,” she said.
Americans have long been divided between liberal and conservative values.
But the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic has caused deep fear and anxiety.
Then, in May, an African American man was killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis, igniting waves of protest.
Since then the United States has begun a historic soulsearching as it reckons with its racist past, modern racial injustices — including those further illuminated by the impact of the virus — and police brutality.
Trump, far from advocating national reconciliation, has stoked divisions.
“We will never allow an angry mob to tear down our statues, erase our history, indoctrinate our children or trample on our freedoms,” he told the crowd on the White House lawn later
Saturday evening.
Earlier, on the avenue outside the White House, Jennifer Friend said the president was being “disrespected.”
“All lives matter, but protesters pick what they want to protest about. It’s hypocritical,” said the 53-year-old tourist from Florida.
Further along the sundrenched National Mall, Katima McMillan, 24, from Kentucky, was with a group of activists.
On the lawn, they spread the bands of the three colors of panAfricanism: red for blood shed in liberation struggles, black for the people of the continent, and green for the natural wealth of Africa.
“We are no less than anybody else, black rights are human rights,” the young African American said.
But then there were those whose determination to enjoy the holiday no matter what offered a glimmer of hope that American institutions might yet withstand the divisions.
Wayne and Lynnis, a couple from Maryland, were among the guests hand-picked to attend Trump’s “Salute to America” speech on the White House lawn.
“I am very excited,” said Lynnis, 56.
“I don’t care who’s in office, it’s an honour to go to your White House,” she added with a smile.