Stay true to our cause, asks Trump
US President Donald Trump celebrated “the greatest political journey in human history” in a Fourth of July commemoration before a soggy but cheering crowd of spectators, many of them invited, on the grounds of the Lincoln Memorial.
Supporters welcomed his tribute to the US military, while protesters assailed him for putting himself centre stage on a holiday devoted to unity. Mr Trump altered the line-up by adding his speech, moving the fireworks closer to the Lincoln Memorial and summoning the tanks and warplanes.
As rain fell on him, Mr Trump called on Americans to “stay true to our cause” during a program that adhered to patriotic themes and hailed an eclectic mix of history’s heroes, from the armed forces, space, civil rights and other endeavours of US life.
He largely stuck to his script, avoiding diversions into his agenda or re-election campaign. But in one exception, he vowed, “Very soon, we will plant the American flag on Mars,” actually a distant goal not likely to be achieved until late in the 2020s if even then.
The warplanes and presidential aircraft conducted their flyovers as planned, capped by the Navy Blue Angels aerobatics team.
By adding his own onehour “Salute to America” production to capital festivities that typically draw hundreds of thousands anyway, Mr Trump became the first president in nearly seven decades to address a crowd at the National Mall on July 4.
Protesters objecting to what they saw as his coopting of the holiday inflated a roly-poly balloon depicting Mr Trump as an angry, nappy-clad baby.
Pete Buttigieg, one of the Democrats running for president, said: “This business of diverting money and military assets to use them as a kind of prop, to prop up a presidential ego, is not reflecting well on our country.”
A source said aides to the crowd-obsessed President fretted about the prospect of empty seats, and scrambled in recent days to distribute tickets and encourage participation for an event surrounded with confusion.
“A great crowd of tremendous Patriots this evening, all the way back to the Washington Monument!” Mr Trump tweeted.