Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Trump sees assault on values in U.S.
Fourth of July speech cites ‘the radical left’
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump vowed to “safeguard our values” from enemies within — leftists, looters, agitators, he said — in a Fourth of July speech packed with all the combativeness of his political rallies.
Trump watched paratroopers float to the ground in a tribute to America, greeted his audience of front-line medical workers and others central in responding to the coronavirus pandemic and opened up on those who “slander” him and disrespect the country’s past.
“We are now in the process of defeating the radical left, the anarchists, the agitators, the looters, and the people who, in many instances, have absolutely no clue what they are doing,” he said. “We will never allow an angry mob to tear down our statues, erase our history, indoctrinate our children.
“And we will protect and preserve the American way of life, which began in 1492 when Columbus discovered America.”
The crowds wandering the National Mall for the night’s air show and fireworks were thinner than those gathering for last year’s jammed celebration on the Mall.
Washington’s mayor urged people to stay away from the evening’s fireworks display and military flyover to avoid spreading the disease.
By the World War II Memorial, the National Park Service handed out packets of five white cloth masks to all who wanted them. People were not required to wear them.
Zippy Watt, a nurse from Riverside, California, came to see the air show and fireworks with her husband and their two daughters, one of whom lives in Washington. They wore matching American flag face masks.
“We chose to wear a mask to protect ourselves and others,” Watt said. She said her family was divided on Trump but she is “more of a Trump supporter. Being from Southern California I see socialist tendencies. I’m tired of paying taxes so others can stay home.”
Carrying on a theme he pounded on a day earlier against the backdrop of the Mount Rushmore monuments, Trump went after those who have torn down statues.
“Our past is not a burden to be cast away,” Trump said.
Trump’s guests were doctors, nurses, law enforcement officers and military members and officials from the administration, said Judd Deere, deputy White House press secretary. He said the event was a tribute to the
“tremendous courage and spirit” of front-line workers and the public in the pandemic.
Trump has sought to revamp the annual Fourth of July celebration in the nation’s capital into a bigger spectacle, with a larger fireworks show and muscular display of military equipment.
Trump stood to watch a flyover of vintage and modern military aircraft, including members of the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds. Some 10,000 fireworks were to be launched, making this year’s show among the largest in recent history, according to the Interior Department.
Trump opened the holiday weekend by traveling to Mount Rushmore in South Dakota for a fireworks display Friday night near the mountain carvings of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt.