MOUNT RUSHMORE, South Dakota, July 4 — President Donald Trump used the opening weekend of America’s 250th anniversary celebrations to praise the U.S. military and warn of what he called a “communist menace” at home and abroad. Speaking beneath the granite monument here on the eve of Independence Day, Trump invoked national identity and ideology ahead of the November midterm elections. “We created the strongest and most powerful military.
We won two world wars,” the president said. He claimed the Cold War had left America’s enemies “in the depths of history.” Trump also said the U.S. “beat Venezuela in one day” and “knocked the hell out of Iran.” The address comes as voters grapple with persistent inflation and elevated energy prices driven by the ongoing U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran.
Briefly addressing that war, Trump said Tehran is “dying to settle” and that Washington had granted “a week off for a funeral because we’re nice.” He was referring to the days-long state funeral being held for late Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in a strike on the first day of the war. A larger chunk of Trump’s speech was aimed at what he considers ideological threats inside America.
“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,” the president said. He called communism “the enemy of the Constitution.” Trump pledged that “the citizens of the United States of America will vanquish communism quickly.” He tied that anti-communist rhetoric to a hardline immigration stance, suggesting that left-wing political figures and certain undocumented arrivals should be removed from the country.
By nightfall, the monument’s floodlit faces of four presidents loomed over a crowd that had gathered for the anniversary weekend. The scene was patriotic, but the president’s warnings about ideological enemies — foreign and domestic — set a sharp tone for the celebrations. With midterm elections months away, Trump’s focus on military strength and ideological purity is likely to remain central to his campaign message.
How voters weigh that against the economic pressures of the Iran war will shape the political landscape by November.
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