Trump rails against communism as US turns 250

US President Donald Trump has called on Americans to protect the freedoms envisioned by the nation’s founders against what he portrays as the “communist” threat posed by progressive Democrats.

Trump was speaking at the Mount Rushmore monument ahead of July 4 celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of independence from Britain.

“We stand beneath the monument to these heroes, a truly incredible group of people, and we recommit ourselves to being a nation as great and as brave and as noble and as great as these American giants, and it’s not easy to do that, but we will do it,” Trump said in a speech at the granite mountain in South Dakota where the heads of four American presidents are carved. he said.

“There is now a resurgence of the communist threat in our land, including from newcomers to our country who espouse ideas that are completely contrary to our way of life and our great achievements,” he said. “We won’t let this happen.”

Trump’s speech tied his anti-communist rhetoric to the anti-immigrant theme that got him elected and has historically been part of criticism of communism in the United States. Trump said at one point on Friday that the new arrivals should be deported.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani took a different tone, describing the United States as a land of contradictions “working every day toward the perfection for which it was designed.”

“It has been said from generation to generation that when the world sends its people to our shores, it does not send the best,” Mamdani said. he said. “These ideals that built our nation are strong enough to withstand any authoritarian regime, but only if we achieve them.”

Trump has been highlighting the gains of democratic socialists for a week, but he had his most meaningful and lengthy discussion on the issue Friday, as Americans grapple with persistent inflation and high gas prices since the start of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran.

Republican lawmakers, increasingly uneasy that the conflict could cost their party control of at least one house of Congress in November’s midterm elections, seized on a series of recent successes by left-wing Democratic candidates.

Four progressive candidates, including three democratic socialists, won competitive Democratic primaries in New York City last week and in Colorado on Tuesday. Progressive candidates also won contests in Kentucky, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas.

Trump last week called their victory “the greatest threat to our country since its founding.”

On Saturday, Trump was scheduled to address crowds on the National Mall ahead of a massive fireworks display amid a scorching heat wave that has disrupted Fourth of July celebrations across large swathes of the country.

The temperature at Mount Rushmore was 18 degrees Celsius.