Trump Headlines America's 250th Birthday Amid Political Divide
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- Donald Trump spoke at Mount Rushmore on Friday calling communism "a mortal threat to American liberty" — greater than WWI, WWII, Pearl Harbor, or 9/11 — and is set to speak Saturday on the National Mall ahead of what organizers are billing as a historically enormous fireworks show over Washington.
- Zohran Mamdani, New York City's Democratic mayor and self-described democratic socialist, appeared to reference Trump Friday, declaring "those ideals upon which our nation was built... are strong enough to endure any authoritarian regime, but only if we reach for them."
- An East Coast heat wave with temperatures approaching or surpassing triple digits forced the closure of Washington's Great American State Fair on Friday and the cancellation of the city's Saturday Independence Day parade, while the Pacific Northwest enjoyed 60-degree temperatures.
- Bristol, Rhode Island, claims the nation's oldest Independence Day celebrations dating to 1785; additional fireworks are scheduled for Chicago's Navy Pier and the New York City skyline, where a midnight ball drop on Thursday mirrored New Year's Eve fanfare.
- Other American milestones overlapped with the holiday: World Cup matches in Houston and Philadelphia followed Argentina's overtime win over Cape Verde near Miami on Friday, Taylor Swift married Travis Kelce at Madison Square Garden, and Madonna released her 15th studio album.
- Americans interviewed reflected mixed moods — Megan Kurowski, 31, in Issaquah, Washington, said people were "pretty excited about celebrating 250 years," while Jerry Chin in Newcastle, Washington, said he wasn't even aware it was the anniversary, adding: "America's a great place, but there are some concerns."
Why it matters: Trump's dominance of the milestone — Mount Rushmore on Friday, National Mall on Saturday — turns a unifying civic holiday into a political stage, amplified by the heat wave canceling Washington's parade and Democratic leaders like Mamdani offering veiled counter-messaging to Trump's "communism" speech.
