Trump addresses nation and fireworks light up National Mall after storm delay
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- Trump took the National Mall stage around 11:15 p.m. Saturday for a 250th-anniversary speech delayed by severe thunderstorms that had earlier forced attendees to evacuate to nearby federal buildings.
- In the address, Trump claimed the U.S. had "sunk Iran's entire navy" since a war began in February, praised the founding fathers, brought out antique flags including one he said draped Abraham Lincoln's coffin, and likened communism to "cancer that must be cut out."
- Trump also vowed to pass the SAVE America Act — stalled in Congress — which would require proof of citizenship and ID to vote and bar most mail-in ballots.
- The White House billed the subsequent fireworks display as the largest in the country's history; thousands stayed on the Mall to watch as the pyrotechnics competed with lightning.
- The National Weather Service issued an extreme heat warning for D.C. from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and later a severe thunderstorm watch; roughly 120 million Americans across the eastern and southern U.S. faced major or extreme heat risk.
- Heat and storms forced cancellations of July Fourth parades in Philadelphia, D.C., Haddon Township (NJ), Leesburg and Fairfax (VA), and Takoma Park and Laurel (MD), plus fireworks in several Colorado communities over wildfire risk.
- Members of the white nationalist group Patriot Front, designated a hate group by the Anti-Defamation League and Southern Poverty Law Center, were seen masked and marching with Confederate flags in D.C. for the celebrations.
Why it matters: Trump used the semiquincentennial — historically an apolitical address — to make unverified claims about Iran, attack political opponents over voting, and frame communism as an existential threat, while weather disruptions forced cancellations affecting roughly 120 million Americans across multiple states from Colorado to New Jersey.
