Standing in a packed amphitheatre in front of Mount Rushmore for an Independence Day celebration, President Trump delivered a dark and divisive speech on Friday that cast his struggling effort to win a second term as a battle against a “new far-Left fascism” seeking to wipe out the nation’s values and history.
With the coronavirus pandemic raging and his campaign faltering in the polls, his appearance amounted to a fiery reboot of his re-election effort, using the holiday and an official presidential address to mount a full-on culture war against a straw-man version of the Left that he portrayed as inciting mayhem and moving the country towards totalitarianism.
“Our nation is witnessing a merciless campaign to wipe out our history, defame our heroes, erase our values and indoctrinate our children,” Trump said, addressing a packed crowd of sign-waving supporters, few of whom wore masks. “Angry mobs are trying to tear down statues of our founders, deface our most sacred memorials and unleash a wave of violent crime in our cities.”
Trump barely mentioned the frightening resurgence of the pandemic, even as the country surpassed 53,000 new cases and health officials across the nation urged Americans to scale back their Fourth of July plans.
Instead, appealing unabashedly to his base with ominous language and imagery, he railed against what he described as a dangerous “cancel culture” intent on toppling monuments and framed himself as a strong leader who would protect the Second Amendment, law enforcement and the country’s heritage.
The scene at Mount Rushmore was the latest sign of how Trump appears, by design or default, increasingly disconnected from the intense concern among Americans about the health crisis gripping the country. More than just a partisan rally, it underscored the extent to which Trump is appealing to a subset of Americans to carry him to a second term by changing the subject and appealing to fear and division.
“Most Presidents in history have understood that when they appear at a national monument, it’s usually a moment to act as a unifying chief of state, not a partisan divider,” Michael Beschloss, the presidential historian, said before the speech.
Most politicians, including former Vice-President Joseph R. Biden Jr, the presumptive Democratic nominee, this year were forgoing any of the traditional holiday parades and flag-waving appearances. The vast majority of fireworks displays in big cities and small rural towns have been cancelled as new cases reported in the US have increased by 90 per cent in the past two weeks.
As he travelled to South Dakota for the huge fireworks display at Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Trump, however, had a different message: The sparkly, booming show must go on at all costs in the service of the divisive message and powerful images he wants to promote.
“We will not be tyrannised, we will not be demeaned, and we will not be intimidated by bad, evil people,” Trump said, referring to his political opponents and their supporters.
Under the granite gaze of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt, Trump announced plans to establish what he described as a “vast outdoor park that will feature the statues of the greatest Americans to ever live,” an apparent repudiation of the growing pressure to remove statues tied to slavery or colonialism.
As he arrived, Air Force One performed a flyover of Mount Rushmore.
His campaign promoted the stunt online, calling him “the coolest President ever”.
In the amphitheatre below, few in the packed crowd practiced any social distancing as people waved signs that referred to CNN as the “Communist News Network”.
New York Times News Service
