At 11:15 tonight, after hours of delays caused by severe thunderstorms over Washington, D.C., the President of the United States finally stepped onto the stage, gripping First Lady Melania Trump's hand. Standing behind bulletproof glass on the National Mall to celebrate America's 250th birthday, he looked out over the crowd and compared this day and that moment to the birth of the nation itself. He placed July 4, 2026, alongside July 4, 1776, calling them "Big dates. That's big dates. Two big ones." He called the celebration "an evening for the ages." Then he declared, "This is bigger... I think in its own way, it's more beautiful." On the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the document written in rejection of monarchy and concentrated power, he once again teased the possibility of a third term, saying, "Actually I should say third term, but I won't do that because I don't want any controversy."
On the 250th birthday of the United States, America deserved a president who stood before the nation with humility, honoring the generations who sacrificed to build it. Instead, even on one of the most significant anniversaries in our country’s history, Donald Trump made the celebration revolve around Donald Trump.
Oh dear, how much longer do Americans have to tolerate a President who has the vocabulary of an 8 year old? "Big dates", 'that's big dates", 'two big ones" . This was supposed to be a speech about a celebration of your 250th anniversary and should have been articulate and inspiring. Well done Heather, having to sit through this nonsense.
The photo of the black woman on the Metro surrounded by masked men was scary. This is just like Nazi Germany in the 30s, except the Brownshirts weren't masked, because their behaviour was deemed acceptable.
Trump has a nerve to talk about the D Day landings and their sacrifices they made. Trump, your grandfather fled Germany to avoid military service, your father never served during WW2 (as far as I know) and Daddy's money won you a deferment because of bone spurs. You're a total hypocrite. Plus, I doubt whether you have read the Constitution .
I hope you all had an enjoyable day anyway, despite Trump.
Really good comment saying all the things I want to say. Democrats please stand up and be seen and heard. I am so frightened that you are all intimidated by this truly vile man and his even worst henchmen. It is making America a sad country.
That little girl sitting surrounded by those cowards deserves a medal. She must have been really frightened but sat tight. I hope the photographer went to sit beside her in solidarity.
Man up democrats stand up and be seen loud and clear. If Heather can do it so should you.
Journalists should demand what he means when he calls more than half of Americans communists…. He is such a moron that he will either insult them or go off on another Teddy Roosevelt rant!!!
He knows he means that the half of the country that does not support him is his enemy to be rooted out ruthlessly. He knows that anyone who opposes him is a danger to be deported if they can not be summarily executed on the streets or parking lots where they can be found exercising First Amendment rights.
It proves that they know that they are engaging in shameful behaviour , that they don't want to be recognised by anyone that might know them and challenge them in their daily life.
No bosses or friends or relatives must come upon their face on the media. There are very few of them. They are ashamed and foolish .
Just like the Klan they cover what they know is shameful . The brown shirts of another age let their faces be seen, they had support and numbers, they were not ashamed .
This time it is different , they know good people will challenge them and in that lies our strength and hope.
Good people will challenge them and they are ashamed.
That photo echoes many I’ve seen of the years of segregation. I have many good friends in the USA and I fervently hope you’ll be back with us before too long🇬🇧
It occurred to me while reading this excellent article that this "250th anniversary" is not about us, but about the Declaration and its historical significance—that as an historically world-changing document and occasion we celebrate it still. So Trump and his disgraceful activity does not detract from what we celebrate or from our celebration; our worthiness today is not in question; the point is that its worthiness is what we still celebrate after 250 years..
It’s alarming that tRump equates anyone who isn’t a MAGA voter with being a communist (something he knows nothing about). His exhortation to get rid of them all by deporting them (which I already did, sorta by returning to the U.K.) is horrifying—which other countries are going to accept all the millions of deportees? Can those countries refuse to accept them? Or is tRump actually advocating the murder of everyone he considers a “communist”? Is that what those masked thugs, plus his private ICE army are planning? And if he achieves his goal, who is going to plant and harvest the crops to feed people, do all the menial and service jobs that white Americans feel is beneath them? As someone commented to me earlier, “be careful what you wish for …”
He/they have already run into problems with workers being kidnapped and tortured by ICE Gestapo and Concentration Camps and illegal mass deportations. Add to that the tariffs and closing of the Strait of Hormuz which stopped fertilizer and affordable fuel for farmers, many trump supporters who now find themselves bankrupt and/or getting measly funds…ironically “handouts” they they voted against for others.
And yes, in his speech from Mt.Rushmore he declared communists as evil enemies, the democrats, ANTIFA, and anybody that is Not a white “christian” nationalist, MAGA/MAWA KKKult, should be expelled.
It is important to understand, the news you get is probably delayed and you have to go hunting to find the truths.
I also recommend Eyes on ICE on Eyes on ICE, Lance Rosen, Heather Cox Richardson Aaron Parnas, I Fucking Love Australia, Alisa ValdesRodriguez.
We are 1930’s Nazi, fascist, Germany, as you know I have said before, trump, his family, his Nazi loyalists, the EPSTEIN Class, technofascists, Thiel and Palantir and his Dialog not-so-secret club, the Heritage Foundation and Project 2025, six corrupt SCOTUS, and all his loyalists placed throughout our government. He/they are Nazi, fascist, narcissistic, sociopaths, eugenics practicing evil.
They have pretty much declared that all of us are “domestic terrorists,” communists, weak, vulnerable poor, elderly disabled, nonwhite are the enemies that must be expelled…extermination, racial and ethnic cleansing, deportations, detention in Concentration Camps, disappeared…all without due process.
Anne, I figured you did, but to go deeper, I highly recommend the others, if you want to see a different vantage point.
Lance Rosen has an amazing background and history active in Civil Rights. He gives a perspective that I think you would truly appreciate.
I’ve been a subscriber for a while, but what I have learned from him is immeasurable. He is active on Facebook where he encourages discussions, but also on Substack.
Eyes on ICE on eyes on ICE is EXTREMELY eye opening.
I appreciate your comments and support from abroad.❤️🩹
Thank you. I do have a personal stake in U.S. happenings as I lived there from 1965 to 2022, married to a Mexican American who died in 2020 and have much-loved in laws whose safety I worry about. My late husband was patriotic in that he served in the U.S. Navy and always voted, and encouraged family members to vote too. He was a republican but became an independent the day tRump won the election in 2016.
You’re welcome and thank you. I’m sorry for your loss, but your worry and concern for your family is real, as you know.
My Dad also served in the Navy and my spouse’s relatives served in Air Force and army.
When we get our America back, we NEED so much reform, starting with getting rid of the ridiculous electoral college, drain that swamp of course, term limits and age caps for all government, no life-long six-digit salaries and full healthcare, no insider training, caps on contributions, SCOTUS term limits(no lifetime appointments), age limits, and expansion and no taking bribes, etc.
I’m totally supportive of your personal efforts to shine the spotlight on all the disgraceful things that are going on in your country but I still don’t understand why you were ‘on the beach celebrating’ while masked racists were out on your streets.
Why weren’t all decent Americans on Pennsylvania Avenue on 4th July? Surely there has to be a moment when it becomes imperative that you are SEEN to make the grandest statement with your physical presence rather than trying to change things with words alone?
When will America take back its power?
Get out and show your disgust and disapproval! - He doesn’t hear your words!
Where also are the other Mamdanis in positions of influence? Why aren’t they leading the charge against the corrupt government? Is anything going to stop the descent into chaos? Is HOPE enough?
I expect decent Americans avoided DC on July 4 to celebrate our country with family and friends as they always do, with local parades and local fireworks and addresses by local politicians actually addressing what the Declaration of Independence signifies: a new nation struggling against odds to create a different form of government based on different principles than the monarchy and state church and rule and ownership by oligarchy.
Trump tried hard to hijack the day. He could not succeed.
Well that just about sums it up, quite depressing really. On a pointof detail I wondered when he mentioned a third term refers to the fact that he really was the president after the 2020 election as he clearly has lost all hold he has had on reality his speech with President Roosevelt confirms that. despite all the gloom, I suppose we can look to bright future as he is not going to forever - or is he. Perhaps in some deep and evil bunker somewhere a mad scientist(in Trump’s world, all scientists are mad, aren’t they?) is working on the hologram that is going to rule America forever.
I hope that lone woman on the train is OK. That had to be terrifying to the core to be hemmed in by those wackos. The look on her face does suggest she has the inner strength to get through the moment but what about afterward???? May she have someone to hold and comfort her.
Hopefully a mainstream reporter will directly ask him point blank for his thoughts on the masked white supremacists marching in our nation’s capitol on the 4th of July on our 250th birthday.
His answer will be very telling..will it be similar to the one he gave after that terrible day in Charlottesville…” there were good people on BOTH sides”…? Will he condemn them or condone them. We need to know.
Of course his speech was all about him it always is.
Of course his comparisons are so totally outrageous they’re laughable.
Of course he made people wait over an hour in terrible weather while he and his band of sycophants sat in air conditioned protected cover.
We shouldn’t expect anything else from this grifter fraud loser but there is another thing that we can be sure of…..one day..hopefully sooner rather than later …we will say..
OF COURSE HE’S GONE…nobody like him can last long in OUR great nation…he is NOT a TRUE American …he is the man who would be king but WE wouldn’t let him.
50 years ago, on our nation's 200th birthday, I stood beside my father and my siblings watching the tall ships sail into New York harbor. The pride in our history, in our people, and in all the United States stood for, warts and all, carried that day. The possibilities for the future seemed endless and the anticipation, exciting. That remains one of my favorite family memories.
Yesterday my father's American flag remained rolled up in a closet. I so badly wanted to display it upside down. Out of respect for the man who flew it with pride, even as he feared the direction our country was heading in before his death in 2012, I did not. I found myself bearing the weight of heavy grief, all day. I was tearful, deeply saddened, angry, paralyzed in despair and powerlessness. I gave myself that time, knowing that I would find my resolve to fight the injustices upon which trump and his handlers stand. Just not yesterday.
Today I read your article, Heather. The paragraph that opens with "What Trump doesn't understand" (I apologize if this isn't an accurate quote), directed me home to myself. I returned to that hillside upon which, 50 years ago, my father wept tears of pride for all the efforts, on the part of many including my immigrant ancestors, that built this country to that point. I sat up a little straighter, knowing that because of people like you who do not lose sight of the vision of a UNITED States, we will survive. And this elder will be part of the action.
Thank you, Heather. Be gentle with yourself today.
Very glad to see Bill Clinton speaking out so forcefully. He has stepped back from a public role for a long time but it’s appropriate for him to catalogue and call out Trump’s litany of sins on this most sacred of days. The tide is turning folks. Trump’s efforts to make the celebration of our 250th birthday all about himself has put his ineptitude in sharp relief. I mention ineptitude because he won a second term largely based on his supposed superior economy in his first term. A plurality overlooked his mendacity because they thought he would make their lives better. That was always an illusion and now it lies in tatters
We all knew he would make it all about himself.
He is the wrong man, in the wrong job, at precisely the wrong time. He has left a poisonous legacy.
Oh dear, how much longer do Americans have to tolerate a President who has the vocabulary of an 8 year old? "Big dates", 'that's big dates", 'two big ones" . This was supposed to be a speech about a celebration of your 250th anniversary and should have been articulate and inspiring. Well done Heather, having to sit through this nonsense.
The photo of the black woman on the Metro surrounded by masked men was scary. This is just like Nazi Germany in the 30s, except the Brownshirts weren't masked, because their behaviour was deemed acceptable.
Trump has a nerve to talk about the D Day landings and their sacrifices they made. Trump, your grandfather fled Germany to avoid military service, your father never served during WW2 (as far as I know) and Daddy's money won you a deferment because of bone spurs. You're a total hypocrite. Plus, I doubt whether you have read the Constitution .
I hope you all had an enjoyable day anyway, despite Trump.
Really good comment saying all the things I want to say. Democrats please stand up and be seen and heard. I am so frightened that you are all intimidated by this truly vile man and his even worst henchmen. It is making America a sad country.
That little girl sitting surrounded by those cowards deserves a medal. She must have been really frightened but sat tight. I hope the photographer went to sit beside her in solidarity.
Man up democrats stand up and be seen loud and clear. If Heather can do it so should you.
Journalists should demand what he means when he calls more than half of Americans communists…. He is such a moron that he will either insult them or go off on another Teddy Roosevelt rant!!!
He doesn't know what he means, he never does.
He knows he means that the half of the country that does not support him is his enemy to be rooted out ruthlessly. He knows that anyone who opposes him is a danger to be deported if they can not be summarily executed on the streets or parking lots where they can be found exercising First Amendment rights.
It is encouraging that those men wore masks.
It proves that they know that they are engaging in shameful behaviour , that they don't want to be recognised by anyone that might know them and challenge them in their daily life.
No bosses or friends or relatives must come upon their face on the media. There are very few of them. They are ashamed and foolish .
Just like the Klan they cover what they know is shameful . The brown shirts of another age let their faces be seen, they had support and numbers, they were not ashamed .
This time it is different , they know good people will challenge them and in that lies our strength and hope.
Good people will challenge them and they are ashamed.
It would be interesting to see the intersection of those Patriot Front membership lists with J6 convicts pardoned by Trump.
That photo echoes many I’ve seen of the years of segregation. I have many good friends in the USA and I fervently hope you’ll be back with us before too long🇬🇧
It occurred to me while reading this excellent article that this "250th anniversary" is not about us, but about the Declaration and its historical significance—that as an historically world-changing document and occasion we celebrate it still. So Trump and his disgraceful activity does not detract from what we celebrate or from our celebration; our worthiness today is not in question; the point is that its worthiness is what we still celebrate after 250 years..
It’s alarming that tRump equates anyone who isn’t a MAGA voter with being a communist (something he knows nothing about). His exhortation to get rid of them all by deporting them (which I already did, sorta by returning to the U.K.) is horrifying—which other countries are going to accept all the millions of deportees? Can those countries refuse to accept them? Or is tRump actually advocating the murder of everyone he considers a “communist”? Is that what those masked thugs, plus his private ICE army are planning? And if he achieves his goal, who is going to plant and harvest the crops to feed people, do all the menial and service jobs that white Americans feel is beneath them? As someone commented to me earlier, “be careful what you wish for …”
He/they have already run into problems with workers being kidnapped and tortured by ICE Gestapo and Concentration Camps and illegal mass deportations. Add to that the tariffs and closing of the Strait of Hormuz which stopped fertilizer and affordable fuel for farmers, many trump supporters who now find themselves bankrupt and/or getting measly funds…ironically “handouts” they they voted against for others.
And yes, in his speech from Mt.Rushmore he declared communists as evil enemies, the democrats, ANTIFA, and anybody that is Not a white “christian” nationalist, MAGA/MAWA KKKult, should be expelled.
It is important to understand, the news you get is probably delayed and you have to go hunting to find the truths.
I also recommend Eyes on ICE on Eyes on ICE, Lance Rosen, Heather Cox Richardson Aaron Parnas, I Fucking Love Australia, Alisa ValdesRodriguez.
We are 1930’s Nazi, fascist, Germany, as you know I have said before, trump, his family, his Nazi loyalists, the EPSTEIN Class, technofascists, Thiel and Palantir and his Dialog not-so-secret club, the Heritage Foundation and Project 2025, six corrupt SCOTUS, and all his loyalists placed throughout our government. He/they are Nazi, fascist, narcissistic, sociopaths, eugenics practicing evil.
They have pretty much declared that all of us are “domestic terrorists,” communists, weak, vulnerable poor, elderly disabled, nonwhite are the enemies that must be expelled…extermination, racial and ethnic cleansing, deportations, detention in Concentration Camps, disappeared…all without due process.
This is a great article by Lance Rosen about the Mt. Rushmore speech…https://substack.com/@lancefrosen/note/c-288015116?r=71veyx&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
Thank you. I do read some of the Substackers you listed and I’ll check out the link.
Anne, I figured you did, but to go deeper, I highly recommend the others, if you want to see a different vantage point.
Lance Rosen has an amazing background and history active in Civil Rights. He gives a perspective that I think you would truly appreciate.
I’ve been a subscriber for a while, but what I have learned from him is immeasurable. He is active on Facebook where he encourages discussions, but also on Substack.
Eyes on ICE on eyes on ICE is EXTREMELY eye opening.
I appreciate your comments and support from abroad.❤️🩹
Thank you. I do have a personal stake in U.S. happenings as I lived there from 1965 to 2022, married to a Mexican American who died in 2020 and have much-loved in laws whose safety I worry about. My late husband was patriotic in that he served in the U.S. Navy and always voted, and encouraged family members to vote too. He was a republican but became an independent the day tRump won the election in 2016.
You’re welcome and thank you. I’m sorry for your loss, but your worry and concern for your family is real, as you know.
My Dad also served in the Navy and my spouse’s relatives served in Air Force and army.
When we get our America back, we NEED so much reform, starting with getting rid of the ridiculous electoral college, drain that swamp of course, term limits and age caps for all government, no life-long six-digit salaries and full healthcare, no insider training, caps on contributions, SCOTUS term limits(no lifetime appointments), age limits, and expansion and no taking bribes, etc.
I hope your family is being kept safe. ❤️🩹
Thank you again. I too hope they are safe but I’m sure one of them would let me know if they’re not. They live in Southern California.
I’m totally supportive of your personal efforts to shine the spotlight on all the disgraceful things that are going on in your country but I still don’t understand why you were ‘on the beach celebrating’ while masked racists were out on your streets.
Why weren’t all decent Americans on Pennsylvania Avenue on 4th July? Surely there has to be a moment when it becomes imperative that you are SEEN to make the grandest statement with your physical presence rather than trying to change things with words alone?
When will America take back its power?
Get out and show your disgust and disapproval! - He doesn’t hear your words!
Where also are the other Mamdanis in positions of influence? Why aren’t they leading the charge against the corrupt government? Is anything going to stop the descent into chaos? Is HOPE enough?
I expect decent Americans avoided DC on July 4 to celebrate our country with family and friends as they always do, with local parades and local fireworks and addresses by local politicians actually addressing what the Declaration of Independence signifies: a new nation struggling against odds to create a different form of government based on different principles than the monarchy and state church and rule and ownership by oligarchy.
Trump tried hard to hijack the day. He could not succeed.
Well that just about sums it up, quite depressing really. On a pointof detail I wondered when he mentioned a third term refers to the fact that he really was the president after the 2020 election as he clearly has lost all hold he has had on reality his speech with President Roosevelt confirms that. despite all the gloom, I suppose we can look to bright future as he is not going to forever - or is he. Perhaps in some deep and evil bunker somewhere a mad scientist(in Trump’s world, all scientists are mad, aren’t they?) is working on the hologram that is going to rule America forever.
Shudder‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️😱😱😱😱
Democrats = Communists is what his speech boils down to. It is that simple.
It’s all Mamdani’s fault, I expect.
No. It has to be Biden’s fault and Obama’s!
I hope that lone woman on the train is OK. That had to be terrifying to the core to be hemmed in by those wackos. The look on her face does suggest she has the inner strength to get through the moment but what about afterward???? May she have someone to hold and comfort her.
Hopefully a mainstream reporter will directly ask him point blank for his thoughts on the masked white supremacists marching in our nation’s capitol on the 4th of July on our 250th birthday.
His answer will be very telling..will it be similar to the one he gave after that terrible day in Charlottesville…” there were good people on BOTH sides”…? Will he condemn them or condone them. We need to know.
Of course his speech was all about him it always is.
Of course his comparisons are so totally outrageous they’re laughable.
Of course he made people wait over an hour in terrible weather while he and his band of sycophants sat in air conditioned protected cover.
We shouldn’t expect anything else from this grifter fraud loser but there is another thing that we can be sure of…..one day..hopefully sooner rather than later …we will say..
OF COURSE HE’S GONE…nobody like him can last long in OUR great nation…he is NOT a TRUE American …he is the man who would be king but WE wouldn’t let him.
50 years ago, on our nation's 200th birthday, I stood beside my father and my siblings watching the tall ships sail into New York harbor. The pride in our history, in our people, and in all the United States stood for, warts and all, carried that day. The possibilities for the future seemed endless and the anticipation, exciting. That remains one of my favorite family memories.
Yesterday my father's American flag remained rolled up in a closet. I so badly wanted to display it upside down. Out of respect for the man who flew it with pride, even as he feared the direction our country was heading in before his death in 2012, I did not. I found myself bearing the weight of heavy grief, all day. I was tearful, deeply saddened, angry, paralyzed in despair and powerlessness. I gave myself that time, knowing that I would find my resolve to fight the injustices upon which trump and his handlers stand. Just not yesterday.
Today I read your article, Heather. The paragraph that opens with "What Trump doesn't understand" (I apologize if this isn't an accurate quote), directed me home to myself. I returned to that hillside upon which, 50 years ago, my father wept tears of pride for all the efforts, on the part of many including my immigrant ancestors, that built this country to that point. I sat up a little straighter, knowing that because of people like you who do not lose sight of the vision of a UNITED States, we will survive. And this elder will be part of the action.
Thank you, Heather. Be gentle with yourself today.
Very glad to see Bill Clinton speaking out so forcefully. He has stepped back from a public role for a long time but it’s appropriate for him to catalogue and call out Trump’s litany of sins on this most sacred of days. The tide is turning folks. Trump’s efforts to make the celebration of our 250th birthday all about himself has put his ineptitude in sharp relief. I mention ineptitude because he won a second term largely based on his supposed superior economy in his first term. A plurality overlooked his mendacity because they thought he would make their lives better. That was always an illusion and now it lies in tatters
Mr. “I suck up to Putin, Xi, and Kim Jong Un” is suddenly worried about Communists.
What a joke. Almost as much as his deficient reading ability and total lack of command of basic American history.