The United States has reached its 250th anniversary while Donald Trump prepares a major speech after warning that over recent years there have been attempts to attack the American "identity."
Foreign news agencies reported that the United States turned 250 years old on Saturday, 4 Jul 2026 GMT+7, coinciding with a period of deep national division as President Donald Trump sought to use the celebrations as his main platform.
The Independence Day anniversary occurred amid an intense heatwave, placing approximately 160 million Americans under extreme or critical heat warnings, severely impacting planned parades and street parties across cities nationwide.
However, the scorching temperatures did not deter President Donald Trump, who on Saturday evening local time planned a major political rally at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., featuring military flyovers and what Trump declared would be the world's largest fireworks display.
"It will be about 107 degrees Fahrenheit (41 degrees Celsius) outside, and I will go there to deliver a very long speech just to prove I can do anything," Trump said earlier.
On Friday evening, the president visited the Mount Rushmore National Memorial to deliver a speech in front of the massive granite faces of four legendary former U.S. presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt.
Trump praised America's excellence and honored the nation's past leaders but warned that American identity is facing a "new assault," pointing to "radical and extremist groups" within the country and alleging a "resurgence of the communist threat on U.S. soil."
This theme has been repeatedly raised by Trump in recent weeks as left-wing Democratic groups have continued to win primary elections across the country.
The president labeled the rise of the left ahead of the November midterm elections as "communists" running rampant and creating a major "threat" to the nation.
Trump also claimed that recent years have seen efforts to "destroy the American spirit within us and alienate us from our own history."
Although his rhetoric was less severe than the anti-immigrant language he used in previous speeches, the core message was clear: "You don't have to be born here, but you have to love what we have built," he said.
For Americans, the 250th anniversary is both a time of celebration and an opportunity to reflect on the past.
After enduring successes and losses, slavery and freedom, civil war and world wars over two and a half centuries, numerous polls indicate that the nation is divided in its views on the current state and future direction of the country.
A Quinnipiac University poll revealed that 61% of Americans believe the U.S. has not lived up to the ideals stated in the Declaration of Independence. Opinions remain divided, with most Republicans believing the country has met those ideals, while most Democrats think it has not.
"There are too many people hating each other, stealing from each other. They don't love each other at all," said Johnny Presley, an artist from Los Angeles. "I'm tired of how this country treats people. I'm tired of how it treats foreign neighbors. I'm sick of so much nonsense."
Conversely, others like Karisa Tavassoli, an Iranian-American educator in Atlanta, believe the foundation of the "American Dream" remains intact.
"I feel safe, stable, have freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and as a woman, I can dress however I want," she told AFP. "There are many flaws here, but we also have something special worth protecting."
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Source:cna