President Donald Trump continued his crusade against protesters trying to tear down statues and national monuments, comparing the ‘angry mob’ ‘to Nazis and terrorists’, during a fiery Fourth of July speech.
Speaking from the White House South Lawn on Saturday, Trump accused the ‘radical left’ activists who have been targeting statues, mostly those of Confederate soldiers, of ‘dishonoring their legacy.’
‘We will not let the legacy of these people to be slandered by you,’ he said.
President Donald Trump speaks during a “Salute to America” event on the South Lawn of the White House, Saturday, July 4, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
Trump’s Fourth of July event follows a Friday night speech at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota where he accused ‘angry mobs’ of trying to erase history and used the speech to paint himself as a bulwark against left-wing extremism.
Joe Biden, Trump’s Democratic rival in the November election, struck a contrasting note with the Republican president and accused him in a Fourth of July op-ed of finding every day ‘new ways to tarnish and dismantle our democracy.’
‘We have a chance now to give the marginalized, the demonized, the isolated, the oppressed, a full share of the American dream,’ Biden said in a separate letter to donors.
In his Mount Rushmore speech, Trump made little mention of the pandemic that has hit his re-election hopes, even as COVID-19 moved further into Trump’s inner circle. Kimberly Guilfoyle, a senior campaign official and the girlfriend of Donald Trump Jr., tested positive in South Dakota before the event.
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser had tried to dissuade the Trump administration from holding the fireworks display over the National Mall and informed the Department of the Interior that it went against health officials’ guidance amid the pandemic.
U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump stand on stage on the White House South Lawn with the Jefferson Memorial and a small crowd of supporters on the Ellipse in the background as they host a 4th of July “2020 Salute to America” to celebrate the U.S. Independence Day holiday at the White House in Washington, U.S., July 4, 2020. REUTERS/Carlos Barria
Apart from fireworks spectators, activists of different stripes also appeared willing to disregard the health warnings.
Roar of the Deplorables, a bikers group, said via social media that they, too, were planning to gather in Washington on Saturday to stand in protest against what they call ‘the anti-Trump regime’ and to celebrate the nation’s birthday.
Freedom Fighters DC, a new activist group which seeks to rally an ethnically diverse generation of supporters behind liberty for all people, especially the Black population of Washington, is one of the anti-racism groups ignoring the mayor’s heed to refrain from gathering.
‘Black folks are not free from the chains of oppression, so we don’t get to truly celebrate Independence Day,’ said Kerrigan Williams, 22, one of the founders of the group, which will host a march and an arts demonstration on Saturday afternoon.
‘We’re marching today to showcase that Black folks are still fighting for the simple liberties that the constitution is said to provide.
Source: Daily Mail
