Independence Day: Trump on July 4 attacks ‘radical left’, rails at China’s ‘secrecy deceptions’
- US president flouts unifying message at divisive Independence Day event
- Officials had called on Americans to avoid public gatherings on the holiday
US President Donald Trump marked Independence Day by promising to defeat the “radical left” and boasting of his handling of the coronavirus, even as cases spike in the US.
Washington’s mayor urged people to stay away from the evening’s fireworks display and military flyover to avoid spreading the disease.
Trump, speaking from the South Lawn of the White House, reprised themes from a speech he delivered in South Dakota the day before, by lashing out at those protesting statues of certain historical figures and other symbols they say celebrate racial injustice.
“We are now in the process of defeating the radical left: the Marxists, the anarchists, the agitators, the looters and people who in many instances have absolutely no clue what they are doing,” Trump said, echoing remarks he gave at Mount Rushmore. “We will never allow an angry mob to tear down our statues, erase our history, indoctrinate our children or trample on our freedoms.”
Trump has spent weeks demonising a movement to re-examine the racial record of historic figures after the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, while in Minneapolis police custody. Those efforts have led to the removal, or calls for the removal, of statues, including Confederate generals and slave owners, from public and private facilities.