President Donald Trump took on communism in his speech during the 250th anniversary of the United States of America. – We will not have communists in our country. Communism has never worked, and will never work!
The event in the National Mall park in Washington D.C. was delayed because of lightning and thunder, and Trump came on stage only after 11 o’clock local time.
– Even if I had to speak in front of one person at 4 o’clock in the morning, nothing could have stopped me, Trump said before what he estimated was at least 150,000 listeners.
The President highlighted the motto Live free or die as characteristic of the United States of America. Inspired by the battle cry Vivre Libre ou Mourir from the French Revolution, later immortalised as the state of New Hampshire’s official motto, it was taken from a speech by General John Stark in 1809. Stark was one of the state’s famous soldiers during the War of Independence.
– We will never let our country fall. We are a nation of winners, and today we are winning again, like never before.
Wants to preserve America with voter ID
To keep the USA in position to win also in the next 250 years, Trump referred to the bill SAVE America Act (The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act), which he hopes will lead to valid ID and proof of citizenship being required to cast one’s vote in elections.
Postal ballots shall be banned, except for those with a valid reason.
– There will be no more cheating with the elections hereafter.
The 104-year-old war veteran Ken Schubring came on stage and was honoured by Trump and the audience. Shortly afterwards Arthur Rose also rose, a spry 107-year-old. He is a veteran of the D-Day invasion Operation Overlord in Normandy.
The audience shouts: USA! USA! USA!
– Like a cancer tumour
Also a 101-year-old veteran of the conquest of Iwo Jima was called up and honoured.
– We fought against fascism and the evil of communism, and as I said yesterday at Mount Rushmore, America will never become a communist country.
– Won’t happen.
– The communist system is the opposite of the American, and has never worked. Our warriors do not fight against communism on battlefields around the world so that this ugly threat should appear here in America. We will not let it happen!
– It is like a cancer tumour; it must be cut out, and it must be cut out quickly!
In this connection it was fitting for Trump to highlight several veterans who survived close combat with communists during the Korean War.
Trump also made a case for the USA’s ability to carry out “big and wild dreams”. As when working people of all shades took up their simple weapons against Britain’s mighty military power and started the War of Independence.
– The British had an unbeatable army. Until they met us. No one forced them to do it; they went to war because they knew that a free people must have a free country.
Predicts golden age
– We have thrived and flourished because our founders were brilliant, because our cause was just and because our people were brave. Our culture is exceptional, and our destiny is written by God.
250 years is no age, according to Trump:
– We have only just begun. The best has not yet revealed itself. The American golden age lies ahead of us!
On stage behind the President hung a series of original flags from various eras of America’s history, including one of the very first that was made, with 13 stars, one for each of the 13 colonies that broke away.
This flag is dated to the year after the Declaration of Independence in 1776, when the Flag Act was adopted and work on the Articles of Confederation began.
CNN has pulled out all the stops and has the best produced recording of the event. The comment section is something else entirely: