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Heat, security, and fireworks
The United States marked its 250th Independence Day with parades, tall ships, concerts and fireworks even as a dangerous heat wave threatened festivities, with NBC News saying roughly 150 million people were under heat alerts.
“Trump posts video of his likeness on Mount Rushmore sculpture ahead of politically charged speech Trump delivered remarks at the famed national memorial on Friday night”
In Washington, the National Mall’s “Salute to America 250” celebration was designated a National Special Security Event, putting the U.S. Secret Service in charge of security and bringing together the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, FEMA and dozens of federal, state and local agencies.
NBC News reported that more than 4,800 National Guard members from 23 states and the District of Columbia were deployed across Washington, while extensive road closures and airport-style screening surrounded the National Mall and entrances to the Great American State Fair and the Salute to America event.
Organizers also prohibited items including coolers, folding chairs, frisbees, balls, metal drink containers and aerosol cans, and NBC News said federal officials were not aware of any credible threats.
As thunderstorms were possible later, NBC News said any evacuation of the National Mall could require moving thousands of people out of the secured event area on short notice.
Trump’s Mount Rushmore message
On Independence Day eve, President Donald Trump delivered remarks at Mount Rushmore and, according to NPR, said, "Communism is a mortal threat to American liberty," while also calling it "the greatest threat to our country, including World War I, World War II, Pearl Harbor or even 9/11."
NPR described the speech as a political turn from earlier Independence Day celebrations, noting it was delivered in a national park that commemorates prominent U.S. presidents.
In New York City, NPR reported that Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, delivered his own address casting America as a nation of contradictions "working each day towards the perfection in which it was conceived."
The Daily Gazette said Trump used the Mount Rushmore speech to warn of the threat of communism after primary victories by Democratic Socialist candidates, and it quoted Trump saying Republicans “can only lose the midterms if we allow ourselves to lose the midterms.”
The Daily Gazette also said Trump planned to make remarks at 9:45 pm on the National Mall before a massive fireworks display, while heat may reduce the crowd size.
Opposition, cancellations, and timing
As the holiday unfolded amid heat and storm risks, CNN reported that the grounds opened at 5 p.m. ET to avoid prolonged exposure to heat, with the program beginning at 7 p.m. and President Donald Trump set to give remarks at 9:45 p.m. before fireworks.
CNN also said a severe thunderstorm threat loomed, with the risk for the Washington, DC, area ramping up this evening, and it described organizers altering or canceling events for safety reasons.
In Washington, NPR said Philadelphia canceled its Salute to Independence parade Friday, the Great American State Fair shut down in the early afternoon before reopening at 5 p.m., and an Independence Day parade scheduled for Saturday in Washington was canceled.
Raw Story quoted historian Doug Brinkley dismissing Trump’s Independence Day rhetoric as "Joe McCarthy Red Scare idiocy," and it included Brinkley’s claim that Trump was "deeply offensive" for warning about communists.
Raw Story also quoted MS NOW anchor Alex Witt saying, "When the president says, 'America will never become a communist country,' I was thinking to myself, 'Well, who said it was going to anyway?'"
