US President Donald Trump addressed the country on the country’s 4th of July Independence Day from Mount Rushmore. In his speech he said, “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.”
He had accused “angry mobs” of deploying “cancel culture” to demand “total submission from anyone who disagrees” – referring to protests regarding statues of controversial historical figures.
These statements had been direct references to the #BlackLivesMatter movement following the death of George Floyd, an African American man who had died in police custody. What started as a protest of solidarity against police brutality, took a violent turn with buildings and businesses vandalized and burnt.
While criticism has been mounting over his handling of the pandemic, he said that China must be held accountable for failing to contain the pandemic.
Critics of Trump said that it sounded more like an election campaign than a Presidential address.
In his speech President Trump stumbled over several words – most notably “totalitarianism”. The President also struggled to say “Ulysses S Grant”, and appeared to briefly freeze while talking about Thomas Jefferson. Many took to Twitter to mock his speech, and even tried ‘spelling out’ totalitarianism for his benefit.
We must stop the spread of pic.twitter.com/iy2XDqVw35
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) July 4, 2020
Following his speech, Trump and the first lady watched a spectacular display of military jets that have taken part in America’s military conflicts from the second world war onwards.