President Trump gestures after speaking at Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Friday, July 3, 2026, near Keystone, S.D. Alex Brandon/AP
Alex Brandon/AP
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump ushered in the 250th anniversary of American independence on Friday with soaring rhetoric about American exceptionalism before veering into a darkly political speech with warnings about a sinister threat of communism that evoked one of the country’s ugliest chapters.
“Communism is a mortal threat to American liberty,” he said
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