Trump praises army, rails against communism in US 250th anniversary speech

At Mount Rushmore, Trump warns of ‘communist menace’, ties rhetoric to immigration ahead of November midterms.United States President Donald Trump has used the opening weekend of the nation’s 250th anniversary celebrations to praise the US military and critique democratic socialists, warning of a “communist menace” that he claims poses a major threat to the country.Speaking beneath the granite monument at Mount Rushmore on the eve of Independence Day on July 4, Trump invoked national identity and ideology ahead of the November midterm elections.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Pope Leo, Mamdani send pro-immigrant message for US’s 250th anniversarylist 2 of 3US wants intervention, but Syria signals diplomacy after FM’s Lebanon triplist 3 of 3Trump administration renews pressure on International Criminal Courtend of list“We created the strongest and most powerful military. We won two world wars,” he said, claiming that the Cold War had left the US’s enemies “in the depths of history”.He also said the US “beat Venezuela in one day” and “knocked the hell out of Iran”.The address comes amid voter concerns over persistent inflation and elevated energy prices driven by the ongoing US-Israel conflict with Iran.Briefly addressing the Iran war, Trump said Tehran is “dying to settle” and that Washington had granted “a week off for a funeral because we’re nice”, in reference to the days-long state funeral being held for late Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in a strike on the first day of the US-Israeli war.‘communist menace’A larger chunk of Trump’s address was focused on what he considers ideological threats at home.“There is now a resurgence of the communist menace in our land, including from newcomers to our country who embrace ideas totally opposed to our way of life,” the president said, calling communism “the enemy of the Constitution”.