Day 1,262: Trump’s July 4th ‘Salute to America’ speech was more like a farcical ‘Salute to Trump’
Donald Trump delivered a speech dubbed a “Salute to America” at the White House on Saturday. Meant to commemorate the July 4th holiday and celebrate many factions of the U.S. and its history.
Before a flyover, Trump was talking about military aircraft and stumbled and seemed remarkably unfamiliar with major U.S. military engagements, as if he was reading about them for the first time off a teleprompter.
They carried American warriors into the dense fields and jungles of Vietnam. They delivered a swift and swipian — you know that’s sweeping. It was swift and it was sweeping like nobody’s ever seen anything happen. A victory in Operation Desert Storm. A lot of you were involved in that. A lot of you were involved. That was a quick one.
But before that, it was clear Trump wanted to make the speech all about himself and to try and rewrite history (as usual).
Trump on the coronavirus:
But there and then, we got hit by the virus that came from China. We’ve made a lot of progress. Our strategy is moving along well. It goes out in one area and rears back its ugly face in another area. But we’ve learned a lot. We’ve learned how to put out the flame. We’ve made ventilators where there were none by the tens of thousands, to the point that we have far more than we need, and we are now distributing them to many foreign countries as a gesture of good will.
Likewise, testing. There were no test for a new virus, but now we have tested almost 40 million people. By so doing, we show cases, 99 percent of which are totally harmless, results that no other country can show because no other country has testing that we have, not in terms of the numbers or in terms of the quality.
Reality: No other country saw their elected leader say that the virus was a hoax. No other country lost 130,000 of its residents to “learn[] how to put out the flame.” No other country has seen prolonged unchecked spread of the disease like the U.S. No other country has fought science and their own experts like the U.S. There’s also no evidence that the U.S. is close to extinguishing the pandemic. On ventilators, Trump didn’t inherit zero, but rather nearly 20,000. There’s no evidence — instead, plenty to the contrary — that 99% of COVID-19 cases are “totally harmless”. It’s taken months to just get to a point where hospitals have enough supplies, and many are starting to run low again.
China’s secrecy, deceptions, and cover-up allowed it to spread all over the world, 189 countries, and China must be held fully accountable. With respect to remedies, we are now doing unbelievably well and are in deep testing on vaccines, treatments, and therapeutics. I want to send our thanks to the scientists and researchers around the country and even around the world who are at the forefront of our historic effort to rapidly develop and deliver lifesaving treatments and ultimately, a vaccine.
Reality: No other country allowed China’s “secrecy, deceptions, and cover-up” to decimate their citizens.
Trump on evidence that he’s racist:
These are great heroes. Let me also say a word to those in the media who falsely and consistently label their opponents as racists, who condemn patriotic citizens who offer a clear and truthful defense of American unity. That’s what our people are doing. We want a clear and faithful defense of American history, and we want unity.
When you level these false charges, you not only slander me, you not only slander the American people, but you slander generations of heroes who gave their lives for America. You slander people much braver and more principle than you. You’re slandering the young men who raised the flag at Iwo Jima and those who perished fighting for freedom in the Civil War.
Reality: Trump is racist who awkwardly tried to use “generations of heroes” as a line of defense for himself.
Trump eventually turned the event into a full-throated campaign speech:
The more you lie and demean and collude, the more credibility you lose. We want to bring the country together, and a free and open media will make this task a very easy one. Our country will be united after all. What do we all want? We want a strong military, great education, housing. Low taxes.
We want safety. We want equal justice. We want religious liberty. We want faith, and family, and living in great communities, and happy communities and safe communities, and we want great jobs, and we want to be respected by the rest of the world, not taken advantage of by the rest of the world, which has gone on for decade after decade.
Reality: Trump hates the free press and being held accountable. Trump says he wants a strong military but allowed Vladimir Putin to put bounties on the heads of U.S. soldiers fighting in Afghanistan. Trump says he wants “equal justice” but said the phrase “Black lives matter” is one of “hate”. He said he wants the U.S. to be respected by the world, but has turned the country into an international laughingstock.
Trump on the military:
Every child should be taught the military heroes who fought and died to make us free. These are great, great people. These are great, great heroes, indeed. And our greatest leaders and heroes should be recognized and even immortalized for coming generations to see. You know that. This will make our country even stronger, long into the future.
Reality: Trump wants to keep honoring confederate traitors who fought and died trying to secede from the U.S. to keep an entire people from becoming free.
The speech, just 30 minutes in length, was written as if a fictional character was delivering it. It ignored the mountain of evidence to the contrary on the vast majority of Trump’s claims.
1,262 days in, 200 to go
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