The Washington Post proclaimed that President Trump attempted to “resuscitate his troubled reelection campaign by galvanizing white supporters” during Friday’s patriotic Mount Rushmore speech and asserted that he moved to secure the “legacy of white domination.”
The Post’s Robert Costa and Philip Rucker, in a July 4 screed not labeled opinion, unloaded on President Trump’s July 3 speech and asserted that Trump is alienating Republicans who are apparently “unnerved” by his “unyielding push to preserve Confederate symbols and the legacy of white domination,” which was “crystallized by his harsh denunciation of the racial justice movement” during Friday’s speech:
Although amplifying racism and stoking culture wars have been mainstays of Trump’s public identity for decades, they have been particularly pronounced this summer as the president has reacted to the national reckoning over systemic discrimination by seeking to weaponize the anger and resentment of some white Americans for his own political gain.
[…]
Trump put his strategy to resuscitate his troubled reelection campaign by galvanizing white supporters on display Friday night under the chiseled granite gaze of four past presidents memorialized in the Black Hills of South Dakota. He celebrated Independence Day with a dystopian speech in which he excoriated racial justice protesters as “evil” representatives of a “new far-left fascism” whose ultimate goal is “the end of America.”
Trump’s inclusion of the word “evil” in the speech was only used three times throughout the speech — twice in reference to slavery, and once to describe those who are violently attacking the country’s heritage. He did not specifically call peaceful racial justice protesters “evil,” as the Post writers imply.
“Here tonight, before the eyes of our forefathers, Americans declare again, as we did 244 years ago: that we will not be tyrannized, we will not be demeaned, and we will not be intimidated by bad, evil people,” the president declared. “It will not happen.”
“Our nation is witnessing a merciless campaign to wipe out our history, defame our heroes, erase our values, and indoctrinate our children,” the Post authors continued, quoting a snippet from the speech in which Trump brought attention to “angry mobs” that are “trying to tear down statues of our founders, deface our most sacred memorials, and unleash a wave of violent crime in our cities.”
Beyond that, the writers hardly pulled from the actual content of Trump’s speech — which was largely a history lesson that praised the likes of Martin Luther King, as well as Abraham Lincoln, who oversaw our “bloodiest war, the struggle that saved our union and extinguished the evil of slavery.”
Instead, the Post authors attempted to paint a picture of a racist Commander-in-Chief, who is putting members of his own party on edge.
“Over the years, some Republicans have struggled to navigate Trump’s race baiting and, at times, outright racism, while others have rallied behind him,” Costa and Rucker wrote, ignoring key elements of the president’s speech, in which he firmly established that “every child, of every color — born and unborn — is made in the holy image of God.”
“Our Founders boldly declared that we are all endowed with the same divine rights — given [to] us by our Creator in Heaven. And that which God has given us, we will allow no one, ever, to take away — ever,” Trump said.
Despite that, the Post authors lamented Trump’s “repeated championing of monuments, memorials and military bases honoring Confederate leaders” and his criticism of the Black Lives Matter movement.
However, the reporters ignored the entirety of the president’s speech, in which he carefully explained the left’s current movement, tactics, and ultimate endgame. The speech was filled with history lessons, highlighting great American leaders — George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt — and explaining why the “left-wing cultural revolution” is incompatible with American ideals:
Trump said:
One of their political weapons is “Cancel Culture” — driving people from their jobs, shaming dissenters, and demanding total submission from anyone who disagrees. This is the very definition of totalitarianism, and it is completely alien to our culture and our values, and it has absolutely no place in the United States of America. This attack on our liberty, our magnificent liberty, must be stopped, and it will be stopped very quickly. We will expose this dangerous movement, protect our nation’s children, end this radical assault, and preserve our beloved American way of life.
In our schools, our newsrooms, even our corporate boardrooms, there is a new far-left fascism that demands absolute allegiance. If you do not speak its language, perform its rituals, recite its mantras, and follow its commandments, then you will be censored, banished, blacklisted, persecuted, and punished. It’s not going to happen to us.
Make no mistake: this left-wing cultural revolution is designed to overthrow the American Revolution. In so doing, they would destroy the very civilization that rescued billions from poverty, disease, violence, and hunger, and that lifted humanity to new heights of achievement, discovery, and progress.
“In toppling the heroes of 1776, they seek to dissolve the bonds of love and loyalty that we feel for our country and that we feel for each other,” Trump later said of the violent protesters. “Their goal is not a better America, their goal is to end America”:
“My fellow citizens: America’s destiny is in our sights. America’s heroes are embedded in our hearts. America’s future is in our hands,” Trump said as he wrapped the speech up. “And ladies and gentlemen: the best is yet to come.”
The Post reporters ended their piece with a quote from Democrat pollster Cornell Belcher, who concluded that there is “no rationale for Donald Trump” without “white resentment.”
“Without that, what reason do his supporters have to be with Donald Trump if he’s not going to be your tribal strong man?” he asked. “He started there and will end there.”