I spent my July 4th weekend visiting family in upstate New York and avoided the celebrations for personal reasons: imperialism, fascism, violence against immigrants and LGBTQ people—the list goes on. But I was curious about how the Trump administration would celebrate the holiday, given the extreme heat wave, the chaotic nature of the president’s endeavor to make Washington in his own image, and, as journalist Amanda Moore reported for Mother Jones, the lack of attendees at the Great American State Fair.
Unsurprisingly, the day in question was a disaster. Emergency responders said they evaluated hundreds of people for heat-related illnesses as the temperature rose to over 100 degrees. According to DC Fire and EMS, at least 34 people were taken to local hospitals. Then, at night, before Trump’s commemoration speech, a severe thunderstorm led to a two-hour evacuation of the National Mall. At around 11:15 p.m. ET, Trump finally delivered his remarks, praising the military bombing campaign in Iran, declaring that “communists” would not take over the country ahead of the midterms, and promising to restrict mail-in ballots.
The president's speech ignored the complicated history at the core of America's founding. But, as my colleague Jeffrey Kelly wrote this weekend:
Telling an honest and complete history that actually acknowledges the harm marginalized people endured in this country helps us reckon with what we’ve been through in the nation, and what we’d like to see in the next 250 years.
—Alex Nguyen
P.S. Did you have a chance to listen to this weekend’s Reveal episode? Host Al Letson traveled to Montgomery, Alabama, to learn about the importance of memorializing the country's worst historical atrocities while the Trump administration attempts to erase it from the record. You can find the episode here.
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