The nation just observed the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Federal celebrations culminated on the Fourth of July with a late-night speech from President Trump followed by 40 minutes of fireworks across the National Mall. Rather than staying up to watch, I went to bed after our local fireworks and read the speech the next morning.
Trump’s address, which lauded the Declaration and Constitution’s recognition of our inalienable rights and freedoms, offered a history of America bound up in red, white and blue. He rolled through 250 years of highlights, showcasing renditions of our flag tied to famous events, from the 1777 victory at Saratoga to the flag that draped Lincoln’s coffin, the flag that went down with the USS Arizona, and the flag planted on the moon. He wove these snapshots together with stories of individuals whose lives testify to the American spirit.
Sergeant William Carney, an escaped slave who fought for the Union, was shot four times but made sure the flag he carried never touched the ground. Colonel Paris Davis, a Vietnam veteran and Medal of Honor recipient, saved the lives of fellow soldiers. Retired Navy Lieutenant Arthur Rose, 107 years old, commanded 36 landing craft at Normandy. These are the stories American children ought to be taught in school.
If Trump’s speech were limited to those highlights, I’d hope a substantial majority of Americans would rally round the flag and feel deep appreciation for what this country is and has been. My guess, though, is that a not-insignificant number would let their political passions cloud that goodness, ignoring our history or finding ways to criticize it. Those misguided passions produced stupid missteps elsewhere too, such as Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s recent decision to forgo a Pennsylvania booth at the Great American State Fair on the Mall. Senators John Fetterman and Dave McCormick, from different parties, saved the day for Pennsylvania’s representation, a rare display of what was once called bipartisanship.
I focused on the positive parts of Trump’s speech to highlight the value of looking for the good in our country. Because I didn’t watch it live, I could gloss over the parts reflecting his trademark hyperbole: “We’re doing better than ever,” notwithstanding the pricing pressures many families face. “We have equal justice under the law, although I wasn’t treated that well.” We “won’t have cheating on the elections anymore,” though some are still holding their breath to see whether the Trump Justice Department indicts anyone over alleged 2020 election fraud. We “wiped out Iran’s military,” though Iran still holds the ability to stop shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
Herein lies Trump’s problem. When he mixes subjective salesman talk with the objective positives such as those described in the opening paragraphs above, he risks losing the swing voters who gave him a second chance and a second term over word-salad-border-czar-out-of-touch-with-middle-America Kamala Harris. The GOP will need these voters as the country faces the threat posed by the hard, progressive left now overtaking the Democratic Party.
In 1984, Democrat-turned-Republican Jeane Kirkpatrick described Democrats who always seemed to “blame America first.” Today, the radical wing of the party, under the banner of the Democratic Socialists of America, has moved from blaming America to making it unrecognizable. Their platform calls for open borders, socialized medicine, higher taxes, free college, and abolishing police, prisons, and the Senate, while giving large states an unfair advantage over small ones in presidential elections. It would transform the federal government from one of limited reach into one of all-encompassing control. Their vision would fulfill Ronald Reagan’s warning that if we fail to fight for freedom in every generation, “we may well spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it once was like in America when men were free.”
With his congratulatory post to New York Mayor Mamdani on helping “3 solid communists” win Democratic primaries, and his repeated warnings of a resurfacing communist threat, Trump is banking on sensible Americans sticking with him through the midterms. Whether he succeeds depends on his base showing up at the polls, and on swing voters staying alarmed enough over the Democratic Party’s ascendant radicals to tolerate two more years of transactional politics from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. It’s going to be a challenging four months ahead.
(Congressman Keith Rothfus served 3 terms in the U.S. House. He is a Notre Dame Law School graduate living near Pittsburgh where he and his wife raised their family.)