Play store
US President Donald Trump was at Mount Rushmore Friday to kick off America’s 250th birthday celebrations with a speech delivered at the foot of the iconic monument with its giant carved heads of four of his legendary predecessors.
Trump’s speech will be ‘inspiring and optimistic” and focused on the theme of what it means to be an American, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters ahead of the US leader’s arrival.
She added that the remarks will also “serve as a fierce rebuke to Communism,” a theme the president has repeatedly hammered home in recent weeks.
At every stage, the 80-year-old Republican has sought to turn the United States’ big anniversary into a celebration of himself.
The location of Trump’s speech — a landmark upon which many suspect he would like to see his own face carved into rock — strikes a fitting image for a president who views himself as being one of the greats.
Trump’s supporters have even introduced legislation to have his likeness chiseled beside those of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt.
On July Fourth, Trump will hold a campaign-style political rally on the National Mall in Washington, along with flyovers by military jets and what he has billed as the world’s biggest fireworks display.
For Trump — the billionaire former reality TV star who became the consummate political showman — taking center stage is in his blood.
“Trump likes the spotlight, and I think he’s trying to take the spotlight,” Peter Loge, director of George Washington University’s School of Media, told AFP.
Trump set for Mount Rushmore address as US turns 250
