Four months before tough midterm elections, President Trump used the backdrop of Mount Rushmore one night before the nation’s 250th birthday to characterize his political opponents as “godless,” “evil” communists.
“We can only lose the midterms if we allow ourselves to lose the midterms, if we are foolish stupid and unwise,” he said on Friday, demanding that Congress pass his so-called SAVE America Act, which would impose stricter voter ID rules that would make it harder to vote. He called for terminating the filibuster.
The larger purpose of the speech wasn’t hard to miss. He was sharpening a line of attack that the White House has started to use to head off a newly insurgent progressive wing of the Democratic Party that appears to be resonating with liberal voters.
Mr. Trump read from an apocalyptic script as the stony faces of Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln looked on. He said the word “communism” so many times, you might’ve thought the Cold War was still on.
He was not subtle. Communism, he said, “is the enemy of July 4, 1776.” He called it a bigger threat than Pearl Harbor and even 9/11. He name-checked Karl Marx.
The speech began on an upbeat note. The president painted a proud and optimistic portrait of the United States, describing it as nothing short of the greatest society in the history of civilization. The whole first half of his speech boiled down to this line: “You live in a very special place — congratulations, everybody.” The crowd ate it up.
He soon began to pivot. There were people out there who didn’t want English to be the dominant language of the United States, he warned. There were people out there who wanted to take away everyone’s guns, he warned. He promised never to let that happen.
He warned of “newcomers to our country who embrace ideas totally opposed to our way of life and our great success.”
It was not the first time he’d used this backdrop to make a speech like this. Six years ago to the day, he spoke here at the end of his first term, when he was campaigning unsuccessfully for a second. Back then, the country was in the throes of the pandemic and gripped by civil unrest after the death of George Floyd, which inspired a national debate about statues and historical figures. Mr. Trump used his speech that night to warn of a “new far-left fascism” creeping up.
He switched ideologies in his second Rushmore speech on Friday.
“Communism is the exact opposite of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” he declared. “It’s death, tyranny and the pursuit of evil.”
This massive and most American of monuments made for quite the stage for this speech. This president loves a production, and he made the most of it. Military helicopters flew back and forth in front of the mountain while AC/DC and Lynyrd Skynyrd blared (“Free Bird,” naturally), followed by a B52 bomber. As the sun dipped below the horizon, big bright spotlights flashed on the fine granite faces of the four presidents, illuminating every contour that had been dynamited into shape almost a hundred years ago.
Shortly before Mr. Trump touched down, storm clouds and bolts of lightning rolled through. The sweet smell of ponderosa pines drenched in rainwater filled the glade as hail the size of ping pong balls pelted the mountain. The presidents looked as though they were crying. The crowds down below ran for cover, ducking into a gift shop and a cafe.
Many of the White House’s friends in the media traveled to South Dakota for the spectacle. The Fox News anchor Bret Baier warmed up before Mr. Trump’s arrival by interviewing a Lincoln impersonator in a stovepipe hat. Laura Loomer arrived moments before the hail rained down. A Native American man in a feather headdress puffed on a wind instrument. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and South Dakota’s governor, Larry Rhoden, wore cowboy hats.
Security was heavy. If you glimpsed, you could just make out the tiny silhouettes of men pacing atop Washington’s scalp like a scene out of “North By Northwest.”
As Mr. Trump’s speech drew to a close, he went in for one last attack. “The Communist Party,” he concluded, “is made up of illegal immigrants, criminals and everybody that doesn’t want to work.”
Then he switched back to talking about how awesome America is for another minute. Fireworks shot out over the presidential noggins, and the familiar sounds of the Village People started up.