Trump mixes patriotism and partisanship in polarizing July 4th speech

[0:00] Because President Trump marked the 250th anniversary of the United States of America [0:04] with a speech on the National Mall over the weekend. [0:07] The president's address, that was nearly canceled over a looming thunderstorm that was pretty wild itself, [0:12] touched on the country's past and promised a great future. [0:15] But as is standard for President Trump, his remarks mixed in partisanship with patriotism. [0:20] Take a look. [0:23] For two and a half centuries, our American republic has stood as the crowning achievement of human history. [0:29] This country is the home of freedom. [0:35] This is the land of liberty. [0:37] And this is a flag that's the banner of the most extraordinary, most exceptional, most incredible nation ever to exist on the face of the earth. [0:48] And we're doing better now than we've ever done before. [0:51] Unlike so many others in the world, in this country we have freedom of speech, freedom of religion, equal justice under the law. [1:03] Although I wasn't treated that well, but we won't get into that. [1:08] We rebuilt our military in my first term. [1:11] We used it a little bit in our, actually I should say third term, but I won't do that because I don't want any controversy. [1:18] America is back and we want to keep America great and we will do so by approving the Save America Act, which means all voters must show voter ID. [1:33] All voters must provide a little thing called proof of citizenship. [1:47] And there will be no mail-in ballots except for illness, disability, military deployment or travel. [1:53] And you won't have cheating on the elections anymore. [1:58] We already do not in a significant way. [2:02] Let's bring in MSNOW White House reporter Akayla Gardner here on set with me. [2:06] So what I heard even just in those selected pieces of sound was concerns about communism, political victimhood, the Save Act and continued election denialism. [2:17] And yet it was a celebration of America's 250th anniversary. [2:20] And there was plenty of patriotism to be sure from the fireworks to the flyovers. [2:23] All of it was extremely impressive. [2:25] But I wonder what the lasting indelible image and message is on this wonderful 250th anniversary. [2:31] I know there was parts of the president's speech that felt like it could have been delivered by any president on America's 250th birthday. [2:37] But like you mentioned, the political parts of it were so palpable. [2:42] And when you talk about the midterms messaging strategy, this is quickly becoming the president's central message. [2:48] We had heard from a long for a long time that the president's political team was seeking to really scare voters about what Democrats could do if they take back the House, whether it's on immigration or the economy. [2:59] And Republicans are frankly salivating over the fact that there has been now multiple Democratic socialists who have won these primaries. [3:07] They're excited to create that contrast. [3:09] But you also had the president over this birthday talking about the Save America Act. [3:14] And at one point at Mount Rushmore, he said he wants the filibuster to be killed. [3:19] We're talking about a bipartisan measure that has been used for decades to really encourage agreement across the aisle. [3:26] And he said that if it was passed, that Republicans would never lose an election for 100 years. [3:33] I mean, it's so stark to hear a president of the United States talking about that on America's 250th birthday and also suggesting, frankly, that this is not just about voter identification, that he thinks that this is going to help Republicans explicitly win the midterms. [3:47] And again, that is saying the quiet part out loud because you have Democrats on Capitol Hill and, frankly, some Republicans attempting to try to figure out why the president is willing to continuously own goal. [3:57] We're in the World Cup, after all, his own party on Capitol Hill in favor of this one measure. [4:03] And I wonder, as you look ahead to the midterms, you had White House advisers coming out saying we are going to make this all about affordability. [4:10] We are going to put the president at the center of the campaign trail, even though his name is not on the ballot. [4:14] And it doesn't seem like that's what's happening. [4:16] It doesn't. I mean, he didn't sign the housing affordability bill, bipartisan issue, huge issue for voters who care about the economy. [4:23] He's got, like, five days, four days left on the 10-day clock. [4:26] I think what's so interesting to me is the president has opportunities like that to really highlight the economy, and yet he continues to turn to really divisive measures. [4:36] His political team is pushing this aggressive redistricting strategy. [4:40] They could really just fight this on the merits, on the political merits, make the political case, [4:45] but they are doing it in a way that's very aggressive and one in which they think that they can win by any means necessary. [4:51] Yeah, I think that's right. [4:52] And also with the housing bill, it wasn't just that he didn't sign it. [4:55] It was more that he didn't sign it, leaves it in legislative limbo right now, and then also basically said it's not that big of a deal when he was in the Oval Office during a subsequent event. [5:04] You know, all of this comes domestically as the president is set now to travel to Ankara, Turkey, tonight for the annual NATO summit, [5:11] a gathering of leaders from the alliance that the president has long criticized and at times even threatened to abandon. [5:17] Trump is expected to push members to enforce their pledge from last year's summit to step up defense spending, [5:22] a frequent grievance of the president toward the alliance that's been long held. [5:26] Trump is also expected to meet, though, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, as well as with Syria's president. [5:31] The war in Ukraine will likely be a key focus at the summit this week. [5:35] And early today, on the eve of the gathering, Russia mounted its second major attack on Kiev in less than a week, [5:41] firing ballistic missiles toward the capital and killing at least 11 people, according to Ukrainian officials. [5:47] And so, look, we saw the NATO secretary general come here with charts showing the ways in which other countries have started paying closer to the levels [5:55] that Trump, since before he even came into his first term in office, has been saying they should pay. [6:00] That was meant to lay the groundwork for what is expected to be, frankly, a pretty tense gathering, [6:05] as so many of these have been since Trump has come back to office. [6:09] Yeah, I will never forget Mark Ruta calling President Trump daddy last year. [6:13] Well, I think the vibes are very similar this year because this administration has a policy of resentment towards Europe. [6:23] They're frustrated with them about their free speech policies, their energy policies, certainly defense spending. [6:29] We're told that that is going to continue to be an issue, that President Trump is happy with countries who have brought their defense spending up to 5 percent. [6:37] But they're going to be taking a task, those who aren't. [6:39] He's also going to be meeting with Zelensky. [6:42] And Zelensky has openly said that he's frustrated with the U.S. right now. [6:45] They are focused on the war in Iran. [6:47] He did not have a meeting with President Trump at the last G7 summit. [6:53] Macron and him were caught on a hot mic talking about that. [6:56] But they are expected to meet this time. [6:58] Zelensky's certainly going to be hoping to get Trump's attention on the war in Ukraine again. [7:02] But President Trump has openly said, you know, he's got other things worried about right now. [7:06] Yeah, I also think it's important for us to remember this is a war that he said that he could have ended on day one. [7:12] And we are well past that deadline at this point. [7:15] And it feels, at least in the administration's mind, like it has faded from the headlines, [7:19] as they've preferred to focus on the Middle East, on Iran, on other places. [7:24] Yeah. [7:24] MSNOW White House reporter, Akayla Gardner, still a very, very busy time on your beat. [7:28] Thank you.