Keystone, SD…Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the 45th and 47th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump.Thank you very much to the men and women of the South Dakota Air National Guard and those beautiful F-35s. We love them. And I want to thank all of you for being here. This is a big crowd — a lovely crowd — and what a sight it is.
I want to thank Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a good friend of mine and all of us; Senator Mike Rounds, a great guy; Governor Larry Rhoden; and Lieutenant Governor Ben Heisen. They’re all doing a fantastic job.
What great, incredible, talented pilots. Thank you very much. And Secretary Bergum, who is doing a phenomenal job. Governor Ron DeSantis, thank you, Ron.
Distinguished guests and fellow citizens, tonight we gather on the eve of one of the most extraordinary days in the history of the world. Tomorrow we mark 250 years of glorious American independence and 250 years of majestic American freedom.
In all the chronicles of the ages, never before has any nation celebrated so magnificent a triumph as this one. At 250 years, America is the oldest republic on Earth. We are the freest people on Earth. We have the most righteous and enduring Constitution on Earth. We are the strongest and most powerful country on Earth. And by the grace of God, the United States of America is the most successful, most accomplished, and most exceptional nation ever to exist in human history. It is great to be your president.
For a quarter of a millennium, liberty, justice, equality, self-government, and unmatched prosperity have flourished here as they have never flourished anywhere before. The birth and survival of the American nation under God is quite simply the best and most incredible thing ever to happen on this planet by human hands.
No other country has done more good for the world than the United States of America. We give thanks for these extraordinary blessings. What we have created in this country is not the natural way of the world. It is the exception. It is rare. It is priceless. And it is truly miraculous.
Throughout the entire story of humanity, most people in most places have lived lives plagued by suffering, poverty, exploitation, violence, and misery. But here in America, we have written a very different story — a tale of adventure, liberation, and unmatched greatness. It is the story of people governing themselves, of the many uniting as one, and of men and women rising by their own skill and talent to go further and reach higher than anyone has ever gone before.
The triumph of American independence was the result of the most extraordinary people in history, the most extraordinary culture in history, and the most extraordinary ideas in history — all creating the most extraordinary republic ever.
It all came together for the miracle of July 4, 1776. Two hundred and fifty years ago tomorrow.Tonight, on this beautiful mountain, we express our gratitude to those who made it possible. We salute the father of our country, George Washington; the author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson; the great emancipator and savior of our Union, Abraham Lincoln; and the man who built America into a global superpower, Theodore Roosevelt.
These are the men who declared our freedom, won our freedom, saved our freedom, and secured our freedom. They were men of action, ambition, daring, destiny, and truly great intelligence. Above all, they were great men of history.
Tonight, on the threshold of our 250th year, we stand beneath the monument of these heroes and rededicate ourselves to being a nation as big, bold, noble, and great as these American giants.
Their faces are engraved on these bluffs not only because of what they did, but to remind us forever who we are. These heroes exemplify what is timeless, enduring, and eternal about the American character. In the end, it has always been that character — our distinct and unique identity — that is the ultimate source of our strength and the bulwark of our freedom.
American liberty has not endured for 250 years merely because of words on paper. It has prevailed because of the culture and character of the people who declared it, defended it, and preserved it.
The identity of a nation is the destiny of a nation. America has a destiny like no other because we are a people like no other. Here, the old world sent its bravest, boldest, and most resilient — its fiercest, most faithful, and freedom-loving sons and daughters. They brought values, traditions, and customs transmitted over centuries from Britain and stretching back to Athens, Jerusalem, and Rome.
On the granite hills and rugged plains of this wide-open continent, they forged a uniquely American character — a new breed of citizen. Americans did not bow before a king or a government, but knelt only before Almighty God.For generations, it was understood that the core of patriotic duty for every American was to pass this culture on to our children and preserve the nation for centuries to come. But in recent years, there has been an undeniable attempt to change this exceptional character, to beat the American spirit out of us, and to alienate us from our history.
As we march into our 250th year, we must never forget: There is no American freedom without American culture, and there is no American founding without the American people. A constitution is only as strong as the people and the culture responsible for upholding it.As long as we remember who we are, the United States of America will forever be the land of free men and women, and we will never fail.
Americans love freedom. We cherish independence. We know that we are the heirs to the most beautiful land, the most thrilling story, and the most precious legacy on which the sun has ever shone.In America, we do not need anyone’s permission to say what we think, live as we please, worship as we choose, or keep and bear arms. Our rights are given to us by the God who made us, and those rights shall not be infringed.
Americans believe in self-reliance. We look upon success with admiration, not envy. We are a good, kind, and generous people, always ready to help a friend or neighbor in need. No one has ever given more to charity, ended more hunger, cured more disease, or done more to uplift humanity than Americans.
We honor excellence. We admire boldness. We respect ambition. We are a nation of dreamers and believers, warriors and explorers, doers and fighters. Show us a mountain and we will climb it. Show us an ocean and we will cross it. Show us a problem and we will solve it. Show us a task the world calls impossible, and Americans will get it done.
We treasure justice, fairness, family, honesty, and human dignity. We see every citizen as an individual, equal under the law and equal in the eyes of the Lord.We speak English — the language of our founding and, for a thousand years, the language of freedom.
We always want peace and order, but we will never shrink from danger or threat. We will fight, fight, fight — and win, win, win. Because this is our culture. This is our character.You do not have to be born here, but you do have to love what we have built. You must love our country. There has never been anything like us anywhere on Earth, and we are not going to let anyone take that away.
Yet as we approach this magnificent anniversary, we see our American identity under renewed attack. A generation after we won the Cold War, there is a resurgence of the communist menace in our land — including from newcomers who embrace ideas totally opposed to our way of life. Communism is a mortal threat to American liberty and the greatest threat to our country.
Communism is the enemy of free people everywhere, the enemy of the Constitution, and the enemy of July 4, 1776. It is the exact opposite of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It represents the worst ideas in history advanced by the worst people. You can be loyal to Karl Marx or you can be loyal to America. You cannot be both.
We will vanquish this threat. America will never be a communist country.In 250 years, the free people of this land have accomplished more with our liberty than any other society in thousands of years. America is not the sum of its mistakes. Our mistakes make us human. Our achievements make us American.
We are the nation that dreamed and created the modern world. We laid the railroads, raised skyscrapers, harnessed electricity, invented the light bulb, the telephone, the airplane, the assembly line, the television, the microchip, the personal computer, the internet, GPS, the smartphone — and yes, air conditioning.
We charted the human genome, split the atom, and planted our flag on the moon. We have won the most Olympic medals, the most Nobel Prizes, and the most world records. We produce the best movies, the best music, and the greatest entertainers and athletes the world has ever seen.
We have built the biggest and most dynamic economy. Our country today is doing better than it has ever done before. Factories and plants are being built at a record pace. We have the strongest and most powerful military in the world.
From the roaring waters of Niagara Falls to the oil fields of Texas, from the cornfields of the Midwest to the canyons of finance in New York, from the steel mills to the automobile plants now rising across the country, to the snow-capped peaks of the Rockies and the white-sand shores of the Gulf — American freedom still rings. The American dream still lives. And the American flag still flies more proudly than ever before.
Tomorrow we reach a milestone like no other. This is not an ending. This is only the beginning of the golden age of America.
Together, we will make America bigger, better, and stronger than ever before.It is an honor to be your president. Thank you very much, and happy Independence Day to all.
God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.
President Donald J. Trump’s Remarks at Mount Rushmore added by admin on
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