US turns 250 as Trump warns of ‘attack’ on American identity

America turns 250 on July 4 – a landmark birthday that coincides with a time of deep national division and a president determined to seize the festive centre stage.

The independence anniversary also comes in the middle of a brutal heatwave that has placed some 160 million Americans under major or extreme heat warnings, playing havoc with planned parades and block parties in towns and cities across much of the country.

But the searing temperatures have done little to deter US President Donald Trump, who has gone to great lengths to ensure the event becomes, in large part, a celebration of himself.

On the evening of July 4, Trump will hold a huge campaign-style political rally on the National Mall in the capital Washington, along with roaring military flyovers and what he has touted as the world’s biggest fireworks display.

“It’s going to be approximately 107 degrees (41 deg C) out, and I’m going to go and I’m going to make a really long speech – just to show that I can do anything,” he said earlier.

Late on July 3, he visited the Mount Rushmore national monument for an address under the gaze of the giant granite heads of four of his legendary predecessors.

While he lauded American exceptionalism and praised the country’s past leaders, he said the American identity was “under a renewed attack”.

Taking aim at domestic “radicals and extremists”, he charged that there was “a resurgence of the communist menace in our land”.

It is a theme that Trump has repeatedly hammered home in recent weeks, as the anti-establishment left of the Democratic Party carried a string of US primary victories.

For Americans, the 250th festivities offer a moment for reflection as well as celebration.

After 2½ centuries of triumphs and tragedies, slavery and freedom, civil war and world wars, multiple surveys indicate a nation divided on where it is and where it is going.

-AFP/The Strait Times