REMARKS

Remarks by President Trump at the 2020 Salute to America
Issued on: July 5, 2020

South Lawn

July 4, 2020
6:50 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Wow. Are you having a good time? (Applause.) Members of Congress, members of my cabinet, and my fellow Americans: The First Lady and I are delighted to welcome you to the second annual Salute to America. (Applause.)

On this wonderful day, we celebrate our history, our heroes, our heritage, our great American flag, and our freedom. Happy Fourth of July to everyone. (Applause.)

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We will never allow an angry mob to tear down our statues, erase our history, indoctrinate our children, or trample on our freedoms. (Applause.) We will safeguard our values, traditions, customs, and beliefs. We will teach our children to cherish and adore their country so that they can build its future. Together, we will fight for the American Dream, and we will defend, protect, and preserve American way of life, which began in 1492 when Columbus discovered America. (Applause.)

Jobs and companies are coming back to our country like never before. The power of tariffs being imposed on foreign lands that took advantage of the United States for decades and decades have enabled us to make great trade deals where there were none. Tens of billions of dollars are now paid to the United States Treasury by the same countries.

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Likewise, testing — there were no tests for a new virus, but now we have tested over 40 million people. But by so doing, we show cases, 99 percent of which are totally harmless. Results that no other country will show, because no other country has testing that we have — not in terms of the numbers or in terms of the quality.

And now, just like everything else, we have become the manufacturer on record for ventilators, we have the most and finest testing anywhere in the world, and are producing gowns and masks and surgical equipment in our country where heretofore it was almost exclusively made in foreign lands, in particular, China, where, ironically, this virus and others came from. China’s secrecy, deceptions, and cover-up allowed it to spread all over the world — 189 countries — and China must be held fully accountable. (Applause.)

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Our past is not a burden to be cast away, it is not a miraculous foundation that will lift us to the next great summit of human endeavor. The incredible story of American progress is the story of each generation picking up where the last finished — linked by time, by fate, and the eternal bonds of our national affection.

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Let me also say a word to those in the media who falsely and consistently label their opponents as racists, who condemn patriotic citizens who offer a clear and truthful defense of American unity. That’s what our people are doing. We want a clear and faithful defense of American history and we want unity.

When you level these false charges, you not only slander me, you not only slander the American people, but you slander generations of heroes who gave their lives for America. (Applause.) You slander people much braver and much more principled than you. You are slandering the young men who raised the flag at Iwo Jima, and those who perished fighting for freedom in the Civil War. You slander them. You are dishonoring their great legacy and their memory by insisting that they fought for racism and they fought for oppression. They didn’t fight for those things; they fought for the exact opposite. We will not let the legacy of these heroes be tarnished by you.

The more you lie, the more you slander, the more you try to demean and divide, the more we will work hard to tell the truth. And we will win. (Applause.) The more you lie and demean and collude, the more credibility you lose. We want to bring the country together, and a free and open media will make this task a very easy one. Our country will be united. After all, what do we want? We want a strong military, great education, housing, low taxes, law and order. We want safety, we want equal justice, we want religious liberty, we want faith and family, and living in a great communities and happy communities and safe communities. And we want great jobs and we want to be respected by the rest of the world; not taken advantage of by the rest of the world, which has gone on for decade after decade. We should all want the same thing. How can it be any different than those things?

The more bitter you become, the more we will appeal to love and patriotism, and the more we will rise above your hate to build a better future for every child in our great country.

To celebrate America’s majestic inheritance, yesterday I signed an executive order to create a brand-new monument to our most beloved icons. The National Garden of American Heroes will be a vast outdoor park that will feature the statues of the greatest Americans who have ever lived. We will honor extraordinary citizens from every community and from every place and from every part of our nation. Great men and great women, people that we can look up to forever.

Families will be able to walk among the statues of titans, and we have already selected the first 30 legacies and 30 legends. And why don’t we start with a man who has been very unfairly treated, who, two years ago, three years ago — especially five or six years ago — people would have said it’s impossible to even attempt to try and disturb his incredible legacy and success: George Washington. (Applause.) Thomas Jefferson — (applause) — Betsy Ross — (applause) — Alexander Hamilton — (applause) — Benjamin Franklin — (applause) — John Adams — (applause) — James Madison — (applause) — Dolly Madison — (applause) — the great Frederick Douglass — (applause) — Abraham Lincoln — (applause) — Harriet Tubman — (applause) — Harriet Beecher Stowe — (applause) — Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain — (applause) — Clara Barton — (applause) — Daniel Boone — (applause) — Davy Crockett — (applause) — Henry Clay — (applause) — Susan B. Anthony — (applause) — Booker T. Washington — (applause) — Orville and Wilbur Wright, who are looking down.

And you’re going to see some planes like you have never seen before, because we build them better than anybody in the world. The greatest Air Force, the greatest fighters, the greatest everything. You’re going to be seeing something — I just wonder what Orville and Wilbur would have been thinking if they ever got to see that. But they’re looking. They’re checking it out right now along with us. Amelia Earhart. (Applause).

A great, great athlete no matter where he went; he was the best athlete: Jackie Robinson. (Applause.) George S. Patton — General Patton. He didn’t know how to lose. (Applause.) He didn’t don’t how to lose. General Douglas MacArthur — (applause) — Audie Murphy — (applause) — the great Billy Graham — (applause) — and an incredible man, respected by everybody: Martin Luther King. (Applause.) President Ronald Reagan. (Applause.) Christa McAuliffe, and Antonin Scalia. (Applause.)

So those are just a few of the people we’ll be naming, and things are subject to change, but once we make that decision, those great names are going to be up there and they’re never coming down. They have just been an incredible group. And we are going to do this in a very democratic way, frankly. We’re going to take names and suggestions. We’re going to have committees and we’re going to pick the greatest people that this country has ever known. The most respected people. The people that helped us the most. And the people that we can look up to and that our children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren can look up to into the future and they can say, “Isn’t America just a tremendous place?” So, thank you. That will be very exciting. (Applause.)

The patriots who built our country were not villains, they were heroes whose courageous deeds improved the Earth beyond measure.

The beauty and the glory of our constitutional system is that it gives us the tools to fight injustice, to heal division, and to continue the work of our Founding Fathers by expanding and growing the blessings of America. If you believe in justice, if you believe in freedom, if you believe in peace, then you must cherish the principles of our founding and the text of our Constitution. It is our founding and our Constitution. It is a firm foundation upon which all progress is achieved. That’s why our country is so strong, even despite terrible things that happen over the generations.

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In a few moments, we will bear witness to awesome aircraft representing every major military conflict over the last 75 years. These planes once launched off massive aircraft carriers in the fiercest battles of World War II. They raced through the skies of Korea’s MiG Alley. They carried American warriors into the dense fields and jungles of Vietnam. They delivered a swift and swip- — and you know that sweeping — it was swift and it was sweeping like nobody has ever seen anything happen — a victory in Operation Desert Storm. A lot of you were involved in that. (Applause.) A lot of you were involved. That was a quick one. And they have gone on to dangerous missions around the world to take out enemy terrorists and bring our soldiers home safely.

As you know, we’ve killed, this last year, the two leading terrorists of the last 10 years: al-Baghdadi and Soleimani. Killed. Gone. Over. (Applause.) We have worked to fully rebuild the Armed Forces of the United States. No enemy on Earth stands a chance — $2.5 trillion, we’ve invested — all made in the USA. We’ve never had anything near the power and the equipment that we have right now. We did that over the last three years.

Everywhere these aircraft have flown, they’ve rained down American thunder, delivered American justice, and they have fiercely defended every square inch of American sovereignty.
In their steel frames, broad wings, and roaring engines, we see the story of America’s daring defiance, its soaring spirit, and undying resolve.

Throughout our history, our country has been tested and tried – but we have always fought to victory. Whenever our way of life has been threatened, our ancestors have responded with the same resounding answer as those first patriots who fought for independence: We are Americans, and we never back down, we never give in, and we never give up, and we will never yield [in] defense of our nation. We love our nation. We will only fight to win.

Today, we thank God for the gift of life and for the blessing of liberty.

We honor the legends of our history, the glories of our Founding Fathers, and the giants of the past, and the heroes of today who keep us safe, who keep us strong and proud, and who keep us free.

Once again, Happy July Fourth to all. Our country is in great shape. Our military has never been stronger. And many, many good things are going to happen. Next year will be one of the greatest years we’ve ever had.

I want to thank our men and women — they are so good — of the National Park Service, Air Traffic Control, and the United States Military.

God Bless you, God Bless our heroes, God bless America. And now, let the flyovers begin. Thank you very much. (Applause.)

END

7:20 P.M. EDT