July 4th News Updates: Trump Has Made a Mockery of Our 250th NAZIS IN DC ON JULY 4TH! NOTICE REPUBLICAN SILENCE!
July 4th News Updates: Trump Has Made a Mockery of Our 250thNazis march through DC, the power grid buckles under record heat, and Trump spends the country's biggest anniversary posting memes about Pee-wee Herman
Hi all, Ben here. It’s Saturday, July 4. I want to start by wishing everyone in the United States a Happy 250th! The country may be far from perfect, but that’s exactly the reminder that our work is never finished. It will always be worth fighting for. And we will never give up on the values and principles that truly make this country great. And remember: the reason we celebrate this day is because average people stood up to the authoritarians and bullies. You all represent the absolute best of this country and what it truly stands for. We must never lose sight of that, nor can we allow those who espouse values antithetical to what this nation is supposed to be dictate what patriotism is. Here’s what we’re tracking today:
Before I go any further, if you haven’t yet joined as a paid subscriber, consider doing so now by clicking here to support our work. This is how we grow and it’s one of the ways we fight for the values of is international movement. It will give you access to all recaps like this, our exclusive Ask-the-Editor series, and more. Plus, it is the best way to help support the growth of this network. Let’s get into it. Trump Has an Odd Way of Celebrating the 4thAt 2:11 in the morning, on the day our country turns 250 years old, Donald Trump is on Truth Social posting a meme comparing Senator Jon Ossoff to Pee-wee Herman. A few hours later he follows it up with another one, this time putting Congressman James Talarico’s face next to Alfred E. Neuman from Mad Magazine. Then, closer to midday, he posts asking whether anyone has ever seen a happy “Dumocrat.” Happy 250th! This is the man setting the tone for what was supposed to be a unifying national celebration. Trump needs to put his toxicity into everything. It’s gross and un-American. Meanwhile… A Heat Emergency Is Bearing Down on WashingtonDC is under a severe weather alert today, with extreme heat and humidity priming the atmosphere for potentially damaging thunderstorms late this afternoon into the evening. We’re talking temperatures well past 100 degrees. The Storm Prediction Center has an “enhanced” risk zone covering Baltimore, Annapolis, DC, and Alexandria, with a “slight” risk extending further out. It got so bad that DC’s own Independence Day parade was canceled because of the heat. And yet, despite all of that, Trump’s National Mall celebrations are moving forward, with people expected to start arriving around 5pm and Trump’s speech not even beginning until roughly late at night. In this heat. We are already seeing the consequences of that decision play out. People Are Being Hospitalized at Trump’s State Fair EventAt Trump’s so-called American state fair event on the National Mall Friday, we’ve now confirmed 44 patients treated for heat-related ailments, 11 of them transported to hospitals, and 7 of those on advanced life support. Ground reporters have described medical staff scrambling to get people water and EMS crews driving circles around the Mall trying to keep up. Trump, Fox, and the entire MAGA ecosystem tried to hype this dud of an event up as the greatest moment in our nation’s history. Instead we’ve got ambulances, gurneys, and people on life support. I want to be careful here and wait for full confirmation before speculating further, but the early numbers alone are terrifying. This is just one example of what happens when the folks in charge put political messaging over reality and safety. More on that a little later. Iran Shuts Down the US-Backed Shipping CorridorOvernight, Iran’s IRGC completely shut down the US-backed Omani corridor in the Strait of Hormuz using its speedboat fleet. Marine traffic data shows not a single vessel used that corridor for more than half a day. This followed IRGC radio warnings broadcast to ships this morning, plus the deployment of special forces patrol boats to enforce Iran’s own preferred route. More than ten vessels have already diverted to Iran’s approved lane. Remember, just yesterday at Mount Rushmore, Trump was talking tough, saying that once the Ayatollah’s funeral period wrapped up, America would go right back to pressuring Iran, framing it as Iran “begging” for a deal. Iran’s answer arrived within a day: a fresh violation threat gets met with a shutdown of the exact corridor the US was relying on. Happy Fourth of July. Meanwhile, Faytuks Network reports that Israeli officials are assessing that within two to three months, possibly by September, the “Board of Peace” could declare Hamas in breach of the Gaza agreement, a move that could open the door to renewed fighting in Hamas-held areas. Millions Gather in Iran for Farewell CeremoniesMeanwhile, millions of Iranians are out in 35 degree Celsius heat for farewell ceremonies for the country’s late leader. Officials expect roughly 30 million people to pass through over the course of the ceremonies, arriving in waves since no single venue could possibly hold that many people, continuing until funeral prayers begin at 6am tomorrow. At the Tehran prayer hall, one eulogist told the crowd they hadn’t come to bury their leader, they’d come to avenge him. Dignitaries from dozens of countries are reportedly attending as well. Nazis Are Marching Through Washington DCTodayYes, you read that right. On the 250th anniversary of American independence, roughly 400 members of the white nationalist group Patriot Front marched through the nation’s capital, some carrying Confederate flags, gathering first at Union Station before making their way across Capitol Hill. One streamer embedded with the group reportedly described the scene as a total victory for their cause. Let me remind you all that during the Biden administration, MAGA world spent months insisting Patriot Front was actually a front for federal agents, some kind of false flag operation designed to make the right look bad. So my question is simple: if that were true, why is this happening now, under Trump, with Kash Patel running the FBI? A post from Senator Mike Lee in January 2025 that Patriot Front would vanish the moment Patel was confirmed. Funny how that didn’t happen. The right wing Daily Caller’s editor-in-chief has gone sad that the group is “probably 75% SPLC employees and 25% Feds.” They can’t even follow their own logic anymore. So is the Daily Caller’s official position that the Trump administration is colluding with the SPLC to have a Nazi group walk trough the nation’s capital as some sort false flag? Curious!
Pope Leo Delivers a Message Trump Won’t LikeIn stark contrast to Trump’s memes and grievances, Pope Leo XIV, speaking after receiving the Liberty Medal in Rome, delivered what many are reading as a direct rebuke of Trump’s immigration policy. He praised America’s history of welcoming immigrants, saying the country became a global symbol of freedom precisely because it opened its doors to people seeking a better life. He urged the nation to stay true to the ideals of liberty, justice, unity, and peace laid out in the Declaration of Independence. The Pope has also traveled to Lampedusa, one of Europe’s main entry points for migrants crossing the Mediterranean, meeting with migrants and rescue workers and calling on political leaders everywhere to pursue humane, long-term immigration solutions. Trump’s Financial Corruption Keeps Piling UpThis week we learned Trump received a gold ring worth somewhere between $25,000 and $35,000 from a Belgian diamond group, just months after that same group won tariff relief from his administration. The ring, presented by the president of the Antwerp World Diamond Center to the US ambassador to Belgium for delivery to Trump, features 321 diamonds, 56 sapphires, 13 emeralds and six rubies, according to PBS NewsHour. Our editor-in-chief Ron Filipkowski put it plainly: Trump’s tariffs were never about American businesses or American workers, they were always just another way to enrich Trump and the people around him. Then there’s the crypto story, and this one is staggering. According to the New York Times, nearly a million people who bought Trump’s memecoin have lost a combined $3.8 billion through the end of June. Meanwhile Trump signed a financial disclosure showing he personally walked away with $636 million from that same coin, part of at least $2.2 billion in total earnings from his business ventures last year. The math only worked one way, and it wasn’t in favor of his supporters. Senator Bernie Sanders summed up the broader picture, pointing out that this is a president who made at least $2.2 billion in his first year back in office, flies around on a $400 million jet gifted by Qatar, whose family made $1.4 billion from crypto last year, received $187 million from the UAE for his crypto firm just days before inauguration, and approved over $1.5 billion in taxpayer money for mining deals in Kazakhstan that benefit his own family and friends. As Sanders put it, this isn’t America First. It’s Trump First. The Power Grid Is Buckling, One Day AfterTrump’s Team Bragged About DitchingRenewablesA couple days back, Energy Secretary Chris Wright posted proudly that PJM, the largest power grid in the country serving 67 million people across the Mid-Atlantic, South, and DC region, was running on over 91 percent gas, nuclear, and coal, keeping air conditioners blasting, as he put it, while attacking renewable energy policies elsewhere. Yesterday, that same grid announced it cannot meet expected demand amid this record heat wave and is implementing emergency demand-reduction measures, according to Reuters, as it battles generator outages and transmission overloads. Imagine bragging about removing renewable energy? Again, this is what putting politics ahead of reality looks like.
Where This Leaves UsWe are so much better than this as a country. On America’s 250th birthday, we had people hospitalized in dangerous heat at a mismanaged rally, Nazis marching openly through our capital, a foreign policy crisis unfolding in real time, a power grid on the brink, and a President more interested in posting insult memes than leading. This should have been a day that brought the whole country together. Maybe someday it still can be, in a future where we get the chance to do this anniversary the way it deserved to be done. But let’s keep fighting for the values and principles that we hold dear. After all, that’s what this country is supposed to be about. |
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