WASHINGTON: Millions of Americans celebrated the nation’s 250th independence anniversary on Saturday with fireworks, parades and commemorative events, as President Donald Trump warned that the United States faced threats from domestic “radicals and extremists”.
Washington’s traditional fireworks display on the National Mall — lined with monuments celebrating the nation’s Founding Fathers — has been super-sized, and is being touted as the biggest ever.
President Trump has added a programme of roaring military flyovers for July Fourth, which marks the anniversary of the 1776 signing of the Declaration of Independence.
The national holiday comes in the middle of a brutal heat wave, with some 160 million Americans under extreme weather warnings, wreaking havoc with planned block parties and barbecues in towns and cities across much of the country.
With temperatures in the US capital expected to reach 102F (39C) — and the heat index soaring to 110-115F, the Independence Day parade in Washington was canceled.
Trump, who turned 80 last month, remains undeterred by the sweltering temperatures.
“It’s going to be approximately 107 degrees 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,” Trump said in the run-up to the revelry.
Late Friday, Trump visited the iconic Mount Rushmore monument in South Dakota for an address.
While he lauded US exceptionalism and praised the country’s past leaders, he also said America’s identity was under “renewed attack” from domestic “radicals and extremists,” saving particular ire for a “resurgence of the communist menace.”
On Friday, Trump said there has been an attempt to “beat the American spirit out of us, alienate us from our history” in recent years.
“You do not have to be born here, but you do have to love what we have built,” he said.
Celebration and reflection
For Americans, the 250th anniversary festivities offer a moment for reflection as well as celebration.
Outside Washington, New York is hosting an international parade of tall ships, with Vice President JD Vance in attendance, flyovers and its own massive fireworks display.
In Philadelphia, lines formed early despite the heat to see the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence was signed.
Concerts will be staged from Boston to Los Angeles.
