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Nature gifted Donald Trump some birthday presents to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary yesterday – bad weather and extreme heat.
Trump, 80, told tall tales of civil war heroes and scary stories of left-wing politics as he marked a muggy Independence Day in Washington, DC.
The US president finally addressed his soggy, sunburnt and patient crowd at 11.15pm after the site was evacuated for two hours due to the weather.
‘For two and a half centuries, our American Republic has stood as the crowning achievement of human history,’ the Republican said.
‘And we’re doing better now than we’ve ever done before.’
He compared Communism to ‘cancer’, calling on the world to ‘cut it out fast’ before it grows.
‘We are all made in the image of one almighty God,’ Trump added to laughs.
‘And a communist would never say that.’
Having brought veterans and the Artemis II astronauts on stage as well as antique American flags, Trump talked about the future of the nation.
He urged Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, which would limit postal ballots and require proof of citizenship to register to vote.
Trump, having praised the US Army for squashing Iran amid his months-long war, said he helped ‘rebuild’ the military in his first term.
‘We used it a little bit in our – actually, I should say third term, but I won’t do that, because I don’t want any controversy,’ he added. (The Constitution prevents presidents from serving three terms, something Trump has long poked fun at.)
Trump capped off the rally with a ‘great fireworks display’, a set so ‘great’ that the sheer amount of patriotic explosions and smoke spewed ‘hazardous’ pollution across the capital city.
‘Lightning will never stop you,’ Trump added.
Lightning flashed even throughout the red, white and blue pyrotechnic display and the Village People’s classic, YMCA, blasted.
Some 850,000 ‘pyrotechnic effects’ were launched from multiple locations around the National Mall, West Potomac Park and the Potomac River.
This puts the show in the running to be the largest fireworks display in history, according to Freedom 250, the nonprofit helping organise America’s 250th birthday celebrations.
The record-holder is the 2016 New Year’s Eve celebrations in the Philippines, where Iglesia Ni Cristo launched 810,904 fireworks.
Trump compares rain-soaked speech to D-Day assault, says TV host
Ahead of the address, Trump repeatedly insisted that he would not let the storms rain on his parade.
Trump compared his determination to deliver his July 4 speech in the rain to D-Day, when soldiers stormed the French beaches of Normandy during World War Two.
The successful assault on Nazi-occupied France proved a major but deadly turning point in the war, with roughly 9,000 soldiers killed.
Trump made the comparison while on the phone with Fox News host Bret Baier.
‘Those veterans had to go through bad weather on D-Day,’ Baier quoted Trump as telling him.
‘I’m going through bad weather. No matter what happens, I’m delivering this speech.’
He also insisted on his social media platform that storms bring ‘good luck’.
‘I’m not going to let some rain stop our 250th,’ he added.
The rain did, however, stop crowds from gathering to watch his 35-minute address when the National Mall was evacuated for more than two hours.
Days of extreme heat led to lightning bolts smashing Washington on July 4, with a severe thunderstorm watch from the National Weather Service in effect until 10pm.
Police made the 7pm order despite people queuing since 11am in the blistering 39°C heat to get inside, as winds of up to 75mph hurled plastic burger boxes and MAGA hats around the historic site.
The Washington Monument grounds, where Trump gave his Independence Day speech, had already been briefly closed due to a heat advisory.
A concert to open the Great American State Fair, meanwhile, had been cancelled after almost all the performers dropped out.
National Guard soldiers were filmed flipping picnic tables in a bid to get people to leave, as hundreds of fair-goers refusing to leave chanted, ‘Hell no, we won’t go!’ and ‘USA, USA’.
One man blamed the evacuation on ‘liberals in the weather service’, a reporter from The New York Times at the scene said.
Yet when lightning began to strike, spectators were urged to shelter in nearby buildings such as the Smithsonian and the Jefferson Memorial.
They were also told to hide in federal departments designated as shelters, only to find the buildings, such as the Commerce Department, locked.
A worker poking their head from the window reportedly shrugged when asked if fair-goers could take cover inside.
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