US celebrates 250 years of independence | BBC News — Transcript

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1. 0:00President Trump has said the American
2. 0:02dream is back in a major speech to mark
3. 0:04the 250th anniversary of US
4. 0:07independence.
5. 0:15Mr. Trump also warned Americans about
6. 0:17the threat from communism and vowed to
7. 0:20continue protecting Americans right to
8. 0:23bear arms. His speech was followed by a
9. 0:26large fireworks display which lit up the
10. 0:29sky over the national capital. The
11. 0:3240inut fireworks show aims to break a
12. 0:34Guinness World Record for the largest
13. 0:36display in history. But it's been
14. 0:39competing with the weather. Earlier,
15. 0:41thousands of people were forced to leave
16. 0:43due to an approaching thunderstorm.
17. 0:46And there were chaotic scenes as
18. 0:48security forces attempted to regain
19. 0:51control on the National Mall in
20. 0:53Washington after some people attending
21. 0:55the event refused to leave following an
22. 0:58evacuation order. But despite the
23. 1:01extreme weather in the US, the last few
24. 1:03days has seen parades, concerts, and
25. 1:06lots of red, white, and blue as the
26. 1:09country celebrates its birthday. It was
27. 1:11buil as a moment of unity, but it does
28. 1:14come at a time of deep division in the
29. 1:17country with critics accusing President
30. 1:19Trump of politicizing the celebrations.
31. 1:23President Trump has said the American
32. 1:25dream is back during a speech in
33. 1:27Washington to mark the 250th anniversary
34. 1:31of US independence. The event was
35. 1:34heavily delayed due to rising
36. 1:36temperatures as well as thunderstorms.
37. 1:38Our North America correspondent Howell
38. 1:40Griffith has more.
39. 1:43>> On a landmark birthday, a monumental
40. 1:46celebration
41. 1:48all choreographed to show the strength
42. 1:51of a nation by land, by sea,
43. 1:54and by air. Except a heatwave across
44. 1:58multiple states made heavy weather of
45. 2:01the birthday plans. In Washington, they
46. 2:04sweltered under the sun to get in. All
47. 2:06guests must seek shelter
48. 2:07>> before being evacuated in fear of a
49. 2:10storm. Even so, it didn't dampen the
50. 2:13mood.
51. 2:13>> I'm burning up right now, but you know,
52. 2:16we're dealing with it. We're all
53. 2:18struggling. But anyway,
54. 2:19>> hotter than heck. Just drinking lots of
55. 2:22water. Um, lots of tank tops or vests as
56. 2:25you guys say. Um, trying to stay as cool
57. 2:27as I can be.
58. 2:28>> It is incredible. I mean, there's
59. 2:30nothing like being an American. I love I
60. 2:32love our country. It's the greatest
61. 2:33country in the world. And so it's just
62. 2:34an honor, incredible to be here. And
63. 2:36seeing all the other patriotic people
64. 2:38coming out here is it's a real blessing.
65. 2:42>> The original plans for this big 250th
66. 2:45party were largely sidelined by the
67. 2:47Trump White House. Its freedom 250
68. 2:50celebrations are a lot more focused on
69. 2:52the president and his view of American
70. 2:54supremacy by economic force and military
71. 2:57might.
72. 3:01when later than build the president
73. 3:03eventually took to the stage. These were
74. 3:06themes he lent into while stressing his
75. 3:09own place in history.
76. 3:10>> We rebuilt our military in my first
77. 3:13term. We use it a little bit in our
78. 3:17actually I should say third term but I
79. 3:18won't do that because I don't want any
80. 3:20controversy.
81. 3:22But we use it and we've had tremendous
82. 3:24success. You look at Venezuela, you look
83. 3:27at Iran, we wiped it out. wiped out
84. 3:30their military
85. 3:32>> to follow a president who wants
86. 3:34everything to be big and beautiful.
87. 3:36Something spectacular in scale. A
88. 3:40fireworks show built as the largest ever
89. 3:42on the planet. Celebrating a nation that
90. 3:45projects itself as the world's dominant
91. 3:48force. Ho Griffith, BBC News,
92. 3:51Washington.
93. 3:53>> Our correspondent Rich Preston was at
94. 3:55the National Mall in Washington
95. 3:56following events. The message throughout
96. 4:00was this is delayed, not cancelled. So
97. 4:03what you ended up having then was lots
98. 4:06of people milling around on the streets
99. 4:08and the buildings around the National
100. 4:10Mall just waiting because they wanted to
101. 4:12come back in. Now many people did
102. 4:14obviously leave, but that 155,000
103. 4:17according to Mr. Trump remained in
104. 4:20place. Eventually the message came that
105. 4:23the gates were going to be opened at
106. 4:259:45 Eastern time. That prompted a rush
107. 4:28for the security checkpoints and you
108. 4:31then of course had the big problem of
109. 4:34scanning people back in. This is a
110. 4:36secure area we're in now. Everyone had
111. 4:39to go through metal detectors again, bag
112. 4:42searches just to get back into the
113. 4:44venue. President Trump then eventually
114. 4:46took to the stage at 11 p.m. and spoke
115. 4:50for around 30 minutes or so. There was a
116. 4:52mix of history, there was a mix of
117. 4:55patriotism, and there was, of course,
118. 4:57also, because it's President Trump, the
119. 4:59politics in there, the political
120. 5:01messaging.
121. 5:03>> And that report was from Rich Preston.
122. 5:05While people have traveled far and wide
123. 5:07to gather at the National Mall for these
124. 5:09celebrations in the capital. This is
125. 5:11what some of them had to say a little
126. 5:13earlier.
127. 5:14>> So, I'm thrilled. It's our 250th
128. 5:16Independence Day. Um, I can't think of a
129. 5:19better place to spend it than DC. um
130. 5:22being able to, you know, see all of the
131. 5:24different monuments to the different
132. 5:25accomplishments throughout our 250 years
133. 5:28of history.
134. 5:30>> Feeling great. I mean, I think the event
135. 5:32and what it means to our country, it
136. 5:34inspires you. You know, this is
137. 5:36experiencing a little heat. It's a lot
138. 5:37less than what a lot of people sacrifice
139. 5:39to give us this freedom in this awesome
140. 5:41country. So, even though it's been hot
141. 5:43and they've canceled the parade and
142. 5:44stuff like that, the excitement of being
143. 5:46able to be in the presence of the
144. 5:49president of the United States and hear
145. 5:52him give celebration to our nation um is
146. 5:58just it's it's very moving and it's
147. 6:01powerful. I get chills even thinking
148. 6:03about it.
149. 6:05>> And President Trump was not the only
150. 6:07person speaking about America. His vice
151. 6:10president JD Vance used the occasion to
152. 6:13lambast people who focus on the
153. 6:14country's imperfections rather than its
154. 6:17achievements. Take a listen.
155. 6:19>> All of us are celebrating, but you will
156. 6:22hear a couple small but loud voices
157. 6:25today speak obsessively not of our
158. 6:28national greatness, but of our national
159. 6:30imperfections.
160. 6:32They will speak of the powerless and the
161. 6:34dispossessed. They will tell you that
162. 6:37America is just another country where
163. 6:40the weak struggle against the strong.
164. 6:42And if they acknowledge that there is
165. 6:44anything to be proud of in our history,
166. 6:46they'll say it's the fact that sometimes
167. 6:48the powerless have won a zero sum
168. 6:51battle.
169. 6:53>> JD Vance there. Well, Scott Ferris is a
170. 6:56presidential historian. I asked him
171. 6:58whether the disruptions that occurred
172. 6:59ahead of Donald Trump's speech and the
173. 7:02fireworks display overshadowed the
174. 7:04event. I don't think it overshadowed it.
175. 7:06I mean, it's obviously going to be one
176. 7:07of the big stories that it was delayed
177. 7:10by the severe weather and in fact
178. 7:12eastern part of the United States has
179. 7:14been under hot weather and the western
180. 7:16United States has been in a very much
181. 7:18dry spell which has made fireworks very
182. 7:19dangerous. But I think that uh it
183. 7:22occurred pretty much as people would
184. 7:24have expected. Uh the president gave a
185. 7:26speech that's pretty typical for him.
186. 7:27It's a little different than what past
187. 7:29presidents have done. uh he but he
188. 7:32always tends to inject some more
189. 7:33politics into these speeches. Uh whereas
190. 7:36past presidents generally try to use
191. 7:38these speeches in terms of unifying
192. 7:40Americans, getting them to engage in
193. 7:42some introspection and to recommit
194. 7:44themselves to the ideals of the family
195. 7:46of our country.
196. 7:48>> And as you say there a different
197. 7:49approach to what some may have seen
198. 7:52previously and what presidents have said
199. 7:54about this kind of event. Do you feel
200. 7:57then that this united the mood in
201. 7:59America or potentially fractured it even
202. 8:01more?
203. 8:03>> Well, I think first the most important
204. 8:05point to make is that what happens in
205. 8:06Washington is only a very small part of
206. 8:09our celebration of the Fourth of July.
207. 8:11In large cities and small towns across
208. 8:13our country, people had parades. They
209. 8:16had fireworks, cookouts, ball games, and
210. 8:19rodeos, whatever is the tradition in
211. 8:21their local.
212. 8:22So, this is only a small slice of of
213. 8:25fourth. So, I don't know that it's going
214. 8:27to dramatically impact how Americans
215. 8:29feel about the 4th of July. Uh, I do
216. 8:32think again that uh it was unfortunate
217. 8:34he decided to bring in some partisan
218. 8:35politics into it. Again, that's
219. 8:37something past presidents did not do,
220. 8:39but I don't know that it exaggerated
221. 8:42divisions anymore that they already
222. 8:44exist.
223. 8:45>> And how do you feel that America's 250
224. 8:49legacy le lives on once we get to the
225. 8:51end of the year? What do you think may
226. 8:53change in the future?
227. 8:56Well, I just our next big milestone will
228. 8:59be 50 years from now. So, who who can
229. 9:01say exactly what we'll be doing then?
230. 9:03But I think that one of the things that
231. 9:05happened I imagine they're going to try
232. 9:06to avoid in the future is that there was
233. 9:08the commemoration organization America
234. 9:11250 that was established by Congress and
235. 9:13then President Trump decided to form a
236. 9:15competing organization called Freedom
237. 9:17250 which confused the issue of what
238. 9:20events were very much bipartisan and
239. 9:22which ones were more Trump oriented. So
240. 9:24I think there'll be some steps made to
241. 9:25avoid that in the future. There's
242. 9:27probably not the sense of joy that we
243. 9:29had of our bicesentennial in 1976. I
244. 9:32think that was a point where Gerald Ford
245. 9:34worked very hard to try to have a
246. 9:35unifying message in the wake of Vietnam
247. 9:37and Watergate. Uh so I think future
248. 9:39presidents will probably try to go back
249. 9:41to that and this will be sort of a
250. 9:43unique chapter in American