CNN White House reporter Kate Bennett said President Trump’s Fourth of July “Salute to America” speech felt a “little off.”
“There was a ‘USA! USA!’ chant that was, you know, symbolic of a rally,” Bennett said before criticizing Trump’s speech further. “I think the nostalgia of the speech, as you were saying, that had to do with the history lesson we all just sat through, and that very rudimentary, as you said, way. And that made it feel, you know, like we were looking back and not forward. And that, that felt a little off.”
Bennett’s criticism followed Trump critics claiming the Fourth of July celebration on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was more of a rally rather than a celebration.
“Americans love our freedom, and no one will ever take it away from us,” Trump said Thursday during his Fourth of July speech. “That same American spirit that emboldened our founders has kept us strong throughout our history. To this day, that spirit runs through the veins of every American patriot. It lives on in each and every one of you here today. It is the spirit, daring and defiance, excellence and adventure, courage and confidence, loyalty and love, that built this country into the most exceptional nation in the history of the world.”
“And our nation is stronger today than it ever was before. It is its strongest now,” Trump said as the crowd of thousands broke out into chants of “USA!”
