New York City‘s socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani could hardly find anything nice to say about the nation’s 250th anniversary during his speech Friday, and rather focused on accusing wealthy elites, immigration authorities, and political leaders of betraying the country’s founding.

Seated behind a desk once used by President George Washington, Mamdani delivered the nearly 15-minute address from City Hall’s Governor’s Room while flanked by 10 recently naturalized U.S. citizens. Mamdani, who immigrated from Uganda as a child and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2018, sat in the middle of the group as City Hall sought to contrast itself from President Donald Trump’s planned Independence Day address from Mount Rushmore later on Friday.