MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
We wanted to think a bit more about the optics and the politics of the July Fourth festivities in Washington, D.C. So we've called Sarah Isgur for her take. She's senior editor at the conservative media outlet The Dispatch. She's also worked on three presidential campaigns and in every branch of government. Good morning, Sarah, and happy Fourth to you, belatedly.
SARAH ISGUR: Happy Fourth.
MARTIN: So, you know, it was dangerously hot in D.C. on Saturday. There was a severe thunderstorm. It wasn't clear whether the president would speak at all. He says his advisers suggested postponing, but he overruled them. Let's listen.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: This is the big day. We want July Fourth. We're not looking for July something else.
(CHEERING)
TRUMP: 'Cause this is the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Nothing like it.
MARTIN: What does it tell you that he insisted that the show go on?
ISGUR: Well, this is really the epitome of the reality TV presidency. That's who Donald Trump is. And, of course, he wanted to make sure he spoke on July Fourth. The irony being that actually the delegates had voted for independence on July 2, where John Adams thought the celebrations would be. July Fourth is the day they adopted the Declaration of Independence to announce to the world that they had split from Britain.
MARTIN: So, you know, last month, the president posted on his social media site, Truth Social, that he was going to make this event, quote, "the most spectacular Trump rally of them all," unquote. And the political rhetoric the president used - on the one hand, he honored veterans in a manner that you might expect from a Fourth of July address, but he also railed against communism. That's a theme that he's been workshopping recently. What do you think he's trying to accomplish with that rhetoric?
ISGUR: Well, once again, we see Donald Trump trying to rally his base voters and his vision for what the Republican Party, and America, for that matter, should be about, you know, the rest of the speech - and it was an hour long - starting at 11 p.m. as you said, and running until 11:59 when that B-2 bomber flew over the monuments, he was marching through American history, using American flags to highlight these moments of American history in a very Donald Trump way. It reminded me of something that you could have seen - I don't know - an Andrew Jackson or even a Teddy Roosevelt, a speech they could have given, other very populist presidents.
MARTIN: You know, I think it might be worth remembering that this was supposed to be a nonpartisan celebration of America's 250th. Congress established a commission 10 years ago to plan it. The White House essentially sidelined that commission and started its own group, Freedom 250, that planned the fireworks, the president's address, that fair on the National Mall. I have a couple of questions about that.
First of all, there are a lot of questions about the financial transparency of Freedom 250. There's a left-leaning watchdog group, CREW, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, pointed out that the group solicited donations from companies with business before the government. House Democrats say the group funneled taxpayer dollars to the president's preferred contractors. Do you think that there is going to be any follow up to this? I mean, is there actually enough energy around this look - a look back at this to actually dig into where that money went, who it went to, etc.?
ISGUR: Well, on top of the ballroom and the reflecting pool, there's maybe a lot to dig into on how money is being spent by this administration. That being said, you know, the events on the mall seemed like they were going very well until the heat struck. And if there's one group that Donald Trump can't defeat, it's D.C. weather. And so the temperatures were soaring above 100 degrees, and it was simply not going to be the celebration that I think he wanted, regardless of how great the Ferris wheel was and the state tents, which I actually think did turn out pretty well, all things considered.
MARTIN: What I'm asking you about, though, is, since you have worked in Congress, whether there is enough energy in Congress to address the fact that apparently this was not addressed the way they had intended it to. There was a bipartisan commission. It was very carefully planned.
ISGUR: Right.
MARTIN: It's supposed to be in all 50 states. Do you think that they care?
ISGUR: Congress has not shown that they've cared about very much. Certainly, Republicans in Congress acting more like a parliamentary system, being more loyal to the president's party than they are to the branch of government that they represent. If and when Democrats take over the House in January, I think we will see a whole slew of oversight hearings. Will this make the top 10? Probably not.
MARTIN: And what about the voters? I guess we have about 30 seconds left here. Do you think the voters notice or care about the fact that the celebration became, as you pointed out, more of a kind of a Trump political event than a inclusive celebration?
ISGUR: I have two little boys, and I was deeply disappointed when the fireworks got moved way, way past their bedtimes, before the weather intervened, even. The planned fireworks were for 10:30 or 11 p.m. And I was angry. I was disappointed. This was America 250, and my boys weren't going to have this memorable fireworks. And instead, we celebrated in our neighborhoods with our friends. And maybe that's the point - we were with our neighbors and our community, and isn't that really what 250 is about?
MARTIN: That's Sarah Isgur, senior editor at The Dispatch. Sarah, thank you.
ISGUR: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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