Trump marshaled the iconography of the presidency for Independence Day speech

Flanked by armored vehicles and with the Lincoln Monument as backdrop, President Trump took full advantage of the iconography of the office of the presidency Thursday to celebrate America’s birthday.

Critics feared Trump would turn Independence Day into a campaign rally, but he was on his best behavior. He read from a Teleprompter, avoided his typical attack lines, and narrated flyovers that the Washington Post estimated to cost at least $560,000 per hour. The event even closed with a gender-neutral rendition of “God Bless the USA” (“I won’t forget the ones who died who gave that right to me”).

Trump finally got the military celebration he wanted since attending a Bastille Day parade in Paris in 2017. Long delayed over cost concerns, his request was criticized from the beginning over the idea of tanks rolling down an American city, particularly for a president who’s praised authoritarians. A report Trump met with top generals to plan a military parade last year broke the day before Kim Jong Un held a military parade of his own in Pyongyang.

Ultimately, the parade idea was scrapped for a speech on the National Mall. “Salute to America” was an event only a president could pull off, with military officials called on stage and one of the aircrafts known as Air Force One passing overhead.

Picture perfect minus the rain-soaked security glass, it was a made-for-Fox-News setting, the only cable network to take it live. By 11:16 p.m., it was turned into a video that could double as a campaign ad, complete with crowd shots.

Trump praised American heroism and ingenuity during his remarks and struck a tone of unity. But that’s not to say he had a completely nonpartisan July Fourth.

Earlier in the day, @realDonaldTrump retweeted a six-day old tweet criticizing the Democratic debate for being un-American. And after tweeting the aforementioned video of the event, Trump retweeted a tweet calling out Nike’s decision to pull Betsy Ross-flag shoes earlier this week by pointing out the flag was displayed at Barack Obama’s 2013 inauguration. One wonders if Trump’s reference to Ross, mentioned between John Adams and Frederick Douglass (“You know, Frederick Douglass, the great Frederick Douglass,” Trump said), was in the original draft of the speech or came after the Nike news broke. 

Trump used the visuals afforded to him by his office to project a TV-ready “America first” image while characterizing his opponents on social media as anything but. Turning Independence Day into a campaign rally would have been bad optics.