page_title: 2019 Salute to America
section_title: Post-event
hierarchical_section_title: 2019 Salute to America / Reception / Post-event
caption_attribution_description: Salute to America
context_page_description: The 2019 Salute to America was an event arranged by the Trump administration held on Independence Day, July 4, 2019, in Washington, D.C. It took place at the National Mall and included presentations of U.S. military vehicles, an address by President Donald Trump from the Lincoln Memorial, flyovers by military aircraft, and a fireworks display. The event occurred alongside pre-existing annual Independence Day events such as the National Independence Day Parade and the PBS-televised A Capitol Fourth concert. It was the first time a U.S. president had addressed a crowd at the National Mall on Independence Day in 68 years.
  There was controversy leading up to the event. Trump's critics expressed concern that the celebration would be a political event reminiscent of his campaign rallies, especially in the early stages of his 2020 re-election campaign. Concerns were also raised over the involvement of the military, the distribution of VIP tickets to donors and members of the Republican Party, as well as the cost of the event.
context_section_description: David Smith of The Guardian acknowledged that Trump's 47-minute speech "did not fulfill his critics' worst fears of a politically partisan, campaign-style rally", and mostly avoided politics in favor of "a heroic version of American military history". However, Smith suggested that the event as a whole did "provide the bombastic show of military might that had been widely predicted" and noted the event resembled a Trump campaign rally because many audience members chanted pro-Trump slogans, wore Make America Great Again hats and held "Trump 2020" signs. He observed that "in a city that projects power through monuments, statues and its own Capitol, critics said it was the moment Trump went full Roman emperor, turning a traditionally nonpartisan day of events into a vanity project."
  Trump was criticized for making incorrect statements about the American Revolutionary War in a section of the speech, recounting that the Continental Army "took over the airports"—airplanes were yet to be invented—and had "nothing but victory" in the Battle of Baltimore, which took place during the War of 1812, not the Revolutionary War. Trump attributed the "airports" gaffe to his teleprompter malfunctioning and being difficult to read in the rain. Some Canadian news outlets took exception to Trump referencing Alexander Graham Bell's invention of the telephone as a result of the United States' "unleashed" "culture of discovery"; Bell was Scottish-born and spent time in both Canada and the United States while developing the telephone, though he did file his first patent on the telephone in the United States.
  In a letter to Trump after the event, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser asked for reimbursement of the city's expenses, saying Salute to America had exhausted D.C.'s Emergency Planning and Security Fund, a federally funded reserve account intended to reimburse the city for extra security and anti-terrorism measures during large federal events. She said the costs of "your additional July 4th holiday activities and subsequent First Amendment demonstrations" had depleted the account and would soon leave it in the red.
  On July 8, three Democratic members of the Senate Appropriations Committee requested the Government Accountability Office investigate the costs and legality of the event. Also on July 8, Trump announced his intentions to hold a second Salute to America event in 2020, although, in 2020, the occurrence of the event was called into question due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, with ten lawmakers having asked President Trump to cancel the planned second celebration. The administration nevertheless held the 2020 Salute to America on July 4, 2020.
caption: Trump addressing the crowd at the Lincoln Memorial. Two M2 Bradleys are showcased.
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