Thread by @DrewHolden360

🧵THREAD🧵

In honor of our nation’s Independence Day, I’ve put together side-by-sides of the media’s coverage of @realDonaldTrump’s speech vs. the text they purport to describe.

@washingtonpost vs. the opening

“We gather tonight to herald the most important day in the history of nations: July 4th, 1776. At those words, every American heart should swell with pride.“

@ABC “racial divisions” vs. “Our Founders launched not only a revolution in government, but a revolution in the pursuit of justice, equality, liberty, and prosperity. No nation has done more to advance the human condition than the United States of America.”

@msnbc’s “symbol of white supremacy” vs. “These immortal words set in motion the unstoppable march of freedom. Our Founders boldly declared that we are all endowed with the same divine rights — given [to] us by our Creator in Heaven.“

@CNN’s “culture war bonfire” vs. “Before these figures were immortalized in stone, they were American giants in full flesh and blood, gallant men whose intrepid deeds unleashed the greatest leap of human advancement the world has ever known.”

@DeanObeidallah’s “declared war on all those who aren’t loyal” vs. “we believe in equal opportunity, equal justice, and equal treatment for citizens of every race, background, religion and creed. Every child, of every color - both and unborn - is made in the holy image of God.”

@latimes’s “stoke a culture war” vs. “We will state the truth in full, without apology: We declare that the United States of America is the most just and exceptional nation ever to exist on Earth.”

Perhaps @NPR thinks that Lincoln was a confederate?

@MaeveReston “jaw dropping speech” vs. “Americans harnessed electricity, split the atom, & gave the world the telephone and the Internet. We settled the Wild West, won two World Wars, landed American astronauts on the Moon — & one day very soon, we will plant our flag on Mars.”

@atrupar’s “remarkably overheated rhetoric” vs. “Those who seek to erase our heritage want Americans to forget our pride and our great dignity, so that we can no longer understand ourselves or America’s destiny.”

Also a big fan of the commentariat class who seem to have been living under a rock. Here’s @SethAbramson.

And of course no list would be complete without @JRubinBlogger

I think I’ll take “America’s future is in our hands” over “it is time to reconsider the global legacy of July 4, 1776” any day, thanks.

At the risk of oversimplifying things, it seems we are locked in a battle between those who think America’s history is worth defending vs. those who would tear it all down.

I don’t think the latter camp will be happy until everything has been relegated to the dustbin of history.

Full text if you’re interested is here: whitehouse.gov/briefings-stat…

Anyway, happy Fourth of July, and don’t believe anyone who tells you that America’s legacy and place in human history - while imperfect - should be forgotten, torn down, or wiped from memory.

And perhaps @costareports thinks that “our Foubfers” are “Confederate symbols and the legacy of white domination”

And to answer a couple questions, I don’t have a subscription service or Patreon or anything.

But this Fourth of July, remember that our society often fails those who have risked the most for our freedom. One org that does great work is @VCP_HQ: veteranscommunityproject.org

I’ve got no affiliation with them and won’t pretend to presume they agree with my politics, but they do great work to help get our men and women in uniform who have fallen on hard times back on their feet.

They deserve your dollars infinitely more than I ever could.