President Trump used a speech at Mount Rushmore on Friday to warn of what he called a "resurgence of the communist menace" inside the United States, opening the weekend celebration of the country's 250th anniversary with a call to abolish the Senate filibuster and to pass legislation requiring documentary proof of citizenship to vote.

The address, delivered against the four presidents carved into the Black Hills, tied domestic ideological threats to immigration and to foreign adversaries the president said the United States had defeated. It sets the tone for a July 4 celebration that arrives days after Democratic socialist candidates unseated long-serving incumbents in Democratic primaries in New York, Colorado and Texas.

What Trump said

"There is now a resurgence of the communist menace in our land, including from newcomers to our country who embrace ideas totally opposed to our way of life," Trump said, according to CBS News. He described communism as "the enemy of the Constitution" and pledged citizens would "vanquish communism quickly," calling democratic socialists the "greatest threat to our country since its founding" and comparing the movement to the enemies the country faced in World War II and after Sept. 11.

"You can be a communist, or you can be a patriot," Trump said. "You cannot be both."

The president tied the message to immigration. "You do not have to be born here, but you do have to love what we have built, you must love our country," he said, adding: "There is no American freedom without American culture, and there is no American founding without the American people."

The policy asks

Trump used the speech to press for two specific measures. He called on the Senate to abolish the filibuster, and he urged passage of the SAVE America Act, which he said would require voter citizenship verification and photo identification at the polls. He did not lay out a timetable for either.

Iran and Venezuela

Trump devoted a stretch of the speech to military claims. "We created the strongest and most powerful military. We won two world wars," he said, according to Al Jazeera, asserting the United States had left its Cold War enemies "in the depths of history," "beat Venezuela in one day" and "knocked the hell out of Iran." He said Tehran was "dying to settle" and, in an aside Al Jazeera tied to the state funeral of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said the United States had granted "a week off for a funeral because we're nice." He closed by calling the anniversary "the beginning of the golden age of America."

Democratic response

The address landed hours after House Democrats interviewed by Fox News Digital ahead of the July 4 holiday split over how to describe the country under Trump's second term. Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, declined to say directly why he was proud to be an American and instead answered, "I am very proud to tell you that impeachment is an option to remove a reckless, ruthless, lawless president. I'm proud that it exists."

Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, said, "I believe Americans are ready to defend our democracy and oppose authoritarianism so that we can celebrate our 251st birthday in this country instead of turning all power over to a would-be king," while calling the United States "the greatest country on earth."

Democratic strategist Ameshia Cross told Al Jazeera Trump had sought to "wipe out the country's diverse history" and attributed the framing to his "grip on America steadily slipping away."

The counterpoint

Republican strategist Eli Bremer told Al Jazeera the speech's substance resembled "Ronald Reagan … 45 years ago," a reading that treats the anti-communist message as a return to a familiar Republican register rather than a rupture. Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., told Fox News Digital the country was a nation willing to "understand peace through strength," and Rep. Glenn Grothman, R-Wisc., pointed to "our Constitution and all the freedoms we have that other countries don't have." Neither responded directly to Trump's push to end the filibuster or his SAVE America Act request.

What comes next

The 250th anniversary program continues through the weekend. The Treasury Department opens Trump's signature savings program Saturday by depositing $1,000 into new tax-deferred investment accounts for every U.S. newborn, launched alongside the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.