On July 4, 2025, at a "Salute to America" event in Des Moines, Iowa, Donald Trump said the following:
All of the things we did with the tax cuts and rebuilding our military, not one Democrat voted for us. And I think we use it in the campaign that's coming up, the midterms.
But all of the things that we've given, and they wouldn't vote. Only because they hate Trump. But I hate them, too. You know that? I really do, I hate them. I cannot stand them, because I really believe they hate our country, you want to know the truth.
Source:
Timotija, Filip, Mark. (July 4, 2025). "Trump on Democrats who voted against GOP megabill: 'I hate them'". The Hill. Retrieved 2025-07-11.
E.J. Montini, an opinion columnist for The Arizona Republic, wrote an op-ed regarding Trump's statements, comparing them to statements other U.S. presidents such as Ronald Reagan and Abraham Lincoln previously made on July 4.
On July 4, 1986, Reagan said the following:
All through our history, our Presidents and leaders have spoken of national unity and warned us that the real obstacle to moving forward the boundaries of freedom, the only permanent danger to the hope that is America, comes from within.
On March 4, 1861, Lincoln delivered his first inaugural address in which he said:
We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.
On March 4, 1865, Lincoln delivered his second inaugural address in which he said:
With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.
Yes, we live in a very different time compared to the days of Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan, but basic human decency and respect for others aren't bound by time. They are timeless.
If you want to know why you feel so much discontent and hatred for your conservative or liberal neighbor, Trump put that on full display during his July 4 speech.
Sure, you can argue that Trump is not to blame, saying it's just the political ideology of the "other side" that gets you so riled up and full of hate. But no matter how you slice it, when a president of the United States, on a day which should be all about unity, says that he literally "hates" Democrats, and that Democrats "hate" our country, that has an instant and lasting effect on everyone who hears it.
Most of all, it's affirmation to those who side with Trump, especially the most radical MAGA elements, that Democrats are to be "hated" and thought of as sub-par humans. It's the same kind of thought process that Hitler used to make so many of his German citizens hate Jews.
Of course, this kind of talk is nothing new for Trump. It's what some of his supporters might call his "personality," or "signature style." But regardless of how you try to justify it, it's the continuation and intensification of the breakdown of respect and decency in our society, which started when Trump entered politics back in 2016.
To say that Democrats "hate our country" is particularly troubling and dangerous.
To show one small way in which this plays out, I attended a "No Kings" protest in early June in Scottsdale, Arizona. There were at least 500 very enthusiastic people in attendance. There were also many passing cars and trucks who honked incessantly in support. Of course, there were a few cars that drove by, flipping "the bird" as they passed protesters (myself included) lined along the streets.
They did this, and they feel righteous and justified in doing this because Trump has helped brainwash them into thinking that Democrats (and anyone who doesn't agree with Trump) are to be "hated."
Dislike and disagreement is one thing. Hatred is quite another.
I can't express enough how deeply this concerns me.
We are way into uncharted and extremely dangerous waters.
The fact that we have over three years left of Trump's second term in office is frightening, to say the least.
How much more damage will be done over the next three plus years?