At Mount Rushmore, Trump celebrates America’s greatness and declares communism its mortal enemy

With Mount Rushmore and the stone images of four of his predecessors as a backdrop, President Donald Trump declared America on its 250th birthday the “most exceptional nation ever to exist" and vowed to never let communism encroach its freedoms.

Communism “is the greatest threat to our country, including World War I, World War II, Pearl Harbor, or even 9/11," Trump said Friday night in a pre-Independence Day spectacular in South Dakota. "We're not going to let this happen to us. Believe me, we're not letting it happen, because communism is the enemy of free people."

"Communism is the exact opposite of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness — it is death, tyranny and the pursuit of evil," he declared.

He accused leftist activists of trying to swap the ideals of America with those of Karl Marx. 

“As for those who peddle Marxist lies about our heritage, tell our children that we live on stolen land, or that our heroes were oppressors, they're doing something much worse than slandering our past," Trump said. "They are slandering and attacking our future."

Trump made freedom and patriotism a major theme of the event, staying behind after his speech for a fireworks display over the granite likeness of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.

“At 250 years, America is the oldest republic on earth," the president said. "We are the freest people on earth. We have the most righteous and enduring Constitution on earth. We are the strongest and most powerful country on earth. And by the grace of God, the United States of America is the most successful, most accomplished, most exceptional nation ever to exist in human history."