July 4th Events Curtailed, The Week in Politics, A Funeral For Iran’s Supreme Leader
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4.6 • 59K Ratings
🗓️ 4 July 2026
⏱️ 15 minutes
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| 0:00.0 | 250 years ago today, a declaration of independence from British rule. A prince whose character |
| 0:07.9 | is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. |
| 0:15.0 | I'm Scott Simon. I'm Ayesha Roscoe, and this is up first from NPR News. |
| 0:22.1 | American celebrate with events and communities all over the country last night at Mount Rushmore. |
| 0:27.7 | Two years ago, they laughed at us. Now it's only respect. And I want to tell you, the best is yet to come. |
| 0:36.7 | If things are going so well, why do the president's former Republican allies want to create a new political party? |
| 0:45.2 | And if you're no begins in Tehran for the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Kamenei. |
| 0:50.1 | So stay with us. We have the news you need to start your weekend. |
| 1:02.0 | Thank you. So stay with us. We have the news you need to start your weekend. Fireworks, parades, hot dogs, speeches. |
| 1:05.5 | But this year's 4th of July is complicated by a ferocious heat wave hitting much of the country and is also complicated |
| 1:12.9 | by the country's deep political and cultural divides. And here's Brian Mann joins us. Brian, |
| 1:18.5 | thanks for being with us. Happy independence today, Scott. And also to you. Let's begin with |
| 1:24.0 | President Trump, who spoke at Mount Rushmore last night. What did he say? Well, the speech began pretty traditionally for a Fourth of July weekend address. |
| 1:31.2 | Trump spoke about what he sees as the exceptional nature of the United States. |
| 1:35.3 | But then he turned to darker themes, arguing that the American way of life is under attack from immigrants and people on the left. |
| 1:42.9 | There is now a resurgence of the communist menace in our land, including from newcomers to our |
| 1:48.9 | country who embrace ideas totally opposed to our way of life and our great success. |
| 1:55.0 | That was a big part of Trump's speech. He likened what he portrayed as this internal |
| 1:59.2 | menace to Pearl Harbor in 9-11. |
| 2:01.8 | The president's framing of this 4th of July has been controversial in question, right? |
| 2:08.2 | That's right. Trump started this by bypassing a bipartisan commission that had been created to celebrate the 250th anniversary. |
| 2:15.7 | Democrats last week issued a report accusing Trump of hijacking. That was their |
... |
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