Kicking off the 250th anniversary of the birth of the United States, President Donald Trump delivered a speech at the America 250 Independence Eve celebration at Mount Rushmore on Friday, July 3, 2026. Joining him on stage, wearing cowboy hats, were Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden.
Trump used the speech to defend a patriotic vision of American history while sharply criticizing what he called “Marxist lies” about the nation’s past, including claims that the United States was built on stolen land.
In his speech, Trump framed the country’s 250th anniversary as a moment to honor America’s founders, achievements, and national identity. In doing so, he took aim at educators, historians, museums, and activists who have pushed for greater recognition of historical injustices, including the displacement of Indigenous peoples.
“For those who would peddle Marxist lies about our heritage—who tell our children that we live on stolen land, or that our heroes were oppressors—they are doing something much worse than slandering our past,” Trump said. “They are attacking our future.”
Trump also warned of what he described as a growing communist threat in the United States, declaring, “You can be a communist, or you can be a patriot. You cannot be both.”
While Native Americans were not a central focus of the speech, Trump’s remarks touched directly on issues that have long been at the center of debates between Tribal Nations and the federal government.
For many Native people, discussions about stolen land are rooted in documented history, treaty violations, and federal policies that resulted in the loss of Indigenous homelands across North America. The speech’s setting added another layer of irony.
Mount Rushmore is located in the Black Hills of South Dakota, a region sacred to the Lakota people. In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the federal government had illegally taken the Black Hills from the Sioux Nation and ordered financial compensation. The tribes have largely refused the settlement, maintaining that the land itself—not money—remains at the heart of their claim.
For Indian Country, the speech underscored a larger debate unfolding during the nation’s 250th anniversary year: whether celebrating America’s founding can coexist with an honest reckoning of its treatment of Indigenous peoples.
As communities across the country mark the semiquincentennial, Tribal leaders, Native scholars, and advocates continue to argue that any complete telling of the American story must include the experiences of the first peoples whose lands became part of the United States.
