Keystone: Speaking on the eve of Independence Day at Mount Rushmore, US President Donald Trump called on Americans to defend the freedom the country’s founders envisioned 250 years ago from what he portrayed as a “communist” threat posed by progressive Democrats.“We stand beneath the monument to these heroes, a true group of incredible people, and we rededicate ourselves to becoming a nation as big, as bold, as great, as great as these American giants, and it’s not easy to do, but we’re going to do it,” Trump said at Granite Mountain in South Dakota.He said, “Now the communist threat is re-emerging on our soil, including from newcomers to our country who embrace the diametrically opposite ideas of our lifestyle and success.” “We will not let that happen.”Trump has been making such points about gains by democratic socialists for the past week, but he delivered his sharpest and longest argument on that topic on Friday, as Americans grapple with persistent inflation and high gas prices since the start of the US-Israeli war over Iran.Growing uneasy that a showdown in the November midterm elections could lead to the party losing control of at least one chamber of Congress, Republican lawmakers have taken advantage of the recent successes of left-wing Democratic candidates.Trump said the threat also came from “newcomers to our country”, linking his anti-communist rhetoric to the anti-immigrant theme that fueled his election and has historically been part of criticism of communism in the United States. Trump had once said on Friday that the new people needed to be expelled. “We resolve and swear to make known to all that the citizens of the United States will speedily defeat Communism...We will send them away quickly, and we will continue to build our country bigger and better, stronger than ever before. America will never become a communist country!” Trump said before immediately debating the issue.“We can only lose the midterms if we allow ourselves to lose the midterms.”Four progressive candidates, including three democratic socialists, won competitive Democratic primaries in New York City last week and Colorado on Tuesday. Progressive candidates have also won contests in Kentucky, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas. Trump last week called his victory “the greatest threat to our country since the founding.”On Saturday, Trump was scheduled to address a crowd before a massive fireworks show on the National Mall amid an extreme heat wave that has disrupted Fourth of July celebrations across much of the country. The temperature at Mount Rushmore was 18°C. (This is a Reuters story)