Trump: 'The most extraordinary republic ever, ever, ever'

0:00This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. How has America shaped the world? I'm Asma Khaled, host of the Global Story podcast from the BBC. As the United States marks its 250-year anniversary, we've been exploring the surprising and often hidden ways the US has shaped the modern world. And today on the show, we answer your questions about this moment and what to expect in the years to come. From the BBC, it's the United States at 2.50. Listen to the global story on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

0:42Hello and welcome to NewsHour from the BBC World Service. We're coming to you live from London. I'm Sean Lay and it's good to have your company this hour. Those Americans heading to Washington DC for Saturday's 4th of July celebrations have been promised by President Donald Trump a record-breaking firework display, a flypast and the Great American State Fair on the National Mall, featuring attractions from all 50 states of the Union. To see it, though, they'll have to endure a brutal heatwave, but at least there'll be another speech from the President to make it all worthwhile.

1:23It was more temperate in South Dakota Friday night, where the President kicked off the weekend of commemorations for what was an act of rebellion by the then-13 colonies against the British Crown. After a rousing rendition of patriotic tunes, President Trump spoke in the shadow of Mount Rushmore, below the granite impressions of four of his most consequential predecessors, Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt, if monuments could speak. Here in America, in this land, on this continent, we have written a very different story. It's a tale of adventure, liberation and unmatched greatness.

2:02It's the story of people governing themselves, the many uniting as one, the men and women rising by their own skill and talent to go further and reach higher than anyone has ever gone before. There has never been anything like this.

2:23The triumph of American independence was the result of the most extraordinary people in history, the most extraordinary culture in history, and the most extraordinary ideas in history, We are all creating the most extraordinary republic ever, ever, ever in history. For all the President's Barnum-style boosterism, there's grumbling that he's turned a national celebration into a partisan vote-catcher for November's midterm elections. The Trump-aligned Freedom 250 has muscled in on events, eclipsing America 250, the non-partisan group tasked with organising the national programme. Other prominent figures are marking this semi-quincentennial rather differently.

3:06Pope Leo, the only US citizen to lead the Catholic Church, used the first major address he's delivered to the country of his birth to remind Americans of their long history of welcoming immigrants. In these past 250 years, for so many peoples throughout the world, it was the firm resolve to achieve the noble vision of the nation's founders that made America a byword for freedom. As the country opened its doors to successive ways of immigrants, enabling them and their children to play their part in shaping the future of the nation. A theme echoed by the mayor of New York City, Zoram Mamdani, not himself, a natural-born American.

3:50Despite laws enacted by the federal government to bar their entry, despite sweatshop fires that killed hundreds of women, Despite riots aimed at their very existence, immigrants made homes here in New York City, and they helped to make New York City. That legacy of every generation of Americans insisting that the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness extends to them too, is no relic of the past. And it is what brought my family to the city when I was seven years old. Ken Burns is one of America's most celebrated storytellers. His most recent TV series documents the American Revolution, the Declaration of Independence from Britain, and the war to secure it.

4:28He says it remains unfinished business. There's a wonderful sense of process in the American story. You know, we're in pursuit of happiness. We're seeking a more perfect union. So there's always this idea of corrigibility, of not saying we're already there. We're not an end in and of ourselves. You have the idea of a nation in the process of becoming, still to this day, 250 years later. And for all the problems, for all the failures, for all the things, there is a kind of animating American spirit, which is always a sense of, you know, we can be better, which makes any kind of retrenchment, any kind of sense of going back to some other idyllic time that never existed kind of unusual.

5:11No, no, no. We're going forward here and we're going to try to get it right. Ken Burns, I've been reflecting on those 250 years of independence commemorations with Dr. Lindsay M. Chavinsky, Executive Director of the George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon, and Princeton Professor Eddie Glaward Jr., whose latest book is called America USA, How Race Shadows the Nation's Anniversaries. I asked Eddie first how the commemoration this year compared with previous events. We are confronting the contradiction that has haunted the country since its founding in a very stark way. There are forces in so many ways trying to erode the foundations of American democracy at this moment.

5:53There are forces that are claiming that the country belongs to only one particular group. We see this explicitly in the ways in which immigration policies are being implemented and the assault on voting rights. And, you know, this question of who we are as Americans in so many ways has haunted the country for generations. And so I think it's in stark relief in this moment. So there is in some ways a haunting repetition, even as we grapple with some forces that feel unprecedented. I mentioned particular dates. I mean, you single out in your book 1926 in particular as an indication of just how far America had to go to try and even approach the aspirations in the Declaration of Independence.

6:34Oh, absolutely. I mean, we usually think of the 1920s in the United States as the roaring 20s, when in fact, from my point of view, it's the decade of the Klan. We're grappling with the pressures of the Great Atlantic migration between 1880 and 1924, between 20 to 25 million European immigrants made their way to U.S. shores. There was this response to that level of immigration that was very vehement and nativist. The Klan was very suspicious in its rebirth in 1915 of these swarthy Italians, these Irish folk with questionable loyalties because of their devotion to the Pope and, of course, Jews.

7:12And so we see these pressures on the American actually entails. And so there's the assertion of 100 % Americanism at this time. You know, 1926, the 150th anniversary of the country, the Klan was initially approved to hold this annual convention on the grounds of the Philadelphia Exposition celebrating the nation's 150th birthday. They were going to celebrate the flag and burn a cross at the same time. So it's this very complicated period where the country is trying to figure out, will it be a white nation or will it live up to its principles of the ideas of freedom? Dr. Lindsay M. Chavinsky, what's your sense this 4th of July?

7:50I mean, even today, it grumbles about it being a bit too lacking in bipartisanship and a bit too one-sided, these celebrations. Well, you're right. This is something that we grapple with all the time. And we have to think about as we tell the full story of what it meant to be an American in the 18th century at the founding period. And rightfully so, because we want to include all of the people who were present in that story. I think part of the founding legacy that has been overshadowed or hasn't been taught, I think, as a disservice to us is that they were very, very aware of the problems they had not solved and where their failures lay.

8:30And as a result, they really tried to encourage future generations to pick up the mantle to make it a more perfect union. They were not afraid to do that themselves. They implemented a series of amendments within just the first couple of years of the Constitution. And then again, as various loopholes came up in elections and as the constitutional process unfolded. And I think that the spirit of innovation, the spirit of reform is one that has been lost and was largely lost during the Cold War when we were facing or fighting a war that was described as a moral one. So we started to describe the Constitution in moral terms as opposed to a document that we were tasked with trying to improve.

9:15And so I think for so many generations, Americans fought to try and make it a more perfect union, whether it be the post-Civil War amendments and the 19th Amendment. And I think the Civil Rights Acts are a phenomenal demonstration of that attempt to try and make it this more perfect union. And in this moment, I think a lot of people are feeling that there maybe isn't reason for hope or that there isn't reason to try and continue the fight to pursue reform because bipartisanship and cooperation feels so distant. But as Eddie has written about so beautifully, sometimes these moments of crisis are actually the ones that spur the most powerful reform.

9:56Eddie Glaude, we've heard voices, we heard them a little earlier in the program. Pope Leo talking very pointedly about immigration, something you've already referred to. Zorah Mamdani talking about being a naturalized American rather than an American by birthright. Of course, a controversy that surfaced at the Supreme Court only in the last few days. Are you hopeful? I'm not, you know, to be honest with you, but I'm not pessimistic either. You know, I think it's a blue-soaked hope, to put it more directly. You know, I have a fundamental and abiding faith in the capacity of human beings to be otherwise.

10:31So we're not fated to this, our current circumstances. I mean, it all depends on what we choose, the choices we make in the coming days. It seems to me that we're going to have to grapple with this view by the Trump administration and others that any more perfect union talk is actually an affront to the American project. At the current political scene, there are folks who don't believe in America as process, as becoming, because they assert that America's salvation, its perfection was evidenced in its founding. And all we need to do is to remember and to restore. And that view carries with it a view of who are the true Americans and the rest of us are just simply, you know, should just simply show gratitude and shut up.

11:16And so I think we have to confront that truth and then we have to make a choice about who we are. And that's where, if I have hope, it's a blue-soaked hope, if I have it, it resides there. It resides in us, the people. Lindsay, there is a question at a time like this about what the rest of the world thinks of the United States. I mean, the Eiffel Tower was lit up in tribute. There will be parties and celebrations, not just involving ex-patriored Americans around the world. There will be other nations celebrating with Americans on this special day. Even, dare I say it, Brits, who the colonists broke away to form the United States 250 years ago, even Brits will be celebrating the amazing achievements of America.

11:55But there are those who worry around the world of what America is becoming. Do you think those voices are recognized, heard or even cared about in the United States, Lindsay? I think for some, they are. You know, I mean, I think that there's still a percentage of Americans that understand and remember how valuable it is to have a place of leadership in the world, even if we have, you know, imperfectly held that leadership. It is they understand how valuable it is to have allies who are willing to go to battle by our side, whether that be actually in war or just pursuing our broader goals. And my hope is that, you know, I'm not sure that there's a whole lot of evidence for this hope, but I'm determined to keep talking about it anyway, that if we continue to talk about the value of those things, then there will be a push against the sort of isolationist forces that are currently, I think, on the rise.

12:50The thing about American history is that it's very rare for trends to happen only once. And so there have been these moments of isolationism. There have been moments of retreat. And usually we, I think, manage to correct ourselves and to figure out that we cannot live in a world by ourselves and we don't live in a world by ourselves. But that is, I think, going to be one of the big projects in the coming decades is the international community looks really different than it did in the 1990s. And a lot of Americans have not yet really come to terms with that. Lindsay M. Javinsky and Eddie Glaude Jr.

13:25Lindsay says the George Washington Library's 4th of July involves 150 naturalized Americans.

13:39Still to come this hour, it's day 11 of the search for bodies after the earthquake in Venezuela. Our correspondent is in the worst-hit area. I'm in the Caraballada area, the spot where I'm standing, without exaggeration, there isn't a single building around me that is still standing. There's one which has massively tilted over to its side, but the others have just collapsed into heaps of rubble. That's in the next half hour. Our headlines this hour. Ukraine's carried out long-range overnight drone attacks on Russia's second city of St. Petersburg, striking oil infrastructure and the nearby Kronstadt naval base.

14:16Crowds of black-clad mourners have filled the compound of the Grand Mursala Mosque complex in Tehran to pay respects to Iran's late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed by US-Israeli strikes in February and thousands of protesters blocked roads around the east German city of Erfurt where the far-right AfD party is holding a conference.

14:39This is Sean Lay with NewsHour, coming to you live from the BBC studios in London. There were public displays of emotion in Tehran early Saturday as thousands of people gathered to mourn Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country's supreme leader at the time of his killing, in an airstrike during the Israeli-American war with Iran.

15:10There was chest-beating and chants of revenge, revenge, with red flags carried by many in the crowd, a symbol of revenge in Shiite Islam. Some carried portraits of Mojtaba, his son, who succeeded him, but has remained out of public sight. Our chief international correspondent, Lise Doucette, is travelling through Iran towards the capital, Tehran, and we spoke on a slightly temperamental phone line. This is a mega funeral and a major moment. It is an opportunity to mourn, and millions will mourn, and many of them will mourn with genuine emotion. But it is also a moment of political messaging. One of the main symbols of this moment is a red clenched fist.

15:57The slogan in English and in Farsi on posters across the country, but most of them in Tehran, is we will rise. It's to say that we survived this war against the United States and Israel. And not just that, but we are now standing. It is also messaging that Iran is now, it's marking the end of one era under Iran's second supreme leader since the revolution of 79. And now it is Moshe Bahamini, his son and his successor, who is the man in charge. This is a message to Iranians, including those who will not mourn. And in fact, I'd hope this war would be the beginning of the end of the regime. But it's also a message to Iran's enemies.

16:43You mentioned Majd Bar-Hamini. He hasn't been seen in public since the attack that killed his father and is reported to have injured him. There is a tradition in Shia Islam of the hidden imam, but is that sustainable, do you think? Is he going to have to be seen at some point in public to reinforce the message from the state that we've survived and that in effect we've beaten the Americans? Yes, of course, presence is everything, isn't it? His photo is ubiquitous alongside photos of his father. They dominate every square, but he himself has not been heard. Not even his voice has been heard. It has just been written statements.

17:25But the general assessment is that he did survive that attack, that he was severely injured. And while perhaps this was a moment where the leadership may have dared to hope he could emerge in public, although it has to be said that apparently there's been a sense of damage to his burning of his face and he may need reconstruction surgery, but there is still a target on his back. So despite the very, very public outpouring that we're expecting to see, this situation is highly secure. There's no traffic on the roads. The internet has mainly been cut. And the Iranian leaders have warned the United States and Israel not to take any kind of action, including, of course, the assassination of not just Mustafa Khamenei, but any other leaders.

18:13Can I ask you finally, what are the key events we should be looking out for in the next few days of this commemoration? Today was the first day of a lying in state for Iranians to file past. And the people were queuing last night in the early hours of the morning from about 2 a.m. lining up to get their chance to take part in this history. On Monday, there will be a procession through the streets of Tehran. Again, expect impassioned scenes. I was in Iran for the last major funeral in 1989 of the first supreme leader, Ayatollah Khomeini. And the frenzy was so intense that the coffin broke and the white shrouded Khomeini tumbled out of the coffin to the hands of the crowd and the body had to be rescued.

19:02They're obviously going to try to ensure that doesn't happen. But of course, for the Iranian leadership, they very much want this to be an outpouring of emotion. Again, that's not just for personal emotions and an outpouring of grief. It is also to send a message to Iranians who don't partake and, of course, to many around the world. Our chief international correspondent, Lise Disset. How has America shaped the world? I'm Asma Khaled, host of the Global Story podcast from the BBC. As the United States marks its 250-year anniversary, we've been exploring the surprising and often hidden ways the U.S.

19:43has shaped the modern world. And today on the show, we answer your questions about this moment and what to expect in the years to come. From the BBC, it's the United States at 250. Listen to The Global Story on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

20:04Welcome back to NewsHour. Wimbledon, the most traditional of Grand Slam tennis tournaments, is underway in London.

20:16No clues in the sound, but that's tennis played by athletes who use wheelchairs. Or not, according to Paralympian Brad Parks. He says wheelchair tennis is a distinct sport in its own right, and he should know. Paralysed when a ski stump went wrong, Brad became instrumental in the development of the sport and was in the US team winning gold at the first Paralympic Games to award medals in the discipline. 50 years later, Brad is in London for Wimbledon's wheelchair tennis, where matches begin on Tuesday. And he started our interview by telling me where it all began. I spent a month in the hospital and I began to think about what can I do?

20:53And tennis just came to mind, I wondered if I could be able to play that. And it was a sport that I wanted to get better at than I was. So it was on my mind. And finding other people to play with, other wheelchair users? No, I didn't know anybody in a wheelchair at that point. So a month after I got out of the hospital, I went for a checkup and there was a new therapist and he's playing wheelchair tennis. And he had a chair that he made in his garage, but it was night and day different from my chair. So all of a sudden, there's another guy playing wheelchair tennis, right? So that was so encouraging.

21:33And we became the best of friends. Probably a year later, he goes, Brad, we're going to have a tournament in Los Angeles. And he goes, you're playing in it. What rules should we use? And I said, only two bounces, nothing else. And I won the tournament. Congratulations. And that rule is now the only difference, isn't it, as I understand it? Primarily. You know, I mean, yeah, that's really the only thing that kind of stands out. You have to stay in contact with your wheelchair. Everybody straps now tightly to the chair, so you can't really get away from your chair. But the early days, if you could stand up on one foot, but you could kind of stand up a little bit out of your chair and hit a smash.

22:12So it would give you a little bit of an advantage. And we allowed that. But that changed as it became more professional. Now, talking about it becoming more professional, the first year in which it was part of the Paralympics was in Barcelona in 92. That must have been a big moment to see it recognized as a sport of equal status with all those other well-established sports. It was a big deal because in 1981 or so, I had a conversation with the commissioner of the National Wheelchair Basketball Association, and he told me you cannot play wheelchair tennis. It's not a feasible wheelchair sport. Why did he think it couldn't be played?

22:51His main reasoning at that time was players would kind of shuffle side to side, sort of. You think of a wheelchair. You couldn't move laterally. And that was his reasoning. And you weren't going to take no for an answer? Well, I was discouraged, very discouraged. I'm 21 years old, and he's the most important person maybe in the world in wheelchair sports. But I just said, you know what, I think you don't really need to shuffle back and forth. Five years later, of course, he's asking to meet with me. He wants to know how we are doing. And he goes, by the way, Brad, I was wrong, and I apologize.

23:26That's Brett Polks.

23:35You're listening to NewsHour from the BBC studios in London. I'm Sean Lay. To Venezuela now, and the latest death tolls from its twin earthquakes is standing at 2 ,645 people, with more than 12 ,000 injured. The interim president, Delcey Rodriguez, used a news conference Friday to defend her government's record during the disaster. The exiled opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado, has accused ministers of being absent. Tens of thousands of people are still missing. Their families waiting in desperation and fear. The last person found alive so far was rescued two days ago. The BBC's international correspondent Yogita Limai has been in the worst-hit area of Laguaira, speaking to those still searching.

24:20Some of the descriptions in her report are upsetting.