By Joe Sommerlad
President Donald Trump celebrated in Des Moines on Thursday night with a “Salute to America” address on the eve of the country’s 250th birthday after his contentious “Big, Beautiful Bill” finally passed the House of Representatives earlier in the day, boasting: “We’re the hottest in the world.”
Trump called the bill’s passage “a declaration of independence from a really national decline,” insisting: “We had a national decline. We were a laughingstock all over the world. We had a man as president who shouldn’t have been there.”
He also told his audience that he “hates” Democrats.
“All of the things we did with the tax cuts and rebuilding our military, not one Democrat voted for us. And I think we use it in the campaign that’s coming up, the midterms,” he said.
“But all of the things that we’ve given, and they wouldn’t vote. Only because they hate Trump. But I hate them, too. You know that? I really do, I hate them. I cannot stand them because I really believe they hate our country, you want to know the truth.”
He had plenty of other things to say – on Iran, immigration, Zohran Mamdani, the economy and Los Angeles