I get it. Democrats are reeling after the passage of President Donald Trump’s big budget bill, and they were in no mood to celebrate the Fourth of July. Still, it might have been wiser for them to stay off social media altogether rather than deflate Americans’ holiday spirits with their messages of doom and gloom.
We’ll start with a post from former President Barack Obama:
Independence Day is a reminder that America is not the project of any one person. The single most powerful word in our democracy is the word ‘We.’ ‘We The People.’ ‘We Shall Overcome.’ ‘Yes We Can.’ America is owned by no one. It belongs to all citizens. And at this moment in history—when core democratic principles seem to be continuously under attack, when too many people around the world have become cynical and disengaged—now is precisely the time to ask ourselves tough questions about how we can build our democracies and make them work in meaningful and practical ways for ordinary people.
He was okay up until he equated “We The People,” which is, of course, the foundation of any democracy, with “Yes We Can,” which is code for protest, even rebellion, in the language of community organizers. While conveniently forgetting about his administration’s egregious assaults on Americans’ constitutional rights, he was essentially saying our core democratic principles are under continuous attack, and we must decide what action to take. His message sounded like a thinly veiled call to arms.
While there’s no doubt his words pleased the Democratic base, conservatives were quick to point out his incredible hypocrisy. Fox Business News host Elizabeth McDonald delivered a scorching and thorough rebuttal to the former president’s post, which began:
A “core democratic principle” Barack Obama and his Administration consistently violated was the freedom of the press and free speech, which is why George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and theFounding Fathers enshrined that as the very First Amendment, “Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech,” said Benjamin Franklin.
McDonald then went on to detail the Obama administration’s long history of abusing Americans’ core democratic liberties. She cited its weaponization of the government to go after political enemies, including the Trump-Russia investigation which began under Obama, its prosecution of “more whistleblowers and leakers under the Espionage Act than all previous administrations combined,” its “sanctioning of the DOJ to go after reporters (the Obama DOJ secretly obtained the phone records of more than 20 Associated Press reporters),” its 2016 update to the Freedom of Information Act which allowed them to “delay or deny a record number of FOIA requests, particularly regarding sensitive topics like drone strikes or surveillance programs,” and more.
Rich Baris, the “People’s Pundit,” reminded Obama, “America was not founded as a ‘democracy.’ It was founded as a ‘republic’ and the most powerful word was ‘liberty’, not ‘we.'”
We move on to congenital liar Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA), who, last we saw, was tearing up in his car after the Senate’s passage of the big, beautiful bill. He wrote, “Going shopping for your 4th of July cookout today? Trump’s tariffs are making it a lot more expensive. From beer, to beef, to ice cream – prices are higher than ever. The American people deserve better.”
After the previous administration’s reckless policies drove inflation to levels not seen in 40 years, and given the current administration’s success in stabilizing prices, making a disingenuous statement like this requires a remarkable amount of chutzpah.
And many X users were happy to point that out.
We also learned that Randi Weingarten, president of the second-largest teachers’ union in the U.S., can’t spell. It took her three tries to get her Fourth of July message right. In the original, she called the holiday the “4rth” of July and misspelled “peeking” as “peaking.”
We also heard from former Vice President Kamala Harris, whose message of despair underscored just how far she’s drifted from her 2024 campaign of optimism and joy. She wrote, “Things are hard right now. They are probably going to get worse before they get better.”
How inspiring and uplifting.
Conservative writer Jerry Dunleavy replied, “Never seen someone wish everyone a ‘Sad 4th!’ but here we are.”
Peter Hasson, editor of the Washington Free Beacon, responded, “This is a funeral speech not a July 4th post.”
One commentator translated Harris’s words for us:
And another pointed out the obvious:
Me too.
Journalist Steve Guest noted that Harris had cropped the Biden’s out of a photo from last Fourth of July.
And one New Jersey mayor sent a message with her actions. She waved a pride flag at a Fourth of July parade.
Despite her spelling challenges, the only Democrat to show any real patriotism was Randi Weingarten. Perhaps I shouldn’t have called her out.
The others just weren’t feeling the joy.
Hope everyone has a great weekend!
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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