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“Our last great chance”: Trump says he will “take back our country” in an Independence Day post

In the face of "never-ending witch hunts," he is also using the holiday to fundraise on Truth Social

Senior Food Editor

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Former President Donald Trump speaks to guests at the Oakland County Republican Party's Lincoln Day dinner at Suburban Collection Showplace on June 25, 2023 in Novi, Michigan. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Former President Donald Trump speaks to guests at the Oakland County Republican Party's Lincoln Day dinner at Suburban Collection Showplace on June 25, 2023 in Novi, Michigan. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

In a July 4th post on Truth Social — just hours after using the platform to call Special Counsel Jack Smith a “major sleazebag” — Donald Trump indicated that he is feeling optimistic about his chances in the next presidential election. He wrote: “Happy FOURTH OF JULY to everyone. We are working hard, we will take back our Country, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN. The 2024 Election is our LAST GREAT CHANCE!” 

The former president is also using the holiday to fundraise for his campaign. Mixed between “Sponsored Truth” ads for red “Trump 2024” dog collars and purported treatments for tinnitus are links out to a donation page, which states that Trump is the victim of a relentless witch-hunt and that “even Trump’s sham indictment and arraignment by the corrupt Deep State thugs at Biden’s DOJ has only made our campaign to SAVE AMERICA grow stronger.” He continues, asking that visitors “please make a contribution to help our grassroots campaign surge even higher — and let’s win back the White House and SAVE AMERICA in 2024!” 

Using his legal woes as a fundraising line is not a new tactic for Trump. As Politico reported a few weeks ago, the former president raised about $2 million at the first major fundraiser of his campaign, only hours after his arraignment in Miami; the Trump campaign also raked in $4.5 million in digital fundraising since news of Trump’s indictment. Meanwhile, over on Twitter, President Biden kept things a little more streamlined for the holiday, writing simply, “Happy Fourth, America.”

By Ashlie D. Stevens

Ashlie D. Stevens is Salon's senior food editor. She is also an award-winning radio producer, editor and features writer — with a special emphasis on food, culture and subculture.

Her writing has appeared in and on The Atlantic, National Geographic’s “The Plate,” Eater, VICE, Slate, Salon, The Bitter Southerner and Chicago Magazine, while her audio work has appeared on NPR’s All Things Considered and Here & Now, as well as APM’s Marketplace. She is based in Chicago.


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