Sunday shows preview: After America 250, GOP shifts focus back to Trump’s agenda

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Millions of Americans turned out to mark the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence this weekend, even as sweltering heat gripped much of the country and forced the nation’s capital to scale back its festivities.

A heat dome engulfed more than two dozen states and Washington, D.C., sending temperatures soaring into the triple digits in several major U.S. cities during the hottest parts of the day.

More than 125 million people were at risk of either “major” or “extreme” heat-related impacts on Saturday, according to the National Weather Service’s HeatRisk index.

The oppressive weather made its mark on July 4 celebrations, too. Parades were canceled or shortened, fireworks displays were pushed back and the Great American State Fair on the National Mall delayed its opening time.

Even still, President Trump shrugged off concerns on Saturday that the heat could keep people away from his Salute to America Celebration speech, declaring that the crowds were “INCREDIBLE.”

“The love of our Country has never been stronger!” he wrote in a Truth Social post.

The weekend was marked by deep reflection on the nation’s founding, with former Presidents Joe Biden,Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton each issuing messages that touched on themes of resilience and progress.

Those themes are expected to carry into a special edition of NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, with appearances from documentarian Ken Burns, presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin and Smithsonian Institution Secretary Lonnie Bunch.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum will be on ABC’s “This Week” for a special look at the U.S. anniversary and appear on CNN’s “State of the Union” as well. The Interior Department was tasked with leading multiple multi-million-dollar beautification projects around D.C. ahead of July 4.

But the holiday celebrations also unfolded against the backdrop of deep political polarization, with elected officials using their Independence Day remarks to paint contrasting pictures of America.

While New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) urged Americans to confront the nation’s flaws and engage in “righteous dissent” to improve it, Vice President JD Vance called on them to reject a “two-dimensional view” of the nation that “sees only its sins, but not its grace and its greatness.”

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D), who framed his remarks as counterprogramming to Trump, argued that July 4 must be both a “day of reverence” and a “day of reflection.”

“The history of our country and the history of this state is powerful and it is painful,” he said from the Maryland State House in Annapolis. “It is complex but inside that complexity is something uniquely American. The strength for self-correction and the strength to self-heal.”

Moore is slated to appear on Fox News’s “Fox News Sunday.”

Trump’s remarks from Mount Rushmore on the eve of the 250th birthday struck a different tone, delivering what the White House described as an inspirational and optimistic speech that included a “fierce rebuke” of communism.

“As we approach this magnificent anniversary, we see our American identity under a renewed attack,” Trump said. “There is now a resurgence of the communist menace in our land, including from newcomers to our country who embrace ideas totally opposed to our way of life and our great success.”

Trump and his Republican allies have increasingly espoused similar warnings ahead of the midterms, seeking to conflate democratic socialism with actual communism.

Democratic socialism has been pushed further into the spotlight following a series of high-profile primary wins in major U.S. cities, including New York and Los Angeles, in recent weeks. Those candidates, as well as progressives, are seeking to capitalize on Americans’ growing economic anxieties by directly campaigning on affordability issues.

The affordability crisis has also been playing on Republicans’ minds, with GOP lawmakers scrambling to rack up legislative wins in the remaining months before November.

Trump delivered a setback to GOP leaders last week by refusing to sign the bipartisan 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act until the SAVE America Act, a sweeping voter ID bill that he has championed as his No. 1 priority, was passed.

But after a two-hour meeting with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Monday, the president is apparently poised to change his mind.

“He won’t veto the bill,” Johnson told USA Today. “He’ll either allow it to just go into law, or he’ll put his signature on it and take partial ownership, and I hope he does the latter.”

A group of hardline House conservatives has attempted to stonewall legislative business in the lower chamber to ensure passage of the SAVE America Act, which has stalled in the Senate over Democratic opposition.

Johnson, who is also set to join “Fox News Sunday,” has described those efforts as “self-defeating” and proposed tacking the election bill onto the annual defense budget measure.

With the SAVE America Act facing resistance in the upper chamber, Trump has also pushed Republicans to attach it to the extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act’s (FISA) enhanced surveillance powers, conditioning his support for the latter on the former.

Both chambers of Congress failed earlier this month to pass an extension to Section 702 of FISA, which allows the federal government to conduct surveillance on foreigners abroad without a warrant.

The program lapsed on June 11, and there are currently no votes on it scheduled for this week.

While America is celebrating 250 years, foreign dignitaries and crowds of mourners have gathered in Tehran for the multi-day funeral proceedings of slain Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Khamenei was killed in targeted airstrikes on his compound on the first day of the joint U.S.-Israeli operation in late February. The strikes also wounded his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen in public since he assumed the role of Iran’s supreme leader.

The elder Khamenei’s burial comes as U.S. and Iranian officials remain locked in a tense, 60-day period of indirect negotiations centered on permanently ending hostilities, reopening the Strait of Hormuz and constraints on Tehran’s nuclear program.

The Supreme Court also announced its final opinions of the term this week, handing down major rulings on birthright citizenship, presidential power and transgender athletes in high school sports, among others.

See the full list of guests on the Sunday morning news shows below:

Fox News’s “Fox News Sunday”: House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D), Fox News contributor and former NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore, American historian Victor Davis Hanson

Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures”: Ret. Army Gen. Jack Keane, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kansas), Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.), former Deputy National Security Advisor Victoria Coates

CNN’s “State of the Union”: Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D)

CBS News’s “Face the Nation”: NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.), Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), NCAA President Charlie Baker, Former CDC Chief Medical Officer Debra Houry

ABC’s “This Week”: Interior Secretary Doug Burgum

NBC News’s “Meet the Press”: Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch

Tags

Adriano Espaillat

Barack Obama

Bill Clinton

Donald Trump

Doris Kearns Goodwin

Doug Burgum

George W. Bush

JD Vance

Joe Biden

Josh Shapiro

Ken Burns

Lonnie Bunch

Mike Johnson

Wes Moore

Zohran Mamdani

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