Shoppers at a Haslet, Texas, Walmart put their hands over their hearts and joined a woman who had unexpectedly started singing the Star-Spangled Banner while standing under a large American flag displayed in the store over Independence Day weekend.
As the National Anthem ended, the crowd erupted in cheers.
Several other patriotic moments took place in the Lone Star State over the Fourth of July holiday weekend. On Independence Day itself, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott retweeted video of a Texan driving with a massive American flag waving from a flag pole attached to the back of his truck.
“Texas loves America, our flag, our anthem,” the GOP governor tweeted.
As Texans praised the United States over Independence Day weekend, a number of lawmakers criticized the U.S. during nationwide celebrations of its founding.
“When they say that the 4th of July is about American freedom, remember this: the freedom they’re referring to is for white people,” Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) tweeted. “This land is stolen land and Black people still aren’t free.”
Rep. Maxine Waters also tweeted, “July 4th… & so, the Declaration of Independence says all men are created equal. Equal to what? What men? Only white men? Isn’t it something that they wrote this in 1776 when African Americans were enslaved? They weren’t thinking about us then, but we’re thinking about us now!”
“Further, the Dec. of Ind. says we hold these truths to be “self-evident”… yet 17 states have enacted voter suppression laws, Supreme Court gutted Sec. 5 of the Voting Rights Act, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Michael Brown, Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice. Need I say more? #July4,” she continued.
Taxpayer-funded National Public Radio (NPR) condemned the Declaration of Independence on Independence Day, tweeting, “245 years ago today, leaders representing 13 British colonies signed a document to declare independence. It says ‘that all men are created equal’ — but women, enslaved people, Indigenous people and many others were not held as equal at the time.”
On Monday, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz blasted Bush for her comments on the Fourth, calling them “hateful, divisive lies.”
“Hateful, divisive lies. The Left hates America. Believe them when they tell you this,” he tweeted. “Two years ago, Colin Kaepernick tried to spread the same lies on July 4. I responded with the wisdom of the great abolitionist Frederick Douglass.”
He continued, “Douglass closed, ‘I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope. While drawing encouragement from ‘the Declaration of Independence,’ the great principles it contains, and the genius of American Institutions, my spirit is also cheered by the obvious tendencies of the age.’”
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) also slammed Democrat lawmakers who condemned the United States during its most patriotic weekend.
“Democrats made the Fourth of July controversial,” he tweeted. “Republicans just love America.”
