Thousands attended President Donald Trump’s Salute to America and saw an impressive fireworks display and flyover. But the turnout wasn’t as large as the 2019 event was, however. Here’s a look at crowd photos from July 4, 2020, compared to July 4, 2019.
Although Trump had a large crowd in some areas for the Salute to America event, some National Mall photos indicated that the crowd was indeed smaller than in 2019. There could be a number of reasons for this. The coronavirus pandemic no doubt played a role in keeping people home. Last year it was impossible to know just how many people were at the National Mall specifically for Trump’s event versus being there to see the fireworks. This year, Fox 5 reported that D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser had asked residents to stay home this holiday. There was a distinct difference in messages between Trump’s event inviting people to come out versus the Mayor asking people to stay home.
Getty2020
The Trump administration asked for the National Mall to be open, along with many other areas, for today’s event. More than 800 acres were open to the public for viewing military flyovers and the fireworks. These included:
- Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool
- Thomas Jefferson Memorial
- World War II Memorial
- East Potomac Park
- Washington Monument grounds
- National Mall grounds between 4th and 14th Streets
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President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump hosted the event from the South Lawn of the White House and the Ellipse. Last year in 2019, they hosted from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial facing the Washington Monument. This meant that a large area that was full of people in 2019 to hear Trump’s speech. You can see a map of the National Mall here to compare the locations.
2020 Photos vs 2019 Photos
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First, the photo below provides a look at the view from where Trump was standing this year, in 2020:
Salute to America
And here is the location where they were last year in 2019:
BREAKING: Massive crowd waiting for President Trump to speak at the #SaluteToAmerica in Washington D.C.
#4thOfJuly – @BreakingNLive
Here’s another 2019 photo:
GettySalute to America 2019
Here are some 2020 photos for comparison.
Getty2020
Getty2020
And a photo in a tweet:
The silent majority today at the National Mall during the #Salute2America! #4thofJuly
Here’s another photo where Michelle Boorstein from The Washington Post said the crowd was picking up.
Crowds picking up on the National Mall
Here’s a look at the crowd during a fireworks portion of the show:
Fourth of July on the Mall! @ABC7News
As you can see, there’s a significant difference in crowd size. Here’s another comparison. The photo below is from 2019.
Getty2019
Here’s the same location this year in 2020:
Providing some visual perspective, this is the largest collection of people here on the National Mall
Most are there taking refuge from the heat before the start of the Salute to America #july4th
Of course, the change in where Trump spoke might account for some of the crowd size differences in specific areas. Here’s a look at some areas this year that had larger crowds.
GettyPeople stand on the National Mall.
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As you can see, the crowds were loud, but they were still scattered and smaller than in 2019. A variety of different reasons could account for that.
Either way, the fireworks show was stunning. Here’s one video showing the fireworks display.
Salute to America fireworks show underway on the National Mall #july4th
And here’s another video showing the fireworks show.
Fireworks just started here at the National Mall #4thofJuly #nationalmall @fox5dc
If you’re interested in learning more about the crowd that attended Trump’s Salute to America last year, you can learn more in Heavy’s photo story here.
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