Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani told Newsmax on Friday that America's 250th anniversary should be a weekend of "unabashed patriotism."

He warned that a rising democratic socialist movement he sees spreading, and a major-party base no longer proud of the country, represent a division "from within" unlike anything the nation has faced.

He tied his warning directly to New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialists of America member sworn in Jan. 1 whose election Republicans have made a central talking point ahead of the semiquincentennial.

Giuliani appeared on "Finnerty" as the country entered its Fourth of July weekend, marking 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

He argued Americans should "lose whatever embarrassment has been imposed on us by foreign forces, about being embarrassed about being patriotic," calling patriotism no different than "loving your family."

Materially, he said, "America is by far the greatest nation in the history of the world," but the country is "not where we should be spiritually" when "one party" contains "a majority of its people not proud to be American."

The former mayor said the pressure on American identity has "been imposed on us from without."

Those who reject the country's founding, he argued, are drawing on a foreign philosophy the country rejected in the Revolution. Giuliani argued the label of "progressive" is misleading.

"It's not progressive to have socialism. Socialism is over 150 years old and has failed 27 times, and it usually leads to communism and violence," he said.

Pressed by host Rob Finnerty on New York's political shift, Giuliani said the city he ran from 1994 to 2001 is unrecognizable under Mamdani, who was sworn in as the 112th mayor and openly identifies as a democratic socialist.

Finnerty told Giuliani, "We have a communist mayor in New York City."

Giuliani agreed the country faces "a very bad time" because of internal division, but said he remains "hopeful and optimistic," citing the Civil War and the first days of the Revolution as darker moments the country survived.

Giuliani returned to the Declaration to frame his argument, saying Americans have forgotten that the rights it enshrines "don't come from man. They don't come from government, they come from God."

Asked about what Finnerty described as an "Islamification" spreading across Western politics, Giuliani said he shares "great concern" and urged Americans to "remind" themselves that "we have all the answers to our progress right within our form of government."

He closed by invoking Thomas Jefferson's phrase "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" as "aspirational," saying the search itself has made the United States "the greatest nation in the world."

Progress, Giuliani said, "has to be more progress within the context of our form of government, not a form of government being imposed on us by foreigners."

GET TODAY NEWSMAX+:

NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America with more than 30 million people watching!

Reuters Institute reports NEWSMAX is one of the top news brands in the U.S.

You need to watch NEWSMAX today.

Get it with great shows from Rob Schmitt, Greta Van Susteren, Greg Kelly, Carl Higbie, Rob Finnerty – and many more!

Find the NEWSMAX channel on your cable system – Go Here Now

BEST OFFER:

Sign up for NEWSMAX+ and get NEWSMAX, our streaming channel NEWSMAX2 and our military channel World at War.

Find hundreds of shows, movies and specials.

Even get Jon Voight's special series and President Trump's comedy programs and much more!

Watch NEWSMAX+ on your smartphone or home TV app.

Watch NEWSMAX anytime, anywhere!

Start your FREE trial now: NewsmaxPlus.com