'Who We Are As a People': JD Vance Reenlists Sailors, Shares the Meaning of America 250 in NY Harbor

redstate.com

Vice President JD Vance was in attendance to celebrate our nation's semiquincentennial anniversary on Saturday, on the deck of USS Kearsarge in NY Harbor, before sharing his thoughts on the deeper meaning of America 250.

Advertisement

First, VP Vance led a group of U.S. Navy sailors through their oath during a reenlistment ceremony:

Then he handed out challenge coins to them. Vance began his remarks by noting the many ships and military flyovers taking place for the anniversary - and not all of them are from the American military.

Watch:

READ MORE: Trump Kicks Off America 250 Weekend With Rousing Event at Mt. Rushmore

Trump Delivers a Hilarious America 250 Storytime With Second Lady Usha Vance

The vice president said: 

"We have 50 countries from all over the world who chose to send fighters or naval vessels here to honor our country. And we say it from the bottom of our hearts: we are grateful for our friends, grateful for our allies, on this special anniversary.

"It is a very American thing to ring in 250 years of American history by parading our naval and Air Force might for the world to see."

He also forcefully seemed to rebuff what NYC democratic socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a video released for America 250 this week:

Advertisement

.@VP: "You will hear a couple small but loud voices today speak obsessively not of our national greatness, but of our national imperfections... They will tell you that America is just another country where the weak struggle against the strong, and if they acknowledge that there is anything to be proud of in our history, they’ll say it’s the fact that sometimes the powerless have won a zero-sum battle. They’re wrong..."

"What I’d ask you to do, my fellow Americans, on our 250th birthday, is to reject the two dimensional view of your fellow citizens, and reject the two dimensional view of your country. Reject that America is a place for zero-sum thinking, because it is not. Our history is one of people carving a great civilization out of the wilderness. Reject the view of your nation that sees only its sins, but not its grace and its greatness." 🇺🇸

"They'll talk about America's sins with the anger and zeal of a brimstone preacher, but without any of the grace or forgiveness that must be present in the Christian faith," Vance said, "from Thomas Jefferson to Henry Kaiser."

"They misunderstand that we all have moments of great power despite those very real imperfections, that there are victims and heroes who live inside of each of us, from the most ambitious leaders and builders to steal welders like my grandfather, people who had their own role to play in turning this dangerous wilderness into the proudest civilization in history."

Advertisement

Read More: Zohran Mamdani Shows You How You Can Use a Little Bit of Truth to Sell a Big Lie - VIP

On America's 250th - The Peril at Our Gate - VIP

Here's just one example of the friends and allies we've gathered as a nation over 250 years. Israel appreciates, better than the mayor of one of our major cities, what the United States represents to the world.

Watch:


VP Vance continued by talking about General George Washington, in Manhattan in July of 1776, "peering out on that beautiful land and beautiful sea," ever watchful for British Navy ships on the horizon. Then he added one NYC colonist's perspective at the time (start at :54 in the video below)

Watch:

He said that "one colonist still in the city recounted it seemed as if all of London was afloat, and headed to the new nation. War was coming, and everyone knew it." 

Watch:

Advertisement

He continued:

@VP in New York Harbor: "By July of 1776, 80% of New York’s population had emptied out in anticipation of the coming violence, and that brings us back to our great General Washington. He knew the battles to come would be bruising and would demand much of his men, but they needed to know, through hot Summers and cold Winters, exactly what they were being asked to fight for—and so just a few days after the Declaration of Independence was signed, George Washington read aloud the words of the incredible Declaration: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.' Even today, 250 years to the day later, these words command a tremendous power over us as Americans. For 250 years, they have stirred our hearts and they’ve reminded us of who we are as a people."

I think as Americans in 2026, we need to hear a reminder that even in 1776, the cause of liberty and what it meant - what they were fighting for and who had their back, ultimately - was clear to those who did the fighting alongside Washington:

Watch:

Advertisement

"1776 was not an accident. The patriots of that era understood themselves to be heirs to an older civilization who would carry it forward," says @VP in New York. 

"It’s no surprise that when Washington's soldiers first heard the Declaration 250 years ago, they understood precisely what it meant. They understood the meaning that was conveyed. It was seismic, but it was their birthright as citizens of this new Republic. The words might have been new, but they expressed a feeling; something that already lived in the heart of every single American patriot, and I believe those words still live in the heart of every single American patriot today."

Happy 250th birthday to the US of A! 

Editor's Note: It’s America’s 250th birthday! Help RedState celebrate the greatest nation in history by honoring its past, defending its present, and preserving its future with reporting you can trust.

Join RedState VIP and use promo code AMERICA250 to receive 74% off your membership.