US president celebrates 'greatest political journey' in history, alongside Trump baby blimp

President Donald Trump celebrated the story of America as "the greatest political journey in human history" in a Fourth of July commemoration on the grounds of the Lincoln Memorial, which has been widely criticised as excessive and militaristic. 

Supporters welcomed his tribute to the US military while protesters assailed him for putting himself centre stage on a holiday devoted to unity.

As rain fell on him, Trump called on Americans to "stay true to our cause" during a programme that adhered to patriotic themes and hailed an eclectic mix of history's heroes, from the armed forces, space, and civil rights.

He largely stuck to his script, avoiding diversions into his agenda or re-election campaign. But in one exception, he vowed, "Very soon, we will plant the American flag on Mars," a distant goal not likely to be achieved any time soon.

A late afternoon downpour drenched the capital's Independence Day crowds and Trump's speech unfolded in occasional rain. The warplanes and presidential aircraft he had summoned conducted their flyovers as planned, capped by the Navy Blue Angels aerobatics team.

By adding his own, one-hour "Salute to America" production to capital festivities that typically draw hundreds of thousands anyway, Trump became the first president in nearly seven decades to address a crowd at the National Mall on the Fourth of July.

Protesters objecting to what they saw as his co-opting of the holiday inflated a roly-poly balloon depicting Trump as an angry, diaper-clad baby.

Comment: Trump brings his tanks to 4th of July imperial infomercial

Trump set aside a historic piece of real estate - a stretch of the Mall from the Lincoln Monument to the midpoint of the reflecting pool - for a mix of invited military members, Republican and Trump campaign donors and other bigwigs. 

Trump aides fretted about the prospect of empty seats at his event, said a person familiar with the planning who was not authorised to be identified.

Aides scrambled in recent days to distribute tickets and mobilise the Trump and GOP social media accounts to encourage participation for an event hastily arranged and surrounded with confusion.

Back at the White House, Trump tweeted an aerial photo showing an audience that filled both sides of the memorial's reflecting pool and stretched to the Washington Monument. "A great crowd of tremendous Patriots this evening, all the way back to the Washington Monument!" he said.

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