This is a rush transcript from "Special Report," July 4, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

MIKE EMANUEL, HOST: Mark Meredith live on the National Mall as he awaits the president's arrival.

With that, let's bring in our panel, Hugo Gurdon, editor in chief of the "Washington Examiner," Mollie Hemingway, senior editor at "The Federalist," and Josh Kraushaar, political editor for "National Journal." Panel, let's get your thoughts before we hear from the president going into this. Josh?

JOSH KRAUSHAAR, POLITICAL EDITOR, "NATIONAL JOURNAL": The president likes a spectacle, and he's going to be getting one tonight. The big issue, though, has been the weather. And the president looks like he'll be on time, even though there's been rain, and there's some more rain in the forecast. But the big challenge is whether the president can make his speech beyond politics, whether he can unite the country, whether he's going to talk about American principles or whether he will be trapped into talking about himself. And it's a big moment for the president. It's a unifying moment, but this has been suffused with partisan politics. It's a big opportunity for the president to make it above just partisan politics.

EMANUEL: The experts we've seen, very patriotic, very all American, very Fourth of July. Mollie, your expectations?

MOLLIE HEMINGWAY, SENIOR EDITOR, "THE FEDERALIST": Based on those excerpts it does sound like we'll have a very unifying as opposed to partisan speech, and that is important.

I tend to be someone who loves Independence Day. It's a holiday that we celebrate all over the country. There's no reason that you can't celebrate it here. Political leaders throughout the state mark it with speeches. I would actually like to see this be something that all presidents do every year, not just on special anniversaries, but every Independence Day. It's really good to her member those principles of our founding and the Declaration, and I hope that happens today.

EMANUEL: We've seen aircraft that serves as Air Force One flying over the National Mall, quite an image for folks gathered. Hugo, your thoughts going into the speech?

HUGO GURDON, "WASHINGTON EXAMINER": I think people who are here to see the thing will really enjoy the spectacle. I'm sure there are lots of children there who want to take selfies with the tanks and the thundering aircraft going overhead. There will probably be a different opinion amongst those people who are at home.

But I think one of the points that needs to be made about the political division here is the context of this thing. Laurence Tribe, a Harvard professor, compared the tanks in the streets of Washington to the tanks in the streets in Tiananmen Square. It's absolute stuff and nonsense. It all depends on the context. Where I'm from in Britain, every morning a squadron of cavalry rides with sabers drawn down the mall towards Buckingham Palace. It doesn't mean there's a coup. It's just a way that the leftwing are trying to make President Trump seem like he's authoritarian. And it's rubbish.

EMANUEL: And we've seen some of the aircraft flying overhead despite the weather concerns earlier in the evening. Just saw some Osprey helicopters flying over the National Mall. As I mentioned, the aircraft that serves as Air Force One, a spectacular setting there in front of the Lincoln Memorial. What about some of the political concerns going into this, some of the criticisms we heard from Democrats going into it, Josh, could they have egg on their face if this just turns out to be a big white and blue event?

KRAUSHAAR: Democrats certainly know how to overreach, and as Hugo was saying, make it about totalitarianism and just freaking out over tanks being on the Capitol. I do think the bigger challenge for the president -- I hope a lot of average Americans were able to kind of see the military equipment, to see the tanks. There were some reports that it was sort of cordoned off to the VIPs, the people who are tickets. One of the great things about July 4th and about the ceremonies on the mall is it's for everyone. So I hope that the ceremony has been small "d" democratic and has been open to the general public.

HEMINGWAY: There was so much opposition to having tanks, and I found out there were only a couple of tanks. It's all most disappointing. I love seeing our -- I love our military, I love seeing our military aircraft and tanks and whatnot, and to find out it was only a couple of tanks to have all this opposition to it, if anything, the disappointment should be that there aren't more tanks.

GURDON: I think that one of the reasons that there's so much opposition is his opponents, the president's opponents and critics, think that a lot of people might enjoy it.

EMANUEL: Hugo, let me interesting. That is the aircraft that serves as air force one flying over the National Mall, and we will let you complete your thought for sure, but wanted to draw the folks attention at home watching, as you see the spectacular aircraft known for carrying presidents of the United States everywhere they go, now going over the National Mall with the crowd gathered awaiting President Trump and his speech. Hugo, please continue.

GURDON: It's quite a sight, isn't it, and I think a lot of people will enjoy that. I think there probably is a certain amount of political calculation in the president wanting to do this. His primary promise was to make America great again, so it's hardly surprising that he wants to show American greatness, and that might include military equipment. JFK had a military parade. Eisenhower had a military parade. This is not unprecedented, and I think people are making a lot of fuss.

EMANUEL: Eisenhower had tanks rolling down the street. JFK had missiles actually in the parade. And so if you go back some in history, it's not that big of a deal.

HEMINGWAY: And it's not just the military that we want to celebrate on this day, but the military is a big part of why we do have our freedom secured, and it's important that we not forget that.

EMANUEL: We hear "Hail to the Chief" playing there on the National Mall, that means President Trump is arriving, so let's listen in.

(TRUMP SPEECH)

EMANUEL: The weather was a little rough but the crowd seemed to have a great time. Rich Edson live at the White House, thanks so much.

Let's bring in our panel. Hugo Gurdon, the editor-in-chief of the Washington Examiner, Mollie Hemingway, senior editor at the Federalist, and Josh Kraushaar, politics editor for National Journal. Hugo, let's start with you. What stuck out to you?

HUGO GURDON, THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER: It was a very deft speech but also a very simple one. He went through, as was just noted, great events and great men and women from American history, but he tied history to the modern day.

And he -- the thing that struck me about it was he referred to our quest for greatness. The whole point of the speech, the whole thrust of the speech was about America's quest for greatness, which of course reflects his own make America great again.

It's -- what he wanted to do with this speech, he didn't have to be political because the entire indication of American greatness and the great people was, sort of, a stirring cry for people to continue that tradition.

EMANUEL: For folks with a patriotic bone in their body, this had to really touch them. Your thoughts, Mollie?

MOLLIE HEMINGWAY, CONTRIBUTOR: First up, I have to think that people who are critical of this whole idea of doing something like this have got to feel a little foolish. That was clearly very good speech, very unifying. I don't think an American around could have trouble with what he was saying.

You know, reminding people about our founding in those principles of our founding and how they live within us. Talking about these great Americans who have lived, whether they are artists or inventors, our warriors, all of these people.

It reminds me actually of Calvin Coolidge, our great former president who was born in Independence Day. The theme that he would talk about is be lovers of freedom and anxious for the fray. And that's what I took from this speech. Be lovers of freedom and anxious for the fray. Whether that is in the military or in our inventive spirit or in our lust for expansion or our artistry or whatnot, we are people who love freedom and are anxious for the fray.

EMANUEL: Josh, your thoughts?

JOSH KRAUSHAAR, POLITICS EDITOR, NATIONAL JOURNAL: It was an ode to American exceptionalism and even though there was no politics discussed in the speech there was an unmistakable political subtext at a time when a lot of leading Democratic president of candidates are dwelling on America's faults through history.

You had Nike this past week take the original Betsy Ross flag off of one of its shoes under protest from Colin Kaepernick. This was a contrast to that. This was a peon to American exceptionalism and attribute to America and even though he didn't bring up politics, the contrast was unmistakable.

EMANUEL: You mentioned Betsy Ross, let's take a listen to the president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: America's fearless resolve has inspired heroes who defined our national character, from George Washington, John Adams, and Betsy Ross, to Douglas, you know, Frederick Douglass.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: The Great Frederick Douglass. Harriet Tubman, Emelia Ehrhardt, Douglas MacArthur, Dwight Eisenhower, Jackie Robinson, and of course, John Glenn.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

EMANUEL: Reference to a number of great Americans, but Betsy Ross was included in that. Mollie, your thoughts?

HEMINGWAY: Well, I love the allusion to Frederick Douglass, who has written -- who had written and spoke on this beautifully, and Abraham Lincoln. People who knew that our country did have problems, but the solution to America's problem was in America herself.

And this is a noted contrast of people who were talking about the flag is being a symbol of hate where the founding as being this irredeemable situation. America is a great country and it's great and it is one of these things were great Americans throughout time have known that it is great that when we have problems, we seek to improve them.

I loved the call out to Civil Rights heroes and others who bravely stood against oppression and persecution and who are people that we can all look to with admiration.

EMANUEL: There was also a reference to some of the folks who are on the front lines of the current immigration crisis at the border. People doing very difficult jobs at the border. Let's take a listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Our nation has always honored the heroes who serve our communities. The firefighters, first responders, police, sheriffs, ICE, Border Patrol, and all of the brave men and women of law enforcement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

EMANUEL: Hugo, what about that line?

GURDON: Yes. I think that what the president managed, as I was saying earlier, he managed to bring things relevance to today and he was giving a shout out to the people who he wants to know are supporting him and he wants Americans to support.

He wants -- he said -- you know, he wants to deal with the border crisis. He wants people to respect the -- to ICE and the border patrol and the people who do the hard work down there.

These references to current politics and indeed the one to Betsy Ross flag, they were all legitimate, they were all nicely brought into the speech, but they will, I think, and this is where I disagree with Mollie, I think that the people who knew -- who didn't want to like this event are not going to like this event.

They -- there were enough political references in it, there were enough -- there was a lot of the military stuff that was laid on very thick. They probably will not like it but I think he would have stirred a lot of people and actually persuaded or stirred a lot of people who are independents.

EMANUEL: There are, you know, concerns about price tag and what would this be, bringing tanks to Washington. Your thoughts on some of the critics pregame and where they may be now, Josh?

KRAUSHAAR: Look, this will be all forgotten after July 4th. That's not a winning Democratic issue and frankly, that's part of Trump playbook. He knows that he brings up hot button topics. I don't think it's an accident he mentioned ICE specifically because he knows Democrats, especially the more progressive Democrats are going to overreact and they'll end up making that -- turning political lemonade into lemons and by their overreaction.

So, I think the president knows what he's doing in many ways. He uses issues that are very polarizing, tries to stir up the opposition and watches things as they go as they turn out to be.

HEMINGWAY: I really think it would be good if this was a good annual tradition where people, regardless of their politics, can come together, remember the founding, remember that we are one people that we share a lot.

There is so much division in the world but this is a great day. I mean, you look at communities throughout the country, everyone's gathering for parades, they are gathering and celebrating their local law enforcement and their fire department and whatnot and it's just a great, great time for everybody to put away some differences and remember that we are so blessed to be Americans.

EMANUEL: Amen. More with the panel when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

EMANUEL: This is a Fox News alert. Updating one of our other big stories of the day, Southern California dealing with aftershocks tonight following a magnitude 6.4 earthquake this morning.

Correspondent Jeff Paul is live in Ridgecrest, California tonight. Hello, Jeff.

JEFF PAUL, CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Mike. And that's what everyone is bracing for right now are the aftershocks. In fact, we were just getting an update from police and fire a short time ago here in Ridgecrest when they were talking at the ground started shaking.

We pulled up here to this house where we're at which it caught on fire a few minutes I guess we're being told after this earthquake hit Ridgecrest, and we are getting a better understanding of some of the damages.

We're also told that a few other houses in the area caught on fire and that some of the gas lines in the area were ruptured as a result of this earthquake. So far, we are only hearing of minor injuries and not widespread damage but the mayor here in Ridgecrest declaring a state of emergency.

And we asked her exactly why she decided to determine it a state of emergency. Here is what she had to say, take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR PEGGY BREEDEN, D-RIDGECREST, CALIFORNIA: Because we've had over 87 aftershocks of this. We don't know what's going to happen, and with that, the state of emergency allows us to seek significant help from other governmental entities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Now we have had some time to visit a few stores in the area where we are seeing things have been knocked off the shelves. Those are the damages we are seeing at stores. We're hearing a local Walmart in here pretty hard hit but again, no serious injuries.

The other story line we are following is the local hospital here has been evacuated mostly as a precaution, but they have also seen some damages. Mike?

EMANUEL: Jeff Paul live in Ridgecrest California where the community is bracing for more aftershocks. Jeff, thanks a lot.

President Trump's Fourth of July event to honor the military just concluding at the Lincoln Memorial. It featured some impressive military hardware. Let's get some background on what it takes to pull that off.

Lucas Tomlinson is live at the Pentagon. Hi, Lucas.

LUCAS TOMLINSON, PENTAGON AND STATE DEPARTMENT PRODUCER: Hey, Mike. What we saw is not just one flyover but actually seven flyovers. You had Air Force One kicking things off. You had Air Force jets, F-22 Raptors flanking a B-2 Stealth Bomber. And that B-2 Stealth Bomber, Mike, flew round-trip from its base, Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri.

Just a reminder of the coordination that you need for this kind of event. Not only where those seven flyovers taking place, each one has to be designed to go over the mall at precisely the same time and a lot of coordination on the ground and it's also a reminder to America's adversaries that this is what the U.S. military can do.

In fact, it was just one day before President Trump took office that a pair of B-2 Bombers launched from Missouri and struck an ISIS target in Libya flying around the world, refueling 15 times in midair, flying around the world and back to land.

Just some other notes, there were no sign of the tanks. There's a lot of criticisms about tanks on the mall. As Mollie said, all of the two tanks that were coming up from the third infantry division from Fort Stewart, Georgia. There was no sign of them. We just saw the two Bradley fighting vehicles in front of the podiums. Apparently, the camouflage works very well on the tanks.

Also, it's a reminder that flyovers happen routinely. The B-2 flyover over the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day, there are also flyovers, of course sporting events across America. There were other flyovers taking place on July 4th outside the nation's capital.

B-1 Bombers from Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota flew over six different cities in South Dakota including Deadwood, Deadwood and Custer. Also, F-15 flew over Missouri -- excuse me, Washington State and towns in Oregon. Mike?

EMANUEL: Lucas Tomlinson live at the Pentagon. Lucas, thanks a lot. Let's take another listen to an excerpt from the president's speech before we bring back our panel. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Devotion to our founding ideals let American patriots to abolish the evil of slavery, secure civil rights, and expand the blessings of liberty to all Americans.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: This is the noble purpose that inspired Abraham Lincoln to rededicate our nation to a new birth of freedom and to resolve that we will always have a government of, by, and for the people.

Our quest for greatness unleashed a culture of discovery that led Thomas Edison to imagine his light bulb, Alexander Graham bell to create the telephone, the Wright brothers to look to the sky and see the next great frontier. We are Americans, nothing is impossible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

EMANUEL: And that will certainly be a memorable line. For Americans nothing is impossible. We're back with our panel, Hugo, Mollie, and Josh. Josh, thoughts going forward from this? Will there be some healing, or we back to red meat politics tomorrow morning?

KRAUSHAAR: We'll be back to red meat politics, but I will say that this was a unifying speech by the president. Mollie was talking earlier he invoked the Civil Rights movement, the suffragette movement.

He definitely was seeking inclusiveness in the speech and anyone who appreciates American history will find a lot to like in what he had to say.

EMANUEL: I know somebody who's into the space for us, let's take a listen to the president about going back to the moon and beyond.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We are going to be back on the moon very soon and someday soon we will plant the American flag on Mars.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: It's happening too. It's happening.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

EMANUEL: Mollie, what about that, that forward-looking, America should dream big and continue on seeking beyond the moon?

HEMINGWAY: Right. It was a very optimistic speech and he did talk a lot about looking beyond where we are now. I do think it is true though that we are at a point in time where the very notion of being American is sort of under internal attack.

There are people where really resisting the ideas of the American founding and this is an important time for people to remember what makes us special, what makes us unique, and you might have different expressions of that, but it was almost too optimistic given what we are dealing with in our current situation with some people being very opposed to the founding of the -- the ideas of the American founding.

EMANUEL: Hugo, as someone with a delightful accent who was not born here, what stands out to you?

GURDON: What stood out to me is a lot of British people are getting biffed in this throughout American history. Which is -- but aside from that, which I -- someone objected -- look, what stands out actually to me is the strength of American patriotism.

You know, even setting aside this speech where it was designed to stir those sorts of fires of patriotism. One of the things that foreigners coming to the United States really see is the flags, the sort of pride in the military, but not just in the military, in the founding principles, and that's actually where the politics -- the political debate right now is.

You know, I think that a lot of people, conservatives, believe that the Democratic Party and the left are really heading towards a kind of post- constitutional form of government and that the issue today is not only about this policy or that policy.

When President Trump says make America great again and invokes the American history, he is really drawing the lines between those who want to preserve what America really is and those who want to change it, they think, obviously, for the better.

EMANUEL: Go ahead, Mollie.

HEMINGWAY: Yes, I do want to bring up Calvin Coolidge one more time, there was this wonderful speech he gave on July 4th, 1926, where he talked about the enduring finality of the Declaration of Independence.

That is somewhat political speech given what we are talking about. He was speaking against Wilsonian progressivism, this idea that we've evolved past the Constitution. So even these debates we're having right now have a precedent going back decades that might be cause for some optimism from people who despair over the current debates.

EMANUEL: When we come back, Independence Day around the country.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

EMANUEL: A live look at the White House as we wrap up our special coverage of the SPECIAL REPORT. Josh, final thoughts from what we saw?

KRAUSHAAR: One big political point. The biggest divide in our politics these days is the difference between the politics of grievance and the politics of hopes. Trump was talking about the politics of hope in his speech tonight. He's often been kind of focused on the politics of grievance.

Democrats are divided. There are candidates that are talking about hope and there are candidates that are focused on grievance. If Trump can channel this type of speech through his reelection campaign it'll be a very, very powerful tool for him to win reelection.

EMANUEL: Mollie, final thoughts.

HEMINGWAY: My final thought, today is when we remember the Declaration of Independence. Our late great colleague Charlie Krauthammer, every year had a party on this day, and he would have the people gather at the party, go ahead and read the declaration in round and it's a great tradition that I would encourage all of our listeners to follow.

EMANUEL: Hugo?

BURTON: Ye, it was unifying in turn but I don't think it won't work in that respect.

EMANUEL: Panel, thank you. Finally, tonight, a look at some Independence Day celebrations around America. In New Jersey, an American flag shape hot air balloon went up in the air in honor of female veterans. The balloon named American One is five stories tall and weighs 530 pounds.

Thousands in California showed up this morning to celebrate Huntington Beach 115th annual Fourth of July parade, this year's team theme was "Sweet Land of Liberty." The Huntington Beach celebration is considered the largest Fourth of July parade west of the Mississippi.

And right here in D.C., Vice President Mike Pence welcome new citizens to the United States. This morning has a guest speaker at the naturalization ceremony. The event welcomed 50 new citizens who immigrated from 29 different countries.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT: As of today, the men and women gathered before me today who just raise their right hand have now joined the ranks of the freest and most prosperous nation in the history of the world.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

EMANUEL: Thank you for watching. A very special “Special Report” on this Independence Day. I'm Mike Emanuel in Washington. I will see you at 11 p.m. Eastern for Fox News at Night. Next up, a special edition of "Tucker Carlson Tonight."

Content and Programming Copyright 2019 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2019 ASC Services II Media, LLC. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of ASC Services II Media, LLC. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.