After a storm-related delay, US ​President Donald Trump took the stage on the National Mall on Saturday to deliver a campaign-style speech to mark the country’s ‌250th anniversary.

Trump said he would have been willing to wait longer if necessary.

“There’s no way we can be deterred,” he said, shortly after taking the stage at 11.15pm ET (0315 GMT on Sunday).

Authorities allowed the crowd to return to an open field near the Washington Monument, after ordering a weather-related evacuation ​that forced spectators to shelter in nearby museums and government buildings for a few hours.

Visitors had waited hours to get into the ​event, contending with stepped-up security and temperatures that reached 39 degrees Celsius.

Speaking for around 40 minutes before a cheering crowd on the National Mall in Washington after a weather-related delay, Trump declared that “the American dream is back” and said the US had entered what he described as a new era of prosperity and strength.

In a speech that blended patriotic themes with political messaging, Trump praised his administration’s record and said recruitment to the military and law enforcement agencies had surged to the point that obtaining positions in those fields had become increasingly difficult.

The president also promoted key elements of his domestic agenda, including proposed voting reforms under the Save America Act, efforts to end birthright citizenship through executive action, and measures aimed at protecting Second Amendment rights.

Trump touched on US foreign policy and military operations, referring to actions involving Venezuela, including the detention of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, and recent strikes targeting the Iranian navy.

The address also featured tributes to US military veterans.

Trump honoured a group of veterans standing before what he described as one of the nation’s oldest surviving flags — a Revolutionary War-era banner dating to 1777 that he said had once draped the casket of George Washington.

Concluding his remarks, Trump projected an optimistic vision of the country’s future, declaring that the celebrations marked “only the dawn of the golden age of America” and asserting that the nation’s destiny was “written by God.”

He also joked about the storms that had briefly disrupted the festivities, thanking attendees for enduring the delay before ending his speech with the words: “God bless America.”