While much of America slept ahead of Independence Day, President Donald Trump was awake — and posting.

Just hours after delivering a high-profile speech at Mount Rushmore, Trump turned to Truth Social in the early morning hours of July 4 with a pair of bizarre, captionless images aimed at two Democrats emerging as major threats to Republicans in the 2026 midterms.

At 2:11 a.m., Trump posted a side-by-side image comparing Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff to Pee-wee Herman, the fictional character famously played by the late comedian Paul Reubens.

Eight minutes later, another image appeared.

This time, Trump targeted Texas Democrat James Talarico, comparing him to MAD Magazine mascot Alfred E. Neuman. The image of Talarico appeared to have been digitally altered to make him look as though he had a missing tooth.

Neither post came with an explanation.

No policy argument. No campaign message. No mention of the July 4 holiday.

Just two images, posted in the middle of the night, taking aim at Democratic candidates who have become increasingly dangerous to the Republican Party.

For Trump’s critics, the posts offered another glimpse into the president’s political instincts: when faced with difficult races, he reaches for ridicule.

But this time, the targets are not random.

Ossoff and Talarico are both at the center of Senate contests that could reshape Washington after the 2026 midterms.

In Georgia, Ossoff is seeking reelection in one of the country’s most closely watched races. Trump-backed Republican Rep. Mike Collins won the GOP runoff in June and will face Ossoff in November. The race is especially important because Democrats are defending one of the few Senate seats they hold in a state Trump carried in 2024.

And Ossoff is entering the fight with a major financial advantage.

Reuters reported that he had raised roughly $60 million for his campaign, compared with about $4.9 million for Collins at the time of the report. That gap has made Ossoff one of the most formidable Democratic incumbents of the cycle — and a major obstacle for Trump’s effort to protect the Republican Senate majority.

Trump has already tried to turn Ossoff into a punchline.

After previously calling the senator “Os(jerk!)off,” Trump’s latest overnight post appeared to continue that strategy. But Ossoff has shown little interest in engaging with the insults.

“I don’t care about nicknames,” he said in a recent response to Trump’s attacks, instead accusing the president of failing Americans on the cost of living.

That response points to the problem Republicans face in Georgia.

The more Trump focuses on mocking Ossoff’s appearance, the more Democrats can try to steer the conversation toward grocery prices, gas costs, health care and the economy.

And then there is Texas.

For decades, Democrats have treated Texas as a dream just out of reach. But Talarico’s Senate campaign against Republican Ken Paxton has transformed the race into one of the most closely watched contests in America.

A New York Times/Siena College poll released in late June found Talarico and Paxton tied at 47 percent — a result that would have been nearly unimaginable in Texas not long ago. The same survey found majorities of voters viewed Talarico favorably on character and moral values, while more respondents expressed doubts about Paxton on those measures.

Trump has repeatedly gone after Talarico, accusing him of being a fraud and using the Alfred E. Neuman comparison before.

But Talarico has tried to turn those attacks into evidence that Republicans have run out of answers.

“People across the spectrum, across the state, are tired of this politics as professional wrestling,” he said during a recent television appearance.

“You got these old guys lathered up in their fake tan, throwing corny nicknames at each other,” he added. “And those corny nicknames, they don’t lower the price of groceries, they don’t lower the price of gas.”

The late-night posts came after Trump delivered a July 3 speech at Mount Rushmore, where he warned supporters about what he called a growing “communist menace” in the United States and cast the coming election as a fight for the country’s future.

But by 2 a.m., the grand patriotic message had been replaced by meme-style attacks on two Democrats whose campaigns are gaining national attention.

The contrast was hard to miss.

At Mount Rushmore, Trump stood beneath the carved faces of presidents and spoke about America’s future.

Hours later, he was posting altered images of political opponents.

Supporters may see the posts as classic Trump: irreverent, aggressive and unwilling to follow the rules of traditional politics.

Critics see something else: a president who appears increasingly consumed by opponents, polls and the possibility that the 2026 midterms could weaken his grip on Washington.

Either way, the message was clear.

On a holiday meant to celebrate the country, Trump was thinking about two Democrats — and neither of them was asleep.