America’s 250th birthday celebrations are collapsing because of the president’s sordid display of narcissism.
Donald Trump displays a depiction of the “UFC Freedom 250” event planned in the Oval Office on May 6, 2026.
(Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images) Ideally, the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States would be an occasion for thoughtful patriotism blending gratitude and reflection. The quarter-millennium since the signing of the Declaration of Independence has been marked by enormous achievements – including the abolition of slavery and the expansion of democracy – but also by horrific wars and domestic conflicts. Accepting all the complexity of the United States, its successes and its failures, would constitute a tremendous opportunity to enrich civic life.
Unfortunately, our world is far from ideal. Donald Trump, a ridiculous caricature of the worst aspects of American culture, is president. He is not inclined to introspective patriotism. In fact, any form of sincere patriotism is foreign to him, because that would imply recognizing a reality greater and more important than himself.
It’s no surprise that Trump is quickly turning this year’s 250th anniversary events — particularly a series of July 4 celebrations planned on the National Mall — into a new tribute to his own greatness. The story of Trump’s hijacking of this holiday (awkwardly dubbed the United States’ semi-quincentennial) is instructive.
A big Christmas party requires serious preparation. In 2016, when Barack Obama was president, Congress established a bipartisan organization called America250. Since then, America250 has set the stage for a series of parades and block parties across the country. The plans are very much in line with previous national anniversaries such as the 1976 bicentenary celebrations.
But a bipartisan group celebrating a widely shared form of patriotism didn’t fit with Trump’s rabid partisanship and desire to be at the center of every story. The president issued an executive order to create a rival organization that he could control, called Freedom 250. Circumventing congressional control is a typical Trump tactic, as is relying on private donations to fund public events. Much like its inauguration celebration, Freedom 250 is financed by a shadowy private/public financing system rife with conflicts of interest. Like the good-government group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington Remarks“Many companies sponsoring Freedom 250 have government business or significant government contracts, including United Airlines, Palantir, Deloitte and Lockheed Martin.”
One of the marquee events Freedom 250 had planned was the Great American State Fair, which will take place from June 25 to July 10 in Washington. Prominent musicians had been invited to the Fair, which they seem to have mistakenly considered a non-partisan event. Once the Fair’s ties to Trump were made public last week, there was a mass exodus, with almost all planned acts scrapped. As The United States today reports:
The list of music superstars gathered to perform has narrowed considerably over the past two days, with Vanilla Ice and Flo Rida among the remaining acts.
The other artists at the fair renounced their involvement in the event.
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Among those who dropped out were Bret Michaels, Martina McBride, The Commodores and Young MC.
As his great party quickly turned into a fiasco, Trump responded on Saturday with his usual good grace: assignment on Social Truth:
I understand that artists are getting “boos” about their performance on Wednesday, so I’m thinking of bringing the number one attraction all over the world, the man who draws a much larger audience than Elvis in his heyday, and he does it without a guitar, the man who loves our country more than anyone, and the man who some say is the greatest president in history (THE GOAT!), DONALD J. TRUMP, to take the place of these very third rate “artists.” well paid, and give a major speech, rallying the country as I have done since I became president! Two years ago, the United States was DEAD. We now have the “HOTTEST” country in the world. I don’t want so-called “artists” who are paid way too much and aren’t happy. I just want to be surrounded by happy people, smart people, successful people, and people who know how to WIN. So, by copy of this TRUTH, I direct my representatives to examine the feasibility of holding an AMERICA IS BACK rally on Wednesday, in Washington, DC, at the same time and location. Only Great Patriots are invited: it will be a wild and magnificent celebration of America! President DONALD J. TRUMP
This brooding message is at least honest. Trump does not claim to be the president of all the people, a leader who offers a patriotic celebration that appeals to the majority. On the contrary, his vision of the nation is as narrow as possible. Trump believes that American greatness lies in himself and those who appreciate him. It’s the same shameless narcissism that has given the world Trump Tower, the Trump Taj Mahal, Trump Airlines and so many other monuments an insatiable thirst for glory.
Any honest critic of the United States would recognize that Trump represents a part of the national culture. It is no coincidence that he was elected president twice and has dominated politics for more than a decade. Trump embodies the dangers of self-aggrandizement that flow from American individualism. It represents the worst case of the Jeffersonian dream of the “pursuit of happiness” turning into nothing but soulless hoarding and boasting.
But if Trump represents only a dismal part of America’s heritage, he is far from the entire country. America also has tens of millions of people, perhaps even a majority, who reject Trump and everything he represents. This other America would do well to disconnect from Trump on July 4. Now more than ever, Independence Day will be a time that demands more than just crazy flags. It will be a day of national introspection.
Damn Lord Jeet Heer is national affairs correspondent for The nation and host of the weekly Nation podcast, Time of the Monsters. He also writes the monthly column “Morbid symptoms.” The author of Art lovers: the adventures of Françoise Mouly in comics with Art Spiegelman (2013) and Sweet Lechery: reviews, essays and profiles (2014), Heer has written for numerous publications, including The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, The American perspective, The guardian, The New RepublicAnd The Boston Globe.
