President Donald Trump used a moment 250 years in the making to give a history lesson tinged with brags about his achievements and pushes for his personal agenda.
While celebrating America’s anniversary in a grand July 4th celebration on the National Mall that was delayed due to inclement weather, Trump spent 45 minutes presenting various historic flags and introducing figures from key moments in history, including military veterans, the Artemis II crew and descendants of Francis Scott Key, who wrote America’s national anthem.
But he also echoed warnings about communism he gave during a dark speech the day prior while speaking at Mount Rushmore, and bragged about recent operations in Venezuela and Iran, claiming “we wiped it out.” He also pushed for Congress to pass the SAVE America Act and joked about serving a third term in office while politicizing the military.
In mid-June, Trump announced the event on the National Mall would be the “most spectacular TRUMP RALLY of them all.” Earlier this week he quipped he was “going to make a really long speech … just to show that I can do anything,” noting forecasts predicting the temperature at 107 degrees.
The speech itself was relatively mellow, with Trump largely sticking to the script and refraining from his usual personal attacks. And the prior events of the day were rocked by high temperatures and lightning.
Instead of celebrating democracy, patriotism and community — markers of the bicentennial celebration that occurred in 1976 — with a parade and a multicultural festival planned by the Smithsonian, attendees instead got to visit sparsely decorated state-themed booths while nearby, hundreds of White Nationalists paraded through the streets of the nation’s capital shouting “Reclaim America!”
In the lead-up to the Fourth of July, Trump worked tirelessly to center himself during the nation’s milestone anniversary.
The Trump administration previously hijacked years worth of plans with the creation of Freedom 250, a group to organize — and fund — anniversary festivities. America250, a separate, bipartisan group that was meant to lead the planning, was established a decade ago by Congress.
Confusion about the role of each group has sparked criticism, as has Freedom 250’s lack of transparency around its fundraising and spending. It also prompted almost every artist slated to perform at the Great American State Fair event on the National Mall, hosted by Freedom 250, to back out, citing the politics behind the event. Instead of Martina McBride, Morris Day and The Time, Young MC and The Commodores, the few attendees of the State Fair event were met with a performance by Trump favorite Lee Greenwood and country singer Alexis Wilkins, who happens to be FBI Director Kash Patel’s girlfriend.
He hosted an Ultimate Fighting Championship event at the White House on June 14 — his 80th birthday — that included a massive structure that damaged the South Lawn, and featured bouts so brutal, the White House press pool described one participant’s face as having been “beaten to such a bloody pulp that he was declared incapable of continuing.” One fighter used the very public platform to hurl a transphobic insult about former first lady Michelle Obama on the live broadcast.
Under the guise of beautification ahead of the nation’s anniversary, Trump has upended Washington with a number of renovations — the costs of which have rapidly ballooned, and the funding for which has raised questions about how Trump chose vendors for each project.
He ordered the painting of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool “American Flag Blue,” which resulted in a severe algae bloom that turned the water green as the newly added material peeled away from the pool’s floor. He demolished the East Wing of the White House to make way for a ballroom, the cost of which will be immensely higher than he initially claimed. And banners with Trump’s face have been draped down the sides of several federal buildings.
And his takeover is not finished.
Days ahead of his July 4th rally, Trump toured a golf course on public land in the District that he hopes to renovate, and continued to push for a “Triumphal Arch” that’s being challenged in court. A replica of the planned arch that was a big fixture on the National Mall during America’s 250th anniversary celebrations has slowly deteriorated.
