Celebrations for the United States’ 250th anniversary have featured a series of events centered on President Donald Trump, beginning with a campaign-style rally on the National Mall on June 24. The rally included military flyovers by fighter jets and stealth bombers, performances by military bands, and a speech by Trump, marking the opening of the Great American State Fair.
In the weeks since, banners bearing Trump’s image alongside George Washington have been draped on federal buildings across Washington, as MSI previously reported. The displays have coincided with a broader expansion of Trump’s name and likeness onto government property, including at the Interior Department, the Justice Department, and the U.S. Institute of Peace.
The celebrations have been organized by two competing groups: the congressionally chartered America250 commission and the Trump-aligned Freedom250, which organized the National Mall rally and the Great American State Fair. Several musicians canceled planned performances at White House-affiliated events, expressing concerns that the anniversary had become politicized. Trump subsequently transformed the scheduled concert into a campaign-style event.
The Guardian’s Washington bureau chief David Smith said in a video analysis published June 30 that Trump had turned what should have been a unifying celebration into a personal event. “Somehow Donald Trump has managed to make it all about himself,” Smith said, describing the anniversary as a “theatre of the absurd.”
In a separate interactive report published June 29, The Guardian said Trump was “laying siege to freedoms and truth itself” and “twisting America’s milestone birthday into a joyless occasion.”
Smith’s commentary came as the nation approaches the July 4 anniversary, with dueling events scheduled by the two organizing groups.