Will Democrats Ruin America’s 250th Birthday Bash?

I was around for the Bicentennial celebration in 1976. I have a pretty clear memory of attending the 4th of July celebration in Washington, DC that year. It was the most people I’d ever seen. I think the report at the time was that there were a million people there. Since I was still a kid at the time, the politics of the bicentennial mostly went over my head. I just remember a lot of red, white and blue everywhere and a general sense it was a big deal.

Things will be different next year when America celebrates its 250th birthday, aka the semiquincentennial. Today the NY Times has a story up titled “Will Politics Derail America’s 250th Birthday Bash?” which does its best to gently introduce the idea that Democrats are probably going to try like hell to ruin this.

This Thursday, on the eve of July 4, President Trump will touch down at the Iowa State Fairgrounds. The fair itself, with its butter cows and pie-eating contests, doesn’t start until August. But the president will be promoting an even bigger all-American spectacle: the nation’s 250th birthday party…

For many 250th planners across the country, it will throw a welcome spotlight, after years of struggling to get the public’s attention. But Mr. Trump’s embrace of the anniversary has also intensified a growing question: Will today’s hyper-polarized politics derail the Semiquincentennial?…

…worries spiked during last month’s military parade commemorating the 250th anniversary of the founding of the Army, held on Mr. Trump’s birthday, which spurred anti-Trump “No Kings” protests across the country that were rich in their own 1776-inflected symbolism.

Yes, the NY Times is comparing left wing protests to the Revolutionary War-era rebellion against King George III. Of course Trump isn’t a king, he’s the elected President of the United States which seems relevant. The article goes on to remind us that liberals have always been semi-socialist idiots.

In 1973, a bipartisan commission tasked with overseeing the anniversary was disbanded, amid charges that the Nixon administration was using it to further the president’s re-election. And there were left-wing rival efforts like the People’s Bicentennial Commission, an anti-corporate effort that staged guerrilla events, disrupting the official commemoration of the Boston Tea Party and, at one point, hanging an effigy of Ronald McDonald from a Liberty Tree.

So what is the Trump administration planning?

For its Semiquincentennial history, the Trump administration has tapped conservative institutions like Hillsdale College, which is producing a history video series for the White House’s website, and the media platform PragerU, which collaborated with the Department of Education on “The Founders Museum,” a new digital exhibit unveiled last week at an event featuring Usha Vance, the second lady.

Were you looking forward to a Smithsonian exhibit titled ““Many Americas, Many 1776s”? Sadly that seems to be gone, replaced by something called “Our Shared Future: 250.” Is that bad news? Is e pluribus unum a bad message now? Maybe it is among Democrats. Gallup put this out three days ago.

In January 2001, when Gallup first asked Americans how proud they were, 87% said they were extremely or very proud. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the figure increased to 90%, and it held at that level or higher between 2002 and 2004.

The percentage who were extremely or very proud dropped to 83% in 2005, but it did not vary significantly from that mark for the next 11 years. In 2017, a new low of 75% said they were proud, and national pride has deteriorated further since then.

Democrats are mostly responsible for the drop in U.S. pride this year, with 36% saying they are extremely or very proud, down from 62% a year ago…

Republicans’ level of national pride has been much steadier, typically registering above 90%, including 92% this year, up from 85% in 2024.

One party is still proud and invested in this country and the other party is clearly not. Yes, that’s a reaction to Trump but, again, Trump won a fair election. He’s president because he won the electoral college (and the popular vote). Evidence out this week shows that if every potential voter had voted in the 2024 election, Trump’s margin would have been even larger than it was. If your love of country can be doused by the results of a free and fair election, maybe you’re really not that into free and fair elections or, you know, America?

In any case, that divide explains why the NY Times is framing calls for patriotic celebrations connected to America’s 250th anniversary as kitchy:

The brochure urges governors to turn their state fairs this summer into “patriotic epicenters for America250.” Suggestions include patriotic drone light shows, concessions selling “freedom fries” and “liberty corn dogs,” and a Founding Fathers exhibit based on PragerU’s material.

The “most patriotic” fair will be honored by Mr. Trump at America250’s July 4 festivities next summer in Washington. Also on tap, according to a recent America250 email to state planners: the unfurling on the Mall or the Ellipse of “the largest U.S. flag in history,” carried by 500 flag bearers including astronauts, Olympians and Medal of Honor recipients.

If all of that sounds cringey and awful to you, you’re probably a Democrat. The semiquincentennial is the perfect moment for a bit of mom and apple pie and waving the flag and pride for the country. The people who find all of that intolerable and who would love to see this become another divisive anti-Trump rally are almost all members of one political party. The NY Times knows that and if the person who wrote the headline was more honest it would read “Will Democrats Ruin America’s 250th Birthday Bash?” The answer to that question is that they will certainly try their best to do so.