Donald Trump often jokes that 250 years of American independence is the one thing he probably can’t take credit for (usually said when he is taking full credit for both the current World Cup and 2028 LA Olympics). But that hasn’t stopped the President from making the 250th celebrations all about him.
This is a man who has made sure that huge images of himself hang on the front of Government buildings, and who added his name to Washington DC’s iconic Kennedy Center (until he was forced by lawyers to take it down).
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For these celebrations, he decided to bypass a bipartisan group, America 250 – set up by Congress 10 years ago to run events – and instead put in place the White House-backed Freedom 250.
The President’s attempt to place his face on a special $250 bill has fallen short, but he’s right there on limited edition passports and has commissioned a 250 foot “triumphal” arch to be built in the capital. A model of it went on show at the Great American State Fair in DC.
Asked by a reporter who the enormous new structure would be dedicated to, he replied “me” and some have nicknamed it the “Arc de Trump”.
It is quite a contrast to the 200th anniversary in 1976, when the British Queen visited, and the then Republican President – Gerald Ford – took a very different tack, portraying the celebration as a non-partisan moment for the country to come together.
Don’t expect Trump to reach out across the aisle when he speaks on the National Mall on Saturday night – promising to speak for a long time in the searing heat (crossing 40 degrees) just to show people that he can. Instead, he’ll likely hit out at opponents and certainly the mainstream media (who he is already predicting will describe the crowds as small if just two seats are left empty).
It is a critique that will undoubtedly go down well with his dedicated supporters, some of whom I met in Savannah, Georgia, recently when watching a focus group by pollster Public First, and others I spoke to this week at the Great American State Fair, underway in DC. Their love is unending for this President.
But with more independents and moderate Republicans turning away from him, has Trump missed a trick? With the excitement of the World Cup clashing with the July 4 celebration, it could have been a huge feel-good moment for the nation, for a politician to seize hold of and amplify – as Ford tried to in 1976.
Had Trump used this moment to be the great unifier, it would have earned him a fair amount of political capital. But I don’t expect to see much of that this celebratory weekend.