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Mainstream media and media pundits accused President Donald Trump of ruining America 250 and July 4 celebrations over the last week, even prior to nationwide celebrations.
A direct example came on Friday when The New York Times opinion writer Robin Givhan wrote her op-ed titled “Trump Ruined the Fourth of July for Me.”
“But this year, I can barely tolerate the sight of red, white and blue,” Givhan wrote. “When combined into a maximalist display of nationalist cheerleading, the colors make my heart ache. The flags on federal buildings are grand, but they hang alongside banners featuring President Trump’s scowling face.”
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President Donald Trump speaks during Salute to America, an Independence Day event honoring the nation’s 250th anniversary, Saturday, July 4, 2026, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
The negative sentiment against Trump was also present in an article from The Atlantic on Wednesday. Staff writer Anne Applebaum described how Trump “inevitably” had “destroyed the nation’s 250th-anniversary celebrations” based on his partisan stance.
“This year is different, because the White House is inhabited by people who don’t believe in the ‘abstractions’ that we usually celebrate on the Fourth of July,” Applebaum wrote. “And this affects the rest of us, whether we want it to or not. Congress’s celebration, planned for a decade, has been usurped by the president’s celebration, funded by private donors and featuring a political speech by himself. Other institutions in and around Washington postponed or reduced their 250th celebrations, so as not to get in the way of the president. Many people who might have participated will not attend, pay attention, or care.”
Though less critical, The Washington Post reporters Natalie Allison and Cleve R. Wootson Jr. made similar comments in their piece on Saturday, claiming that Trump had made himself “central” to the America 250 celebration.
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A New York Times op-ed lamented that President Donald Trump “ruined” the Fourth of July for her. (iStock)
“As he has throughout the anniversary celebration, Trump cast himself as central to the story he wants the country to tell about itself: that America was diminished before him, revived by him and is now celebrating its founding through his restoration — a promised ‘Golden Age.’ At Mount Rushmore on Friday night, he told the crowd that he ‘saved, almost single-handedly,’ the Second Amendment and that he was going to ‘give our country its identity back,'” they wrote.
Former NBC host Chuck Todd was more livid at Trump’s role in the America 250 celebrations during his show on Saturday. Todd went as far as to claim that Trump not only ruined July 4 celebrations but the image of America itself.
“Trump’s doing all of us a favor by selfishly trying to steal this anniversary from us. We now see who he really is. So no, it’s not the celebration we deserve. It’s not the one we could have had. But we get a mirror, and the mirror is telling us something. The country is a lot bigger than Donald Trump. It is bigger than any president, and it’s obviously bigger than any political party. And there’s no one definition of patriotism,” Todd said.
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Multiple media outlets published criticisms of President Donald Trump’s July 4 celebrations before they took place. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
He continued, “But it still needs leaders who understand that it still needs citizens who insist on it. And it still needs people willing to say that the national story belongs to all of us, not just whoever happens to hold power at any one moment. America at 250 may be a lost opportunity. Donald Trump has absolutely sullied the brand of America. But America 275 does not have to be.”
Todd also said he felt angry and “betrayed as an American,” and that Trump “cheapened” the country.
“This is why I’m so p—– off. Not because I love the country less, but because I love the idea of America enough to resent seeing it cheapened by this man. America deserved better at 250. Some day, I believe it will get better. But it’s in your hands,” Todd said.
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Digital reached out to the White House for comment.
Trump celebrated America’s 250th birthday with a 28-minute speech at Mount Rushmore followed by a 23-minute fireworks display.
“The American dream still lives, and the American flag still flies more proudly than ever before over the people who will not quit,” Trump said. “The nation that will not fail, the country that will not fall no matter how hard the enemy tries, we cannot be beaten.”
