The Trump administration is ordering National Park Service employees to wear pins promoting Freedom 250, a semi-private group that the president has used to turn celebrations of the country’s 250th anniversary into what critics call a partisan party for himself. Several NPS employees told me that they were even threatened with professional reprimands if they refused to don the lapel pins at events celebrating the Declaration of Independence.

These orders were issued verbally by local supervisors at various Park Service offices in the last few weeks, according to emails reviewed by Mother Jones and accounts from NPS employees who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

“When I asked if I would receive any disciplinary action if I chose not to wear the pin, I was told, ‘Yes,'” one person said. “I chose not to continue the conversation after that.”

These mandates for Freedom 250 flair may seem reminiscent of the 1999 satire Office Space. But in the case of the Park Service, they are very real orders that come as part of Trump’s push for an anniversary celebration that appears to have a vanishing connection to the actual ideas behind the American Revolution.

Trump’s semiquincentennial events have included a massive military parade on his 79th birthday, followed by a crypto-sponsored UFC fight on the White House lawn for his 80th. The next day, Trump announced that the July 4 celebration on the National Mall, the marquee event of the 250th anniversary, would feature a “TRUMP RALLY.”

The July 4 bash is being organized by Freedom 250. Trump advisers created that group late last year to seize control of anniversary planning, after becoming frustrated with America250, a separate organization created by Congress a decade ago to plan anniversary commemorations. America250 is legally required to hold bipartisan events and report to a congressionally appointed commission, which includes Democrats. While America250 was pliant enough to organize Trump’s military parade, the organization raised objections when Trump........

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