Red, white and Trump: How America’s 250th is drawing controversy

​President Trump is eagerly celebrating America’s 250th birthday in a big way, taking extraordinary steps to incorporate his brand and likeness into the revelry celebrations and courting controversy along the way.

Trump’s actions, which include hosting a UFC fight on the White House lawn and efforts to put his face on a $250 bill, have raised accusations that he is politicizing events meant to celebrate the nation’s birth.

Just this past week at a White House Cabinet meeting, Trump promoted bright red $55 hats sold by his family company in honor of the America 250 celebrations. And in a span of two days, performers were announced for a two-week-long National Mall event, and many quickly withdrew their participation, claiming they were misled about the political nature of it.  

Presidential historian Craig Shirley argued that other presidents have put their spin on America’s birthday, and now Trump’s taking his own “traditional and unique” approach.

“Trump won the election last November [2024], so he gets to enjoy the spoils and the perks of power,” Shirley said. “That’s just the way the system works.”

Although he joked about Trump’s planned UFC fight: “I doubt the founders thought of that.”

Leonard Steinhorn, professor of communication and affiliate professor of history at American University, contrasted Trump’s actions with those of former President Gerald Ford, who used the country’s 200th birthday celebration as an “opportunity to celebrate America and its heritage and its tradition,” while Trump “has made everything about him.”

“In 1976 it was about us and 2026 it’s about Donald Trump, and I think that’s a fundamental difference, and it may be why you’re going to have a very divided electorate on this celebration,” Steinhorn said.

In 1926, former President Calvin Coolidge traveled to Philadelphia to give a speech and attend the Sesquicentennial Exposition to celebrate America’s 150th. His face appeared on the 1926 Sesquicentennial of American Independence Half Dollar, making him the only living president to ever appear on a U.S. coin.

Ford, for the country’s bicentennial in 1976, went on a more than 500-mile journey on July 4 to........

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