How Trump Ruined The United States’ 250th Birthday
Tomorrow is the United States’ 250th birthday. But unlike the bicentennial and the 150th birthday under Calvin Coolidge, citizens do not get to enjoy a massive fair, nor is the celebration anywhere near what it was for years past. So, what happened?
One word, Trump. Donald Trump misappropriated funds raised by a nonprofit for celebrating 250 years of the United States. Now, citizens don’t get to enjoy a massive celebration anywhere near what it was in years past. Read on to learn more about how Donald Trump ruined America’s 250th birthday.
What Was the Bicentennial Like?
The United States celebrated its bicentennial in 1976 under Gerald Ford, and it was practically a year-long celebration. Between massive fairs, parades, and an overall more patriotic spirit, individuals everywhere enjoyed being citizens of the United States for 200 years.
The celebration was mostly free to United States citizens and visitors thanks to the Smithsonian Institution, which, just as they did for the 250th, spent years raising non-profit funds to put on the celebration. They opened new museums, funded a 12-week exhibition of American folklore, and even flew in Queen Elizabeth II for a visit.
Now you’re probably reading this confused because you haven’t heard anything about the 250th celebration, which is happening tomorrow. You haven’t received notice of any fairs or foreign dignitaries coming to visit. But that’s odd, because the Smithsonian raised over 2.5 billion dollars for the United States’ 250th birthday…so where did all that money go?
How Trump Ruined America’s 250th
No matter what your political affiliation, Trump ruined America’s 250th celebration over one petty factor—his ego. We aren’t kidding. When Trump took office in 2025, the money for the 250th celebration was already mostly raised. So where did it go, and why is there no massive fair for Americans? And where is our crypto-backed Federal Reserve?
Well, first and foremost, Trump did not want to have a celebration at all, unless his name was on it. Yes, Trump’s ego is what started the ball rolling for the practical cancellation of America’s 250th. Like an idiot, he fails to see how this celebration belongs to all of the US and not to him.
To make matters worse, there were a number of individuals assigned to working the celebration—arranging vendors, rides, and more—and Trump fired most of them during his rounds of mass firing in 2025. It’s a little bit hard to plan any event without staff. Not only that, but he traveled to Iowa, the state where the massive fair was to take place, and basically announced it would no longer be happening there—instead, he was going to move the celebration to DC.
What staff did remain tried their best to hire artists for what was supposed to be a free concert for Americans. As you know, many of those artists canceled due to Trump and the fact that they did not want to perform for someone who was so against their views. This comes as many of the performers had immigrant parents, one of the major targets for Trump’s hateful policies.
What’s worse is that Trump has turned sentiment against this event based on lies (as most of the words out of his mouth are). He has said he would “scale down” and “cancel” aspects of the event because they “light taxpayer money on fire,” but the reality is, much of this money has been donated over the past 50 years—most of it isn’t even coming out of American pockets. Rather, it has been saved and set aside simply for this purpose. And even if that money isn’t used, it doesn’t mean it goes back to Americans—no, it just goes back to the donors and, of course, to Trump’s own whims.
So how did Trump do it? Well, he took a nonpartisan entity that was supposed to oversee the celebration, replaced it with a partisan one (yes, you guessed it, a Republican one), and funneled all the money set aside for this event into his newly created partisan entity.
As for the crypto-backed Federal Reserve, Trump promised…we have a feeling that will never come to fruition.
How Trump is Paying for his UFC Fight
If you haven’t guessed it by now, the money that was set aside for the massive fair has been taken by Trump and used for his whims under the guise of “it’s for everyone for America’s 250th.” All we have to say is: did you want a UFC fight on the White House lawn?
To be fair, Trump did put some of the money toward an exhibit in Washington DC which is supposed to feature a second on history for each of the 50 states. However, if you haven’t seen pictures yet, most of the states didn’t show up to decorate their sections because of the last-minute change of plans or because they don’t want to do anything that would shine a positive light on Trump’s presidency. Regardless, citizens can visit a half-empty building on US history in DC this week, just be prepared to be disappointed.
Not only that, but Trump is trying to funnel some of the money into his arch project, as well as petition to have his face added to a newly printed $250 bill (see here why increasing bill denominations is a bad sign for a country), neither of which is actually something the US citizens want. But don’t worry. Donald Trump did order a Ferris wheel that individuals can pay to ride.
Overall, everyone knows that the United States 250th is a failure. It wasn’t designed for the people, by the people, as in years past. Whenever a congressman or woman is interviewed about it, they all express hope for the tricentennial in 2076. But, in our opinion, with the way politics in the United States is going, there won’t be a tricentennial if billionaires keep bleeding the middle and lower classes dry. But, of course, we don’t have a crystal ball, so if you want to stay positive, please do. Just know that the reason you don’t have an amazing party for America’s 250th is because of the egotistical president.
