General U.S. NewsJul 4, 2026·2 min read

A politically charged holiday: The US celebrates its 250th anniversary

Al Jazeera – News

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A politically charged holiday: The US celebrates its 250th anniversary

Summary

In many ways, Saturday was a typical July 4 holiday in the United States. The country marked the anniversary of its Declaration of Independence with hotdog-eating contests, parades, fireworks and baseball games. But this Independence Day was different, not least because it marked the country’s semiquincentennial: the 250th year since the US’s founding. It also was one of the most politically charged Independence Day celebrations in recent memory. President Donald Trump is expected to speak this evening from the National Mall in Washington, DC, right before what has been billed as the “world’s largest fireworks display”. More than 850,000 fireworks are expected to launch from barges in the Potomac River, lighting up the sky above the capital. But while Independence Day festivities have long been billed as non-partisan events, Trump has pledged to make the night’s celebration “the most spectacular TRUMP RALLY of them all”. The event comes as Trump’s Republican Party seeks to defend its control of Congress in November’s midterm elections, with a heated primary season already under way. On January 29, 2025 — just nine days into his second term as president — Trump issued an executive order establishing a White House task force to oversee celebrations for the 250th anniversary. It also alleges that Freedom 250 has been “operating outside the transparency and accountability requirements” Congress imposes on such celebrations — and that it may even have committed wire fraud by redirecting “unsuspecting donors” away from America250 and towards its own programmes. “Under President Donald Trump, this anniversary has been hijacked and perverted into a hotbed of corruption and self-enrichment,” the report reads.

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The semiquincentennial has been meet with controversy, as President Trump seeks to exert influence over the celebration.

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US celebrates 250th birthday as heatwave and political tensions loom

WASHINGTON (AP) — The 250th anniversary of American independence is colliding with a country gripped by political polarization and a heat wave bearing down on millions of people across multiple states as celebrations got underway Saturday throughout the United States. The signing of the Declaration of Independence, one of history's most celebrated articulations of democratic ambitions, is being marked in myriad ways. President Donald Trump plans to speak on the National Mall before what is being billed as a historically enormous fireworks show that will rain down over the nation's capital. He was in South Dakota at Mount Rushmore on Friday, where he delivered a dark speech about the threat of communism in the U.S. The 250th anniversary of American independence is marked by various celebrations, including fireworks shows, parades, and events reflecting on the nation's history, despite challenges due to extreme heat and political tensions. Many Independence Day celebrations are facing cancellations due to an extreme heat wave affecting large portions of the U.S., with temperatures exceeding 100 degrees in many areas. The extreme heat poses significant health risks, including heat-related illnesses, exhaustion, and potentially fatal conditions, prompting officials to cancel or modify outdoor events. In Philadelphia, fireworks began to crack as early as midday in the birthplace of the nation near the site where the Declaration of Independence was adopted by delegates to the Second Continental Congress. The celebrations are unfolding against the backdrop of a deep divide this election year that has been expanding for years, visible in everything from political expression to cultural norms to age-old questions over race, class and immigration. "They will tell you that America is just another country, where the weak struggle against the strong,” Vance said speaking aboard the USS Kearsarge in New York Harbor. (Associated Press writers Luis Andres Henao in Philadelphia, Kristie Rieken in Houston, Sarah Rankin in Richmond, Va., Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, S.C., Safiyah Riddle in Los Angeles and Jesse Bedayn, Will Weissert and Michael Kunzelman contributed to this report.) Stay updated with the latest Trending , India , World and US news.

In Mount Rushmore speech, Trump veers from U.S. exceptionalism to warnings about communism

President Trump gestures after speaking at Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Friday, July 3, 2026, near Keystone, S.D. Alex Brandon/AP hide caption WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump ushered in the 250th anniversary of American independence on Friday with soaring rhetoric about American exceptionalism before veering into a darkly political speech with warnings about a sinister threat of communism that evoked one of the country's ugliest chapters. "Communism is a mortal threat to American liberty," he said from Mount Rushmore. "It is the greatest threat to our country, including World War I, World War II, Pearl Harbor or even 9/11." While the language was similar to several other speeches Trump has given in recent days, it was notable for being delivered in a national park that commemorates some of America's most prominent presidents. And it swerved from the typically apolitical, unifying speeches past presidents like Gerald Ford or Ronald Reagan have delivered during earlier high-profile Independence Day celebrations. Indeed, Trump's language evoked the Red Scare of the 1950s, when alleged communists were persecuted and blacklisted from jobs across America, from Washington to Hollywood. In New York City, Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, delivered his own address that cast America as a nation of contradictions "working each day towards the perfection in which it was conceived." The president's speech capped an Independence Day eve that was otherwise most notable for a brutal heat wave the gripped much of the eastern portion of the country. Officials have warned those celebrating the holiday to stay hydrated and take air-conditioned breaks as needed. Philadelphia canceled its Salute to Independence parade Friday. "Those ideals upon which our nation was built — they are strong enough to endure any authoritarian regime, but only if we reach for them." Freedom 250, an organization aligned with the White House, has come to rival America250, a bipartisan group founded by Congress a decade ago.

A politically charged holiday: The US celebrates its 250th anniversary

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