The United States' semiquincentennial is up next year, and convicted felon #47, Donald Trump, wants to make it a celebration of him.
As the Trump Administration has been whitewashing government websites, museums, and monuments of history that MAGAs do not like, Donald Trump is gearing up to host a truly revisionist 250th birthday of the country. We already know he wants military parades, in his honor, but it will be interesting to see how he re-writes 250 years into a story about him.
"He is not now and never has been a student of history, but is basically a restorationist," said Jonathan Alter, a historian and biographer of several US presidents, including Jimmy Carter, Barack Obama and Franklin Roosevelt. Alter described a "restorationist" as a "political figure who operates on the politics of nostalgia".
"He's ignorant of economic history, he's ignorant of political history. And his idea for the 250 is to use it as a way to celebrate him," Alter added. "We don't know yet exactly how he'll hijack that event next year, but he will certainly try to do so."
As a first step, Trump's order established himself chair of a White House taskforce 250 and vowed a "grand celebration" to mark the country's 250th birthday on 4 July 2026 and "other actions to honor the history of our great nation".
The Guardian
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Previously:
• Preserving human history in a National Park
• Why natural history museum collections rock!
