2026-07-03T10:00:28.305Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/03/politics/america-250-july-4-national-mall-trump-analysis
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美国正在庆祝建国250周年：7月4日是《独立宣言》签署250周年纪念日，该文件是西方民主的 foundational 文本。
唐纳德·特朗普比此后数百年来任何一位总统都更具颠覆性，他挑战着这份最初旨在控诉英国国王的文件所蕴含的部分核心理念。
因此，这场本应是所有政治立场美国人共同参与的独立日庆祝活动，被他宣传为“史上最壮观的特朗普集会，一场‘致敬美国’的活动”，这似乎并不出人意料。
由于绝大多数流行音乐表演者都退出了这场演出，这场集会将由总统指挥的军乐队以及他个人的歌单作为主打。
为呼应“我们认为下述真理是不言而喻的”，我们很可能会听到特朗普的最爱——村民乐队的《YMCA》。
即便近半数选民并未支持他的竞选对手，特朗普当前处于30%出头的支持率也表明，即使是那些曾投票支持他的选民中，也有一部分人更愿意聚焦于国家及其理想，而非现任总统及其相关争议。
美国人曾携手宣布独立，但在其他诸多问题上存在分歧。即便在本周，最高法院大法官们也在《独立宣言》的相关措辞上产生了分歧，他们就是美国宪法是否保护所有在美国出生的人拥有美国公民身份一事产生了分裂。（根据多数意见，答案是肯定的。）
特朗普在社交媒体上发文称，这场烟花秀将是“史上规模最大的烟花表演”。支持特朗普的“自由250”组织接管了国家广场的庆祝活动，该组织试图打破吉尼斯世界纪录，但并未透露这场活动的总花费。
“伟大美国州博览会”是“自由250”在国家广场举办的为期一个月的活动，目前存在以下问题：观众寥寥无几、后勤保障问题频发、至少出现了一面令人不适的邦联旗帜，以及并非所有50个州都参与了此次活动。
1976年美国建国200周年时也曾举办过一场超大规模的烟花庆祝活动，当时有报道称有100万人聚集在国家广场及其周边地区。据白宫历史协会记载，当时遗弃的车辆引发了一场持续至次日的严重交通拥堵。但当时的总统杰拉尔德·福特并未举办集会，而是在东北走廊沿线紧凑安排了多场活动。据《纽约时报》报道，其中一场活动是在费城独立厅外发表演讲，当时有100万人聚集于此。
很难想象在如今的环境下，会有100万人聚集观看这场烟花秀或特朗普的演讲，但别忘了1976年的美国正从水门事件和越南战争的阴霾中复苏。
CNN记者派珀·哈德斯皮思·布莱克本上周撰文指出，特朗普接管华盛顿的庆祝活动已经让美国的生日派对出现了分裂。十年前，国会创立并资助了两党组织“美国250”，负责在全国范围内规划和执行庆祝活动。这些活动仍在按计划进行，但特朗普想要另一种风格的庆祝。在人事争端之后，白宫成立了“自由250”——一个独立的公私合营实体，以更符合特朗普意愿的方式开展活动，且活动期间国民警卫队仍部署在华盛顿街头。
“自由250”的每场庆祝活动都引发了争议：例如，在特朗普生日当天在白宫草坪举办UFC格斗之夜，就是一种类似角斗士比赛的方式来纪念民主治理。“自由250”的另一项活动是将于8月在华盛顿街头举办的印地赛车比赛。
特朗普试图重塑华盛顿特区活动的形象，这让我们有机会将目光投向美国其他地区。十年前由国会创立的“美国250”组织旗下有多个委员会，负责在全国各地规划活动，其中包括他们称之为“美国街区派对”的活动。
弗吉尼亚州和其他州一样，也在举办自己的纪念活动。今年，特朗普和共和党去年削减了拨款的公共广播公司PBS，将不会像过去几十年那样转播国家广场的烟花秀。取而代之的是，PBS将在殖民威廉斯堡进行独立日直播，这座历史名城以其演员身着戏服，逼真还原托马斯·杰斐逊和帕特里克·亨利等开国元勋的日常场景而闻名。
他们也将举办烟花秀和无人机表演，但同时也会深入讲解当天的历史，而这正是威廉斯堡每天都会做的事情。
“我们做出了决定，将独立于250年前并不存在的华盛顿特区运作，我们将再次引领全国，”弗吉尼亚250荣誉主席、殖民威廉斯堡基金会主席卡莉·菲奥莉娜说道。
“可以说，特朗普集会并非对所有美国人都有吸引力，”曾在2016年共和党总统初选中与特朗普竞争的菲奥莉娜在最近的一次电话采访中告诉我。“研究我们的历史时你会发现，美国比任何一个人都要伟大，哪怕他是总统。”
事实上，美国历史上一些伟大的总统都选择了放弃权力。
“美国第一任总统、所谓的‘国父’乔治·华盛顿曾被授予实质上成为终身总统和君主的机会，但他拒绝了，”菲奥莉娜说道，她补充道，华盛顿还拒绝竞选第三任总统，“特意以此表明，美国比任何个人都要伟大，包括总统。”
特朗普周三参观了北达科他州新建的西奥多·罗斯福总统图书馆。罗斯福虽然极受欢迎，但在1908年选择离开白宫，而非竞选连任第三任。不过罗斯福在1912年曾尝试复出，但并未成功。
特朗普在2029年卸任后将没有这样的选择：作为美国另一部奠基性文件的宪法，禁止总统连任超过两届。
Tricorn hats or Trump rally? Americans have July Fourth options
2026-07-03T10:00:28.305Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/03/politics/america-250-july-4-national-mall-trump-analysis
A version of this story appeared in CNN’s What Matters newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here.
The United States is celebrating a jubilee: July Fourth is the 250th anniversary, or semiquincentennial, of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the foundational document for Western democracy.
Donald Trump, more than any president in the centuries since then, challenges some of the basic ideas of the document, which was written as list of complaints against the king of England.
So it seems predictable that, rather than a Fourth of July celebration for Americans of all political persuasions, he’s advertising the massive fireworks display on the National Mall as “the most spectacular TRUMP RALLY of them all, a ‘TRIBUTE TO AMERICA.’”
Instead of popular music acts, most of whom pulled out of the show, the rally will feature military bands the president commands, and his own personal playlist.
In honor of “We hold these truths to be self-evident,” we’re likely to hear Trump’s favorite song, “YMCA,” by the Village People.
Even if close to half of voters hadn’t preferred his presidential rival, Trump’s approval rating, which is in the 30s, suggests that even some of those who voted for him might rather focus on the country and its ideals than the current president and his baggage.
Americans came together to declare independence, but they are divided over much else. Even this week, Supreme Court justices disagreed over the words in the Declaration of Independence as they split over whether the US Constitution protects the right of all people born in the US to be US citizens. (It does, according to the majority.)
The fireworks display will be “THE LARGEST FIREWORKS SHOW IN HISTORY,” Trump said in a social media post. Freedom 250, the Trump-aligned group that has taken over the festivities on the National Mall, is looking to break the Guiness record, but it hasn’t said how much all of this is going to cost.
The Great American State Fair, Freedom 250’s monthlong event on the National Mall, has so far suffered from spotty attendance, logistical issues, at least one unfortunate appearance of a Confederate flag and the fact that not all 50 states are taking part.
There was also an outsize fireworks celebration for the bicentennial in 1976, when reports suggested 1 million people gathered on or near the National Mall. Abandoned cars led to an epic traffic jam that lasted into the next day, according to the White House Historical Association. But the president back then, Gerald Ford, did not hold a rally, but rather squeezed events up and down the Northeast corridor. One of them was a speech outside Independence Hall in Philadelphia, where another million people were gathered, according to a New York Times report.
It’s hard to imagine a million people gathering for either the fireworks show or a Trump speech in today’s environment, but recall that in 1976, the country was recovering from both Watergate and Vietnam.
CNN’s Piper Hudspeth Blackburn wrote last week about how Trump’s takeover of DC’s festivities has fractured America’s birthday party. Ten years ago, Congress created and funded a bipartisan organization, America 250, to plan and execute celebrations across the country. Those are still going on, but Trump wanted something else. The White House, after staffing disagreements, set up Freedom 250 — a separate, public/private entity — to do things more to his liking, and under the watchful eye of the National Guard troops that are still deployed in DC streets.
Freedom 250’s celebrations have each sparked some controversy; hosting a UFC fight night on the White House lawn on Trump’s birthday, for example, was a gladiatorial way to commemorate democratic governance. Another Freedom 250 spectacle will be the IndyCar race through the streets of Washington in August.
Trump’s effort to rebrand the Washington, DC, events, is an opportunity to look around the rest of the country. America 250, the group created 10 years ago by Congress, has a list of committees planning events all over the place, including what they’re calling “America’s Block Party”.
Virginia, like other states, is hosting its own events to commemorate the anniversary. This year, PBS, the public broadcaster for which Trump and Republicans cut taxpayer funding last year, won’t be airing the fireworks show from the National Mall, as it has for decades. Instead, PBS will air its July Fourth broadcast from Colonial Williamsburg, the historic town famous for actors who thoughtfully portray Founding Fathers like Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry in costume.
They’ll have fireworks and a drone show, but also lean into the history of the day, which is what they do every day in Williamsburg.
“We made a decision that we would operate independently of DC, which didn’t exist 250 years ago, and we would lead the nation once again,” said Carly Fiorina, honorary chair of Virginia 250 and chair of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
“I think it is fair to say that a Trump rally is not appealing to all Americans,” Fiorina, who ran against Trump for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, told me in a recent phone conversation. “One of the things that you learn when you study our history is that America is bigger than any one man, even a president.”
In fact, some of the towering presidents of American history are those who gave up power
“George Washington as the first president, the so-called father of our nation, was offered the opportunity to become, in essence, a permanent president and monarch, and he declined,” Fiorina said, adding Washington also declined to run for a third term “specifically to make the point that America is bigger than any man, including a president.”
Trump visited the new Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in North Dakota on Wednesday. Roosevelt, though wildly popular, chose to leave the White House rather than run for a third term in 1908, although Roosevelt tried, unsuccessfully, to come out of retirement in 1912.
Trump won’t have that option when he leaves office in 2029: The Constitution, the nation’s other founding document, forbids presidents from serving a third term.