How Trump crashed America's 250th birthday party
By: Queen Latifah (Yahoo News)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Bloodied cage fighters maul each other inside a steel octagon on the grounds of the White House. Race cars tear through Washington. A state fair with barely any visitors stretches across the National Mall, and concerts are being called off amid a boycott by musicians.
The bipartisan commission created under Barack Obama in 2016 and charged with the US's 250th birthday celebrations could never have predicted this.
The anniversary, critics say, has become a casualty of the move by Mr Trump's administration to seize control of the proceedings.
Instead of letting the festivities go ahead as planned under the bipartisan group known as America250, a rival organisation known as Freedom 250 was set up by the US president in 2025 to lead the celebrations.
'A vanity project'
Once envisaged as a moment of national unity, it has been plagued by partisan politics, rows and accusations of fraud.
"Freedom 250 is nothing but a vanity project for trying to assuage the president's insatiable ego," claimed Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman, a Democrat and a member of the commission. "It's about him."
Tensions came to the fore soon after Mr Trump returned to office last year. In May 2025, he appointed Ariel Abergel, a former Fox News producer, as the America250 executive director.
Reginald Browne, a New Jersey businessman named to the America250 commission, was baffled by Mr Abergel's behaviour.
He had a "mission to seek and destroy" their work, Mr Browne told The Telegraph. "He was poorly guided by whoever was directing him to do whatever he was told to do.
President Trump took charge of celebrations for America's 250th anniversary when he returned to office in 2025 - Evan Vucci/AFP
"I don't think it went to the highest levels, I think it was somewhere in the middle," he added, stressing he did not blame the president for the debacle.
Mr Abergel was eventually sacked, but it set the adversarial stance of the administration for what followed.
Freedom 250 was registered in October 2025 and quickly emerged as a shadow organisation that soaked up the bulk of taxpayer and donor funding.
How it did so has proved controversial. According to a report by congressional Democrats, those who intended to donate to America250 were given bank information for Freedom 250 instead, a move they claimed could constitute wire fraud.
Danielle Alvarez, a Freedom 250 spokeswoman, called the document a "partisan smear" and its claims "categorically false".
"A lot of corporates didn't know which group to sponsor, or if it was ok by the president to give money to America250," Mr Browne said. The group worked around the issue, but it meant "missed opportunities", he added.
The bipartisan group had submitted a request to Congress for $100m (£73m) for programming, which was approved as part of the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act.
But the report suggests it has received only $25m (£18m) - and even then, according to Ms Watson Coleman, they had to go through "bureaucratic snafus" first.
At the same time, according to Notus, Freedom 250 has been able to access at least $68m (£50m) in taxpayer money allocated by the department of the interior.
The group, currently working on a Washington Grand Prix for August, has been the organising force behind some of the biggest spectacles in the nation's capital in recent weeks.
Many, including The Telegraph's Oliver Brown, were sceptical of the UFC fight it helped stage on the grounds of the White House on June 14.
Critics likened Mr Trump to a Roman emperor at a coliseum and called it tawdry. At one point in the evening, the heavyweight Josh Hokit knocked out his opponent, then declared that Michelle Obama, the former first lady, is a man.
Josh Hokit (right) strikes Derrick Lewis during the UFC Freedom 250 event on June 14 - Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
"Freedom 250... is about the things that [Mr Trump] thinks show strength, and a part of America that he thinks is important," Ms Watson Coleman told The Telegraph.
"You think of the ultimate fighting thing on the lawn of the White House. How is that emblematic of America? . . . It's all about promoting him and his divisiveness."
Still, it was at least well attended, with thousands thronging the Ellipse south of the White House. And once the threat of rain eased, the whole event went seamlessly, from the military flyovers to the underdog American fighter winning the final fight, Rocky-style.
The same can't be said of the "Great American State Fair", which is in place until July 10. It has been plagued by a broken Ferris wheel, early closures forced by bad weather and, above all, the total disinclination of most people to attend.
The Great American State Fair has been notably empty over the past week - Andrew Leyden/Getty Images
At least nine states have boycotted the event, including Republican-run Vermont. Private sponsors stepped in to try to fill the gap, which prompted controversy when images of the Confederate flag were installed in North Carolina's booth.
A series of concerts planned for the fair were cancelled after musicians, concerned that it had become too closely tied to the president rather than a celebration of the nation on its 250th birthday, dropped out.
Almost all of those who initially signed up pulled out of the event, with the exception of Vanilla Ice, Flo Rida, and one member of Milli Vanilli.
Congressional Democrats have claimed Freedom 250 used "middlemen" in the entertainment industry to book artists, thus attempting to obscure the "political nature" of the concerts.
The president will loom large over the proceedings. On Wednesday, he said he would give a "really long" July 4 speech in 40C heat, "just to show I can do anything".
Ms Alvarez claimed America250 had "nothing to show" for its ten years of work.
"They lost sight of the mission and, instead of celebrating America, too many wanted to apologise for it," she said.
"Freedom 250 was created because the American people deserved better. We stepped in to rescue our nation's 250th birthday from years of wasted time, wasted money and failed planning."
Still, America250 has been able to put forward its own programme of events, which its organisers have talked up.
For July 4, 250 years since the Declaration of Independence, it has organised a concert in Los Angeles hosted by Queen Latifah and featuring Chaka Khan and the Smashing Pumpkins, with simultaneous block parties across the country.
The 250th birthday celebrations were meant to honour the America of the Founding Fathers. But what looms over all of it is the America of Donald Trump.
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Trump bigfooted the national celebration and turned us into a laughingstock. Again.
Well, he is good at doing something. Usually, that something is fucking up whatever he touches.
We always have his speech tomorrow to look forward to. I, me, and mine on steroids.
I'm not looking forward to it and I'm not going to listen to a second of it. I want to have an enjoyable 4th of July.
Its going to start at 10:00 pm here in the central time zone. Maybe I will let him put me to sleep.