Trump Replaces July 4 Concert With 25-Minute Speech, Delays Fireworks 2 Hours
Updated
Updated · MinnPost · Jul 3
Trump Replaces July 4 Concert With 25-Minute Speech, Delays Fireworks 2 Hours
3 articles · Updated · MinnPost · Jul 3
Summary
A 25-minute Trump speech replaced the opening concert for the National Mall's Freedom 250 celebration, and Saturday's July 4 fireworks were pushed back two hours to 11 p.m. for another address.
Most booked performers — including Martina McBride, The Commodores and Morris Day & The Time — withdrew after saying they had been led to believe the event was a nonpartisan America 250 celebration.
Nearly $80 million in congressionally appropriated semiquincentennial funds was diverted to the National Park Foundation after the bipartisan America250 commission resisted White House pressure for campaign-style programming.
The broader Freedom 250 rollout has also drawn criticism over weak attendance, power failures, 10 states skipping the state fair, and federally funded 'Freedom Trucks' featuring conservative educational content.
The dispute underscores how the 250th-birthday commemoration has become a proxy for wider U.S. political division, unlike the more broadly shared bicentennial celebrations of 1976.