It was almost as if the last 250 years never happened.
President Donald Trump kicked off celebrations for America’s semi-quincentennial on Wednesday night in a speech which implied that the nation’s greatness at this landmark moment was largely thanks to him.
After military jets ripped through the sky over the National Mall, and the ‘President’s own’ Marine band played patriotic hits, Trump emerged on stage, serenaded by Lee Greenwood, and his campaign anthem “God Bless the USA.”
In a more normal time, a president might have chosen to mark the milestone with a rumination on America’s attempts to honor its founding promise, on its failings, grasps for redemption and of the journey still to come.
But a president who sought to reshape the nation’s story as told by some of its greatest museums, seemed more concerned with his personal place in history.
