American jingoism remains the ruling ideology of the United States, on the right as well as the left and centre. The upcoming 250th anniversary of independence, which the country will celebrate on 4 July 2026, is yet another occasion to express America's ultranationalism and rewrite the country's sordid history of oppression and genocide as a story of "freedom".
President Donald Trump, the hero of white supremacists and conservatives, has declared that "With a single sheet of parchment and 56 signatures, America began the greatest political journey in human history."
Former president Barack Obama, the best thing that ever happened to white American liberals, enthusiastically agrees: "Since we're a few weeks away from America's 250th birthday, it is worth remembering just how radical the whole idea of self-government really was back in 1776."
He adds that the Declaration of Independence asserted "that we are all created equal, endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights".
Obama then offers a mild reprimand for what seems to be an oversight on the part of the white slave-owning settlers who declared independence:
