When Next250 organizers began planning for America’s 250th birthday, they envisioned bringing together communities in a polarized country to celebrate democracy.
But then Donald Trump returned to office as the 47th president.
Now, the left-leaning group has reframed its commemoration in response to Trump’s takeover of the country’s birthday. A communal festival in Washington, DC, on Saturday, for instance, will feature an indigenous opening ceremony, a march starting at what was once called Black Lives Matter Plaza and voter registration booths.
In seeking to put his stamp on the 250th, Trump has upended plans that had been years in the making, thrown agencies and federal funding behind his lavish, patriotic vision and drawn ire over what has become, in critics’ eyes, a partisan celebration more about the president than the country.
“It’s a lost cause to expect anything unifying and exciting coming out of Washington,” said John Dichtl, president and chief executive of the American Association for State and Local History, a nonprofit that helped advise states on their 250th planning.
