#semiquincentennial
3 entries with this tag
The White House Published a 162-Page Report Accusing the Smithsonian of "Anti-White Bias" and Demanded It Post a Warning Label Saying the Museum Was "Prepared by People Who Don't Want You to Love Your Country" — Because a History Museum Told the History
On July 4, 2026 — the 250th anniversary of the nation's founding — the White House Domestic Policy Council released a 162-page report titled "Saving America's Story: How Ideological Capture at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History Erases Our Heritage." The report accuses the Smithsonian's flagship history museum of "extreme political activism," "anti-white bias," and being "ideologically captured" by "a radical, activist cohort." Its complaints: the museum discusses slavery when presenting the Founders, notes that the U.S. government "forcibly pushed Indians from their ancestral lands," acknowledges the existence of transgender people, and includes a learning-lab section defining "Whiteness" as a system of power. It objects that an 1840 statue of George Washington "refuses to affirm the exceptional courage of the American people." Most remarkably, the report recommends the museum post a label at every entrance reading: "Warning: the exhibits in this museum were prepared by people who don't want you to love your country." The report is the culmination of Trump's March 2025 executive order "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History," which put JD Vance in charge of removing "improper ideology" from the Smithsonian and threatened to halt its federal funding — more than $1 billion, about 62% of its budget — if it did not submit exhibits for review. A federal court had already ruled in June 2026 that the administration's removal of slavery, climate, and Indigenous history signage set "a dangerous precedent of censorship and sanitization." Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch III — the historian who built the National Museum of African American History and Culture — responded that "history is driven by scholarship, not partisanship." MSNBC's coverage called the attack "shocking and galling"; an accompanying opinion piece said the White House "doesn't want history at the Smithsonian. It wants fandom" — behaving "like a real-life Tumblr page devoted to a toxic fandom." The government of the United States wrote a 162-page document demanding that a museum stop telling the truth about the country, and proposed labeling the truth as an act of hatred.
Trump Hijacked America's 250th Birthday to Enrich Allies, Sell Access, and Harvest Data — $103 Million in No-Bid Contracts Flowed to a Shadow Organization Run by His Campaign Manager, the January 6 Rally Production Company Got $38.6 Million, Donors Were Allegedly Defrauded, Artists Fled, the Stage Collapsed, the Fair Was Empty, and Newborns Got Branded Social Security Cards
A 55-page House Democrats report titled "From Vanity to Insanity" reveals how Trump hijacked America's 250th birthday celebration. Congress created a bipartisan commission called America250 in 2016 to plan the semiquincentennial. Trump tried to pack it with loyalists. When that failed, he created Freedom 250 by executive order — an LLC housed inside the National Park Foundation, whose board he stacked with his 2024 campaign co-manager Chris LaCivita and fundraising director Meredith O'Rourke. Congress appropriated $150 million for the celebration; America250 received only $25 million while Freedom 250 got at least $68 million in taxpayer funds. Public Citizen and the Revolving Door Project tracked $103 million in federal contracts flowing to "a network of politicized entities under the control of Trump administration officials and political allies." Event Strategies Inc. — the production company behind Trump's January 6, 2021, Ellipse rally — received $38.6 million in no-bid contracts, with a deal extending to 2030 with an option to 2045. Donors who intended to support the bipartisan America250 were allegedly given Freedom 250's banking information instead — conduct the report says could constitute wire fraud. Corporations with regulatory business before the government — ExxonMobil, Oracle, Lockheed Martin, Palantir, United Airlines — donated undisclosed sums. $1 million donors got a photo op with the president; $2.5 million donors got speaking roles. Keith Krach appeared to solicit foreign donations at Davos. The showcase event — the Great American State Fair on the National Mall — was a disaster: most booked artists (Martina McBride, The Commodores, Bret Michaels) pulled out when they learned it was Trump-affiliated; stage panels crashed onto dancers during rehearsal; crowds were sparse despite Trump claiming 45,000; a power outage melted food; extreme heat forced closures; a fifth of states refused to participate; and organizers misspelled their own name on a billboard. Trump staged his own birthday as a national event twice under the Freedom 250 banner. PragerU and Hillsdale College got $10 million for "Freedom Trucks" mobile museums. The Social Security Administration began issuing commemorative cards with the Freedom 250 logo to every baby born in the second half of 2026 — the first time in 90 years the card's design has been politicized. A UFC fight on the White House South Lawn cost $60 million. And Trump made himself chair of the whole operation.
Trump Hijacks America's 250th Birthday, Then Artists Flee — Leaving Him With Vanilla Ice and Milli Vanilli
Trump created "Freedom 250" as a rival to the congressionally established America250 commission for the nation's semiquincentennial. He booked nine artists for a "Great American State Fair" concert series on the National Mall. Five dropped out within 48 hours after discovering they'd been misled about the event being nonpartisan — leaving Vanilla Ice and Milli Vanilli's Fab Morvan. Trump called the departing artists "Third Rate" and "overpriced singers, who nobody wants to hear, whose music is boring," compared himself to Elvis, declared himself "the Greatest President in History (THE GOAT!)," proposed replacing the concerts with a MAGA rally, and announced he would personally headline the opening ceremony. Freedom 250 has no Congressional authorization, no independent oversight, and doesn't disclose its donors.