A Birthday Fit for a King

Not what the founders had in mind as Trump covers the capital in gold

Bronze statues near the Lincoln Memorial that Trump is planning to cover in gold. Credit: Getty Images

Two hundred fifty years ago, our nation’s Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence. The American Revolution was already underway, and we were five years from the decisive Battle of Yorktown, but that brave act of signing on July 4, 1776 is the one that has defined our country and our ongoing commitment to independence.

Plans to celebrate this anniversary have been in the works for years. In 2016, Congress established America250, “a nonpartisan initiative working to engage every American in commemorating the 250th anniversary of our country,” according to its website. Please note the word “nonpartisan.”

Apparently, the events being planned by America250 are not Trump-centric enough for the president, so he created his own competing organization by presidential decree. It’s called Freedom 250. Trump has ironically decided to replace the celebration of rejecting a monarch with festivities for himself, a self-proclaimed king.

What could have been an easy tip-in for a president with abysmal poll numbers — a convivial, patriotic celebration to bring a fractured country together — has turned into a colossal, partisan mess.

Within 48 hours of announcing the line-up for a series of Freedom 250 concerts, seven of nine artists canceled. “I was presented with an opportunity to perform at a nonpartisan event but that turned out to be misleading,” country singer Martina McBride wrote on social media. Rap artist Young MC had a similar experience. “The artists were never told about any political involvement with the event,” calling the concert a “bait-and-switch.”

In true Trump style, he mocked the artists and pivoted to an even more partisan event.

“We should have a giant MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN RALLY, for 250, instead of having overpriced singers, who nobody wants to hear, whose music is boring, and yet who do nothing but complain,” he wrote on social media.

The litany of egocentric things Trump wants to commemorate for the anniversary is cringeworthy, going well beyond the banners of his scowling face hung all around the city.

He wants that same face on a new $250 bill. U.S. currency can not include the visage of a living person, so Congress is considering a bill to allow it. How do you think that vote will go?

He is erecting a massive cage on the South Lawn to host a mixed martial arts match and painting over the natural concrete of the Reflecting Pool with “American Flag” blue.

Trump’s love of all things gold, everything from escalators to Oval Office adornments, is well known. In his effort to “clean up” Washington, DC for the 250th celebrations, Trump is expanding his affection for gilt.

The White House has engaged a Maryland gilding studio in a no-bid contract to coat four massive bronze horse statues in Washington with a thick layer of almost pure gold. The cost? Five million taxpayer dollars, according to NOTUS. That political news website also reported that $20 million of the nearly $100 million the White House is spending to “beautify” the nation’s Capital has not been disclosed.

Trump’s obsession with control of America’s 250th is as disturbing as it is predictable. He prefers planning a party to governing a country. To actually govern, Trump would have to fight his narcissistic impulses and be a leader of all 340 million Americans.

He could have waited to announce his $1.8 billion slush fund for January 6 insurrectionists and other supporters, but he didn’t. Instead, he announced it the morning there was supposed to be an important vote on an immigration enforcement spending package. Incensed Senate Republicans decided to go home early instead of jeopardizing passage of the immigration bill by having to deal with the slush fund at the same time. On Monday, Politico reported that Trump has backed away from the fund, succumbing to mounting pressure.

Let’s call this rare political retreat by the president a birthday gift to America. Devising the slush fund was perhaps the most tone-deaf political move in the history of Trump.

What is going on with this president? Plenty have questioned his mental health because of his bizarre and endless social media rants. But it goes far beyond that.

Rather than staying out of mid-term election primary races, the standard for a sitting president, Trump supported candidates running against incumbent Republicans he doesn’t like. All of his candidates won, but most may now be in much tougher races that will cost the Republican Party millions of dollars.

Rather than sitting back and letting the Iran war plummet into month four, enough Senate Republicans may back a war powers act, which would be politically embarrassing for the president.

Trump rarely does anything expected or precedented, but his recent head-scratchers — backing challengers over incumbents, starting a war no one wanted and not finishing it, ignoring Americans’ economic suffering — make little sense as we get closer to the midterms. It has become increasingly evident that Trump may not care about holding on to the House or Senate for two reasons.

One, he needs an enemy with whom to do battle. Who better than a Democratic controlled Congress? It will make for great TV or clips on social media and indicate to his base that he will continue to fight for them.

Two, the wins by Trump-backed primary challengers show that he still has a lot of political clout among his MAGA coalition. For Trump’s post-presidency, that is what matters. It’s so he can maintain his vice grip on the Republican Party even when he’s no longer in the White House.

“What Trump would mind, what he does fear, is a Republican Party with a spine. He fears a Republican Party in which members of Congress begin to participate in the investigations of his scandals or they abandon him as his fortunes fall. And so he’s made his choice. He is showing them that to oppose him, even from the right, is to light your political future on fire,” Ezra Klein wrote in The New York Times.

As Trump celebrates himself, he is thumbing his nose at all those Congressional Republicans who have allowed him to run roughshod over the Constitution and American Democracy. He needs the support of his base to remain relevant. And nothing, no election, no partisanship, is likely to change his mind. It is and always will be all about him.

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Stay Steady,
Dan