Key Points
- 4 July will Mark United States' 250th anniversary.
- The country has been preparing for this anniversary for about a decade.
The United States is turning 250.
And its birthday bash has it all: fireworks, UFC fights, cancelled concerts and the self-described "number one attraction in the world": US President Donald Trump.
The party is exactly a month away, on 4 July — the 250th anniversary of the country's break from Great Britain, marked by the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
"A lot of people identify this as the birth of the United States," Kathryn Schumaker, a US historian and senior lecturer in American studies at the University of Sydney, told SBS News.
"It lays out a framework for not just a vision of rebellion ... But also a sense of where rights come from, that there are certain, inalienable rights that are bestowed by nature, and can't be taken away by any government."
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The country has been preparing for this anniversary for about a decade, with the US Congress establishing 'America 250', a bipartisan group, to plan the celebrations in 2016.
Several events, such as a state fair on the National Mall in Washington DC, a UFC fight on the White House lawn, a Grand Prix race, and fireworks, are on the anniversary event lists.
'Greatest self-publicist' in the world
But now some are concerned that the US administration might use the opportunity to promote itself and the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement.
Timothy Lynch, professor in American politics at the University of Melbourne, told SBS News that Trump "will use any opportunity to elevate his brand, which is already pretty high".
"He is the greatest self-publicist in world history, let me argue," Lynch said.
"He dabbles in the rewriting of American history because he wants to craft his own place in it. He'll probably fail at this endeavour, but I'm sure he will use this anniversary of the declaration as a way of making himself central."
The Trump administration has created a new public-private partnership called 'Freedom 250' to "celebrate this historic milestone" and organise events. It will work alongside America 250.
In recent days, several musical performers announced they would cancel their Freedom 250 concerts on the National Mall, raising concerns that the event was not the nonpartisan celebration they had expected.
Freedom 250 says it is a nonpartisan organisation and has told the New York Times that it focuses on events that "engage all Americans" and aims to unite the US.
The group also announced on X that Trump will headline the opening ceremony on the National Mall on 24 June.
MAGA 'celebration'
Trump wrote on Truth Social that the artists "are getting 'the yips'" about performing, and he is "thinking about bringing the Number One Attraction anywhere in the World, the man who gets much larger audiences than Elvis in his prime", pointing to himself.
Trump later posted that there should be a MAGA rally "instead of overpriced singers' concerts.
Schumaker said that there is a "sense that this is not actually about celebrating the United States ... but that it's actually about celebrating Donald Trump and that it's really a campaign rally".
"There's plenty of evidence that Trump loves these kinds of spectacles, [and] that he does try to turn it into an attack on his opponents," she said.
"Making it about the kind of celebration of himself and how he has allegedly made America great again."
The Trump administration has also confirmed that it is working on a US$250 note, featuring a portrait of Donald Trump.
US law permits only deceased presidents to appear on currency, and any exception would require approval of the country's Congress.
In response, Democratic leader in the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, told Trump to "get over yourself" on X.
"The upcoming July 4th anniversary is not about a wannabe king. It's about celebrating the American journey," he said.
Lynch said that Trump's opposition sees him as "modern-day" King George, the King of Great Britain during the time of the Declaration of Independence.
"The whole no king's movement directly references or certainly indirectly references the demonisation of George III in the Declaration of Independence," he said.
A 250-year-old experiment
Beyond all the controversies, as the US gets closer to its 250th birthday, recent polls show the majority of Americans have lost their hope in their country.
A recent report from US-based think tank the Pew Research Center has shown that 59 per cent of Americans believe the country's best years have passed.
Schumaker said that "there is a sense of crisis" among Americans about the meaning of this anniversary, "the state of the nation, Trump's leadership, but also what other branches of government are doing".
"I think there's a sense of backsliding," she said.
"I think that there's a lot of anxiety that some Americans have about whether or not the US can maintain democracy or can continue to uphold those ideas."
The recent survey also found that when asked about what things will be like in the the US in 50 years, 44 per cent of Americans were pessimistic, while only 28 per cent were optimistic.
An additional 27 per cent felt neutral, neither optimistic nor pessimistic.
Yet questions about America's future are not new, it started with its birth.
"It's important to recognise that an experiment that began 250 years ago with every expectation that it would fail and fail quickly has proved all those doubts wrong," Lynch said.
"America hasn't just become an important power, it's become the most important power in world history. There's something about the idea that has made this remarkable rise and success possible.
"The next month or so gives us an opportunity to reflect on not just the prospects of American power, but its fundamental success, especially compared to other ideological experiments like those from the left and the right."
— With additional reporting by the Reuters news agency.
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