America’s 250th birthday celebration increasingly centers on Trump

From a $250 bill to special passports to a presidential rally, many Independence Day commemorations will revolve around the president.

President Donald Trump has spent much of his second term putting his personal stamp — and in many cases his image — on American institutions. Now his eponymous impulses have expanded to the celebration of America’s 250th anniversary.

Trump’s face will be stamped on a celebratory gold coin marking the semiquincentennial. His stern visage will peer from commemorative passports. Administration officials are pushing for a $250 bill featuring the president’s portrait. On Trump’s 80th birthday, June 14, the White House lawn will transform into a ring for a “Freedom 250” UFC fight.

“I think it’s going to be the biggest event we’ve ever had at the White House,” Trump said recently.

The pattern has culminated with many performers withdrawing from the Great American State Fair, one of the anniversary’s marquee events, after saying they did not realize how closely it was associated with Trump. The president responded by announcing he will headline the event himself, since he is “the Number One Attraction anywhere in the World, the man who gets much larger audiences than Elvis in his prime, and he does so without a guitar.”

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By:  Cleve R. Wootson Jr.
Source: The Washington Post

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