Trump's 'bottomless ego' turned his biggest opportunity into a tacky farce

Opinion contributor Max Burns tells the Hill that America’s 250th birthday should have been “a celebration to end all celebrations.” But in its place comes a frayed presentation of one injured man’s delicate feelings.

“The nation’s biggest birthday yet could have been an opportunity for both commemoration and recommitment, a festival marking a quarter millennium of democracy and a challenge to envision a bolder, better, brighter America for the generations to come,” writes Burns. “Instead, we got a canceled Vanilla Ice concert, a half-painted Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool, and a massive UFC arena on the White House lawn.”

Few Americans appear excited about the America 250 celebration because it’s become President Donald Trump’s America 250 celebration — and people are weary of paying attention to Trum and his attempt to rebrand the nation into a party dedicated to himself.

“Given his talk of a MAGA rally on the National Mall and marking the nation’s big day with his own face on a new $250 bill, Trump’s bottomless ego has made it impossible for anyone who isn’t a die-hard supporter to enjoy what should be a shared cultural moment,” said Burns.

Making matters worse is the unravelling architecture of U.S. culture, with Burns pointing out a Fall 2025 Harvard Youth Poll finding that only one-third of young people believe Americans with different political views actually want what is best for the country. And just 17 percent of respondents say they believe the government will “do what is right,” according to the Pew Research Center.

“We increasingly view ourselves as surrounded by enemies and deceivers, lost in a media landscape that constantly tells us no one can be trusted,” said Burns. “… Trump built his political brand on feeding conspiracy theories that directed hate and suspicion toward everyone from scientists to school teachers to nonprofit organizations, windmills, Pope Leo XIV and even his own political party. Now those conspiracy theories have gone mainstream, to the point where Americans no longer see themselves as one culture but two, locked in deadly combat for the future of their nation.”

It’s a bad time to throw a party, said Burns, much less a party twisted into a celebration of “Trump worship,” or a “pep rally for the MAGA right.”

The president’s mighty celebration has fallen so pitiably to pieces with artists abandoning the farce that he dismissed his own idea as “overpriced” and “boring” before demanding it be canceled.

“In Trump’s mind, the public can have him center stage for the nation’s 250th birthday celebration or it can have nothing. It has always been obvious that Trump had a hokey and low-class vision for the America 250 celebration; his interest in celebrating the country and its people never ran much deeper than the chance to slap his name on a few branded events,” said Burns. “What Trump doesn’t realize is that Americans would prefer nothing at all to another one of Trump’s self-glorifying publicity stunts. His record-low approval rating should make that painfully clear.

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