{"id":724080,"date":"2026-06-25T00:11:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T00:11:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/724080\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T00:11:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T00:11:10","slug":"trump-opens-america-250-festivities-with-campaign-style-rally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/724080\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump opens America 250 festivities with campaign-style rally"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump<\/a> is formally kicking off celebrations for America\u2019s 250th anniversary<\/a> by working to get the country excited again \u2014 about himself<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The president is hosting a rally Wednesday night on Washington\u2019s National Mall, including a flyover by stealth bombers, military bands, singer Lee Greenwood<\/a> of \u201cGod Bless the USA\u201d fame and a Trump speech. <\/p>\n

It comes as Trump works to convince Americans ahead of critical November midterm elections that he\u2019s put the unpopular Iran war<\/a> in the rearview mirror, with oil prices easing as the Strait of Hormuz<\/a> has started to reopen in the wake of an interim deal to end the war with Tehran.<\/p>\n

The event is part of weeks of celebrations about America and its 1776 founding<\/a> as part of \u201cThe Great American State Fair\u201d on the mall, the national park that stretches from the U.S. Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial.<\/p>\n

But Trump\u2019s appearance onstage was only announced after several musicians \u2014 including Young MC, Martina McBride and the Commodores \u2014 canceled their concerts<\/a> because of concerns the event had become politicized. The president stepped into the void as he hyped his own ability to command a crowd.<\/p>\n

Country singer Alexis Wilkins, the longtime girlfriend of FBI Director Kash Patel, was among those who performed before Trump\u2019s speech.<\/p>\n

Large swaths of the grass stayed empty for hours, but people began filling in the space shortly before Trump took the stage. Attendees included Karen and Brian Ontrap, who drove 500-plus miles from northwest Ohio with their children. <\/p>\n

They planned the trip in January to celebrate the nation\u2019s 250th anniversary and, for some in the group, see Washington for the first time.<\/p>\n

Standing in the shade near the stage before the president spoke, Karen Ontrap said the pair support the president \u201c100%.\u201d They were among the early arrivals to the section of the National Mall that was cordoned off, with a concert-style stage decked in U.S. flags at one end and a mock White House exterior at the other.<\/p>\n

Organizers distributed rectangular cardboard American flags that some attendees used for shade. <\/p>\n

On the menu for the crowd: burgers, sausages and turkey legs. The program felt a lot like a summer concert, expect for the variety of American flag-themed outfits, from overalls to skirts to hats. There were also plenty of \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d hats.<\/p>\n

Trump is pressing the case that he\u2019s made America better<\/p>\n

Trump has struggled to deliver the presidency that he advertised to voters \u2014 causing his approval rating<\/a> to dwell at a low 37%, according to the most recent Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research<\/a> polling.<\/p>\n

Democrats say his botched repairs to the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool<\/a> and the resulting algae outbreak<\/a> are a sign that he\u2019s spending taxpayer money on vanity projects<\/a> instead of the nation\u2019s legacy.<\/p>\n

Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., said the Trump-affiliated group organizing the 250th anniversary was selling access to special interests and redrafting the nation\u2019s founding to the president\u2019s liking, based on documents he presented at a congressional hearing earlier this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt should be about bringing us together,\u201d Huffman said. \u201cHe\u2019s trying to make this 250th celebration all about him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s fondness for showmanship has not been a match for public anxiety about his presidency. Only 33% of U.S. adults approve of his economic leadership, with favorability at 40% on immigration and 34% on Iran.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s clear that Trump\u2019s preoccupations in his second term \u2014 from Iran to the Washington reflecting pool \u2014 are not those of most members of his base, let alone other Americans,\u201d said Daniel Treisman, a politics professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. \u201cThat explains his unusually low approval ratings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s rallies can only help so much without improvements on inflation<\/p>\n

Inflation is still higher<\/a> than what Trump inherited and it has been outpacing wage growth. The budget deficit<\/a> remains on a path upward that keeps interest rates high. Investments in artificial intelligence are driving growth, but they come with fears of middle-class job losses such that the construction of data centers needed for America\u2019s tech economy<\/a> have become controversial politically.<\/p>\n

Trump has fueled dramas over tariffs, NATO, immigration, ownership of Greenland and his own renovations of iconic buildings and monuments in Washington \u2014 generating a flood of controversy that has pushed things the administration sees as accomplishments \u2014 such as the capture of Venezuela\u2019s former leader Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/a> \u2014 off the public radar.<\/p>\n

Joe and Natalie Cox took the Washington area\u2019s subway from nearby Arlington, Virginia, \u201cout of curiosity and to mark an historic occasion,\u201d Joe said.<\/p>\n

Joe Cox, a retired Army officer and military contractor, and Natalie, who worked for 30 years at the Red Cross, suggested the events planned for Washington were a time for the country to come together.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels like a new spirit of unity,\u201d Natalie Cox said. <\/p>\n

Still, Trump was the main attraction for others. Jacob Wankasky and his family, traveling from Buffalo, New York, peeled off a day early from their trip to Hershey, Pennsylvania, when he and his wife, Jennifer, realized they could see Trump before their planned visit Thursday to the State Fair with their children, ages 4 and 6.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a once in a lifetime chance,\u201d Jacob Wankasky said as the Marine Corps Band played \u201cStars and Stripes Forever\u201d as part of the runup to Trump\u2019s speech. <\/p>\n

In a bright red \u201cAmerica Is Back\u201d ballcap, the 42-year-old antique mall owner, said Trump\u2019s return to the White House was a relief in a time of \u201cinsanity.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump is formally kicking off celebrations for America\u2019s 250th anniversary by working to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":724081,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[301853,228029,23,218523,311414,311413,3506,3505,12,1070,793,3138,801,228242,311411,77005,311415,311416,48296,297856,292933,311412,3,18231,111,267317,21,792,19,22,20,25,24,800,292934],"class_list":["post-724080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-250th-anniversary-of-american-independence","tag-alexis-wilkins","tag-america","tag-america-at-250","tag-brian-ontrap","tag-daniel-treisman","tag-dc-wire","tag-district-of-columbia","tag-donald-trump","tag-elections","tag-general-news","tag-government-and-politics","tag-iran","tag-iran-war","tag-jacob-wankasky","tag-jared-huffman","tag-joe-cox","tag-karen-ontrap","tag-kash-patel","tag-lee-greenwood","tag-martina-mcbride","tag-natalie-cox","tag-news","tag-nicolas-maduro","tag-politics","tag-trump-hub","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-government","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-washington-news","tag-young-mc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=724080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724080\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/724081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=724080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=724080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=724080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}