You may have missed it. But inside Donald Trump’s shocking announcement Sunday that he will shutter the Kennedy Center for two years was the bizarre claim that the closure will take place on July 4, "in honor of the 250th Anniversary of our Country."
Shutting down one of America’s most renowned cultural institutions is a weird way to honor the country’s semiquincentennial. But that is just one of many ways Trump is placing his tiny handprints all over the anniversary festivities, turning what is supposed to be a bipartisan celebration of America’s pluralistic virtues into an extended party for himself.
In a deep dive published today, journalist Amanda Moore and I cover all the ways Trump has taken over the America250 events and how those efforts fit into the president’s wider effort to control the presentation of American history and culture.
This broad attack includes the targeting of the National Park Service and federal Smithsonian museums—and the removal of exhibits that highlight, as Trump put it, "how bad Slavery was." It includes the censoring of roadside signs about climate change, Native Americans, and even fossils. The attack also involves White House efforts to rewrite the history of January 6 and suppress information on Trump’s impeachments, along with threats to withhold federal grant money to push local libraries to pull from their shelved books offering information the administration disfavors, which seems to mean anything focused on Black, Native American, or female Americans.
Trump’s version of history, and his supposed celebration of 1776, is in fact a betrayal of the ideals of America’s founders. But the rest of us can still mark the anniversary of the fight against tyranny that led to American independence—a fight that is no less urgent today.
I hope you can take the time to read our feature.
—Dan Friedman
