Background and Context on the 250th Anniversary of the United States of America
President Donald Trump announced that this year’s Independence Day and its accompanying celebrations would be “the most spectacular Trump rally of them all.” It is a statement that carries significance. Not only because of its tonality, but also because it places a traditionally bipartisan holiday - one meant to celebrate the nation as a whole -into a political context. Almost as if it were his personal celebration.
Between these two images, the nearly timeless ideal of a united country and a present in which national symbols are increasingly viewed through a political lens, the United States is moving toward its 250th anniversary.
