Trump Kicks Off America’s 250th Birthday With Stealth Bombers, Military Bands, and…

The Washington Monument stood as a backdrop. B-2 stealth bombers and F-35 fighter jets screamed across the capital sky. Lee Greenwood belted out “God Bless the USA.” And President Donald Trump walked out to a roaring crowd on the National Mall to kick off America’s 250th birthday celebrations in what became one of the most spectacular and unabashedly patriotic rallies of his presidency.

The event on Wednesday evening formally launched the Great American State Fair, a 16-day exposition running through July 10 as part of the nation’s 250th anniversary festivities. The fair, envisioned as a modern-day world’s fair featuring pavilions from all 56 states and territories, stretches across the National Mall and has drawn visitors from across the country eager to be part of a once-in-a-generation celebration of American history and achievement.

The pre-speech spectacle was something to behold. Military flyovers, including the thunderous passes of B-2 stealth bombers and F-35 stealth fighters, drew gasps and cheers from the packed crowd. The U.S. Marine Band accompanied country singer Alexis Wilkins, who performed the national anthem to open the ceremony. The U.S. Army Band Downrange then offered a crowd-pleasing rendition of “Gloria,” a musical staple at Trump events that has become something of a signature of the MAGA movement’s rally culture. By the time Trump walked onto the stage to the sounds of Lee Greenwood’s patriotic anthem, the crowd was already fully alive.

“America is back,” Trump declared, to a roar from the assembled crowd. “We’re the hottest country anywhere in the world. We’re respected by everybody. Nobody’s laughing at us anymore.” The line drew one of the biggest cheers of the night, echoing a theme Trump has returned to throughout his second term: that the era of American weakness and global apology is over, replaced by an era of strength, confidence, and national pride.

Trump framed the nation’s 250th birthday as both a celebration of America’s founding and a launchpad for what he called a new “golden age of America.” He invoked the Founding Fathers and Patrick Henry, tied the current political moment to the American Revolution, and cast his political movement as the modern continuation of the great American tradition of fighting for freedom against entrenched power. “There has never been anything like the United States of America,” he told the crowd, “and together we are making it bigger and better and stronger and far more exceptional than ever before.”

The remarks clocked in at just under 30 minutes, making it one of the shorter addresses of Trump’s second term and a notable departure from his trademark freewheeling style. He stayed largely on script, offered high praise for the military, touted his administration’s accomplishments from banning transgender procedures on children to getting men out of women’s sports, and only briefly ventured into partisan asides about his predecessor. When the Marine Band struck up “YMCA” by The Village People as his walk-off music, Trump departed quickly and with evident satisfaction at the evening’s proceedings.

Trump was joined at the event by House Speaker Mike Johnson, numerous Cabinet members, and what he described as countless members of Congress. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy delivered a warmup address that energized the crowd, and Monica Crowley, the Trump administration’s chief of protocol, brought the crowd to its feet with an enthusiastic tribute to the president’s role in organizing the celebrations. Both set a high-octane tone before the president himself appeared.

The flyovers drew perhaps the loudest sustained reaction of the night. After the aircraft thundered overhead, Trump turned to the crowd and said, “You get just a little, little tiny glimpse of it tonight. How good is our Air Force?” It was a moment that captured the essence of the evening: pride in American military power, delivered with the showmanship that has always been central to Trump’s political identity.

The event was organized by Freedom 250, a public-private partnership created by the Trump administration that bills itself as a nonpartisan nonprofit. The state fair itself features 150 exhibits, representing every state and U.S. territory, and includes a 110-foot Ferris wheel constructed in front of the Capitol. Other events planned as part of the 250th festivities include the Patriot Games, a competition featuring elite high school athletes, and a Freedom 250 Grand Prix race scheduled around the Capitol and down Pennsylvania Avenue.

The road to Wednesday night was not without its complications. Several musical artists who had been booked to perform at concert events associated with the fair pulled out over the preceding weeks, including country singer Martina McBride, rapper Young MC, and several others who cited concerns about the political associations of the event. Trump seized on the withdrawals, posting on Truth Social that he did not want performers who got “the yips” and announced he would step in himself as the headline act. “I don’t want so-called ‘Artists’ that get paid far too much money, who aren’t happy,” Trump wrote. “I only want to be surrounded by Happy People, Smart People, Successful People, and People that know how to WIN.”

Rapper Vanilla Ice, by contrast, was among the performers who enthusiastically embraced the opportunity, calling it an honor to participate in the celebrations. His willingness to step forward when others stepped back was noted with approval in conservative circles and drew a sharp contrast with the artists who, critics noted, had no trouble accepting money from American entertainment industry profits while refusing to celebrate the country that made their success possible.

The crowd on the Mall was a cross-section of Trump’s America. Roughly half of those in attendance were wearing Trump-branded clothing, hats, or shirts calling back to the 2024 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania. One attendee, Edward X. Young of Brick, New Jersey, told reporters it was his 116th Trump rally. Others had traveled from as far away as northwest Ohio, having planned the trip months in advance to be part of the 250th anniversary and, for some family members, to see Washington for the first time.

Trump also used Wednesday’s platform to preview an even larger event on July 4 itself. He told the crowd that “your favorite president” would be returning to the National Mall for the Fourth of July address and promised what he described as the largest fireworks display in world history. He is scheduled to deliver an address at the Washington Monument that evening, with celebrations the administration has spent months organizing in an effort to make the 250th Fourth of July a landmark event in American memory.

The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which has been at the center of a separate controversy following a controversial renovation project that added a blue sealant coating that has since begun to peel, was mentioned briefly by Trump. He repeated his claims that vandals had damaged the pool and noted that six people have been arrested and seven cited in connection with the allegation. Democrats have used the reflecting pool’s appearance to mock the administration’s management of the anniversary preparations, but the attack has not gained significant political traction among the rally crowd.

The broader America 250 commemoration has been a source of ongoing tension between the White House and a congressionally authorized nonpartisan commission established a decade ago to plan the 250th anniversary events. The commission was explicitly designed to be bipartisan and national in character. The administration’s parallel events, culminating in the state fair and the July 4 rally, have drawn criticism from Democrats who say Trump has appropriated a national moment for partisan purposes.

Trump and his supporters see it differently. From their perspective, the president of the United States is not only entitled but obligated to lead the national celebration of a milestone that belongs to every American. The argument that Trump showing up at the country’s birthday party somehow makes it illegitimate is one that strikes most conservatives as transparently political posturing from an opposition party that has grown deeply uncomfortable with any expression of uncomplicated American pride.

As Trump himself told the crowd, this anniversary is a time to be proud of the past but also a time to lift our sights, expand our ambitions, and raise our expectations of what America can be. Those who watched the stealth bombers trace their paths across the Washington sky before a crowd of tens of thousands of Americans waving flags would have found the sentiment hard to argue with, whatever their politics.

The Great American State Fair runs through July 10, and the nation’s true 250th birthday is July 4. By the time the fireworks are done that night, Americans will have been treated to the most elaborate presidential commemoration of a national anniversary in living memory.