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As the summer of the United States’s 250th birthday bash gets into full swing, the right has an opportunity to embrace a patriotic vibe shift — but it is wrestling with itself about falling into knee-jerk politicization and Trump-ification.
The World Cup has provided a refreshing and unexpected dose of American admiration and appreciation as Independence Day approaches. Social media is awash in feel-good content from foreign tourists who are charmed by cultural quirks like Waffle House, friendliness and ample air conditioning.
Patriotic aesthetics, while still largely conservative-coded, seem to be more widely embraced than in recent years. America 250 merchandise abounds, and left-wing “No Kings” protesters have embraced flying the American flag at their rallies.
If there is a vibe shift, though, it’s getting Trumped in the nation’s capital.
Sunday's “Freedom 250” UFC fight at the White House was an impressive and bizarre spectacle of American exceptionalism and corporatism, with a super-sized Navy Blue Angels and Air Force Thunderbirds flyover. The Marine Corps band played each fighter’s walk-out music live, corralled by dividers noting sponsorship by SuperFile. Tech and media titans like Mark Zuckerberg and David Ellison joined the president and various other politicians in the audience.
But despite being a purportedly nonpartisan event, it devolved when UFC fighter Josh Hokit proclaimed in his post-victory interview that former first lady Michelle Obama is a man.
Hours later, President Trump announced on Truth Social that he will have “the most spectacular TRUMP RALLY” on the National Mall on July 4, placing himself at the center of what was already set to be a grand air, music and fireworks show for the nation's 250th Independence Day.
Such statements and moves are hampering the right’s attempts to capitalize on a wider patriotic mood.
Take it from Dave Portnoy, the founder of Barstool Sports, who is emblematic of the kind of low-propensity younger male voter who supported the president in 2024 but has turned away from Trump over the last year and a half. Portnoy on Monday said that Trump “has to denounce” Hokit’s Obama quip.
“When you have that on the White House lawn on an event you put down, I don’t care what you think about the Obamas or anything — that has to be an immediate denounce,” Portnoy said. “I think you’re crying over spilled milk if you are upset about the actual event, but that comment, if you’re going to do it, own it, and be like, ‘That was wrong, and should never happen.’”
“This p----s me off. You wanna throw out this nonsense at a rally? Fine. Not at an official Freedom 250 event. Disgraceful,” Fox News columnist David Marcus said on social media.
The White House didn’t respond to The Hill’s request for comment about the remark.
Turning the Independence Day rally into a “Trump rally” was not widely welcomed on the right, either — with Marcus commenting, “This sucks.”
Trump’s move to make the National Mall celebrations more about him, and therefore more inherently political, comes a few weeks after several musical acts pulled out of the “Great American State Fair” taking place on the National Mall. That event is organized by Freedom 250, an organization created by Trump after the administration sought to have a heavier hand in planning festivities — clashing with America250, a bipartisan group created by Congress in 2016.
The birthday party battles come as Republicans could greatly benefit from a boost in the national mood ahead of the midterms, which have been defined by pessimism about the state of the economy and how Trump has dealt with it while in office.
An NBC News poll conducted May 29 to June 7 found that Americans are largely pessimistic about the American institutions and think the American Dream is further out of reach.
Pride in America, meanwhile, has plummeted: A little more than half — 56 percent — of Americans describe themselves as extremely or very proud to be an American. Measured against survey data from the same question measured by Gallup since 2001, that marks the lowest level of American pride in a quarter-century.
If Trump and the right truly want to reverse that trend, it might take more than a few grand flyovers and rounds of Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.”
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