"Freedom" 250 debacle on the Mall - my thoughts FWIW

[mcar]

Last edited Wed Jul 1, 2026, 10:58 AM - Edit history (1)

My son, DIL and 2 wonderful grandgirls live in DC. We're there quite often. Prior to that, my bestie moved to DC after college (I moved to Boston and ended up in FL, long story). IOW, I'm pretty familiar with DC, the Mall, the museums, etc.

Oh, and did I mention that SO and I were at the Women's March with our kids in 2017? An experience that changed my life and spurred me on to help found (and be the first elected president of) at Democratic Women's Club in my ruby red FL county.

The debacle of the Trump 250 Ego trip is just pathetic. We were on the Mall in late December, when the temperatures were ridiculously low for the area. It was fricking freezing - and there were many times more people on the Mall then. We were back again in February - ditto.

We've been on the Mall in the dead of summer, granted just heading to our car or the bus after visiting a museum - and there were gobs more people.

In June/July, thousands of school groups are usually on the Mall, doing their 5th grade trips. You can't even get into the the Natural History Museum then. I guess those poor kids lost their chance to TSF's ego trip.

There are always thousands of people on the Mall. It's a wonderful place. I'm always so happy when I'm there.

This American State Fair thing is both hysterical and sad. And disgusting.

[TBF]

1. I lived/worked in DC area in the 90s

Mostly lived in Northern VA and worked in law firms in DC. I haven't been back for many years now, and I think I wouldn't want to visit at all. I'd rather hold on to my memories of how it was. Imagine working during the Clinton admin, so many young and bright people in the private firms and on the hill. Just one example - I was walking back from lunch one day and Robert Reich came out of a building surrounded by people and press (now I watch his Substack every Saturday morning!) - he was a rock star Secretary of Labor back then! Besides working, I did graduate school, and had so much fun spending time at the museums, running around the city, etc. I can't even imagine how horrible it must be now with the agencies in shambles and ICE everywhere.

[Shellback Squid]

2. which does not bode well for the pedo party

good for us tho

[mcar]

4. Indeed

I’ll never forgive them for destroying this beautiful place, though.

[Cheezoholic]

3. Thats one of the things that really irks me. Any school trips to DC are being ruined by him if not cancelled

For many kids across the country these trips to DC are a once in a lifetime event and can take years of planning and funding. I can't imagine being a middle schooler going to my nations capitol and all I see are bulldozers and military troops. It's so sad.

[mcar]

5. They spend the school year raising funds

So they can take the trip. Once in a lifetime for so many.

[orthoclad]

6. gentle correction: "America 250"

was the bipartisan public event, planned for years, that got pushed out of the way by Trump's "Freedom 250" privatized fiasco.
See
https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:y2jwc6fghlwq6ntmmvgbwmt7/bafkreighejg5sh3clobymv6ih55xbv6wdp35kfpepffss2kn4puzbv4tcy

I don't know how true this particular post is, but it rings true. I've read elsewhere that the public festival would have been like a month-long Folk Life Festival.

from the wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Semiquincentennial
Celebrations are organized by two main organizations at the federal level: the non-partisan congressional America250 Commission created in 2016 and backed by a nonprofit; and the White House Task Force on Celebrating America's 250th Birthday, chaired by Donald Trump and established via an executive order in 2025.[1]

I remember the Bicentennial well (or at least parts of it : > ), and this party ain't nuthin.

[progressoid]

7. Love this part from wiki:

The launch of bisesquicentennial celebrations occurred amidst record-low levels of patriotism,[1] largely driven by cratering pride among Democrats and independents during Trump's second presidency.[96] These celebrations were described as featuring competing narratives over American history,[80][97] such as with conflicts over the removal of Confederate monuments and memorials.[98] The Economist described them as "shaping up not as mere metaphor but as a straightforward display of America's fractured state".

[orthoclad]

11. Yeah, wiki gets "managed" by the right in anything political

For instance, (Joni Mitchell's page) the page about Joni Mitchell said she opposed the antiwar movement and protests.

I saw her sing "they paved paradise, and put up a nuclear plant" in DC after TMI.

[mcar]

10. Corrected. Thanks.

[orthoclad]

12. I would have loved to have America 250 as envisioned

by the Smithsonian.

[mcar]

13. Yes!

[DET]

18. To Clarify (I Think)

There is a Smithsonian Folklife Festival held outdoors on the Mall every summer. This annual tradition has taken place for decades and is visited by about one million people each year. It was one of the first things I visited when I moved to DC. From what I understand, the festival will still be held, but it is being moved to one of the Smithsonian buildings to make way for Trump’s ‘celebration’. It won’t be the same. I don’t know what America 250 had planned for DC, but it appears that they will still have celebrations in different parts of the country.

Trump could have let the Folklife Festival and July 4 events proceed as normal, but he couldn’t resist putting his stamp on the celebration. And, as expected, he screwed it up and we’re stuck with the failed dreary event now on display. Personally, I wouldn’t go anywhere near the Mall on or around July 4. I suspect that it’s going to be a nightmare. We’ll be lucky if he doesn’t set DC on fire with his 800,000+ fireworks.

[orthoclad]

19. I read somewhere that Smithsonian

was planning to make it like a monthlong Folk Life Festival.
Saw Italian bagpipers there once : ) . The Folk Life Festival is great.

[oberle]

8. I've been to many Folklife Festivals over the years.

This stupid crap on the mall now is a joke. I also was downtown for the 1976 Bicentennial fireworks. There were not enough porta-potties, and lots of drunk people, so everyone waded into the Reflecting Pool to pee. Good times.

[Native]

9. I don't think anyone could have ever predicted this level of crassness, stupidity and destruction

[struggle4progress]

14. They're just stealing the money Congress appropriated for a celebration

and handing it out to their buddies

[Cosmocat]

15. Was at one of the local hotels in the area for work

and what struck me was all the national reservists coming into the hotel.

Like a friggen banana republic.

But, driving past and through the Mall over the course of my time there, yeah, I was struck at how sparse the crowd was for a supposed big event like this.

These idiots have to cock everything up.

[Initech]

16. It could have been something really amazing under any other president.

But nope, we got stuck with the fucking asshole and this is where we end up.

[mcar]

17. But hey, we don't have "killer Kamala," am I right?