America Gets a Trump Rally for Its Birthday

For one night, in the heart of deep-blue Washington, D.C., a fenced-off section of the National Mall became an oasis for members of the MAGA base. They had believed in President Trump from the beginning and carried him triumphantly back to power in 2024, and now they came to the grand opening of America’s 250th birthday celebration in red-white-and-blue headbands, draped in flags, and sporting dangly blue AMERICA earrings. Doubts about anything related to Trump—his abysmal approval ratings, inflation accelerated by the war he started in Iran, his clashes with Republican senators earlier in the day—were, for an evening, drowned out by the roar of fighter jets overhead.Last night’s festivities were meant to kick off two weeks in which Americans could come together and commemorate America’s semiquincentennial. But a string of artists had pulled out of events in Washington amid concerns that the celebrations would become the Trump show. And indeed, the evening felt like a Trump rally, with a montage of hits that his most die-hard fans know and love, including Trump’s favorite tenor singing “Ave Maria.” The president declared that America is “the hottest country anywhere in the world” and rattled off a list of ways in which his administration continues to Make America great again. “The best is yet to come!”The crowd agreed. At this moment, attendees told me, when so much seems uncertain, the most logical thing for them to do is to put their faith in the president.[Read: Thank you for your attention to this birthday]Karen and Paul Depperschmidt are living the retirement they always dreamed about— road-tripping around America, visiting national parks. They live full-time in Wilmington, North Carolina, and they made the six-and-a-half-hour trip up to D.C. for the Great American State Fair—and the rally especially. The trip came with an added bonus—the chance to share RV parks with international visitors here for the World Cup. They met a family from Brazil and three Scottis