How Trump Branded America’s Big Birthday

As the United States neared its 250th birthday in recent months, a new spin on the Stars and Stripes appeared outside homes and on banners dangling from government buildings. A twist on what’s known as the “Betsy Ross flag,” with 250 inscribed within its 13-star circle, the celebratory image scans as neutral yet elegant. But just as the Trump administration overhauled this year’s semiquincentennial celebration with partisan events and political rallies, the Ross flag, too, was co-opted by the White House.Versions of the Ross flag, now a logo for Freedom 250, the White House–endorsed semiquincentennial planner, have been popping up in political contexts and elsewhere. (There are variations of the logo, one with only 250 in the center, and the other with Freedom 250.) Just looking at the design, it might be hard to see what the fuss is about, but those frustrated by Freedom 250 see it as yet another way the White House took control of the celebration from a nonpartisan rival, implicitly excluding Americans who do not agree with the president.Last September, America250, the nonpartisan organization authorized by Congress in 2016 to plan patriotic activities for the anniversary, applied for a trademark for the design with 250 in the center, as shown by U.S. Patent and Trademark Office documents that were cited in a report released by House Democrats yesterday. The $5,350 application was for nine usage categories, that include flags, jewelry, digital media, paper goods, printed media, clothing, and toys. Yet in April, America250 quietly transferred ownership of the trademark application to Freedom 250, a public-private partnership created by the White House that has been putting on events with a partisan flair, such as mobile museums that offer a conservative, Christianity-infused retelling of the country’s birth and the Great American State Fair, where conservative and religious groups have booths and visitors can take home a replica U.S. passport with Donald Trump’s fa