2026-06-27T10:30:25.865Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/27/politics/trump-america250-freedom250-division
当Next250的组织者开始规划美国建国250周年庆典时，他们曾设想在这个极化的国家里团结各个社区，共同庆祝民主。
但随后唐纳德·特朗普再次当选，成为美国第47任总统。
如今，这个左倾组织已经调整了纪念活动的定位，以应对特朗普“接管”美国国庆庆典的局面。例如，周六在华盛顿特区举行的社区节日将包含原住民开幕仪式、一场从曾被称为“黑人的命也是命广场”的地点出发的游行，以及选民登记摊位。
为了将自己的印记留在建国250周年庆典上，特朗普推翻了这项筹备多年的计划，让各政府机构和联邦资金支持他奢华的爱国主义愿景，并因这场在批评者眼中更像是为总统本人而非国家服务的党派式庆祝活动引发众怒。
“指望华盛顿能带来任何具有团结性、令人振奋的活动，都是徒劳的，”美国州与地方历史协会主席兼首席执行官约翰·迪克特尔说道。该协会是一家非营利组织，曾为各州的建国250周年规划提供咨询。
在全美范围内，一些州和地方的庆典组织者已经与华盛顿的相关活动划清界限。而在华盛顿，Next250将在白宫街对面举办与之对抗的活动，与此同时，国家广场将被特朗普的“伟大美国州博览会”占用。
“本届政府无权独占建国250周年纪念，也无权垄断这个国家的历史叙事，”Next250的组织者之一琳达·萨尔苏尔说道。这位曾在特朗普第一任期协助组织华盛顿女性大游行的活动人士，因反对以色列的立场引发过争议。
但她表示，在周六的活动中，“我们要站出来宣告：‘我们同舟共济，这个国家属于我们每一个人。’”
特朗普“接管”建国250周年庆典的第一个信号，出现在去年12月的一个周五下午。当时特朗普在总统Truth Social账号发布的视频中，一口气列出了该国国庆庆典的一系列活动安排。
“2026年将是一场前所未有的美国庆典，致敬我们的国家及其全部荣光，”他宣称。“为了助力这些精彩计划的实施，我们创立了一个公私合作伙伴关系。它叫做‘自由250’，”他说道。
就在特朗普宣布这一消息的几周前，他似乎遭遇了一次挫折。他挑选的负责America250（一家由国会小组监督的联邦建国250周年庆祝活动主管非营利组织）的负责人刚刚被解雇。
特朗普新创立的非营利组织“自由250”，将确保他能如愿以偿地举办7月4日的庆祝活动。
该组织也不必遵守America250所遵循的相同规则。尽管“自由250”是国家公园基金会的无党派附属机构，但其活动主要由特朗普的高级助手监督。
与America250一样，它可以为捐赠者保密，但无需接受两党小组的监督。今年5月，内政部长道格·伯根姆告诉CNN记者达纳·巴什，“自由250”由“白宫主导运作”，只有该组织自身才能决定是否公开捐赠者信息。
但前乔治·W·布什政府白宫伦理律师理查德·佩特在接受采访时表示，他认为白宫“未经国会授权就与非营利组织建立合作关系”的做法“存在问题”。这一安排引发了监督组织和国会民主党人的质疑，他们目前正在调查“自由250”的资金来源。
国家公园基金会的一位发言人告诉CNN：“本财年收到或支出的‘自由250’公私款项，将通过国家公园基金会的标准财务报告和审计流程进行核算。”
“自由250”在其网站上列出了约24家赞助商。其中不少企业，如帕兰蒂尔、洛克希德·马丁和甲骨文，都拥有大量联邦数据和国防服务合同。其他赞助商，如终极格斗冠军赛（UFC）和潘世奇集团，则由特朗普的盟友达纳·怀特和罗杰·潘斯克掌舵。这些企业都有各自的建国250周年相关活动：本月将在白宫草坪举办UFC赛事，8月将举办印第赛车比赛。怀特旗下的Phorm能量饮料也将在博览会上销售。
当被问及该组织是否会承诺公开捐赠者信息时，“自由250”首席执行官基思·克拉奇在接受CNN采访时表示：“我们始终强调问责制和透明度。”
“我的职责之一就是确保我们把账目管理得非常好，”他补充道。“不只是‘嘿，大家可以来看看’，而是要确保我们的每一分钱都花得物有所值。”
“自由250”的活动贴合特朗普的文化偏好，也为保守派团体提供了塑造庆祝活动叙事的平台，一切都是为了“重振民族自豪感”。
一支由六辆移动博物馆组成的“自由卡车”车队已在全美各地巡回展出，通过人工智能艺术和视频讲述美国独立战争的历史，宣称“美国的基本原则植根于西方和犹太-基督教传统”。这些内容由希尔斯代尔学院和普拉格大学等保守派教育机构制作，相关机构表示未收取报酬。
今年5月，“自由250”在国家广场组织了一场以基督教为主题的祈祷活动，还有“爱国者运动会”——一项青少年体育赛事，两名获胜青少年将平分25万美元奖金，该活动也安排在了8月。
在多名艺术家以担忧党派之争为由拒绝在“伟大美国州博览会”开幕集会表演后，特朗普于周三自行举办了一场集会，他本人担任压轴嘉宾。乡村歌手李·格林伍德介绍了他，其代表作《上帝保佑美国》是特朗普长期以来的最爱。
“我们要宣告美国依然伟大，并将努力让她保持下去，”格林伍德在活动开始前告诉CNN。
国家广场7月4日的主要活动“致敬美国”，原本计划包含游行、军事演示和其他活动。
特朗普要求“自由250”承办当晚的烟花表演，克拉奇承诺这场烟花秀将比华盛顿特区通常的独立日烟花秀“大五倍”，他们还试图打破吉尼斯世界纪录。
“自由250”的雄心不止于华盛顿的活动，它已采取措施将自己打造成公众眼中“领导美国生日庆典”的无党派组织，这使其与America250在全国关注度、赞助商和纳税人资金方面展开竞争。
“自由250”启动几周后，联邦机构开始从其网站、电子邮件签名和社交媒体账号上移除America250的标识。带有America250的横幅被取下，政府记录显示，本届政府将资金用于在全国各地的联邦建筑上布置“自由250”的装饰。
而在“自由250”崛起的同时，America250失去了部分联邦 funding。
国会在《一项宏大美好的法案》中为今年的建国250周年庆典拨款1.5亿美元，但America250迄今仅收到2500万美元。相反，联邦记录显示，已有6500万美元拨付给了国家公园基金会，该基金会可将资金分配给“自由250”。
国会委员会中的共和党议员丽莎·穆尔科斯基在4月的一场国会听证会上就America250资金不足的问题向伯根姆施压。伯根姆告诉她，内政部正在“与白宫合作”，并表示会给出答复。
“‘自由250’对我们来说是个挑战，”民主党众议员邦妮·沃森·科尔曼说道，她自2019年起就任职于America250委员会。“自由250”服务于总统“他的政治、他的捐赠者和他的虚荣项目”，但“America250的关注点在于确保这一切是为了我们的国家、我们的人民，以及我们留给下一代的讯息”，她说道。
“自由250”多次为特朗普参与庆祝活动辩护，并表示从1876年尤里西斯·辛普森·格兰特到1976年杰拉尔德·福特，历届总统长期以来都在国家建国纪念活动中发挥作用。
但在特朗普的领导下，国庆庆典已然分裂。
America250仍在推进其全国性服务活动和一系列7月4日全国性活动的计划。它将在洛杉矶举办一场音乐会，邀请克里斯·斯塔普顿和碎南瓜乐队等知名表演者登台。
America250的一位发言人在给CNN的声明中表示，对于这些活动，“预计大部分支持将来自私人来源”。
特朗普“伟大美国州博览会”的场地如今遍布着与“自由250”划清界限的州的标识。几个拒绝派遣代表团的州的展位基本空置，背景装饰简陋，仅摆放了几把椅子。
一些州将不参与的原因归咎于资金问题。俄勒冈州的规划者担心该活动“比最初呈现的更具党派色彩”。
宾夕法尼亚州州长乔希·夏皮罗告诉《新共和》杂志，他的州退出了该活动，因为他的助手难以找到一个能代表该州的团体，“总统已经将此事政治化到企业不愿参与的程度”。
与此同时，共和党州长们纷纷吹嘘本州参与了博览会。
美国州与地方历史协会的迪克特尔表示，州和地方的规划者更关注本社区的活动，而非华盛顿的动态，但他仍担心建国250周年纪念活动的整体基调已转向党派对立。他说，1976年的两百周年纪念虽然复杂，但却是一个“团结的”时刻，人们感受到了全国和解的可能。
“250周年纪念活动完全没有这种氛围，”他说道。
本周末，华盛顿的民众将在两种不同的建国250周年庆祝活动中做出选择。一些人可能会选择乘坐高耸的110英尺高的摩天轮，或与特朗普凯旋门复制品合影。组织者预计将有数千人参加Next250的活动，届时将有合唱团、墨西哥街头乐队、演讲和手链制作活动。
特朗普曾将这场庆典吹捧为“任何国家都未曾见过的最难忘的生日派对”。
在本周开幕的“伟大美国州博览会”上，他暗示未来还会有更多活动。“7月4日，我们将在国家广场举办最棒的演出。你们最爱的总统将发表演讲，请务必到场，”他说道。
How Trump’s takeover fractured America’s birthday party
2026-06-27T10:30:25.865Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/27/politics/trump-america250-freedom250-division
When Next250 organizers began planning for America’s 250th birthday, they envisioned bringing together communities in a polarized country to celebrate democracy.
But then Donald Trump returned to office as the 47th president.
Now, the left-leaning group has reframed its commemoration in response to Trump’s takeover of the country’s birthday. A communal festival in Washington, DC, on Saturday, for instance, will feature an indigenous opening ceremony, a march starting at what was once called Black Lives Matter Plaza and voter registration booths.
In seeking to put his stamp on the 250th, Trump has upended plans that had been years in the making, thrown agencies and federal funding behind his lavish, patriotic vision and drawn ire over what has become, in critics’ eyes, a partisan celebration more about the president than the country.
“It’s a lost cause to expect anything unifying and exciting coming out of Washington,” said John Dichtl, president and chief executive of the American Association for State and Local History, a nonprofit that helped advise states on their 250th planning.
Across the country, some state and local planners have distanced their celebrations from what’s happening in the nation’s capital. And in Washington, Next250 will hold its counterprogram down the street from the White House as the National Mall is being used by Trump’s “Great American State Fair.”
“The administration doesn’t own the 250th anniversary, nor do they own the story of this country,” said Linda Sarsour, one of Next 250’s organizers. The activist, known for helping to organize the Women’s March on Washington during Trump’s first term, has courted controversy over opposition to Israel.
But on Saturday, she says, “We’re coming out to say: ‘We’re all in this together, and this country belongs to all of us.’”
The first inkling of Trump’s takeover of the 250th came on a Friday afternoon last December, when Trump rattled off a dizzying list of programming for the nation’s birthday in a video on the president’s Truth Social account.
“2026 will be a celebration of America like no other, honoring our nation and all of its glory,” he declared. “To help carry out these exciting plans, we have created a public-private partnership. It’s called Freedom 250,” he said.
The announcement arrived a few weeks after Trump had suffered an apparent setback. The man he picked to lead America250 — a nonprofit in charge of federal 250th celebrations, overseen by a congressional panel — had just been fired.
Trump’s new nonprofit, Freedom 250, would ensure he got the July 4 celebrations he had long desired.
The organization also wouldn’t have to abide by the same rules as America250. While Freedom 250 is a non-partisan subsidiary of the National Park Foundation, its activities are largely overseen by top Trump aides.
Like America250, it can maintain the anonymity of its donors, but is not overseen by a bipartisan panel. In May, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told CNN’s Dana Bash that Freedom 250 is “run out of the White House” and only the organization can decide to reveal its donors.
But Richard Painter, a former White House ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush, said in an interview that he thought it was “problematic” the White House is forging relationships with nonprofits without congressional authorization. That arrangement has raised questions from watchdog groups and congressional Democrats, who are now investigating Freedom 250’s funding.
A spokesperson for the National Park Foundation told CNN: “public and private Freedom 250 funds received or expended during the current fiscal year will be accounted for through NPF’s standard financial reporting and audit processes.”
Freedom 250 lists about two dozen sponsors on its website. A number of these, like Palantir, Lockheed Martin and Oracle, have large federal contracts to provide data and defense services. Others, like Ultimate Fighting Championship and Penske Corp., are led by Trump allies Dana White and Roger Penske. Those have their own 250th-related events: the UFC fight on the White House lawn this month and an IndyCar race in August. White’s Phorm energy drinks are also for sale at the fair.
When asked whether the group would commit to publicly disclosing its donors, Freedom 250 CEO Keith Krach told CNN in an interview: “We’re all about accountability and transparency.”
“An important part of my role is to make sure that we manage the books really well,” he added. “Not just, ‘Hey, here you can see them,’ but to make sure that we get the biggest bang for the buck.”
The Freedom 250 events have played to Trump’s cultural tastes and given conservative groups a platform to shape the narrative around the celebrations — all to “renew national pride.”
A fleet of six mobile museums called “Freedom Trucks” have traveled the country, telling a story of the American Revolution through AI art and videos that say “the foundational principles of America are rooted in the Western and Judeo-Christian traditions.” The content was produced by conservative education organizations such as Hillsdale College and Prager U, which say they were not paid.
In May, Freedom 250 organized a Christianity-focused prayer event on the National Mall, and the Patriot Games, a youth athletic contest where two teenaged victors will split a $250,000 prize, is also on the books for August.
After artists, citing concerns over partisanship, bailed on performing at the opening rally for the Great American State Fair, the president instead held a rally on Wednesday, where he was the headliner. He was introduced by Lee Greenwood, a country singer whose hit “God Bless the USA” is a perennial Trump favorite.
“We are going to proclaim that America is still great, and we’re going to try to keep her that way,” Greenwood told CNN before the event.
The main July Fourth event on the National Mall, called the “Salute to America,” is meant to feature a parade, military demonstrations and other activities.
Trump asked Freedom 250 to put on the fireworks show that evening, and Krach vowed it would be “five times bigger” than DC’s usual Fourth of July show,as they attempt to break a Guinness World Record.
Freedom 250’s ambitions extend beyond events in the capital , and it has taken steps to brand itself as the nonpartisan group “leading the celebration” of America’s birthday in the public eye, putting it in competition with America250 for the national spotlight, sponsors and taxpayer funds.
Weeks after Freedom 250 launched, federal agencies began to remove America250 logos from their websites, email signatures and social media accounts. Banners featuring America250 were taken down, and the administration put money towards Freedom 250 decorations at federal buildings across the country, according to government records.
And while Freedom 250 rose to prominence, America250 lost out on some federal funding.
Congress has allocated $150 million for 250th celebrations this year in the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” but America250 has only received $25 million so far. Instead, federal records show $65 million has been sent to the National Park Foundation, which can distribute the funding to Freedom 250.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican on the congressional commission, pressed Burgum during a congressional hearing about the lack of funds going towards America250 in April. He told her Interior was “working with the White House” and that he would get back to her.
“Freedom 250 is a challenge to us,” said Democratic Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, who has been on the America250 commission since 2019. Freedom 250 serves the president, “his politics, his donors, and his vanity projects,” but “America250 is focused on making sure that this is about our country, our people moving forward, and our message to the next generations,” she said.
Freedom 250 has repeatedly defended Trump’s involvement in the celebrations and said that presidents, from Ulysses S. Grant in 1876 to Gerald Ford in 1976, have long played a role at commemorations of the nation’s founding.
But under Trump, the birthday celebrations have splintered.
America250 has forged ahead with its plans for a nationwide service campaign and a series of July 4 events taking place across the country. It will host a concert in Los Angeles featuring high-profile performers like Chris Stapleton and the Smashing Pumpkins.
An America250 spokesperson told CNN in a statement that, for those events, “the majority of support is expected to come from private sources.”
The grounds of Trump’s Great American State Fair are now peppered with reminders of the states that have distanced themselves from Freedom 250. Several booths representing states that declined to send delegations sit largely empty, with sparsely decorated backdrops and a few chairs.
Some states cited finances as their reasons for not participating. Planners for Oregon were concerned that the event was “more partisan affair than originally presented.”
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro told the New Republic that his state pulled out after his aides struggled to find a group to represent them because “the president has politicized this to a degree that businesses don’t want to participate.”
Meanwhile, GOP governors have touted their states’ participation in the fair.
Dichtl, of the American Association for State and Local History, said state and local planners were more focused on what was going on in their own communities, than in Washington, but he still fears that the overall tenor of the 250th has turned partisan. He said the 1976 bicentennial was a complicated yet “unifying” moment where national healing felt possible.
“250 does not feel that way,” he said.
This weekend, those in Washington will get to decide between different 250th celebrations. Some may choose to ride the towering, 110 foot-Ferris wheel or take a picture with a replica of Trump’s triumphal arch. Organizers say thousands are expected to attend Next250’s event, where there will be choirs and mariachi music, speeches and bracelet making.
Trump has touted the 250th as “the most unforgettable birthday party any country has ever seen.”
Opening the Great American State Fair this week, he nodded to more ahead. “On July 4, we will have the greatest show of all on the National Mall. Your favorite president will be speaking, so please show up,” he said.