2026-06-25T04:09:41.698Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/25/politics/is-trump-celebrating-the-country-or-himself-on-americas-250th
仿佛过去250年从未发生过。
当地时间周三晚间，唐纳德·特朗普总统在一场演讲中开启了美国半千年纪念庆典的活动，其演讲暗示，美国在这一历史性时刻所展现的伟大，很大程度上要归功于他本人。
当军用战机掠过国家广场上空，“总统专属”海军陆战队乐队奏响爱国曲目后，特朗普登上舞台，李·格林伍德与他的竞选主题曲《天佑美国》为他烘托氛围。
在正常时期，一位总统或许会选择在这一里程碑时刻反思美国为兑现建国承诺所做出的努力、自身的不足、寻求救赎的尝试以及仍需前行的道路。
但这位曾试图重塑美国部分顶级博物馆所讲述的国家历史的总统，似乎更在意自己在历史长河中的位置。
考虑到特朗普的支持率正持续下滑，此番表态尤其显得不合时宜。最新的CNN民调汇总显示，他的支持率仅为36%，这意味着多数民众反对他，而此时正值美国历史上极具纪念意义的节点。
在提及《独立宣言》的光辉事迹与永恒价值观后，特朗普迅速将话题转向当下，宣称“美国已经回归”，并声称自己在不到两年的时间里拯救了一个“濒临死亡的国家”。随后，他列举了一系列自己的政绩——无论这些政绩是真实存在还是被夸大——并将它们与拜登政府的“彻底灾难”进行对比。
“我们正处于黄金时代，”特朗普宣称。
总统采取这种党派色彩浓厚的立场并不令人意外。此前，多名艺人因认为该活动——“伟大美国州展”——已被政治化而宣布退出，特朗普对此反应激烈，并誓言将加码举办一场竞选集会。他的这一决定恰好印证了反对者长期以来的批评：特朗普试图将美国建国250周年庆典变成一场为自己歌功颂德的活动。
民主党全国委员会主席肯·马丁就是其中一位批评者。他在一份声明中抱怨道：“在美国民众齐聚一堂庆祝国家建国250周年之际，唐纳德·特朗普正做着他最擅长的事：斥巨资举办华而不实、以特朗普为主题的活动，却让美国民众为其买单。”
特朗普并未试图证明马丁的指责是错误的，这一点暴露了他的性格特质——他的政治手段向来更注重主导权，而非寻求跨越分歧搭建桥梁，这或许也预示了他最终在历史上的定位。
特朗普的演讲受到了台下观众的热烈欢迎，在场者大多是他的支持者。换个场景，这或许并无不妥。特朗普曾两次当选总统，无可否认，他代表了数千万认为政治体制和经济发展将他们抛下的民众，这些人认为美国在文化和社会层面过于左倾。他在周三列出的诸多政绩，包括加固南部边境和出台新的减税法案，都深受其支持者的欢迎。无论民众对伊朗战争持何种看法，大多数美国人都会认同他对军方的赞扬。
就连华盛顿特区的一些居民——这座城市绝大多数是自由派选民——也赞赏他为维护街道安全所做的努力，以及他对纪念雕像的清理工作，尽管他们对他对国家广场倒影池的滑稽改造和提议建造的凯旋门感到尴尬。
然而，在《独立宣言》签署250周年之际，众多庆祝建国的美国人并非“让美国再次伟大”（MAGA）的支持者。尽管总统是由党派选民选举产生，但在重要的全国纪念活动中，他们也肩负着更高的公民职责。
周三晚间的演讲并非特朗普在美国国庆日的最后表态。他曾表示，“你们最爱的总统”将在7月4日于国家广场发表演讲，因此他或许仍会尝试团结全国民众。
但这场启动活动的一个考验在于，一名并非坚定特朗普支持者的普通公民是否会感到受欢迎。他对自我的颂扬、对伊朗战争等争议性政策的鼓吹、对多元化、公平与包容（DEI）项目的打压，以及移民与海关执法局（ICE）人员开展的移民突袭行动，都表明答案是否定的。
许多美国人会对这位屡屡尝试挑战宪法、动辄摆出君主派头、将自己与发动反抗专制国王革命的开国元勋相提并论的总统感到反感。
“就像过去17个月里1776年的那些爱国者一样，我们已经从遥远的政治精英手中夺回了权力，”特朗普说道，“我们重新夺回了主权，恢复了自由，重振了经济，并在方方面面拯救了我们的国家。”
特朗普的讲话基调与上一届为独立日里程碑纪念活动造势的白宫政府截然不同。
1976年美国建国200周年之际，总统杰拉尔德·福特基本避免涉及政治。他当时的高级助手戴维·杰根在一份白宫备忘录中建议，尽管周年纪念活动“必然会涉及政治和经济原则与制度”，但“绝对不应出现竞选暗号或党派影射”。
特朗普并非在真空中庆祝美国建国250周年。他上任不到两年，就已采取了美国总统有史以来最激进的行动之一来扩大行政权力。在他发表演讲的数小时前，他与共和党参议员举行了一场激烈的会面，因议员们投票限制其在伊朗冲突后的战争权力而大发雷霆，这进一步凸显了他认为自己的权威不应受到挑战的态度。他还要求国会通过一项全面的选民登记法案，而许多批评者认为，该法案会削弱源自美国独立战争的民主自由。
这场在国家广场举办的“伟大美国州展”，本应展示整个国家的多元风貌——尽管已有少数由民主党执政的州宣布退出。但特朗普的演讲焦点却更为狭隘。
一场庆祝1776年以来国家进步的活动，本应突出不同政治光谱上的领导人，展示美国多元的种族、信仰、文化和观点，以肯定超越当代政治考量的核心立国原则。但特朗普却只介绍了他的内阁成员——这些人往往以公开表现对他的忠诚而著称——以及众议院共和党议长迈克·约翰逊。
为强化这种排外感，他在演讲结束时并未引用乔治·华盛顿、托马斯·杰斐逊或约翰·亚当斯的话语，而是使用了数百场他自己竞选集会上耳熟能详的口号。
“今晚，我们准备好迈入第250个年头。我们比以往任何时候都更坚定地铭记这些话语……我们将让美国再次强大。我们将让美国再次自豪。我们将让美国再次安全，我们将让美国再次伟大。”
“生日快乐，美国。”
Is Trump celebrating the country, or himself, on America’s 250th?
2026-06-25T04:09:41.698Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/25/politics/is-trump-celebrating-the-country-or-himself-on-americas-250th
It was almost as if the last 250 years never happened.
President Donald Trump kicked off celebrations for America’s semi-quincentennial on Wednesday night in a speech which implied that the nation’s greatness at this landmark moment was largely thanks to him.
After military jets ripped through the sky over the National Mall, and the ‘President’s own’ Marine band played patriotic hits, Trump emerged on stage, serenaded by Lee Greenwood, and his campaign anthem “God Bless the USA.”
In a more normal time, a president might have chosen to mark the milestone with a rumination on America’s attempts to honor its founding promise, on its failings, grasps for redemption and of the journey still to come.
But a president who sought to reshape the nation’s story as told by some of its greatest museums, seemed more concerned with his personal place in history.
This seemed especially discordant when Trump’s popularity is plunging. He’s at 36%approval in the latest CNN Poll of Polls — meaning that a majority of citizens oppose him, at an especially resonant moment of American history.
After a nod to the glorious deeds and timeless values of the Declaration of Independence, Trump fast forwarded to the present, declaring “America is back” and claiming he’d rescued a “dead country” in less than two years. Then he peeled off a list of his achievements, real or exaggerated, comparing them to the “total disaster” of the Biden administration.
“We are in the golden age,” Trump declared.
It’s hardly a surprise that the president adopted such a partisan tone. He’d reacted furiously to a string of performing artists pulling out of the event — to open a Great American State Fair — because they believed it had become politicized and vowed to double down with a campaign rally. His decision played into the criticism of opponents who’ve long warned the president wants to turn America’s 250th Birthday into a celebration of himself.
One such critic, Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin, complained in a statement that “as Americans come together to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding, Donald Trump is doing what he does best: blowing money on flashy, Trump-themed events while forcing Americans to foot the bill.”
That Trump made no effort to prove Martin wrong, was revealing of his character, a political method that has long been more about dominance than seeking to build bridges across divides, and perhaps hints at his eventual place in history.
Trump’s remarks were warmly welcomed by a crowd that seemed mostly made up of admirers. In another context, this would be just fine. The president was elected twice. There’s no disputing he spoke for tens of millions of people who believed the political system and the economy had left them behind and that culturally and socially the country was leaning too far left. Many achievements, he laid out Wednesday, are popular with his fans, including securing the southern border and a new tax cutting law. Whatever their views about the war in Iran, most Americans would join in his praise for the military.
And some residents of Washington, DC, an overwhelmingly liberal city, also appreciate his efforts to make their streets safer, and his clean-up of statues, even if they cringe at his farcical renovation of the Reflecting Pool on the Mall and his proposed triumphal arch.
Yet millions of Americans celebrating the country 250 years after the Declaration of Independence are not MAGA voters. Presidents, while elected by partisans also have a higher civic role at significant national observances.
Wednesday night’s speech was not Trump’s last word on America’s birthday. He said “your favorite president” will be speaking on the Mall on July Fourth, so he may still try to bring the country together.
But one test of his kickoff event was whether a citizen who is not a committed Trump admirer would feel welcome. His celebration of self, his touting of controversial policies like the war in Iran, the crushing of diversity, equity and inclusion programs and ICE officers who conducted migrant raids suggest the answer is no.
Many Americans would take offense at a president whose power grabs have often tested the Constitution, and who affects monarchical airs in comparing himself to the founders who launched a revolution against a tyrannical king.
“Just like those patriots of 1776 over the past 17 months, we have taken power back from the far-off political class,” Trump said. “We have reclaimed our sovereignty, regained our liberty, restored our prosperity, and we have saved our country in all things.”
Trump’s tone contrasted with the attitude of the last White House to mark an Independence milestone.
At the bicentennial in 1976, President Gerald Ford largely avoided politics. His then senior aide David Gergen counseled in a White House memo that while anniversary events would of “necessity deal with political and economic principles and institutions, there should be no campaign codewords or partisan insinuations whatsoever.”
Trump is not marking the 250th anniversary of independence in a vacuum. He’s less than two years into one of the most aggressive attempts by a president to exert executive power. His sense that his authority should be unchallenged was underscored a few hours before he spoke, in an acrimonious meeting with Republican senators when he seethed at members who voted to curtail his war powers after the Iran conflict. He also demanded Congress pass a sweeping voter registration bill that many critics argue would curtail democratic freedoms traced back to the revolution.
The Great American State fair — hosted on the National Mall — is meant to showcase the richness of the entire country — even if a handful of Democratic-run states have pulled out. But Trump’s speech had a more narrow focus.
An event celebrating the nation’s progress since 1776, might have been expected to highlight leaders across the political spectrum, to showcase the nation’s multiplicity of races, faiths, cultures and opinions, in an affirmation of bedrock foundational principles that supersede contemporary political concerns. But Trump instead, only introduced members of his Cabinet, who’ve often distinguished themselves with public displays of loyalty to him as well as Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson.
Reinforcing this sense of exclusion, he ended, not with the words of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson or John Adams, but with the refrain familiar from hundreds of his own campaign rallies.
“Tonight we prepare to enter our 250th year. We are more determined than ever to remember these phrases …. We will make America strong again. We will make America proud again. We will make America safe again, and we will make America great again.”
“Happy birthday, America.”