Inside America’s Ugly Birthday Battle
· The Atlantic
Years before Poison’s Bret Michaels, Young MC, and the Commodores dropped out of this summer’s concert series on the National Mall celebrating America’s 250th birthday, planners envisioned a Smithsonian-led blockbuster festival stretching from the Washington Monument to the U.S. Capitol that would be open to all and free of partisanship. They wanted a party bigger than the Folklife Festival, an annual two-week summer exhibition, and much longer-lasting. This new “Festival of Festivals” would focus on the semiquincentennial, with four to six weeks of performances, workshops, and displays to “celebrate the nation’s successes,” “contemplate the consequences of our history,” and “commit to advancing our multicultural democracy,” according to a November 27, 2023, memo that I obtained.
But last summer, with little fanfare, President Trump took control of the event and renamed it. While campaigning, he had promised to work with all 50 state governors to put on his own “Great American State Fair” at the Iowa State Fairgrounds. Last July, he traveled to Iowa to announce a change of plans: “a giant patriotic festival next summer on the National Mall featuring exhibits from all 50 states.” The announcement got little attention, because at the same event, Trump said this about congressional Democrats: “I hate them.” The Smithsonian quietly recast the Festival of Festivals as a series of events around the country.
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So began Trump’s multipronged takeover of the historic celebrations, which will culminate on July 4—the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence—amid growing disarray and conflict, according to documents I obtained and interviews with 10 people involved in the planning or oversight of the event, most of whom requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly.
They described frayed trust and growing conflict that has become so acrimonious that the Department of Interior is refusing to honor a December agreement with America250, a bipartisan group authorized by Congress in 2016 to plan the nation’s festivities. A memorandum of agreement I obtained shows that the department pledged to transfer $50 million in congressional appropriations by February 1, but only $25 million has been delivered so far. “Spending taxpayer money on frivolous, poorly attended events and D.C. consultants who are trying to get rich off America’s 250th is the exact opposite of what was intended,” the Department of Interior press office told me yesterday in an unsigned statement, when I asked why the America250 money had not been transferred. “This administration will not light taxpayer money on fire. Full stop.”
Democratic and Republican lawmakers have expressed frustration at the breakdown, with one House committee opening its own investigations into the Trump administration’s handling of taxpayer funding for America’s birthday party. “This is straight out of It’s a Wonderful Life, when Henry Potter steals George Bailey’s money and tries to drive him to the brink,” one commissioner for America250 told me. “With less than a month away from this historic milestone, there is just no room for politics, and we remain hopeful that cooler heads will prevail.”
Trump’s team is similarly frustrated. The White House created its own rival group, Freedom 250, late last year to improve on the existing plans. Trump aides now accuse the bipartisan group of resisting the rightful role of the commander in chief to put his own mark on the celebrations. “America250 can’t get over the fact that Trump won,” Trump’s former co–campaign manager Chris LaCivita, who worked as a top contractor for America250 last year before switching to Freedom 250, told me. “They want to apologize for America’s 250th. We don’t.”
The discord broke into public view late last month when seven music acts bowed out of the Great American State Fair after they learned that Freedom 250, not the bipartisan planners, were organizing it. Trump angrily canceled the live-music series and pledged to make the event more explicitly political. Days later, he announced a June 24 rally on the National Mall to launch the state fair, an event he is now billing as a “Rally to end all Rallies,” featuring him as the centerpiece and no “singers with no talent.” He invited U.S. military bands; the country singer Lee Greenwood, whose “God Bless the U.S.A.” was Trump’s campaign walk-out song; and the opera tenor Christopher Macchio, who sang at Trump’s 2025 inauguration.
Some supporters of America250, which is backed by a bipartisan caucus of 421 federal lawmakers, view this event as further proof that Trump always planned to remake the national celebration in his image. They point to a draft Freedom 250 document, which details how organizers could encourage Americans to host their own events—town halls or rallies, say, “around a core America First issue” such as parental rights, free speech, and election integrity. Cathy Gillespie, a lifelong Republican who has been an America250 commissioner for eight years, told me in a statement that her group’s mission is to “honor and celebrate” the anniversary “in a way that engages and inspires all Americans, regardless of political affiliation.” She added, “There is nothing anywhere that validates a claim it has failed in this mission, let alone apologize for our 250th Anniversary.”
But with weeks to go, relations between the two sides could deteriorate further, potentially marring a national event that both say should be unifying. The White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told me in a statement that the celebrations “shouldn’t be ruined by people or organizations more concerned with partisanship and apologizing for America than celebrating the greatest nation in history.” Late last month, America250’s leadership sent a letter to Trump inviting him to participate in the events, including a ball drop at midnight on July 3 in Times Square, a concert in Los Angeles, and the burying of a time capsule in Philadelphia.
Discussions have followed, but the president has not yet committed to attending. Kellyanne Conway, another Republican America250 commissioner who has spoken with Trump about the celebrations, has been pushing to lower temperatures. “America’s birthday party will be epic,” she told me in a statement. “I have witnessed more collaboration than confrontation, and hope all can operate toward the same goal.”
At first, the two teams worked as one. Trump had publicly shared his vision for the 250th celebration in a May 2023 campaign video. Festivities would last an entire year, starting in 2025 on Memorial Day, he explained, and would include a Great American State Fair, a high-school athletic competition called the Patriot Games, a National Garden of American Heroes with sculptures, and a prayer event. None of those ideas appeared on the congressional planners’ agenda, but the two teams agreed that there was still time to add more events.
The America250 chair, Rosie Rios, who had served as the U.S. treasurer during the Barack Obama presidency, sent a November 2024 memo to Trump asking him to issue an executive order to mobilize federal resources for the celebrations, according to an annual report released in January. She also suggested that Trump invite King Charles III for a visit, to replicate Queen Elizabeth’s 1976 visit to mark the bicentennial. He took her up on both suggestions.
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Rios brought on a number of Trump’s top advisers, including LaCivita, the fundraiser Meredith O’Rourke, and Justin Caporale, the producer of Trump’s political events. The White House then appointed Ariel Abergel—a former producer at Fox News who had worked for First Lady Melania Trump—as America250’s executive director.
When Trump wanted to stage a military parade in Washington, D.C., on his birthday last June to commemorate the Army’s 250th anniversary, America250 allowed the president’s team to raise money for that and for a series of other Trump-focused events through their nonprofit operation. The parade—along with Trump’s speech in Iowa, his remarks at the 2025 West Point graduation, and a speech at Fort Bragg—were paid for with more than $30 million that the Trump team routed through the group, according to the America250 annual report. Sponsorships came from companies seeking Trump’s favor, such as Palantir, Amazon, Oracle, and Coinbase, and the group reported an $849,000 “fundraising fee and commission” for these programs, according to America250 documents. Some of the money raised went to other programs, including a plan for mobile museum exhibits.
But relations became strained last July after Trump declared his hatred of the Democrats at the Iowa rally, as the crowd waved America250 signs. Around the same time, Abergel suggested to four commissioners that they resign, angering some in the organization and raising concern on Capitol Hill. He pushed internally for America250 to focus more on televised events, not the less visible programming at the core of the effort. In September, he used the group’s official Instagram account to post “God bless Charlie Kirk” after the conservative activist’s assassination. Abergel was pushed out of the organization.
Tensions also emerged over money. America250 had initially planned to request $100 million in onetime funding from the Republican-backed One Big Beautiful Bill Act in 2025, according to an account given by America250 organizers to investigators of the House Natural Resources Committee, which I obtained. But at LaCivita’s recommendation, America250 changed the ask to $150 million, with the understanding that $100 million would finance America250 programming and the remaining $50 million would be spent by the White House for its own 250th events, they told the investigators. Congress assigned the Interior Department to distribute the funds.
After the bill passed, leaders of America250—which then employed LaCivita, Caporale, and O’Rourke—met with the White House staff, including Vince Haley, the director of the domestic-policy council. Caporale drafted a budget for the coming 18 months, which I obtained, that projected about $130 million in spending on America250 projects, a number that presumed $100 million in federal funds from the One Big Beautiful Bill and $30 million in other appropriations, according to the America250 response to House investigators. Under the plan, America250 expected O’Rourke to raise $85 million in private funds that would pay mostly for the programming championed by Trump, including the Great American State Fair, the Navy and Marine celebrations that fall, and the Patriot Games.
The agreement fell apart, as commissioners for America250 pushed for distance from the events that Trump’s team was planning, and the president’s advisers began raising questions about America250 spending. In November, with the support of America250, Trump’s advisers set up Freedom 250 as a LLC inside the nonpartisan National Park Foundation and began raising money for celebrations in the Washington area. America250 agreed to focus elsewhere in the country. The original talking points for the group described Freedom 250 as “complementary and reinforcing” with America250, designed to “unite Americans across political, geographic, and demographic lines.” But instead, it has become a rival effort, taking an increasing share of federal funding, scooping up donations, and assuming responsibility for long-planned events while sometimes placing Trump at the center of the celebrations.
Corporate-sponsorship packages for Freedom 250 offered top donors access to a “thank you reception hosted by President Donald J. Trump,” along with VIP access and speaking opportunities for events. Donors who give more than $2.5 million have been promised a “dedicated” press release announcing their support and a “historic” photo opportunity with Trump. A list of donors has not been disclosed, but the defense contractor Northrop Grumman and the manufacturer John Deere, which are also America250 donors, were announced in Freedom 250 press releases as “partners.”
Trump’s campaign advisers who’d initially worked for America250 left and became major vendors for Freedom 250. Caporale’s firm, Event Strategies Inc., which organized the Army parade for Trump last summer, began producing Trump’s 250th program. Trump’s campaign-merchandise vendor, a Louisiana-based firm called Ace Specialties, began operating the Freedom 250 online storefront, which offered similar merchandise as the America250 store.
The dueling celebrations of the nation were often at odds. On New Year’s Eve, Freedom 250 spent about $3 million to broadcast a light show on the Washington Monument, an idea that America250 had originally developed. America250 spent about $4 million for a televised New Year’s promotion in Times Square of its America Gives volunteer initiative. America250 partnered with the NFL during this year’s Super Bowl; Freedom 250 bought ad time around the event to promote its own brand. While America250 promoted its America’s Field Trip program, a patriotic-essay-writing contest that allowed schoolkids to win trips to historic landmarks, Freedom 250 launched the American Heroes Student Art Contest, with a trip to the Great American State Fair as the prize.
America250 adopted “350 for 250” as its motto around the time Trump retook office, a reference to the congressional mandate to include all 350 million Americans in the semiquincentennial celebration. Trump’s advisers began using a variation of the slogan—“250 for 250”—to promote the construction of a 250-foot-tall memorial arch by Arlington National Cemetery. The planned arch, which is yet to begin construction and is opposed by Democrats, has been included in promotional images for the Great American State Fair.
The nastiest fights have arisen over money. Trump-administration officials signaled late last year that America250’s programming would not receive $100 million from the One Big Beautiful Bill. Instead, the National Park Service, which was handling the funds for the Interior Department, signed a memorandum of agreement with America250 in December to transfer $50 million to the group by February 1. The full amount never arrived.
“We thought we’d taken care of that in last year’s budget—$150 million for America250, promised $50 million; they only received $25 so far,” Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, a Republican who is a member of the America250 commission, said at an April hearing with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. “I am still concerned about this additional $25 million that was to be directed to America250.”
“We are working closely with the White House on that, and so we’ll get back to you,” Burgum responded. The Interior press office suggested yesterday that the money would not be coming anytime soon. “The Trump administration has been clear since day one that we will be good stewards of taxpayer money,” it told me in a statement. “The Memorandum of Understanding signed with all 250th related entities made that clear.”
The Trump team now says that it became concerned about the cost of America250’s programming. It inquired about the decision to provide Rios with an apartment in Washington. “There are serious concerns about America250’s accountability,” one person in Trump’s orbit who is familiar with the discussions told me. “Since 2016, the organization has received over $120 million in public and private funding per their own documents. Now they claim a budget deficit, and they need another $130 million? What about their bloated budget and lame programming is worth $250 million?”
Trump’s team was particularly concerned about America’s Field Trip, an essay-writing contest that has provided trips for 275 students and their chaperones to historic locales across the country, along with $500 cash awards for an equal number of runners-up. The budget for the program is not fixed, but one projection I viewed put it at $10.4 million over eight years, or about $38,000 per field-trip winner. “Whatever way you cut the math, it doesn’t work,” the person in Trump’s orbit said.
Representatives of America250 rejected the suggestion that money had been mishandled, and they pointed out that the goal of the field-trip project was to engage students across the country, not just to award prizes. More than 20,000 students have submitted patriotic essays as part of the program. The group has re-budgeted its programming to account for the decreased allocations from the One Big Beautiful Bill, though it continues to seek the second $25 million promised in the Interior agreement. “Any claim that America250 has misused taxpayer resources or operated as a partisan organization is completely unfounded and wrong,” Gillespie said. The Washington apartment used by Rios was rented for use by any America250 commissioner, who all work as volunteers, after it was determined that the arrangement would be less expensive than renting hotel rooms, an America250 official told me.
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From December to April, the Interior Department transferred $68 million to the National Park Foundation, which houses Freedom 250, for semiquincentennial programming, according to federal records. The White House also asked the department to transfer other funds to the Defense Department to pay for the Navy and Marine 250th celebrations last fall, according to the person in Trump’s orbit familiar with the discussions.
At the same time, the Trump administration has given Washington a glam-up ahead of the summer’s festivities, upsetting some Democrats. Federal payment records show that since the start of November, the Interior Department has transferred about $98 million from the National Park Service’s entry-fee program to beautification efforts around D.C., including the retrofit of the Reflecting Pool and multiple nearby fountains and monuments.
All of this spending by Trump’s team is now the subject of a Democratic investigation in the House, an inquiry that could expand if the party wins control of Congress in the November elections. “We’ve found a lot in our investigations and will keep digging,” Representative Jared Huffman of California, the ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, told me in a statement, “but it seems pretty clear this con man is at it again and has co-opted America’s birthday to rake in foreign donations, siphon taxpayer dollars from the legitimate America 250 into this shadowy LLC, and use it all to celebrate himself instead of the country.”
Republicans on the same committee, meanwhile, have attacked America250 while praising Freedom 250. “The America250 organization had ten years to prepare for this historic milestone, yet they have been accused of mismanaging taxpayer dollars,” Representative Addison McDowell of North Carolina told me in a statement. “Freedom 250 is celebrating our country in the patriotic way it deserves.”
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a group that represents federal workers, has also filed a lawsuit to force Interior to turn over more documents detailing spending on Freedom 250 and separate spending by the National Park Service to prepare Washington-area monuments for the summer events. “This really doesn’t feel like a bipartisan celebration that is inclusive of all Americans,” PEER Executive Director Tim Whitehouse told me. “This feels like a political prop show for the president.”
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At the Department of Interior, employees have been instructed to treat Freedom 250 as a trusted partner. In an April 30 internal National Park Service email that I reviewed, the agency urged its staff to wear Freedom 250 commemorative pins on their uniform lapels. Those who do not wear uniforms were told to wear the pin with business attire “as a mark of Esprit de Corps.” Park Service volunteers were also encouraged to wear the pin.
“This pin serves as a symbol of our shared history and commitment to the values of service and liberty that have defined this nation for two and a half centuries,” the email to staff reads. The Park Service said in the email that the pins, which retail individually for $8 on the Freedom 250 website, could be ordered in batches of “100 or more” from Trump’s campaign vendor in Louisiana. “Any insinuation that employees were tasked with buying Freedom 250 pins is categorically false,” the Interior press office told me in a statement.
The Smithsonian, meanwhile, is moving ahead with its 250th celebrations, far from the controversy in Washington. The Festival of Festivals will now take place in 27 states and two territories, according to the Smithsonian, integrating the federal museum programming into far-flung events that were already planned. While Trump gathers Americans for his rally and fair, the Smithsonian will make appearances at Farm Aid, a Virginia Beach concert organized by the musicians Willie Nelson, Neil Young, and Dave Matthews that is scheduled for September, and at Burning Man, an annual arts bacchanal in the Nevada desert. The Burning Man plan, according to Smithsonian officials, is to set up a “mobile recording station” where revelers can give five-to-10-minute oral-history interviews “on culture, identity, and democracy” for the 250th.