WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump sees America’s 250th anniversary as a chance to get the country excited again.
The president is hosting a rally Wednesday on the National Mall in Washington, replete with a military flyover by stealth bombers, military bands, singer Lee Greenwood of “God Bless the USA” fame and a speech by Trump.
It comes as Trump works to convince Americans ahead of critical November midterm elections that he's put the unpopular Iran war in the rearview mirror, with oil prices easing as the Strait of Hormuz has started to reopen in the wake of an interim deal to end the war with Tehran.
The rally is designed to kick off weeks of celebrations about America and its 1776 founding as part of “The Great American State Fair” on the mall, the national park that stretches from the U.S. Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial.
Several musicians — including Young MC, Martina McBride and the Commodores — canceled their concerts because of concerns the event had become politicized. The president stepped into the void as he hyped his own ability to command a crowd.
“I am thinking about bringing the Number One Attraction anywhere in the World, the man who gets much larger audiences than Elvis in his prime, and he does so without a guitar, the man who loves our Country more than anyone else, and the man who some say is the Greatest President in History,” Trump posted on social media about his plan to be the event’s headliner.
In a video posted Monday night, he said the event would be "the biggest rally we’ve ever had,” and declared: “It’s our music, our playlist. We don’t have a lot of people boring you with songs you don’t want to hear. We have the hottest people.”
Tuesday afternoon, country singer Alexis Wilkins, the longtime girlfriend of FBI Director Kash Patel, posted on X that she would be performing at Wednesday's event.
Trump is pressing the case that he's made America better
Democrats say his botched repairs to the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool and the resulting algae outbreak are a sign that he’s spending taxpayer money on vanity projects instead of the nation's legacy.
Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., said the Trump-affiliated group organizing the 250th anniversary was selling access to special interests and redrafting the nation's founding to the president's liking, based on documents he presented at a congressional hearing earlier this year.
“It should be about bringing us together,” Huffman said. “He's trying to make this 250th celebration all about him.”
Trump’s fondness for showmanship has not been a match for public anxiety about his presidency. Only 33% of U.S. adults approve of his economic leadership, with favorability at 40% on immigration and 34% on Iran.
“It’s clear that Trump’s preoccupations in his second term — from Iran to the Washington reflecting pool — are not those of most members of his base, let alone other Americans,” said Daniel Treisman, a politics professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. “That explains his unusually low approval ratings.”