Celebrating America’s 250th Independence Day in D.C.
Demonstrators at Seven Days in D.C. Photo from a Mass 50501 volunteer.
Last week, we heard one perspective about one volunteer’s experience in D.C. over July 4th. Today, we hear from another attendee.
The trip to D.C. broadened my perspective about the America that we are fighting for. People from all corners of America flooded the streets on July 4th. The barricades, long lines, and security checks made it impossible to join the celebration on the National Mall (ya really flubbed this one, Donny). Instead, it seemed like most people were crowding the surrounding streets, claiming any horizontal surface still available, to sit and view the fireworks show. I’d like to share some of my eye-witness impressions of the vibe in D.C. which may not be getting reported in the news.
Let me back up and provide some context: The U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission, a bipartisan team of lawmakers and private citizens formed by an act of Congress over a decade ago to plan celebrations for the 250th anniversary of America’s independence, was not the group that organized and hosted the 4th of July events in D.C. The celebration was instead organized by Freedom250, a Trump-administration grift designed to launder taxpayer money into the private businesses of Trump’s sycophants and bootlickers.
Celebration logistics were completely mismanaged. Before you ask—the story about the stage falling apart during a rehearsal is true. I heard it happen with my own ears; I was hanging out at the National Mall and listening to the lively music, when I heard the music stop abruptly following a loud crash. I didn’t know at the time what happened because I couldn’t see anything. I couldn’t see anything because there were oppressive barricades and fences everywhere. Likely intended to guide the public and provide security, barricades were poorly executed and created a safety hazard instead. Exits (i.e., openings in the fence) were not marked, and anyone vertically challenged (like in a wheelchair) or visually impaired (like the elderly) would have trouble locating them. Fencing should be easily movable to create larger egresses in case of emergency evacuation, but the heavy fencing made that difficult. They did have to evacuate. Hundreds ended up at the hospital for heat-related illness. But most people didn't go home. They lined the streets and created dangerous overcrowding.
In my past experience, D.C. is one of the cleanest cities I have visited in America. But this weekend, there was trash everywhere. Huge piles of trash swallowed long-overflown trashcans and it reeked. Did I accidentally time-warp back to Boston’s trash collection strike of 2025? No—rather, huge crowds of visitors descended upon D.C. and generated trash at a faster rate than it could be picked up. The barricades, road closures, and extreme congestion made it impossible for the city to pick up the trash! People were trapped in the streets, wallowing in their own trash. It was shocking. And once the celebrations wound down, this was the impression that all those people would take home from their visit to our nation’s capitol.
At one point, we came across two guys lying in the grass, appearing to be experiencing a drug overdose. A gaggle of National Guardsmen gathered around them uncertainly, scratching their heads, nervously fingering their radios, and prodding the guys to see if they’d respond. “Have you administered any Narcan?” we asked. The Guardsmen looked at us like we had three heads and blinked in confusion. The National Guard is not trained for civilian law enforcement or first responder work. Putting them in this role is unfair to them, it’s unfair to the civilians they are tasked with protecting, and it's unfair to the D.C. metropolitan police and first responders who are supposed to be responsible for this work.
Then there were the military aircraft flyovers. This was not an air show. An air show runs on a fixed schedule, over a designated area, and has aircraft in formation. Due to the lack of schedule or route, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport had to be sporadically shut down to accommodate the flyovers, causing unpredictable delays to travelers over a busy holiday weekend, including one member of my team. The flyovers were sporadic random single B-2 bombers and pairs of F-22 fighters, screaming through the sky at 15-20 minute intervals, for hours. These aircraft are so fast that by the time you hear them they’ve already passed you; if you want to see them you have to look ahead to where it sounds like they will be next. And they were flying through the entire metropolitan airspace, so you never knew when they’d come, or what side they’d come from. Typically an airshow evokes feelings of awe, wonder, and pride. This show of force evoked feelings of German blitzkrieg.
After hours of delay, the fireworks finally happened. It got so smoggy that the grand finale was not visible beyond the thick clouds of smoke settling from the prior rounds. Trump intended to make a flashy spectacle—the biggest bestest fireworks show in history—and instead he generated a bunch of smoke clouds. Everything he does is steeped in ironic failure, from his folly of the Reflecting Pool renovation to how he’s tasked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to wage war against the environment. Trump’s celebration of the 250th birthday of our democracy takes place during the deepest democratic backslide of those 250 years.
In addition to my revulsion and concern over the incompetence of the administration, I also reflected on my fellow Americans. While walking the streets of our capital among the People of America, it became clear to me that Freedom250 dropped the ball on America's birthday party, and the diverse people of our nation who traveled from far and wide to celebrate deserved better. Local organizers told me that this was not the typical tourist crowd you’d find in D.C., but instead, one heavily over-representing Trump-supporters lured in by the holiday festivities. Sure, that makes sense. These are still people of America, being treated like animals, and they deserved better. They deserve to have a better opinion of their nation’s capital. Freedom250 was propaganda that enshittified D.C. to generate the appearance that America needs to be made great again. There are plenty of things not great in America, but the streets of our capital are not among them!
The semiquincentennial of our nation’s independence is a time for both celebration and reflection. The history of our country is as diverse as the people who inhabit it. We have done great things, and we have committed grave mistakes. We host a mix of cultures and beliefs that simultaneously have the potential to bring communities together or to tear them apart. The 250th celebration was originally intended to tie our histories together and help unite the American people. Freedom250 turned it into a co-opted partisan disaster bound to the ego of one sad, angry, orange, little man. That man will not be here 250 years from now, but We the People will be. Will we choose to continue to tear each other apart, or will we build on our common ground and educate each other so we can truly form a more perfect Union, perhaps for the very first time?
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