U.S. President Donald Trump on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 24, 2026. REUTERS/Evan Vucci
On Wednesday night, June 24, President Donald Trump briefly spoke at the Great American State Fair on Washington
DC's National Mall. The ongoing event, which continues through July 10, is being billed as a celebration of the United States' 250th anniversary. But Never Trump conservative Tom Nichols believes that Trump is making the event a celebration of himself and the MAGA movement, not the United States' 250 years as a democratic republic.
Writing for The Atlantic, Nichols argues, "Most Americans seem to understand that the Fourth of July is about something bigger than ourselves. It is about celebrating our democracy and our role as citizens — as equals — in it. George Washington understood what that meant. In his last will and testament, he described himself as 'a citizen of the United States, and lately president of the same.' He cherished being an American citizen — a title he and the other American revolutionaries helped to create —holding that status even more dear than the temporary honor of the presidency. If only Donald Trump understood any of this."
Trump, the conservative journalist laments, "treated" the Wednesday gathering as "kind of MAGA mini-rally."
"After dashing off some boilerplate phrases about American history," Nichols observes. "Trump went for division, grievance, and self-congratulation. He trotted out the usual rally phrases: The United States was once a dead country, everyone was laughing at us, we’re the hottest country in the world, and so on. He took a reality-challenged victory lap on Iran — even as the Iranians, earlier today, told him to pound sand about nuclear inspections. He assured the American people that he would stop 'transgender mutilization' and not allow men to play in women's sports. DEI, Critical Race Theory, the Gulf of America — all the usual red-meat issues from his rallies made appearances."
Trump's Great American Fair speech, Nichols argues, expressed "vulgar nationalism" — not true "patriotism."
"Trump cannot comprehend patriotism, the love of one's country," Nichols warns. "Instead, he defaults to nationalism, the sour and hostile glorification of one's own nation over everyone else's. He does this because he views the world the way he apparently has viewed most things in his life: as a competition…. He could have reminded us that the survival of the American experiment, and the freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution, are miracles that bless every person who lives here. Instead, he told America that he is great, and that because he is great, America is great — and thanks to him, it is now better than everywhere else."