America turns 250 with mixed emotions - and Trump centre stage
The United States is celebrating its 250th birthday with parades, flyovers and fireworks - and President Donald Trump stamping his mark on the anniversary in a deeply divided nation.
Washington’s traditional pyrotechnic display on the National Mall - lined with monuments celebrating the nation’s Founding Fathers - has been super-sized and is being touted as the biggest ever.
It is scheduled to kick off at around 10.30pm local time (2.30pm NZT) but severe weather has threatened to derail the party.
Trump organised a programme of flyovers and an unusual MAGA-style political rally to mark the 1776 signing of the Declaration of Independence.
The national holiday comes in the middle of a brutal heatwave, with some 160 million Americans under extreme weather warnings, wreaking havoc with parades, block parties and barbecues in towns and cities across much of the country.
With temperatures in the US capital expected to reach 39C - and the heat index soaring to 43-46C - the Independence Day parade in Washington was cancelled.
With National Guard troops - controversially deployed across Washington DC by President Donald Trump - imposing crowd control, forklifts dropped pallets of bottled water which crowds clawed through in scenes evoking a disaster response.
Still the mood was joyous, with chants of “USA! USA! USA!” breaking out in one set of lines near the National Gallery.
A severe thunderstorm later forced the evacuation of a celebration on Washington’s National Mall. A few hours before Trump was due to deliver his address to a crowd of tens of thousands, fierce wind gusts buffeted the sprawling grounds and lightning flashed nearby, prompting officials to order people to immediately seek shelter.
Trump, who turned 80 last month, promised to make his speech “no matter what”, earlier saying he would make a “really long speech - just to show that I can do anything”.
To that end, the fireworks display has been delayed from its original 9pm start time, with Trump reportedly due to start speaking around that time - weather permitting.
Ahead of the Washington DC celebrations, Trump visited the iconic Mount Rushmore monument in South Dakota for an evening address under the stony gaze of his legendary predecessors George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt.
While he lauded US exceptionalism and praised the country’s past leaders, he also said America’s identity was under “renewed attack” from domestic “radicals and extremists”; saving particular ire for a “resurgence of the communist menace”.
It is a theme that Trump has repeatedly hammered home in recent weeks, as the anti-establishment left of the Democratic Party won a string of US primary victories.
For Americans, the anniversary festivities offer a moment for reflection as well as celebration.
After 250 years of triumphs and tragedies, slavery and freedom, civil war and world wars, multiple surveys indicate a nation divided about where it is and where it’s going.
A Quinnipiac University Poll showed 61% of Americans thought the US was not living up to the ideals stated in the Declaration of Independence.
Outside Washington, New York is hosting an international parade of tall ships, with flyovers and its own massive fireworks display.
In Philadelphia, lines formed early despite the heat to see the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence was signed.
For Loselie Weber, who was visiting Washington from Texas, the holiday inspires gratitude.
She said: “As an immigrant - a legal immigrant - I came when I was seven years old, and I’ve been thankful, very thankful to be able to have the privilege of living here and the freedom that it has offered me”.
While the crowd in the US capital may have represented America geographically, it did not appear to do so ideologically.
Amid accusations that Trump has co-opted the anniversary to celebrate his own achievements, his MAGA movement’s stamp was immediately clear on the clothing and accessories spotted around the Mall.
In Atlanta, Georgia, music therapist Melissa Pate was far more sombre about the holiday. She said: “I guess in this current political climate, 250 years ... it feels like we still have a long way to go.
“To think that we’re 250 years in and there are people in this country that are still not living in true freedom. It’s kind of disappointing.”
- AFP