Trump’s Semiquincentennial Faceplant

His attempt to usurp America’s moment—and meaning—is failing.

Our long national nightmare may be coming to an end: The White House and Iran are reportedly closing in on a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, with Iran seemingly willing to forgo tolls or controls on the waterway in exchange for various U.S. concessions like sanctions relief and the unfreezing of assets.

If the deal materializes as promised, it’s likely a better outcome for the United States than the extraordinarily bleak one many expected, in which Iran felt empowered to throw its weight around in the strait in perpetuity—although, as always, the devil will be in the details.

Even here, the deal represents at best a return to the pre-war Hormuz status quo of open international navigation—and at a heavy cost. In addition to the thirteen American service members killed and more than 500 wounded, plus the eye-watering price to taxpayers of the war itself, the United States appears prepared to extend a major economic lifeline to Iran that will help it quickly rebuild. And Iran seems to have convinced the Trump administration to punt for now on further negotiations about its nuclear program. Why American negotiators think they’ll be able to get more concessions from Iran later, when they’re able to apply less economic and military pressure, is unclear. Happy Friday.

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(Photo illustration by The Bulwark / Photos: Getty, Shutterstock)

It’s Still About Us, Not About Him

by William Kristol

On July 2, 1776, the Second Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, voted to approve the resolution proposed by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia stating that the United Colonies “are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States.”

The next day, John Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail, explaining what the Congress had done. And he looked forward with pride and pleasure to the fact that July 2 would heretofore be celebrated as the new nation’s birthday, with “Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sport, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.”

As it happened, Americans decided to date our independence not from the vote on July 2 but from the adoption of the formal document declaring independence two days later. So July 4 became our national birthday. But Adams was vindicated in his hope that it would be commemorated by “Shews, Games, Sport, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations.”

And so it will be this year, our 250th anniversary of independence.

There is one small problem, though. We elected Donald J. Trump as our president in 2024. And so he will preside over the 250th birthday of a nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

I hope the Supreme Judge of the World (as the Declaration refers to Him) is enjoying this rather dark cosmic joke.

It’s not just that Trump’s policies fly in the face of the principles of the Declaration, and seek to undermine a government that secures our rights and derives its just powers from the consent of the governed.

It’s also that Trump is doing his best to horn in on the celebration, to turn it into his event, not ours, to vulgarize it according to his taste, to personalize it in accord with his narcissism, and to distort its meaning in line with his prejudices.

And so we had the unseemly “Rededicate 250: A National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise & Thanksgiving” on the National Mall two weeks ago. And we have the plans for the grotesque 250-foot Trump arch desecrating Arlington National Cemetery. And we have the attempt by the Trump administration to feature Trump on a new $250 bill for our 250th birthday (about which more below). And we have the $1.776 billion slush fund to be dispersed to January 6th insurrectionists. And so on.

These efforts all need to be blocked by Congress and the courts if possible, and shunned and deplored by the public as necessary.

The good news is that this seems to be happening. Trump may succeed in pulling off individual events and even projects, for now. But his attempted hijacking of the meaning of America is failing. The public disapproves of his grandiose imperial arch by 51 percent to 21 percent, according to a Washington Post/ABC/Ipsos poll last month, and Democrats in Congress are introducing legislation to block it.

And even Republicans in Congress don’t support repealing the century and a half-old law that stipulates that “no portrait or likeness of any living person shall be engraved or placed upon any of the bonds, securities, notes, or postal currency of the United States.” This law harkened back to the example of Washington, who during his lifetime turned down having his portrait struck on the first silver dollar, believing this would be reminiscent of a monarch and inappropriate in a republic.

There’s no way to stop all of Trump’s indignities. The State Department is beginning to issue passports featuring Trump’s portrait and signature, which doesn’t require congressional approval. The late-Roman-empire-style Ultimate Fighting Championship event scheduled for June 14 on the South Lawn of the White House is presumably going to happen. And so will the “Great American State Fair” exposition on the National Mall from June 25 through July 10, though performing artists are pulling out of it en masse.

But we do have reason to be increasingly confident that Trump won’t succeed in using our 250th birthday to corrupt our civic traditions. We have increasing reason to think that the American people aren’t being seduced by his vision of the country. And so we can reasonably hope that one day soon, after this unfortunate interlude, we will once again have elected leaders who will celebrate our national birthday in a way fitting and proper for this great nation.

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AROUND THE BULWARK

• Sometimes Stopping Extremism Means Getting Your Hands Dirty… MATT DALLEK writes about how the Anti-Defamation League’s secret spy campaign helped destroy the far-right John Birch Society.

• The Holiday from History Is Over and the Great Powers Are Back… BRIAN STEWART reviews Brendan Simms’s unsettling and erudite new book.

• Three Movies to Prep For Our Viral Apocalypse… On The Bulwark Goes to Hollywood, JONATHAN COHN joins SONNY BUNCH to discuss Contagion, And the Band Played On, and Outbreak.

• CBS Fires Top Staffers from 60 Minutes In Newsroom Purge… On Bulwark+ Takes, JVL and SAM STEIN give their takes on CBS News firing Sharyn Alfonsi, Cecilia Vega, and top executives at 60 Minutes.

• The Tech Bros Should Just Shut Up… KARA SWISHER joins TIM MILLER on The Flagship Pod to explain why the pitchforks are coming for big tech.

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Quick Hits

PHONY AS A $250 BILL: Another day, another Trump’s-putting-his-face-on-something news story. Here’s CNN:

The Bureau of Engraving and Printing is planning to potentially print a commemorative $250 bill with the image of President Donald Trump to mark the country’s 250th anniversary.

A Treasury Department spokesperson confirmed the plans in a statement, saying it was conducting “appropriate planning and due diligence” in response to “active legislation.”

“Should this legislative mandate be signed into law, the BEP is moving proactively to produce a $250 commemorative note which will appropriately recognize the 250th Anniversary of our great nation,” the spokesperson told CNN.

Remarkably, the president’s face being involved might not even be the stupidest part of this. There’s competition, anyway: Commemorative coins are one thing, but high-denomination commemorative bills? And in a gaudy red, white, and blue color scheme to boot? What are we doing here, exactly?

Then again, maybe there’s one silver lining: Inventing brand-new high-denomination bills and slapping his face on them is a pretty good way for Trump to remind Americans just how little he’s done to address their inflation anxieties.

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BOMBS AWAY IN GUATEMALA: Wars in the Middle East not going so hot? Maybe throwing around your weight a bit more in Latin America is what you need to put the pep back in your step. The New York Times reports on America’s planned military strikes against drug trafficking groups in Guatemala:

Guatemala has agreed to carry out joint strikes with the United States military inside its territory to target drug trafficking groups, according to three people familiar with the talks, in a further expansion of the Trump administration’s military campaign across Latin America.

Last week, President Bernardo Arévalo of Guatemala agreed to both airstrikes and other military action in a call with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, two of those people said, with operations to start as early as next month. It was unclear what other military activities could be included in the agreement. . . . One of the next countries that the Defense Department intends to press to accept joint military action is Honduras, said two of the people familiar with the plans.

But Guatemala and Honduras aren’t the big fish:

The Trump administration is targeting Guatemala and Honduras to pressure Mexico into accepting joint counterdrug operations, those two people said. While Washington has been pushing for U.S. boots on the ground and drone strikes, President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico has staunchly rejected the requests. The White House’s broader strategy is to normalize an American military presence across Latin America to gain leverage over Mexico, according to the two people.

Read the whole thing.

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LEFT HOLDING THE BAG: Donald Trump tends to brush off unfavorable headlines as fake news, but here’s one from Politico he might want to pay attention to: “Trump could be on the hook for taxes on his $1.8 billion ‘Weaponization Fund.’”

Here’s the gist: Because the fund is set up to draw from the Treasury’s Judgment Fund—a step the lawyers took to make sure they wouldn’t need to ask Congress for new money—the money by law must first go to Trump himself, as the litigant in the case that resulted in the settlement. Thus, some tax experts argue, he’ll likely be the one on the hook for the settlement fund’s tax bill—even if he sticks to his pledge (made explicit in the text of the settlement) not to take any of it himself.

It’s not like Trump has anything to worry about in the short term: The IRS that he ordered to give him the ridiculous settlement in the first place might not be too quick to force him to fork over any money he owes. Future IRS leadership, though, might be another story.

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Cheap Shots

Just classic D.C.!