A Daily Reid: America's failing führer

Donald Trump is only interested in celebrating himself -- not America -- and he's blowing your money and embarrassing himself doing it

I was eight years old and in fourth grade in 1976 when America’s Bicentennial — the 200th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence — rolled around. Gerald Ford was the president, and it was an election year, which was not good news for the guy who two years earlier had disgusted the nation by pardoning his crooked Republican predecessor, Richard Nixon. Still, the national celebration went on, and we fourth graders were expected to do our part.

Source: President Gerald Ford Library and Museum

Here’s how the Ford Library describes the goings on, which kicked off the year before:

…The American Freedom Train, carrying artifacts, documents, and artwork for public view, began its 21-month tour of the 48 contiguous states on April 1, 1975. On April 18, 1975, President Gerald Ford visited the Old North Church in Boston, Massachusetts, where two lanterns were ceremoniously lit, along with a third lantern in recognition of the country’s third century. He then delivered a major address at Lexington and Concord commemorating the 200th anniversary of the battles that spurred the Revolutionary War.

The United States Congress had previously established the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission (ARBC) in 1966 to organize the Bicentennial celebration. The ARBC was criticized, however, for showing excessive political bias and commercialism. [Emphasis added] As a result, Congress replaced the ARBC with the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration (ARBA) in 1973. ARBA focused on supporting and coordinating state, local, and private celebrations, with around 66,000 recognized events in total. There were picnics, ceremonies, presentations, and numerous other festivities across the country. One of the most significant events was the Bicentennial Wagon Train Pilgrimage, in which volunteers from every state traveled eastward over historic trails in covered wagons. Bicentennial celebrations were not limited to the US. An exhibition titled The World of Franklin and Jefferson first opened in Paris, France, before travelling throughout Europe and the US.

Those partisanship warnings seem rather quaint today… There were also state visits, from the president of France and his wife, who were treated in May of 1976 to a public “sound and light show at Mount Vernon” and then in July, “Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip of Great Britain toured Philadelphia, the District of Columbia, Virginia, New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. On behalf of the British people, the Queen gifted to the United States the Bicentennial Bell, a replica of the Liberty Bell that hangs at Independence Hall in Philadelphia.”

A national tour, kicked off on July 4, 1976, in which President Ford and his daughter Susan traveled with loads of commemorative artifacts to Pennsylvania to speak at Valley Forge, to Independence Hall in Philadelphia, and to New York Harbor where “First Lady Betty Ford joined them to celebrate Operation Sail, an international naval review of ships sent by the navies of numerous countries. The day ended in DC, where President and Mrs. Ford watched fireworks from the White House Balcony.”

At Barney Ford Elementary School in Montbello, we were tasked in art class with creating a map of the United States out of model paste stuck on heavy cardboard. I chose a cardboard sheet in an exacting shade of ocean blue and made my states a variety of bright colors, while many of the cool kids goofed off, passed those folded paper triangles where you could write quizzes about who you would date or kiss, and generally derided me as a nerd, which didn’t bother me because I was focused on my art. Good times.

There was always going to be a celebration

To be clear, whoever became president at noon on January 20, 2025 was going to do a massive celebration of America’s 250th birthday this summer, and they were going to spend our tax money throwing it, and preparing the Capitol for it to be done. Had Kamala Harris been elected president, you can be sure the White House would have lined up major celebrities for a massive concert on the national mall, complete with fireworks and dramatic speeches. There would likely have been same state visit by the King and Queen of England, as happened last month (though likely without only the partisan Supreme Court justices invited.) Perhaps there would have been a reprise of the French president’s 1976 visit to revel in the partnership that helped defeat Mad King George and his redcoats.

You would likely have sat down in front of your laptop, TV, iPad or smart phone on July 4th weekend to enjoy a free, televised concert featuring stars like Beyoncé and Jay Z, Megan Thee Stallion, Cardi B, The Foo Fighters, John Legend, and every famous Stevie from Wonder to Nicks performing beneath the starlit D.C. sky. Oprah might have emceed. And a veritable lexicon of American music, from soul music to country, gospel, rock and roll and hip hop would have been on audible display — telling America’s musical story from the Fisk Jubilee Singers creating this country’s first world-renowned original musical genre to the message songs sung by enslaved people in the fields and the indigenous music and chants that continue to hold their culture, to the 1812 war and pro-slavery origins of our national anthem, the Irish dirges of turn of the century miners, the deceptive calm and cool beneath the disruption of the jazz era, and the folk, rock, R&B and blues signers who sang America’s conscience during the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam war. You would have reveled in the music of the many, varied and unique ethnic groups and the musical eras that have made America. Former presidents from both parties would have been invited and likely showed up to join the party. Fox News and Megyn Kelly would have bitched about the diversity and the inclusion of Bad Bunny, singing in Spanish. And everyone but MAGA would have rocked out and had a great time.

That was option A.

Instead, 77 million Americans say f—k all that. Give us Ba’al Hitler.

Source: TIME online

And Don Colossus could care less about America’s birthday. He only cares about three things: getting stinking rich, getting revenge, and GOLD. For Trump, there’s never too much gold. He has plastered it all over Mar a Lago and whatever he short fingers touch he intends that they caress pure, cheap-ass, tacky as all get out, gilding.

He has ruined the White House by plastering it with gilding.

He’s about to spend $5 million of your tax money to re-gild four horse statues near the Lincoln Memorial, on top of what you’re going to pay for the 90,000 White House ballroom and bunker (with a hospital and research lab in it for some reason) and the Hitlerian “Triumphal Arch”, also known as the “Arc de Trump” that if it survives the lawsuits, would complete the utter ruination of the Washington Mall. Trump has already blown $13 million to resurface the once serene reflecting pool in swimming pool blue like it’s sitting in the backyard of a cheap hotel, slapped his name on the Kennedy Center (thankfully a judge ordered it removed, though it’s still not happened and will likely be appealed) and ordered giant, glowering Trump visages to be erected on various federal buildings to stare down at the public like he’s Kim Jong Un, Xi Jin Ping or Emperor Palpatine. He has slapped his ugly face on U.S. passports and ordered his simp, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant, to not just mint coins with is mug on them despite him being not dead, but also to break the law by printing up a $250 bill bearing his likeness to commemorate … checking my notes … Donald Trump.

Trump’s Beverly Hillbillies taste level, combined with his narcissistic personality disorder is turning the White House into a Trump fantasy version of a giant brothel on the inside and a tacky Roman coliseum on the exterior.

Trump's White House and Capitol destruction. (Photos from the White House twitter account social media, and TIME.

This while Trump and his family are pimping the presidency to rake out every dime the American working class has left in their dwindling bank accounts while they and their fellow billionaires drain the treasury on war profiteering, private prisons, genocide (to create new real estate opportunities in the Middle East for Jared and friends) and of course … to refashion Washington D.C. as Trumpsylvania.

So it’s no surprise that Donald intended the nation’s 250th birthday party to be yet another ode to himself.

Last year, in the first year of his second presidency, he threw the U.S. Army himself a birthday military parade that he hoped would rival anything ever done in the autocracies of Russia, China or North Korea, but which turned out to be more like the battle hymn of an old and dying republic.

And instead of nationwide praise, he was met with the first of three massive No Kings protests which drew millions nationwide, including in red states.

Undeterred, this year, President Grab ‘n Gold has planned to up the scale to full WWE; planning a 16-day D.C. extravaganza starting June 25th called the “Great American State Fair” that per Fox state media, will include: “A 110-foot Ferris wheel, state pavilions and patriotic festivities” on the National Mall. Trump intends on bringing a male and female athlete from each of the 50 states to participate in the Hunger Games … sorry … the “Patriot Games,” in addition to the Roman Colosseum-style outdoor UFC fights (with a million dollar top ticket price) which he plans to enjoy with his icy foreign empress on the mangled remains of the White House grounds. The organizer of the events is the pretend “non-partisan” group Freedom250, which is basically Donald Trump, JD Vance and some murky ass probably billionaire funders.

I’m sure Donald was confident that all of his new celebrity hip hop friends would show up to entertain, or at least that they would get on their cellies and deliver A listers to glorify Trump in his freshly gilded kingdom. Well, it didn’t turn out that way.

No sooner did the early 90s-heavy lineup leak than artists began canceling. It started with country singer Martina McBride, followed by OG rap artist Young MC, the Commodores (minus Lionel Ritchie and all but one of the original members, who no longer tour with the group), rocker Brett Michaels of Poison, and Morris Day and The Time all backing out, each stating that they understood the initial invitation to be apolitical. The lineup eventually ground down to just the living half of Milli Vanilli (though none of the actual vocalists), Vanilla Ice, Flo Rida, and that guy from C&C music factory. Et tu, Nicky???

The jokes just just wrote themselves…

So now, a salty Donald has decided that he don’t need no stinkin performers, because he has full access to the greatest act of them all… himself.

“We should have a giant MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN RALLY, for 250, instead of having overpriced singers, who nobody wants to hear, whose music is boring, and yet who do nothing but complain,” he posted on Truth Social late Saturday afternoon. “Cancel it, just like I canceled my involvement with the failing and unsafe to be in Kennedy Center, because a Highly Conflicted, Crooked Federal Judge, said that I should not be allowed to spend my time and money in order to MAKE THE CENTER GREAT AGAIN, actually, far greater than it ever was before!”

Yeah OK buddy … oh and he had more to say in a lengthy crashout on Saturday …

I understand Artists are getting “the yips” having to do with their performance on Wednesday, so 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 (THE GOAT!), DONALD J. TRUMP, to take the place of these highly paid, Third Rate “Artists,” and give a major speech, rallying the Country forward like I have done ever since being President! Two years ago, the United States was DEAD. Now we have the “HOTTEST” Country anywhere in the World. I don’t want so-called “Artists” that get paid far too much money, who aren’t happy. I only want to be surrounded by Happy People, Smart People, Successful People, and People that know how to WIN. So, by copy of this TRUTH, I am ordering my Representatives to look at the feasibility of doing an AMERICA IS BACK Rally on Wednesday, Washington, D.C., same time, same location. Only Great Patriots invited — It will be a Wild and Beautiful Celebration of America! President DONALD J. TRUMP

So a Hitler-style rally it is, then. Great.

And remember the last time this monster posted an invite to his fake patriots via social media to come to the Capitol, promising them that it would “be wild…???”

What being president again has taught Trump

In the first year of his second presidency, Donald Trump has learned that he can get away with insurrection, strip the government’s coffers bare, bend the congress and the Supreme Court to his will, erect concentration camps once again on U.S. soil, and physically destroy the U.S. capitol without much consequence and force anyone he hates to spend big money on legal fees to defend against bogus attacks by the state. He has learned that he can turn America into a shithole country in one year flat; destroying our economy and our international reputation in one go, and that he can survive allegations of possible child rape, and make sure his friends do too.

But despite all of that enormous power, Donald Trump has learned — yet again — that he cannot command the culture. No matter how hard he tries, or how loud he screams into the social media ether, or how much of the media his billionaire friends buy up, he cannot command the mass affection of the American people, beyond his sick little religious cult. Even as the closest thing we’ve had to a king, 250 years after this country’s founders through off a real one, he cannot make popular singers shake their asses for him at court.

I love that for him.

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