250 Years of the US — and Trump Is Spoiling the Party for Everyone
Published in Frankfurter Rundschau
(Germany) on 6 July 2026
by Andreas Schwarzkopf (link to
original)
Trump and his supporters are preventing the country from coming together to celebrate its 250th birthday and to reflect on what has been achieved.
It’s not without a certain irony that none other than U.S. President Donald Trump and his Make America Great Again movement are the biggest party-crashers. First, their politics ruined most people’s good spirits and then — with a very basic agenda and a one-dimensional take on the country’s 250-year history — they dampened enthusiasm for the celebrations. Now, in a nation more divided than almost ever before and shaken by crises, people are celebrating without much euphoria, mostly on their own.
But what might be possible if U.S. citizens were to do as originally planned and spend a year not just celebrating but attempting — through thoughtful, profound and self-reflective forms of remembrance — to do justice to the complex history of the United States with all its contradictions, transgressions and achievements? More was possible than the hollow ode by Trump and his followers to a supposedly perfect nation that was never conceived that way.
The Project of the United States of America Is a Process
The Founding Fathers recognized that renouncing British rule was one thing, but putting the ideals of liberty into practice and building a democracy without great role models was quite another. Accordingly, they understood that the United States of America's project is a process by which its society moves toward its noble aims, uncovering contradictions little by little, and, ideally, working through them.
The abolitionists wanted to abolish slavery long before independence. Abigail Adams was not the only one who reminded her husband John and the other Founding Fathers not to forget the rights of women. The indigenous population also literally had to fight for a place in U.S. society. Much the same is true of other minorities.
European Countries Also Struggled To Cast Off the Shackles of Absolutism
Those on the Old Continent who turn up their noses about that should not forget that European countries also struggled to cast off the shackles of absolutism or abolish slavery. Almost all only introduced democracy gradually — sometimes unbearably slowly and with bloodshed comparable to that in the U.S. — and only acknowledged and advanced the rights of all after pressure from the people affected.
Yes, in retrospect, one can despair at how unjust so much has been and remains. But history does not work like that. It does not develop in a linear way either. There aren’t only backward steps, and ideals are continually renegotiated.
This is not just observable in the U.S., where Trump and the MAGA movement — through their interpretation of democracy and freedom — have expanded rights primarily for the white, religious, conservative population while restricting those of numerous others, such as minorities. Yet their supposed march of victory is stalling. Trump’s power is eroding, as his poor poll numbers show. Rifts in Trump’s following are also visible. Even some of his supporters are becoming increasingly unhappy with his erratic, narcissistic behavior and his failure to deliver on many promises.
Let us hope that the Democrats — starting with the November midterms — can convert people’s dissatisfaction into votes and so begin to undo Trump’s mistakes. It is, however, easier to criticize Trump for his misguided policies than to offer solutions to the many challenges facing the country.
It’s not without a certain irony that none other than U.S. President Donald Trump and his Make America Great Again movement are the biggest party-crashers. First, their politics ruined most people’s good spirits and then — with a very basic agenda and a one-dimensional take on the country’s 250-year history — they dampened enthusiasm for the celebrations. Now, in a nation more divided than almost ever before and shaken by crises, people are celebrating without much euphoria, mostly on their own.
But what might be possible if U.S. citizens were to do as originally planned and spend a year not just celebrating but attempting — through thoughtful, profound and self-reflective forms of remembrance — to do justice to the complex history of the United States with all its contradictions, transgressions and achievements? More was possible than the hollow ode by Trump and his followers to a supposedly perfect nation that was never conceived that way.
The Project of the United States of America Is a Process
The Founding Fathers recognized that renouncing British rule was one thing, but putting the ideals of liberty into practice and building a democracy without great role models was quite another. Accordingly, they understood that the United States of America's project is a process by which its society moves toward its noble aims, uncovering contradictions little by little, and, ideally, working through them.
The abolitionists wanted to abolish slavery long before independence. Abigail Adams was not the only one who reminded her husband John and the other Founding Fathers not to forget the rights of women. The indigenous population also literally had to fight for a place in U.S. society. Much the same is true of other minorities.
European Countries Also Struggled To Cast Off the Shackles of Absolutism
Those on the Old Continent who turn up their noses about that should not forget that European countries also struggled to cast off the shackles of absolutism or abolish slavery. Almost all only introduced democracy gradually — sometimes unbearably slowly and with bloodshed comparable to that in the U.S. — and only acknowledged and advanced the rights of all after pressure from the people affected.
Yes, in retrospect, one can despair at how unjust so much has been and remains. But history does not work like that. It does not develop in a linear way either. There aren’t only backward steps, and ideals are continually renegotiated.
This is not just observable in the U.S., where Trump and the MAGA movement — through their interpretation of democracy and freedom — have expanded rights primarily for the white, religious, conservative population while restricting those of numerous others, such as minorities. Yet their supposed march of victory is stalling. Trump’s power is eroding, as his poor poll numbers show. Rifts in Trump’s following are also visible. Even some of his supporters are becoming increasingly unhappy with his erratic, narcissistic behavior and his failure to deliver on many promises.
Let us hope that the Democrats — starting with the November midterms — can convert people’s dissatisfaction into votes and so begin to undo Trump’s mistakes. It is, however, easier to criticize Trump for his misguided policies than to offer solutions to the many challenges facing the country.
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