America’s Bicentennial is the first major news event I can remember well. Doubtless this was facilitated by my entire world turning red, white, and blue, but it was also aided by my grandfather’s sustained attention. A World War II veteran, Papaw was one of the most patriotic people I’ve ever known, and the Bicentennial was important to him.
I can’t be sure what he would have made of our Semiquincentennial and how it is being observed and celebrated at a national level, but I suspect he’d find the relentless politicization, ongoing grift, and Donald Trump’s ceaseless self-aggrandizement as vulgar and abhorrent as so many disgusted Americans do.
Throwing a uniting, patriotic party for the country should be an easy and graceful thing for the President—any President—to do. It doesn’t look like this. As I type Trump has pledged to give a “really long” speech today. Talk about missing the point.
I observe the Semiquincentennial enjoying my family, loving my country, and steadfastly hoping that her true core values survive this terrible man.