At 250, America grapples with a deeply divided birthday — and Trump's shadow over the celebration

By Tim Reid, Joseph Ax and Hannah Beier

DOYLESTOWN, Pennsylvania, June 29 (Reuters) — Betsy Halsey, 63, still keeps the souvenirs from America’s 1976 bicentennial in her childhood bedroom at her parents’ house. But the retired teacher is so dismayed by President Donald Trump that she plans to sit out the country’s 250th birthday entirely.

“I don’t want to be at the same party with people who are feeling enthusiastic about where our country is going,” said Halsey, a frequent Democratic voter who lives in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.

Dan Marrazzo, 70, a Republican and laundromat owner in nearby Langhorne Manor, is ready to celebrate. He believes America under Trump is thriving and will mark the occasion by cooking for friends and family. “The poorest person in America has a better lifestyle than some of the richest people in the rest of the world,” he said.

As the United States prepares for its semiquincentennial — the 250th anniversary of the July 4, 1776 Declaration of Independence — the political divisions that have come to define the Trump era are testing a tradition that once felt uniting: fireworks, parades, and red-white-and-blue bunting. This year, the very act of celebrating has become a political statement.

Trump has placed his imprint firmly on the official commemoration. His second White House term, marked by polarizing policies on immigration, the economy, and foreign affairs, has left many Americans struggling to separate the pageantry from the politics.

“The very idea of celebrating has become political and partisan,” said Beverly Gage, a Yale University historian. “What is striking about our moment is how widespread the pessimism seems to be.”

A Reuters/Ipsos poll found that one in five Americans say they won’t celebrate Independence Day this year — including a quarter of Democrats and 8% of Republicans. Two in five do not believe the country will survive another 250 years.

To understand how Americans feel about the anniversary, Reuters interviewed more than two dozen residents, activists, historians and elected officials in Bucks County, where Halsey and Marrazzo live. Once a political backwater, Bucks County today is a microcosm of the cultural and partisan schisms convulsing the U.S. A deeply divided region in the critical swing state of Pennsylvania, it is a county Trump won by fewer than 300 votes out of some 400,000 cast in 2024.

TRUMP’S IMPRINT

Trump has put himself at the center of the country’s birthday celebration. Last year, the White House created Freedom 250, a public-private partnership, to organize anniversary events — despite the existence of America250, a congressionally chartered commission that had spent years planning activities.

Freedom 250’s marquee event is the Great American State Fair, a two-week exposition on the National Mall. Trump held a campaign-style rally to kick off the fair and is scheduled to deliver a second one on July 4, drawing criticism that he is turning the nation’s celebration into a political event.

Several Democratic-led states and a number of musical acts refused to participate over concerns the fair was too closely tied to Trump. Meanwhile, the U.S. Mint is planning to issue a 250th commemorative gold coin bearing Trump’s likeness.

In Bucks County, Tabitha Dell’Angelo said she was so dismayed by the direction of the country under Trump that she did not plan on celebrating July 4 — something she would normally do. “I love my country. I am a proud American,” said the 56-year-old college professor and former Democratic school board member. “But this version of the celebration does not feel like it’s about America, but instead a celebration of Trump.”

Among the county’s quaint river towns, wooded enclaves and farmland are some of the country’s best-known Revolutionary War sites. But Bucks County has also been riven by unsubstantiated allegations of election fraud, fights over book bans and protests over what version of American history should be taught in schools.

In interviews, residents said the holiday — despite its traditional themes of national identity and shared history — had done little to diminish their concerns about local and national divides. Many were wrestling with questions that strike at the core of what it means to be an American: Are there still principles that unify the country? Or has partisanship so fractured voters that they put party over patriotism?

Jim Worthington, 69, a Trump supporter and health club owner, can’t understand why anyone would sit out the 250th celebrations. He believes the longevity of America’s existence is a marvel worth honoring, no matter who is president. “This is a celebration of 250 years of history, the greatest experiment in the history of the world,” Worthington said.

Doylestown Councilman Connor O’Hanlon, 30, a Democrat, noted members of his generation have spent their entire adult lives in a hyper-partisan era marked by “an overall nihilism and cynicism about the direction our country is going in.” But he thinks Americans should use July 4 to reflect upon their shared beliefs — though some of his neighbors doubted many remain.

Doreen Stratton, an activist and writer in Doylestown, can trace her family back to the republic’s earliest days: her great-great-grandfather was among the few free Black residents living in Philadelphia in 1776. Now she fears that years of progress, especially for Black Americans, is stalling under the Trump administration, which has rolled back some civil rights protections for minorities. “I almost look at it like I’m in mourning,” she said of the upcoming Independence Day.

The divided sentiments have left local organizers of July 4 events facing a challenging task: how to mark the holiday without alienating swaths of residents. Dick Creter, whose nonprofit America Celebrates is hosting celebrations in New Hope, Pennsylvania, and neighboring Lambertville, New Jersey, said several people had sought reassurance the program would be nonpartisan. “I think that to let the celebration of our 250 go by without embracing it, regardless of your political stance, is a mistake,” Creter said.

‘HOW WE TELL HISTORIES’

Historians note that prior milestone anniversaries also took place at tumultuous moments. In 1876, the country was coping with the fissures of the Civil War a decade earlier; in 1976, the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal had shaken faith in government. “One thing I’m very aware of is how poor people are at judging their own historical moment,” said Yale’s Gage. “The story of some of the deepest moments of crisis in America were followed by the moments of deepest change.”

At Washington Crossing Historic Park in Bucks County, a stone tablet reminds visitors what occurred there in 1776, when George Washington led his troops through a Christmas night snowstorm across the Delaware River to launch a surprise attack on British-allied German soldiers in New Jersey, turning the tide of the war. Leading up to the 250th, the park conducted research on the contributions of women, Black soldiers and civilians to the war effort in response to constituents’ inquiries, said Jennifer Martin, executive director of the nonprofit that oversees the park. She emphasized their approach has always been apolitical. “It’s important that we are telling accurate stories, and that we are not allowing the political climate to influence how we tell histories,” she said.

John Godzieba, a retired police officer who has played Washington in Washington Crossing reenactments for more than 15 years, believes most Americans will embrace the moment, if only for a day. “Maybe on July 5, they’ll go back to being angry and disenchanted about the country,” he said. “But I think on July 4, they will be here.”

(Reporting by Tim Reid, Joseph Ax and Hannah Beier in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Additional reporting by Jason Lange in Washington. Editing by Paul Thomasch, Ross Colvin and Alistair Bell)