DES MOINES, Iowa — (AP) — President Donald Trump turned a heartland festival for the United States' upcoming 250th anniversary into a celebration of himself, basking in a crowd of supporters Thursday night shortly after Congress approved tax cut legislation that he championed.
On the eve of the July 4th holiday, Trump said “there could be no better birthday present for America than the phenomenal victory we achieved just hours ago, when Congress passed the one big beautiful bill to make America great again.”
The Republican president plans to sign the legislation Friday during a picnic at the White House, while stealth bombers and fighter jets that participated in recent airstrikes in Iran fly overhead, a symbolic synthesis of the overwhelming force that he’s deployed to reshape Washington and the country.
“We’ve saved our country,” he boasted after taking the stage, pumping his fists while singer Lee Greenwood belted out Trump’s campaign trail anthem “God Bless the USA.” In addition to tax breaks, the legislation boosts funding for deportations while cutting back on healthcare and food assistance for low income people.
The event at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines was the opening act for a yearlong birthday party to mark two and a half centuries of American independence. The plans will culminate next summer with a massive fair on the National Mall in Washington featuring exhibits from every state.
Organizers see the coming year of festivities as a way to help unite a polarized nation and bridge political divides. But Trump left no doubt during his speech that he views patriotism as inseparable from his own agenda, saying Democrats who voted against his legislation "hate our country."
U.S. Ambassador Monica Crowley, Trump’s liaison to the organizing group, America250, said in an interview that the anniversary events are “something that I think that all Americans can come together to celebrate and honor our history as well as our present and our future.”
However, when she took the stage to introduce the president, she delivered an ode to Trump, describing him as the inheritor of the country’s original revolutionary spirit.
“I don’t know what more people expect or want from an American president,” Crowley said. “He is literally fulfilling the entire job description, and so much more.”
A few thousand spectators waited for Trump for hours in 90-plus degree Fahrenheit (32 degree Celsius) heat. The audience was awash in Trump paraphernalia, including “Make America Great Again” hats, shirts that said “Ultra MAGA” and a stuffed monkey with its own miniature Trump shirt.
During the speech, Trump heard what sounded like fireworks. The anniversary of his attempted assassination in Butler, Pennsylvania, was only ten days away.
“It’s only fireworks, I hope,” he said. “Famous last words.”
Unlike a year ago, Trump was speaking from behind thick bulletproof glass.
“You always have to think positive,” he said. “I didn’t like that sound either.”
The reminder of one of the darkest moments in recent political history did little to dampen Trump’s political euphoria. He boasted about the recent U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, the declining price of eggs, the lower number of migrants crossing the southern border with Mexico and his election victories.
“We got great marks in the first term, and this is going to blow it away," Trump said. He said he likes calling his wife Melania “first lady” because “it reminds me that I’m president.”
Trump has occasionally mused about the fortuitous timing of serving in the White House during the country's 250th anniversary, a chronological overlap that only became possible because he lost his initial bid for a second term — a defeat he's never accepted.
He promised during last year's campaign to create an epic series of festivities and convene a task force to coordinate with state and local governments. On Thursday night, he announced plans for the “Patriot Games," sports contests featuring high school athletes from across the country "to show off the best of American skill, sportsmanship and competitive spirit.”
Trump also suggesting hosting UFC matches at the White House.
A recent Gallup poll showed the widest partisan split in patriotism in over two decades, with only about a third of Democrats saying they are proud to be American, compared with about 9 in 10 Republicans.
About 4 in 10 U.S. adults approve of Trump’s performance as president, according to a June AP-NORC poll, while about 6 in 10 disapprove.
The Trump administration's own cost-cutting moves this year threaten to complicate the celebrations. Reduced funding led the National Endowment for the Humanities to send letters to state humanities councils across the country saying their federal grants had been terminated. Many of those councils had been working on programming to commemorate the 250th anniversary and had already dedicated some of their federal grants for events at libraries, schools and museums.
Gabrielle Lyon, executive director of Illinois Humanities and chair of the Illinois America 250 Commission, said the cuts already have curtailed some of the planned programs, including community readings of the Declaration of Independence.
“It is very hard to understand how we can protect and preserve people’s ability locally to make this mean something for them, and to celebrate what they want to celebrate, if you’re not funding the humanities councils,” Lyon said.
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AP Polling Editor Amelia Thomson DeVeaux in Washington contributed to this report. AP writers Gary Fields and Chris Megerian also contributed.
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