A version of this article was first published in the Right to the Point newsletter. Sign up to receive the free newsletter in your inbox every Wednesday morning and to vote in subscriber-only polls.
John Adams famously wished that American independence would be celebrated with “Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.”
Notice that he didn’t say speeches.
But two exceedingly different politicians took the occasion to speak to the nation on its 250th birthday, and they offered radically different worldviews.
First up was New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, delivering the darkest “inspirational” message since Joe Biden’s 2022 “Battle for the Soul of the Nation” speech in Philadelphia, more famous for its angry imagery than for its words. (In that speech, Biden said that “Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our Republic.”)
Similarly, Mamdani assigned sinister motives to some of his fellow Americans, saying they see the country as “an arena of supremacy, where only a select few are allowed freedom, where not all are created equal. ... America, they will tell you, belongs only to those with the right accent or the right shade of skin. The rest of us, they insist, should be grateful for merely being allowed to visit.”
Conversely, President Donald Trump, in his rambling remarks at the National Mall, was much more upbeat, although his frequent asides detracted from the moment at hand, as when he said, “After 250 years, unlike so many others in the world, in this country we have freedom of speech, freedom of religion, equal justice under the law, although I wasn’t treated that well. But we won’t get into that.”
That speech was aspirational in places — “There is no challenge Americans cannot overcome. There is no place we cannot go. There is no goal we cannot reach. And there is nothing that Americans cannot do” — and sophomoric, in others: “America will never be a communist country. Won’t happen. Communism is a loser, and it always will be.”
But at least the president had good optics, unlike Mamdani, whose speech has been described as a hostage video, and the mayor could have benefited from a more positive take on the country. (I saw one person liken this speech to telling your spouse all the things that are wrong with them on your anniversary.)
It’s rather shocking how quickly Mamdani has risen to be the Democratic counterpoint to Trump, given how hard California Gov. Gavin Newsom has been working to be in that place. Newsom also gave a July 4 speech, but it didn’t get nearly as much attention as Mamdani’s. The New York mayor has effectively swept Newsom off the national stage.
But it’s an indictment of both Trump and Mamdani that perhaps the best Independence Day speech was a short video uploaded to X by Matthew McConaughey, the Texan and actor who has for years flirted with the idea of running for office, although he’s been coy about his political ideology.
“We need skeptics, yes, we do. We do not need cynics. One cares enough to question, which we should, and the other one’s already quit,” McConaughey said, likening the American experiment to an ongoing bet.
To be sure, it wasn’t the soaring oratory of Reagan when the Challenger exploded; it was folksy, upbeat Americana, like the celebrations that were taking place in small towns across the U.S.
McConaughey ended: “So, here we are today lighting the fire, breaking the bread, raising a glass to our family and friends, and maybe even the neighbor we don’t agree with. Today, we’re going to let the kids run barefoot after dark, baby. That’s the celebration. Not that we’ve arrived anywhere, but to the fact we’re still on our way. Take inventory, with the one in the mirror and together. Here’s to more dancing in the home of the brave.”
Whether McConaughey has a political future remains unclear; he’s said he won’t seriously consider a run until after his three children are grown, and there are places in this country where his deep Texas drawl would not be a political asset.
What is clear is that America deserved a soaring, memorable speech on the occasion of its 250th birthday. We didn’t get one. But all in all, it was a rollicking good celebration anyway, and in no small part because of the World Cup.
Better than a drone show
It’s becoming clear that drone shows will one day replace fireworks, and there were some impressive ones to celebrate the Fourth, including these.
And, of course, much was made of the massive fireworks display on the National Mall. But my own memories of July 4 fireworks have more to do with setting off bottle rockets in my front yard as a kid and waving sparklers with my own children when they were young.
Perhaps these homemade memories stick with us more than the big, orchestrated celebrations, as evidenced by this X post by Ben Gallant, who wrote about his family’s simple celebration in Tennessee: running a 5K and going to a local parade and fireworks show.
Gallant’s experience is surely more typical of how most Americans celebrated the Fourth, despite the headlines generated by the big, splashy events.
Ain’t that America, as John Cougar Mellencamp would say.
Recommended Reading
Revisiting the subject of Zohran Mamdani, Jay Evensen offers a sobering analysis of the rise of democratic socialism in America, especially among young adults.
“Last November, a poll by the Deseret News and the Hinckley Institute of Politics, conducted by Morning Consult, found that 51% of voters in Utah who identify as Democrats professed a favorable view of socialism. That compared to 48% of Democrats nationally. Also, 65% of Utah Democrats said they approved of newly elected New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s agenda.”
Is the far left an emerging threat?
Largely overlooked in the celebration of America 250 was the poignant passing of two Founding Fathers — John Adams and Thomas Jefferson — on another Independence Day 200 years ago. Kurt Graham, the president of the Adams Presidential Center in Quincy, Massachusetts, reminds us of the significance.
“Whether we see the world through rose-colored Jeffersonian glasses in which good people create good governments, or through the realist lens of Adams in which good governments help to foster virtuous people, the fact is that modern America lies at the intersection of Adams and Jefferson. We see ourselves and those who agree with us as reservoirs of virtue but maintain a much darker view of the innate goodness of others.”
The other anniversary worth remembering this week
End Notes
Last week, we talked about the efforts to rehabilitate the reputation of Richard Nixon, the only U.S. president to resign. In our Right to the Point subscriber poll, we considered whether that was fair, given the flaws and failures of other presidents.
Here’s how that went. Let’s just say, Nixon may enjoy a renaissance yet.
And finally, not to embarrass the great city of Miami, but there was a not-insignificant error in its Fourth of July drone show.
To which the Miami New Times hilariously responded, “To be fair, ‘semiquincentennial’ is a lot to ask of a drone.”
To be fair, it was a lot to ask of all of us, which is why most of us just said “250th birthday.”
The next one will be easier: the tricentennial will be July 4, 2076. Don’t laugh; it’ll be here before you know it, leading us to a worrisome tweet of the week.