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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
David Smith in Washington

Only Donald Trump could make America’s special 250th birthday all about him

A large outdoor stage lit up at dusk with a presidential podium and crowd gathered in front
Donald Trump speaks during the kick-off ceremony for the Great American State Fair on the National Mall in Washington DC. Photograph: Nathan Posner/Shutterstock

If that’s the way America celebrates its birthday, you would not want to be present at its funeral. The shining city on a hill is losing some of its lustre these days. The land that promised life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is struggling to deliver.

A milestone anniversary like 250 years of independence calls for the epic vision of a John F Kennedy, the immaculate timing of a Ronald Reagan or the soaring oratory of a Barack Obama. What it got instead on Wednesday was an 80-year-old convicted criminal who appeared in Home Alone 2 and seems hellbent on dividing the nation.

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