Donald Trump accused of 'hijacking' America's 250th anniversary celebrations

By CAROLINE GRAHAM, US EDITOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY Published: 22:00, 27 June 2026 | Updated: 22:22, 27 June 2026 President Donald Trump is being accused of 'hijacking' the celebrations of America's 250th anniversary. Opponents say he is using events around July 4 - commemorating 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 - to promote his political agenda. On Friday, the White House released an image of a new limited edition 'Patriot Passport' which contains a striking image of Mr Trump leaning over the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office and surrounded by text from the Declaration of Independence. Next Friday, July 3, he will give a speech at Mount Rushmore - the granite cliff in South Dakota carved with the heads of previous presidents. Opponents contend that Donald Trump is leveraging events marking the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4 to further his political agenda Thousands gathered for the event celebrating the country's 250th birthday to listen to President Donald Trump July 4, sees a rally in Washington's National Mall featuring military flypasts and climaxing with a giant firework display over the White House.  But Californian Democratic congressman Jared Huffman said: 'He is trying to hijack the country's 250th anniversary.' Musicians have also pulled out of a planned concert, saying they had been 'misled' about the political nature of the event.  But a Trump source dismissed criticism as 'sour grapes', adding: 'Donald Trump will definitely be front and centre because he's the President.' The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.