What Donald Trump is planning for Independence Day

For decades Americans have marked Independence Day with scrupulously non-political celebrations across the country - but not this year. Instead, Donald Trump is breaking from tradition by commemorating America’s declaration of freedom from Britain on 4 July 1776 with a series of events revolving around him.

The US president will kick off the fun tomorrow by giving a televised speech on the steps of Washington D.C.’s Lincoln Memorial, with a crowd approved by the White House gathered below him on the National Mall, the two-mile strip that runs to the Capital.

Trump first announced the spectacle in a tweet back in February, promising “an address by your favourite President, me!”

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But despite his apparent enthusiasm, “the event takes place in a politically hostile environment”, reports The Guardian, which notes that Hillary Clinton took more than 90% of the vote in the US capital in the 2016 election, while Trump secured just 4.1%.

In another change to the usual 4 July programme, the fireworks display previously held beside the Washington Monument will instead take place by the Lincoln Memorial. “A ticket-only area in front of the memorial is being set aside for VIPs, including members of Trump’s family, friends and members of the military,” says the newspaper.

The US leader’s aides insist “the event is designed to be patriotic rather than political. But for the president to commandeer what has traditionally been a non-partisan event has naturally sparked concerns that he is turning 4th July into a campaign event,” says The Economist.

One of the most controversial planned events is a tribute to each branch of the armed forces, an idea inspired by a Bastille Day celebration that Trump attended in Paris in 2017.

“There will be military vehicles on display at the Salute to America,” the Pentagon confirmed in a statement on Tuesday. “The Department of Defense has provided two M1A2 Abrams tanks and two M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicles in support of the event.”

As The Economist notes, tributes to the armed forces are common during Independence Day celebrations, “but they are not the dominant theme of such festivities”.

Critics claim Trump appears to be bigging up his nation’s military might in a bid to strengthen his own hold on the presidency.

“This looks like it’s becoming much more of a Republican Party event - a political event about the president - than a national celebration of 4th July, and it’s unfortunate to have the military smack dab in the middle of that,” retired Army Lieutenant General David Barno, who commanded US troops in Afghanistan, told Politico.

Retired Army Major General and Vietnam War veteran William Nash added: “The president is using the armed forces in a political ploy for his re-election campaign and I think it’s absolutely obscene.”

Michael McFaul, former US ambassador to Russia, has also condemned the plans.

Commenting on a photo of tanks lined up in preparation for the Independence Day event, he tweeted: “This photo reminds me of parades I used to attend in the Soviet Union. Not the right look for the 4th.”

The Reverend William Barber, co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign anti-poverty movement, seems to agree.

Washington D.C. residents and authorities have voiced concerns, too.

Earlier this week, the city council tweeted: “We have said it before, and we’ll say it again: Tanks, but no tanks.”

But Politico reports that other veterans and defence experts say the planned flyovers and deployment of armored vehicles at the celebrations are not “too far out of line with the Pentagon’s own routine displays at public events like air shows and other recruiting efforts”.

“This is not such a big deal. It’s all been done before,” said Ron Moeller, an air force veteran and former senior CIA paramilitary officer — though not on Independence Day, he acknowledged.

Rick Berger, a defence budget expert, said: “I don’t think it’s the worst thing to ship up a few vehicles out of the thousands that we own to maybe give some young Americans a glimpse of what the military looks like.

“This celebration definitely seems to be more politicised than in the past, but so is everything.”