President Donald Trump walks off stage after speaking at a rally to kick off the Great American State Fair, on the National Mall in Washington, DC, on June 24. Evan Vucci/Reuters
When Next250 organizers began planning for America’s 250th birthday, they envisioned bringing together communities in a polarized country to celebrate democracy.
But then Donald Trump returned to office as the 47th president.
Now, the left-leaning group has reframed its commemoration in response to Trump’s takeover of the country’s birthday. A communal festival in Washington, DC, on Saturday, for instance, will feature an indigenous opening ceremony, a march starting at what was once called Black Lives Matter Plaza and voter registration booths.
In seeking to put his stamp on the 250th, Trump has upended plans that had been years in the making, thrown agencies and federal funding behind his lavish, patriotic vision and drawn ire over what has become, in critics’ eyes, a partisan celebration more about the president than the country.
“It’s a lost cause to expect anything unifying and exciting coming out of Washington,” said John Dichtl, president and chief executive of the American Association for State and Local History, a nonprofit that helped advise states on their 250th planning.
Across the country, some state and local planners have distanced their celebrations from what’s happening in the nation’s capital. And in Washington, Next250 will hold its counterprogram down the street from the White House as the National Mall is being used by Trump’s “Great American State Fair.”
“The administration doesn’t own the 250th anniversary, nor do they own the story of this country,” said Linda Sarsour, one of Next 250’s organizers. The activist, known for helping to organize the Women’s March on Washington during Trump’s first term, has courted controversy over opposition to Israel.
But on Saturday, she says, “We’re coming out to say: ‘We’re all in this together, and this country belongs to all of us.’”
How Trump took over
A man visits the Great American State Fair on June 25.
A man visits the Great American State Fair on June 25. Nathan Howard/Reuters
The first inkling of Trump’s takeover of the 250th came on a Friday afternoon last December, when Trump rattled off a dizzying list of programming for the nation’s birthday in a video on the president’s Truth Social account.
“2026 will be a celebration of America like no other, honoring our nation and all of its glory,” he declared. “To help carry out these exciting plans, we have created a public-private partnership. It’s called Freedom 250,” he said.
The announcement arrived a few weeks after Trump had suffered an apparent setback. The man he picked to lead America250 — a nonprofit in charge of federal 250th celebrations, overseen by a congressional panel — had just been fired.
Trump’s new nonprofit, Freedom 250, would ensure he got the July 4 celebrations he had long desired.
The organization also wouldn’t have to abide by the same rules as America250. While Freedom 250 is a non-partisan subsidiary of the National Park Foundation, its activities are largely overseen by top Trump aides.
Like America250, it can maintain the anonymity of its donors, however, it is not overseen by a bipartisan panel. In May, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told CNN’s Dana Bash that Freedom 250 is “run out of the White House” and only the organization can decide to reveal its donors.
But Richard Painter, a former White House ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush, said in an interview that he thought it was “problematic” the White House is forging relationships with nonprofits without congressional authorization. That arrangement has raised questions from watchdog groups and congressional Democrats, who are now investigating Freedom 250’s funding.
A spokesperson for the National Park Foundation told CNN: “public and private Freedom 250 funds received or expended during the current fiscal year will be accounted for through NPF’s standard financial reporting and audit processes.”
Freedom 250 lists about two dozen sponsors on its website. A number of these, like Palantir, Lockheed Martin and Oracle, have large federal contracts to provide data and defense services. Others, like Ultimate Fighting Championship and Penske Corp., are led by Trump allies Dana White and Roger Penske. Those have their own 250th-related events: the UFC fight on the White House lawn this month and an IndyCar race in August. White’s Phorm energy drinks are also for sale at the fair.
Brazil's Diego Lopes and USA's Steve Garcia fight in the featherweight bout during the "UFC Freedom 250" mixed martial arts event on the South Lawn of the White House, on June 14.
Brazil's Diego Lopes and USA's Steve Garcia fight in the featherweight bout during the "UFC Freedom 250" mixed martial arts event on the South Lawn of the White House, on June 14. Kent Nishimura/AFP/Getty Images
When asked whether the group would commit to publicly disclosing its donors, Freedom 250 CEO Keith Krach told CNN in an interview: “We’re all about accountability and transparency.”
“An important part of my role is to make sure that we manage the books really well,” he added. “Not just, ‘Hey, here you can see them,’ but to make sure that we get the biggest bang for the buck.”
The Freedom 250 events have played to Trump’s cultural tastes and given conservative groups a platform to shape the narrative around the celebrations — all to “renew national pride.”
A fleet of six mobile museums called “Freedom Trucks” have traveled the country, telling a story of the American Revolution through AI art and videos that say “the foundational principles of America are rooted in the Western and Judeo-Christian traditions.” The content was produced by conservative education organizations such as Hillsdale College and Prager U, which say they were not paid.
In May, Freedom 250 organized a Christianity-focused prayer event on the National Mall, and the Patriot Games, a youth athletic contest where two teenaged victors will split a $250,000 prize, is also on the books for August.
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