he stifling heat settled like a soggy blanket over the week-long America250 celebrations in Washington, D.C. Extreme heat warnings kicked in on July 1; by Friday, the heat index hit 44.4 degrees Celsius (111.9 degrees Farenheit), and eleven people were taken to the hospital from the Great American State Fair. Seven required advanced life support. The fair shut down for the day, reopening around 5 p.m. It had only cooled slightly by then. Until the last minutes of the Fourth, everything that could go wrong did.
America250 was paralyzed by the competing concerns of heat and security. Military and law enforcement presence in the capital was at inauguration levels to prevent some lunatic or terrorist from taking advantage of the forecasted crowds; security protocols forbade food and metal drink containers on the fairgrounds and the National Mall. Lines at the water stations inside were long; food was prohibitively expensive ($22 for a burger). Over several days, I saw almost no lines at the fair entrance.
There were a few protestors. A couple of elderly folks in orange jumpsuits stood in front of the White House calling for the closure of Guantanamo Bay, and on Wednesday, I saw a man handcuffed in front of St. John’s (the ‘Church of Presidents’) on Lafayette Square, but both the Secret Service and the suspect were relaxed. A man in a Trump mask so stifling he had to take it off between photos paced in front of the barricades. Small clusters of tourists showed up steadily.
The sparse crowds trundled through DC streets as hot as blow-dryers, with wilted patriotic paraphernalia drooping from strollers and hair bows. Navy-blue semiquincentennial banners sagged from government buildings. Ice cream cart vendors did brisk business, with cold mist rising like smoke when they opened their coolers. The price of a small popsicle: Five dollars. The kids were bedraggled; everyone looked cooked.
Trump plastered his visage all over the capital. A giant poster hanging from the Department of Justice featured Trump’s face and the slogan ‘Make America SAFE Again.’ On the Department of the Interior, a Trump banner unsubtly paired with one of George Washington read ‘America First’ and ‘America’s First,’ respectively. On the Department of Labor facade, Trump was paired with Teddy Roosevelt: ‘American Workers First.’
Trump supporters have insisted that this is merely a patriotic America250 celebration (Fox News covered the backlash to the Dear Leader banners with “liberals melt down” headlines). But this sort of personal branding on federal buildings is historically unprecedented, and I saw them across the city already back in January. Trump has always branded his buildings. The Founders would have hated it.
When the Labor Department banner went up last summer, then-Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer toadied her heart out, telling Trump, “Mr. President, I invite you to see your big, beautiful face on a banner in front of the Department of Labor because you are really the transformational president of the American worker.” This flattery is more excruciating because he accepts it so shamelessly. On July 4, he posted an AI video with his face included on a golden Mt. Rushmore with a Trump voiceover saying, “I will be the greatest president for many, many years to come.”
The huge Independence Day parade scheduled for the morning of July 4 was cancelled due to another extreme heat warning. The Great American State Fair was cleared Saturday afternoon. I headed to Arlington with my family to get a good viewing spot for the fireworks, billed as the largest in history. The heat and fog-thick humidity were so bad that two firetrucks parked behind the Iwo Jima Memorial and blasted their hoses into the air so people could cool off. Dozens of children played in the spray.
The crowd built through the afternoon, roaring and applauding as the American empire put on a show of her best military hardware. Blue Angels, Thunderbirds, Ospreys, and other jets roared overhead, looping in formation; the sudden, silent appearance of Stealth bombers brought the crowd to its feet. Trump’s new Qatar-gifted Air Force One flew over, flanked by fighters. Then, storms moved in, the clouds lit up with lightning, and police intercoms blared at the crowd to evacuate the lawns. Thousands of people scuttled for parkades and overhangs; the National Mall was also evacuated.
