The country commemorates this Saturday the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence with fireworks, parades and concerts throughout the territory, although a heat wave that keeps some 160 million people under alert forced the cancellation of events, including the Washington parade. President Donald Trump, who will lead a rally on the National Mall, found himself at the center of a controversy over the politicization of the celebrations.

First modification: 07/04/2026 - 17:14 Last modification: 07/04/2026 - 20:57

The United States celebrates this Saturday the 250th anniversary of its independence, the commemoration of the signing of the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain, signed in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776.

The anniversary, one of the most anticipated on the American calendar, is celebrated with fireworks, parades and concerts throughout the country, in a climate marked by political polarization and a brutal heat wave.

The high temperatures, which keep some 160 million Americans under alert, complicated or wreaked havoc on dozens of parades and parties in towns and cities.

In Washington, the annual Independence Day parade scheduled for Saturday morning was canceled "due to extreme heat," according to its organizers, and the Great American State Fair, installed on the National Mall, had to close for several hours on Friday at the worst moment of the day.

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The heat has not stopped the rest of the agenda. A fireworks show promoted by the organizers as the largest in the world is planned in the capital, in a celebration that usually brings together hundreds of thousands of people and which, in this edition, will be conditioned by reinforced security, possible storms and temperatures that could exceed 38 °C.

Also read 'Food deserts' in the United States: the unnoticed food drama amid the fury of the World Cup

Philadelphia, the city where the Declaration was signed, offers free cupcakes and a six-hour pop concert, while New York showcases tall ships from around the world and welcomed the holiday with a midnight New Year's Eve-style ball drop.

In Los Angeles, Queen Latifah hosts a concert featuring performances by The Smashing Pumpkins and Chris Stapleton, with Chaka Khan as a special guest, and in Bristol, a town in Rhode Island, the country's oldest Independence Day celebration takes place, dating back to 1785.

Trump, center stage

President Donald Trump was at the center of the celebrations in the capital. The president will hold a campaign-style rally on the National Mall on Saturday night, accompanied by military display flights, an event that he himself promoted as "the most spectacular Trump rally of all."

"It's going to be about 107 degrees (Fahrenheit, 41°C), and I'm going to go and give a very long speech, just to show that I can do anything," he said last Wednesday.

On the eve of the main event, the president opened the celebrations with a speech at the Mount Rushmore National Monument in South Dakota, where he affirmed that the United States is "the freest, strongest and most exceptional nation in history" and warned about a "resurgence" of communism, which he defined as "the enemy of freedom, the Constitution and the Fourth of July 1776."

"It is the greatest threat to our country, including World War I, World War II, Pearl Harbor or even 9/11," he said.

The message comes after several victories for the left wing of the Democratic Party in primary elections, an advance that Trump presents as a "threat" ahead of the November legislative elections.

Without naming the president, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a Democrat, seemed to allude to it in a speech Friday: "Those ideals upon which our nation was built are strong enough to resist any authoritarian regime, but only if we achieve them."

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Criticism for the politicization of the celebrations

Trump's prominence fueled criticism of the politicization of the commemoration. The nonpartisan body created in 2016 to organize the 250th anniversary was largely displaced by Freedom 250, a group linked to the Republican Administration, which fenced off a good part of the National Mall for the fair, with attractions such as a trip around the world along with exhibitions from conservative groups and defense contractors.

Several Democratic-governed states refused to send delegations, and many of the scheduled performers canceled over concerns about partisanship. A Reuters/Ipsos poll found that a majority of Americans, including three-quarters of Democrats and half of Republicans, believe the anniversary events have become too political.

The background is that of a divided country. A Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday showed that 61% of Americans think the country is not living up to the ideals of the Declaration of Independence, while Trump's approval levels are near historic lows due to the war in Iran and the rising cost of living.

Read also 250 years later: is the American dream facing its greatest identity test under the Trump era?

From the World Cup to disenchantment: a holiday crossed by other passions

The holiday also intersects with other American passions. More than a dozen Major League baseball games are scheduled for Saturday, and the World Cup, which the country is co-hosting for the first time in 32 years, will have games in Houston and Philadelphia, following Argentina's overtime victory over Cape Verde on Friday outside Miami.

Disillusionment and pride coexist among citizens. "I'm sick of the way this country treats people. I'm sick of the way this country treats its foreign neighbors," Los Angeles-based artist Johnny Presley told AFP.

Karisa Tavassoli, an American-Iranian educator from Atlanta, instead defended the validity of the American dream before the same agency: "There are many defects here, but we have something very special that is worth protecting."

With AFP, AP, EFE and Reuters

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