July 4, 2026

The BBQ Index. Here's yet another way Trump has screwed up the 250th celebration for the rest of us. Thanks to RAS for the link: ~~~

 

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Senator John F. Kennedy reads the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1957: ~~~

     ~~~ Here's a copy of the text.

~~~ "A Grand Experiment in Self-Governance." New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, July 3, 2026. Thanks to Patrick for the link: ~~~

     ~~~ Edward Helmore of the Guardian: “New York’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, exalted the city’s legacy of immigrants on Friday in a historically laden, ideological counterpoint to a US semiquincentennial address that was expected later in the day from Donald Trump – who has sought to deport immigrants en masse throughout his second presidency. Speaking from behind a desk at New York’s city hall that belonged to the US’s first president, George Washington, and which itself is a century older than the Resolute desk in the White House, Mamdani was surrounded by naturalized citizens like himself as he listed the waves of immigrants who shaped the city.”

     ~~~ Zohran Mamdani is not eligible to become president. Donald Trump, by contrast, is president* because he enjoys birthright citizenship.

David Sanger of the New York Times reflects upon the Declaration of Independence, which is so superfluous to this year's supposed celebration that hardly anyone even notices it. You can pop right in to the National Archives and take a close look at it. There's no wait! Sanger mentions what real U.S. Presidents thought of the Declaration on the occasions of the 150th and 200th anniversary of its signing. You can hear a re-creation of Calvin Coolidge's speech here and see Gerald Ford speaking here. Sanger writes,

“Reading the Coolidge and Ford speeches today comes with a bit of a shock: Neither man talks about himself, nor the accomplishments of his administration. The speeches — lengthy — are about the Founders, their ideals and how they apply to the present moment.... [Donald Trump] hasn’t said much about his view of the document’s significance. 'Well, it means exactly what it says, it’s a declaration,' he told ABC News in an interview last year. 'A declaration of unity and love and respect, and it means a lot. And it’s something very special to our country.' [Colleen] Shogan, the former archivist [of the United States whom Mr. Trump fired]..., said..., 'The document is about a lot of things, many ideals, but it’s not about unity,’ she noted. 'It’s about “dissolving the bands,’” she said, paraphrasing from the first, heavily edited line of the Declaration. It is the most famous breakup document in world history.'” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The fact that Trump has never bothered to read a word of the Declaration is not surprising. What's funny about his ignorance of its content is that he had the Archives install a copy of it in the Oval Office and he proudly shows it off to visitors. I suppose if he did bother to read it, he might get all upset if he has the brains to figure out it's very much a "no kings" document. ~~~

~~~ Political scientist Tom Schaller in Public Notice on "how Trump is shredding our founding document 250 years later.... The Declaration is loaded with meanings, some of them inherently self-contradictory. Its opening paragraphs are spine-tinglingly profound, but the bulk of the document is a grievous rant. The document set a global standard for freedom and self-governance as naturally inherent human rights, yet bounded those rights to a privileged white, male minority. It is timeless yet also somewhat outdated for American politics today.... [Nevertheless, ]were they alive today, and almost without exception, the revolutionary leaders would be appalled to see this anniversary presided over by a man who treats with contempt the project they risked their lives to bequeath to us. Almost daily, Donald Trump’s presidency dishonors their legacy by desecrating not only the White House, the National Mall, and the capital city during what should be a celebratory moment, but the rule of law itself."

Paul Krugman: "America’s 250^th birthday will be a grim, glum affair. As far as I can tell, even MAGA enthusiasts are feeling depressed. They certainly aren’t turning out to visit Donald Trump’s sad, shabby state fair. It’s a huge difference from the bicentennial..., which was somehow an uplifting occasion. This sunniness may seem odd, given that the U.S. was troubled in many ways. We had just suffered a humiliating defeat in Vietnam. Our cities were a mess.... Yet somehow ... there was a surprising amount of optimism in the air. One source of optimism was surely the end of the Vietnam War. Yes, it ended in defeat. But it did end, which meant that young Americans and their families no longer had to worry about the draft, and that the nightly news didn’t keep reporting on body counts. Another source of optimism — something people like JD Vance will never understand — was the fall of Richard Nixon.... The Watergate saga felt like an affirmation of the American spirit. Reporters were heroes and the media did its job. So did Congress. Nobody would call Gerald Ford a great president, but he was clearly a decent human being.... America, it seemed, still retained its soul. Who would say that now?"

The worst speech ever delivered supposedly in celebration of American independence -- presumably until tonight's scheduled speech ~~~

~~~ Shawn McCreesh of the New York Times: Donald “Trump used the backdrop of Mount Rushmore one night before the nation’s 250th birthday to characterize his political opponents as 'godless,' 'evil' communists. 'We can only lose the midterms if we allow ourselves to lose the midterms, if we are foolish stupid and unwise,' he said on Friday, demanding that Congress pass his so-called SAVE America Act, which would impose stricter voter ID rules that would make it harder to vote. He called for terminating the filibuster.... Mr. Trump read from an apocalyptic script as the stony faces of Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln looked on. He said the word 'communism' so many times, you might’ve thought the Cold War was still on.... As Mr. Trump’s speech drew to a close, he went in for one last attack. 'The Communist Party,' he concluded, 'is made up of illegal immigrants, criminals and everybody that doesn’t want to work.' Then he switched back to talking about how awesome America is for another minute. Fireworks shot out over the presidential noggins, and the familiar sounds of the Village People started up.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: That "communist" line is another bit of pure projection. I hope Democrats will have the sense to point out that, while they are by no means communists, the greatest communist leader today is Vladimir Putin, and he has no better friend or admirer in the West than Donald Trump. ~~~

     ~~~ Natalie Allison of the Washington Post: “... Trump did not use his speech below the granite carvings to advocate for making space for one more.... But it has been on his mind. [Link fixed.] As recently as five weeks ago, the president — twice in one evening — posted to Truth Social digital mock-ups of his face next to the mountainside carvings of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.... 'There would be no better addition to the iconic Mount Rushmore than the 45th and 47th President of the United States, Donald Trump,' said Taylor Rogers, a White House spokeswoman, in a statement to The Washington Post.... Soon after he first took office, Trump told a congresswoman in private that joining them was his dream. When that Republican congresswoman, Kristi L. Noem, became South Dakota governor and gave Trump a sculpture depicting his face on Mount Rushmore next to Lincoln’s, he put it on display at his Mar-a-Lago office.... Trump, as he has danced around the idea of being added to Mount Rushmore since first taking office, has never batted it down.” ~~~

     ~~~ Aishvarya Kavi of the New York Times notes how Donald Trump compares and contrasts himself with ten of his predecessors. Marie: On this subject, I missed something important yesterday about Trump's "conversation" with AI Teddy Roosevelt. (Trump later related that he had spoken to the real Roosevelt.) But RAS picked up on what I missed. Here's journalist Simon Marks' take: ~~~

Laura Wainman & Sarah Robinson of WUSA: "The Great American State Fair being held on the National Mall as part of the celebration of America's 250th birthday was temporarily shut down Friday afternoon due to extreme heat. The fair was expected to reopen by 5 p.m., according to fair organizers." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ The Great American Fair Was Part of the Great American Grift. Marcy Wheeler: "The thing I can’t get over, with Trump’s Great American Fair, is that they set up a single ferris wheel, which multiple people describe continues to have technical issues. You only throw a fair with a single ferris wheel if the ferris wheel is just a prop (which is good, in this case, on account of its technical problems), something placed there for the pictures.... This is all a model for a large project of looting, literally the replacement of governance with a Potemkin village where the single ferris wheels [doesn’t] even work."

Denmark: Trumpists, Get Out! Jeffrey Gettleman & Maya Tekeli of the New York Times: “Every year for the past century, in the green hills of rural Denmark, thousands of Americans and Danes come together to celebrate the Fourth of July. The gathering is billed as the largest Fourth of July celebration outside the United States.... This year..., organizers are expecting the smallest crowd ever. Some locals say they are sitting it out. And the American government has been uninvited, something that has never happened before and in the past would have been unthinkable.... Just about every year, the American ambassador to Denmark makes an appearance. But this year..., [Donald] Trump’s threats to take over Greenland, a Danish territory, have soured the mood.... Lasse Olsen, a municipal council member who has agitated against the event for years, called Mr. Trump 'an imperialistic mad man.' He ... gave the event’s organizers an ultimatum: Cut American officials from the program or lose logistical support and public funds (typically around $50,000). The festival organizers agreed.... [They] also said that any Americans coming to the event this weekend in a private capacity were welcome.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Trump Tries to Take the “Self-Governance” Out of That “Grand Experiment in Self-Governance.” Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: “The assigning of 260 investigative analysts from the F.B.I. to a 'priority' investigation in Fulton County, Ga., came days after the Supreme Court ruled that states could count mail ballots that arrive after Election Day, rejecting Mr. Trump’s plans. And just last week, a federal judge permanently barred Mr. Trump from carrying out an early executive order that would have required people to show documentary proof of citizenship when they register to vote. At first glance, the ... deployment ... seems to be another stubborn assault on a fact that has refused to budge: Despite the president’s baseless claims, no evidence of fraud in the 2020 election has ever surfaced there. But critics contend that it is just one piece of a broader effort to sow doubt about the electoral process itself and the integrity of elections to come. And no matter how often [Mr.] Trump loses in court, he continues to use the machinery of the federal government to investigate or try to overhaul the nation’s election infrastructure to his benefit....

“As with the prosecutions of Mr. Trump’s political enemies, again front and center is the Justice Department, which has traditionally carried out investigations independent of a president’s wishes and grudges.... Mr. Trump has also gutted the homeland security agency tasked with supporting states on election security, while officials across the federal government have undertaken dozens of actions aimed at insulating Republicans from potential losses in November. As Mr. Trump’s popularity dips and as the primary season has ramped up, Mr. Trump has continued to amplify his rhetoric of rigged elections.”

The Biggest Grift. Eric Lipton & David Yaffe-Bellany of the New York Times: “Nearly 1 million people who bought ... [Donald] Trump’s memecoin have lost money through the end of June, according to a report by the cryptocurrency analytics firm Nansen. Their losses total $3.81 billion.... Mr. Trump profited whether the price of his memecoin went up or down. He collected returns whenever anyone traded the tokens, as he repeatedly pushed his followers to do, using his Truth Social account to promote the coin.... Since arriving at the White House, Mr. Trump and appointees have curtailed regulatory oversight of the industry, including policies related to memecoins.” The link appears to be a gift link.

Kenneth Vogel & Karen Zraick of the New York Times: “The White House announced on Friday that ... [Donald] Trump had issued pardons to 11 men, most of whom had been convicted of crimes related to the Clean Air Act, a bedrock environmental law. The president also pardoned Adam Kidan, a major donor to Republicans, including Mr. Trump. He had served about two and a half years in prison for his role in a fraud scheme involving the disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The Clean Air Act pardons benefited people who had sold or installed devices for diesel trucks that defeated their emissions controls, making them far more polluting. It was the latest move by the Trump administration to undermine laws intended to fight climate change and curb air pollutants that harm human health.” The link appears to be a gift link, so read on. The diesel emission control devices don't sound so great. This might be that rare case where Trump has issued a few justified pardons. Maybe. The AP report is here.

Vaughn Hillyard & David Rhode of MS NOW: “Dozens of intelligence officials began receiving notice of their terminations on Thursday under Bill Pulte, the new acting director of national intelligence. An intelligence official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to potential reprisal, told MS NOW that the individuals being removed by the Trump administration are officials 'who they believe are deep state.' Intelligence leadership alleges that the fired workers have not provided complete pictures of available intelligence, the official said. The moves come after Pulte’s elimination last month of six political appointees who served under Tulsi Gabbard, the previous director of national intelligence. Four former senior intelligence officials told MS NOW that they had never heard of intelligence officials withholding information from officials above them.... [A] former official said, 'This is a fantasy. It only hurts U.S. national security, and it’s helpful to Russia, China and Iran.'”

Alex Woodward of the Independent: “The Department of Justice is refusing to hand over redacted information from investigative files connected to Jeffrey Epstein, despite an order from a federal judge to either release the documents or explain why they were withheld. Hours before a deadline to turn over the materials, Associate U.S. Attorney General Stanley Woodward asked the judge to delay the deadline for another two months, or to dissolve the order entirely by accepting the Justice Department’s explanation for withholding those documents. Last month, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan sided with journalist Katie Phang after she filed a lawsuit accusing Donald Trump’s administration of violating the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which the president signed into law last year.... Woodward wrote that the government is 'committed to transparency and compliance' but 'strongly disagrees' with the judge’s order.”

John Ismay of the New York Times: “Last August..., [Donald] Trump ordered hundreds of soldiers and airmen from the National Guard to duty in the capital. He claimed he would “rescue” the city from “crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor,” even though violent crime had fallen to a 30-year low.... Now, nearly 5,000 Guard troops are in Washington — roughly equivalent to about eight Army battalions. They are still mostly in tourist areas and are expected to be on hand for the Fourth of July celebrations, with temperatures forecast to reach around 100 degrees.... The largest deployment of Guard forces in Washington came in response to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol, when 20,000 troops were called to the city to provide security through the inauguration of President Joseph R. Biden Jr. ”

Aimee Ortiz of the New York Times: “An active-duty officer was placed into Air Force custody after he was arrested in uniform on Wednesday after an event in which he called for the impeachment, conviction and removal of ... [Donald] Trump and Vice President JD Vance. The U.S. Capitol Police arrested the officer, Maj. Jason Watson ... on the Capitol steps.... Representative Al Green, Democrat of Texas, who has filed articles of impeachment against Mr. Trump at least six times, also attended the event. During his speech, Major Watson, who said he was not a member of the Democratic Party, accused the president and vice president of violating both the Constitution and their oaths of office.... 'It is generally against the law for the public to demonstrate on the House steps unless they are with a member of Congress,' the police said. The statement noted that Major Watson had been 'escorted to the House steps by a member of Congress' and that after the member left, 'our officers gave the man lawful orders to stop the illegal demonstration.' Jessica Denson, the founder of the Removal Coalition, said ... that the D.C. attorney general’s office elected not to prosecute Major Watson for his protest, but that he was 'taken directly into custody by the Air Force yesterday.'” A Military Times story is here.

The New York Times liveblogged the Taylor Swift/Travis Kelce wedding thing at Madison Square Garden. Marie: The front page of the paper of record seems to me to be an odd place for wedding celebration ephemera, but I have to admit it's better than watching Donald Trump speaking at Mount Rushmore. (Also linked yesterday.)

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Louisiana. Rick Rojas of the New York Times: “The Louisiana Supreme Court on Friday paused the prosecution of the state’s Republican attorney general just hours after a grand jury in New Orleans indicted her over letters she had sent city officials threatening that they could be removed from office. Attorney General Liz Murrill made an emergency filing asking the court to intervene after the grand jury handed up a 16-count indictment on Thursday that charged her with malfeasance in office and intimidation and retaliation against a public official. The court, whose justices are elected and the majority of whom are Republican, issued a stay early Friday morning. In the order, the justices wrote that Ms. Murrill 'makes a compelling argument' regarding possible flaws in the grand jury process and in its interpretation of the laws she was accused of breaking. 'The indictment appears to turn the law on its head and flows from what appears to be extraordinary procedural defects and improprieties,' the order said.” MB: I'm guessing the real “compelling argument” was, “I'm a Republican.”

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Ukraine/Russia. AP: “A Ukrainian drone attack struck an oil terminal in St. Petersburg on Saturday, Russian officials said, as Kyiv presses on with bombardment of Russia’s oil infrastructure. Almost daily long-range attacks on Russian oil facilities have created a fuel crisis and heaped political pressure on the Kremlin as its all-out invasion of Ukraine stretches into its fifth year. Gov. Alexander Beglov said the city’s Kirovsky district on the Baltic Sea was hit. He also said that air defenses shot down 72 Ukrainian drones across Russia’s second-largest city and the surrounding region. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the attack as part of Ukraine’s 'long-range sanctions' against Russia. He said that Ukrainian forces also hit a military target on the island of Kronstadt, just off the coast of St. Petersburg. 'The Ukrainian defense forces hit the port oil infrastructure, which earns money for the Russian war, and there were also hits on Kronstadt — an important military target,' he said in a post on Telegram.”

~~~ Paul Sonne of the New York Times: “President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, under pressure from increased Ukrainian strikes at home, appeared in fatigues in a rare frontline visit to a support post late Friday, where he touted battlefield progress and threatened to take more of Ukraine outside the Donbas region. Mr. Putin’s appearance was the latest indication that he was doubling down in the face of Ukraine’s expanding barrages. It appeared designed to show the Russian public that the heightened Ukrainian strikes in recent weeks would receive a response and won’t derail the Russian leader’s battlefield aims. The visit took place two days after Mr. Putin launched one of the biggest attacks on Kyiv of the war, which left at least 30 people dead and was widely seen as a delayed response to a string of Ukrainian successes of late that have brought the war home for more Russians.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: As you'll notice, Ukraine aims at destroying or disabling strategic military targets; Russia aims at killing civilians.