As the United States of America approaches its 250th anniversary, or the semiquincentennial, the federal government intends to celebrate. However, both how and what it celebrates has mutated into an ideological, partisan, and personalist endeavor by the current administration, or rather, by the president himself. From changing historical sites to splashing Donald Trump’s face on government buildings, the federal government is intentionally distorting the nation and the world away from what has truly transpired in the United States over the last 250 years. As it stands today, the goal of the America 250 celebration is to emphasize unblemished American greatness, with Trump as its embodiment.
In a March 2025 executive order, the administration criticized the “concerted and widespread effort [over the past decade] to rewrite our Nation’s history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth.” This order marked the beginning of the White House’s review of federal historical sites to ensure they align with their own conception of American greatness and the nation’s “unparalleled legacy.” But despite criticism of political opponents on the left rewriting American history, a review process demonstrates the Trump administration’s own revisionist tendencies for a “righteous” version of American history.
In a December 2025 letter to the Smithsonian, the White House demanded compliance with its singular understanding of American history, writing, “we wish to be assured that none of the leadership of the Smithsonian museums is confused about the fact that the United States has been among the greatest forces for good in the history of the world.” That line is followed by the assertion that “the American people will have no patience for any museum that is diffident about America’s founding or otherwise uncomfortable conveying a positive view of American history, one which is justifiably proud of our country’s accomplishments and record.” This thinly veiled threat to the Smithsonian foreshadowed the way in which the administration proceeded to alter how visitors at federal sites learn about American history.
The highest profile casualty of the administration’s crusade to redefine America ahead of its 250th birthday was an exhibit detailing George Washington’s ownership of slaves in the President’s House at Philadelphia’s Independence National Historic Park. The exhibit was taken down in January, for violating the previously mentioned executive order that prohibits “inappropriately disparag[ing] Americans past or living.” However, this raises a question of who can be disparaged and who cannot be. It puts George Washington, a known slaveholder, on a pedestal, while advancing racist ignorance of how African-Americans, forced into slavery by white colonists, built America. However, it should come as no surprise that this exhibit was targeted. When speaking to a conservative group in 2024, Trump cast doubt on the historical record by falsely stating, “You know, they thought [Washington] had slaves. Actually I think he probably didn’t.”
Slavery and race relations have long been a core struggle in American history, but the exhibit’s removal effectively rewrote the role as well as the contributions of African-Americans. Initiatives like “The 1619 Project” — a New York Times report that critically examines America’s history of slavery — have highlighted how historical narratives discount the practice through new research and history lessons, but the federal government wants institutions, and the general public, to ignore them. The Trump administration’s position on the matter, explicitly stated in a lawsuit brought by the City of Philadelphia over the exhibit’s removal, is that the federal government “gets to choose the message it wants to convey.” When granting a preliminary injunction to keep the exhibit in place, at least for now, the federal judge presiding over the case, City of Philadelphia v. Burgum (2026), called the federal argument “dangerous” and “horrifying.” However, the U.S. Justice Department has since appealed said decision to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, leaving ambiguity around whether the exhibit will be on display come July 4.
While the Philadelphia case plays out as a major test of the administration’s push to redefine American race relations, the administration is also opening additional war fronts across the country in its crusade against American history, targeting narratives of climate change, LGBTQ+ equality, and organized labor.
In February, the National Park Service removed the pride flag from New York City’s Stonewall Monument, following guidance that “only the U.S. flag and other congressionally or departmentally authorized flags are flown on N.P.S.-managed flagpoles, with limited exceptions.” Removing the pride flag, something that tells LGBTQ+ “people, especially younger ones, that their history will not be sidelined again,” undermines the symbolism of Stonewall as a key location in the equality movement.
Stonewall is famous for the 1969 riots that became pivotal in the equality movement because they united the LGBTQ+ community and emboldened them to assert their rights. The uprising was sparked by a police raid of a gay bar at the Stonewall Inn. Raids at these establishments were a common tactic to harass the LGBTQ+ community, since they were limited to few gathering spaces. Although raids of gay bars are no longer common practice, the Trump administration has modernized attacks on the LGBTQ+ community by weaponizing federal law against transgender rights. Taking down the pride flag amounts to erasing LGBTQ+ communities’ past and present equality while downplaying representation struggles, especially considering the fact that the same memo behind it allows exceptions when flags “provide historical context.”
The Trump administration hasn’t stopped there. In its pursuit of minimizing the contributions of minorities in America, it has forced the Lowell National Historical Park in Massachusetts to prohibit two films that highlight the contributions of both women and immigrants in labor history from being shown to visitors. This is significant, not just in a national context, but also in a local context, for Lowell’s textile mills mark the site of the country’s first female union. The diminishment of these historical narratives, especially in places significant to them, is an attack on the national historical record.
But the White House doesn’t just want to rewrite history for America 250, it wants to actively shape the present. Its approach carries a familiar personalistic flair, with an emphasis on the president himself, as seen by The Trump Organization’s recent application to trademark “Trump 250.” And there is no place where this self-promotion is more visible than in Trump’s own backyard: the nation’s capital.
In Washington, large banners with the president’s face on them have been draped over notable federal buildings, accompanied by overtly political messages such as “Make America Safe Again.” Last June, the president held a military parade that “coincidentally” aligned with his birthday. He additionally renamed the Kennedy Center to the Trump Kennedy Center. As a result of forcing Smithsonian compliance, the National Portrait Gallery removed mention of Trump’s two impeachments, the only president with such distinction, and the Jan. 6 insurrection. These actions by a sitting president — inserting himself into institutions and writing his own story — are unprecedented and raise concerns since this is “more often a feature of countries run by dictators, not democratically elected leaders.” But as evidenced by his incitation of an insurrection after losing an election, Trump is not known for a commitment to democratic values.
Besides promotion of the president, preparation efforts for America 250 have been infused with partisanship. At the kickoff event for America 250 in Iowa last July, President Trump created a political spectacle with criticism of both Democrats and the media. These partisan-centered undertones have been reinforced by the federal government’s choice of partners to implement America 250. An online America 250 exhibit, called the Founder’s Museum, includes short videos generated using artificial intelligence by PragerU, a conservative media organization with a track record of “misleading and inaccurate content.” In addition, on the White House webpage for America 250, a “Story of America” video series was produced by Hillsdale College, a conservative-leaning college. These are just two of many conservative partners, with others including the Stephen Miller-founded America First Legal Foundation, the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation, and the late Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA. Contrary to how the administration has demanded “viewpoint diversity” at colleges and universities, supported by these same conservative organizations, these measures set the stage for an ideological and partisan America 250 that revolves around Trump’s cult of personality.
Despite seemingly unitary moves to reshape America for its semiquincentennial, these choices have not gone without political pushback. Besides Philadelphia’s lawsuit seeking to restore its slavery exhibit, Rep. Dwight Owens, D-Pennsylvania, called its removal a part of the White House’s “commitment to whitewashing history.” At Stonewall, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani declared that “no act of erasure will ever change, or silence, [LGBTQ+] history.” And in a congressional hearing for America 250, Rep. Jared Huffman, D-California, described the administration’s plans as “promot[ing] an alternate reality.” Although critics have turned to the courts in attempts to reverse the White House’s revisionist American history, they are politically restricted as a minority across the federal government, from the White House, to both chambers of Congress, as well as the Supreme Court.With America 250 officially transpiring this summer, the Trump administration is proceeding with its distorted facade of America, ironically branding action as “restoring truth” despite intentional misleading of the public. However, irony might be a defining characteristic of the second Trump administration. And despite their efforts, these distortions don’t change the historical record but rather reflect a staged and ideological exhibition of it. American history is unlikely to be rewritten by a singular administration’s attacks, but the fight to preserve true national history requires public understanding of what that history is, who it involves, and most importantly, who it leaves behind.
Featured Image Source: The Daily Beast