After several musicians canceled their planned appearance at the US anniversary festival, President Donald Trump sees himself and his MAGA movement at the center of the celebrations.
May 31, 2026, 3:11 p.mMay 31, 2026, 3:11 p.m
President Trump will personally open the historic celebrations of the USA’s 250th birthday “on Wednesday, June 24th” in a ceremony, a spokeswoman for Trump’s event initiative Freedom250 told various US media over the weekend. Trump had previously announced, somewhat confusingly, on his online mouthpiece Truth Social that he was checking whether a rally “on Wednesday, Washington DC, at the same time, in the same place” would be feasible.
US President Donald Trump is planning a celebration with himself at the center.Image: keystone
Trump wants the biggest star at the celebration: himself
Trump wrote that he understood if the musicians were nervous about their planned performance. He’s thinking about bringing “the number one attraction in the world” onto the stage with a big speech instead of those “highly paid, third-rate “artists”: himself. Only great patriots are invited to this “wild and beautiful celebration of America.”
Just last week, the line-up of musicians who were scheduled to perform at the anniversary festival between June 25th and July 10th in the US capital was published. Shortly afterwards, several artists canceled their performances, including the band The Commodores, country singer Martina McBride and Poison frontman Bret Michaels. The reason given by the musicians was that the event, which they said was non-partisan, was too politically charged for them.
In another post at the weekend, Trump railed against the musicians and even called for a complete cancellation of the anniversary concert series: “We should have a gigantic MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN RALLY, for 250, instead of overpaid singers who no one wants to hear, whose music is boring, and who still do nothing but complain.” (dab/sda/dpa)