Last week, multiple artists pulled out of Trump’s Freedom 250 Concert. And on one hand I honestly don’t know if I blame them.
I understand why he was able to get real stars at his Inauguration events; the American people were full of hope and optimism and even if the talent knew they’d get blowback, it probably seemed well worth the risk at the time. Not only were they being handsomely compensated, but they probably thought they’d be a part of history in a way they could look back and be proud of.
A year and a half into his second term, a lot has changed. We were promised a Golden Age that seems nowhere in sight, while they spend money we don’t have trying to send Iran to the Stone Age.
That doesn’t mean things can’t get better, but I’m not holding my breath. The American people are hurting, and no one in Washington with any power seems to care. So I don’t know that I blame these washed up artists for being desperate to protect whatever they had left of their reputations.
But on the other hand, I think it speaks volumes that one side of the country seems to want to see the 250th anniversary of our founding to crash and burn because they lost an election. It seems like they’re not only anticipating failure, but hoping for it.
Some of them are more overt than others.
While some openly root for the implosion of the 250th, others are sharing the same sheepish, repetitive takes about it not “feeling right” or “being conflicted about” celebrating American identity because of “all that’s happening.”
It’s not even confined to the political left anymore. I’ve seen right wingers parroting the same platitudes with different rationale.
They’re pretending this is about Trump, or Trump making it about himself, but I’m just not buying it.
And if this doesn’t show you who they are, or how they feel about this country I don’t know what will.
It’s completely consistent with their behavior for the last decade, and even this year. They did the same thing around the Olympics and the Australian Open.
American tennis stars at the Australian Open all visibly uncomfortable after a liberal sports reporter started asking them questions about Trump & the U.S.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) January 22, 2026
Taylor Fritz, Amanda Anisimova, Madison Keys, Jessica Pegula, and Coco Gauff were all asked a similar question.
This clown… pic.twitter.com/LsjJwVCU5w
After Trump won the first time, they were boycotting the Fourth of July. And even when Biden was in office, a significant number of them decided not to participate following the defeat of Roe v. Wade.
And I know that someone may be tempted to retort, “but protest is the most patriotic thing you can do!”
And to that I would respond… “Is it, though?”
Protest has its place, and it’s an invaluable right of the American people.
But imagine another relationship in your life that consisted entirely of criticism. And with no exceptions for anniversaries or birthdays. Would you call that love?
If anyone treated leftists the way they treat America, they’d go no contact and spend the rest of their lives in therapy over it.
I’d go as far as saying America is in a toxic, borderline abusive relationship with its left wing.
How else would you describe a dynamic that uses you for all you have, refuses to leave you (or let you leave them), and constantly berates you?
To leftists, America isn’t worth loving because it’s their home; it only deserves praise when they get their desired political outcomes.
This might sound like a generalization or hyperbole — and honestly, I wish it was.
But there are years of data behind it.
Gallup began measuring this in 2001. Before 9/11, 87% of all Americans surveyed said they were “extremely” or “very” proud to be American and after 9/11, that figure increased by 3%. The proudest Democrats ever were was in 2013 following Obama’s reelection, when 85% of liberals surveyed expressed the sentiments. As of 2025, only 36% of Democrats polled could say the same. For reference, the all-time low for Republican respondents was 84% in 2022.
And who else remembers Michelle Obama declaring that the first time she truly felt proud to be an American was following her husband’s election?
It’s insane to me that Cubans, Venezuelans and Eastern Europeans can love countries they had to leave barefoot with nothing but a backpack, occupied by governments that starved, beat and imprisoned them and their loved ones, but every time a bill passes or a judge issues a ruling in ideological opposition to the American left, they’re ready to set fire to their own flag.
It’s like watching someone that grew up with drug addicted parents in a trailer park reconcile with them while another person that grew up in a safe, loving, upper-middle class neighborhood cuts off their family because they wouldn’t do a vegan Thanksgiving.
They have no appreciation or basic sense of awareness for all they have, or all they’ve been spared from.
Loving America doesn’t and shouldn’t mean deluding yourself about her shortcomings. It doesn’t and shouldn’t mean ignoring decline. It doesn’t and shouldn’t mean shrugging your shoulders and plugging your ears while politicians run it into the ground.
But it does mean refusing to reduce your nation to your government, your grievances, or a list of statistics.
It means cherishing something beyond circumstance, beyond your frustrations, appreciating all it’s done for you even if it isn’t doing what you want it to.
I celebrated the Fourth of July every year. It didn’t matter who was in the White House, or what was happening politically.
And as disappointed as I am in Trump’s second term so far, I will celebrate it this year too, probably more enthusiastically than I ever have, because my country was a miracle 250 years ago, it’s a miracle today, and with all it’s problems, I know I’m lucky to be a part of it.
america 250fourth of julyfreedom 250independence daypatriotism
what do you think?