Ya gotta love it.
There is much to celebrate as America cruises into its 250th birthday party. So the other day, President Donald Trump — fortuitously on his birthday! — did just that.
And his critics went stark, raving nuts.
First of all, 250 years is a lot of time. A lot of it.
Across all that time, the American Revolution was fought, taking on the might of the then all-powerful British military — and winning. Then there was a repeat of sorts with the War of 1812. The Civil War erupted in 1861 and ended for certain in 1865 with the Union standing tall.
Other wars broke out across the ensuing years on the way to this 250th anniversary. Not to be forgotten was that America evolved thanks to the forefathers’ care in writing the United States Constitution. The power of government was split between a powerful federal government that, in turn, gained its power from the permission of the states, which formed the “United States.”
Wars were sprinkled along the way. There was the Mexican-American War, the Spanish-American War, and various wars between the U.S. government and various Native American tribes. Next up were the global furries of World War I and World War II. Followed by the Korean War, the Vietnam War, which, in turn, was seen as part of the overarching Cold War, began with the end of World War II and essentially ended 46 years later with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Along that path from the constitutional arrival of elected presidents of the United States of America — beginning in 1789 and ongoing to today’s 2026 — America went through lots of presidents, 47 if Trump (and Grover Cleveland before that) is counted twice because of two non-consecutive terms.
Suffice to say, there’s a lot of history in there. America evolved from a colonial outpost into a global superpower, leading the world if not running it outright. Not to mention that it led the world to, literally, the moon. The latter a trip that is still ongoing and which doubtless would astound the Founding Fathers.
So with all that quite considerable history behind the country, there was, quite suitably, President Donald Trump leading a sparkling White House celebration of those 250 years — not to mention, yes indeed, his own birthday.
And the Trump-haters went crazy. Forgotten, of course, is that it is well within tradition for presidential birthdays to be celebrated with glittering parties.
For those with a (ahem!) memory, not to be forgotten on the subject of presidential birthdays was the decidedly memorable birthday party for then-President John F. Kennedy. JFK’s birthday was celebrated at a glittery gathering at New York’s Madison Square Garden. The event featured a decidedly sexily garbed Marilyn Monroe, the blonde movie star of the day. Monroe sang — what else? — “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” to an, um, appreciative if embarrassed JFK (wife Jackie was there!). When she was done, JFK took the stage to say that he could now retire from politics after having “Happy Birthday” sung to him by Marilyn Monroe.
For those unaware of how this looked when it went down, courtesy of today’s media, here’s how it looked.
Not as glamorous as either a presidential Trump or JFK birthday party, there is the fact that Presidents Washington and Lincoln, by name, have had their individual birthday’s declared federal holidays. That’s right — it’s George or Abe’s birthday! Let’s party!
So in short? All the groaning and moaning over a really amazing birthday party celebrating the nation (250 years) and President Trump (80 years) is nothing more than the sour grapes of a distinctly un-American variety.
The fact is that in celebrating the nation’s 250th and President Trump’s 80th, there is much to celebrate.
So Happy Birthday, America! And Happy Birthday, Mr. President!
On we all go!
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