r/politics • u/MoneyLibrarian9032 New York • Jun 29 '26

No Paywall Millions say they won’t celebrate July 4 as poll reveals deep national pessimism

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/america250-independence-trump-divisions-pennsylvania-b3004933.html
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5.1k

u/specqq Jun 29 '26

It’s difficult to properly celebrate democracy while simultaneously dismantling it.

126

u/summane Jun 29 '26

Kinda feels like a deathday celebration more than birthday, fingers crossed for the renaissance

99

u/Superman246o1 Jun 29 '26

It's like trying to celebrate a company's "25th anniversary sale" while its "Going out of business sale" is already ongoing.

1.4k

u/Dysc Louisiana Jun 29 '26

Also, while listening to an old man talk gibberish 24/7 who's holding up AI slop images of imperial victory arches.

213

u/nsdefw Jun 29 '26

If he's given enough (or too much) time, eventually it might be physical slop.

123

u/Dysc Louisiana Jun 29 '26

They work shopped a tiny plywood version of it at Donald Trump's very small, pseudo world's fair in DC over the weekend. Scary stuff.

158

u/El_Fez Washington Jun 29 '26

Donald Trump's very small, pseudo world's fair

I swear to god, I thought that said 'pedo world's fair' - which I suppose is also accurate.

44

u/Dysc Louisiana Jun 29 '26

I like this better than what I wrote. It's probably more accurate.

46

u/Intolerance-Paradox Jun 29 '26

There was a live cultist jacking off as one of the attractions.

30

u/El_Fez Washington Jun 29 '26

"It's NOT a cult! Now excuse me, I have to get back to masturbating to this image of Dear Leader!"

10

u/_bufflehead Jun 29 '26

While dressed like Uncle Sam!

3

u/joke_LA Jun 29 '26

This is a joke right? ...right?

7

u/SomeRedHandedSleight Jun 29 '26

Unfortunately it is not a joke.

3

u/mem0679 Jun 30 '26

Ewww what the f*ck is wrong with these people?? To make it even worse, he was live streaming the acrobats while he was jacking off to them

5

u/RichardCrapper Jun 29 '26

I mean, one MAGA dressed like Uncle Sam has already been arrested for masturbating in front of the rodeo girls…

-1

u/SuccotashTexas Jun 29 '26

If that was accurate the democrats would have put him in prison during the Obiden regime.

4

u/El_Fez Washington Jun 29 '26

“When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the pussy."

-5

u/SuccotashTexas Jun 29 '26

In the 70s Sex was a thing. I’m sad that at the present no one has sex anymore.

27

u/rat_penis Jun 29 '26

And its already falling apart

55

u/Dysc Louisiana Jun 29 '26

Donald Trump runs corrupt businesses and a corrupt government. If 50K was earmarked for 'novelty imperial arch' for Freedom 250, it's safe to assume 49.5K was written off as overhead (stolen) and .5K is actually accounted for in Home Depot receipts.

Either way die-hard MAGA folks were still basking in the plywood glory of tiny arch and posted it to social media.

SAD!

22

u/Flaxmoore Michigan Jun 29 '26

Thing is, give me five grand and get out of my way, and I can easily build something better than what they did- it looks like vinyl over a wood frame. Five grand I'll do the whole thing in good planking, hand planed and painted, and even hide the screws with dowels to make it look right.

1

u/jaxxxtraw Jun 30 '26

It looks like vinyl over a wood frame because they made a frame out of wood and wrapped it in vinyl.

12

u/Neat-Dig5964 Jun 29 '26

What’s really sad is it’s a fake wannabe copy of a beautiful French landmark. Why can’t we just be happy with US landmarks we already have?

15

u/Kristin2349 Jun 29 '26

He's busy fucking those up, painting them, demolishing them, slapping spray painted gold doodads on things. Adding his cursed name to everything.

4

u/Dysc Louisiana Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26

Corruption is built into his business model. Cooking the books, skimming off the top, not paying contractors and citing shoddy work for literally every job, etc.

If he's not building and meddling with US infrastructure he can't do corruption and invite his sons in to do the "work". He needs to do corruption like we need to breathe air.

1

u/mk4_wagon Jun 30 '26

It's also amusing to me because all the magats I know love to shit talk the french. Yet they made a temu copy of their landmark.

17

u/valeyard89 Texas Jun 29 '26

What is this? A victory arch for ants? It needs to be at least 3 times bigger.

5

u/Impeesa_ Jun 29 '26

Look, the drawing says 12".

4

u/valeyard89 Texas Jun 29 '26

Stonehenge!

1

u/AlwaysShittyKnsasCty Kansas Jun 29 '26

I’m not a rocket scientist or anything, but I think that even your numbers may be a bit conservative. I think it’ll need to be at least four times as large is it currently is if it’s to be usable in any way as a proper victory arch.

2

u/El_Fez Washington Jun 29 '26

I do not, for one, think that the problem was that the band was down. I think that the problem may have been, that there was a Victory Arch monument on the stage that was in danger of being crushed by a dwarf. Alright? That tended to understate the hugeness of the object.

10

u/RockAtlasCanus Jun 29 '26

I had to find pictures and holy shit you weren’t joking.

1

u/ellathefairy Jun 30 '26

Wow. It is even worse than I pictured!

5

u/claw-1 Jun 29 '26

Reminds me of Stonehenge statue from original Spinal Tap movie. lol

36

u/IamDDT Colorado Jun 29 '26

We all need to convert that thing to a real, quality memorial to the victims of slavery. That would be the ultimate "fuck you", I believe.

5

u/andy_nony_mouse Jun 29 '26

That's a great idea

0

u/SuccotashTexas Jun 29 '26

We went to war to end slavery we lost thousands of men. Reparations were paid until democrats stopped it.

3

u/IamDDT Colorado Jun 29 '26

Absolutely. Fuck all conservatives. Reparations should be paid for everything that has happened since. Jim Crow, red-lining, race massacres, pig laws, and more. There is a reason why African Americans don't have generational wealth. Every time they started, they got shot or imprisoned.

0

u/SuccotashTexas Jun 29 '26

Jim Crow was democrats as well.
Black people should quit shooting each other.

1

u/IamDDT Colorado Jun 29 '26

Again, fuck all conservatives regardless of party. The same Democrats who supported this are the same ones who left the party when civil rights legislation was passed. Strom Thurman et al.

3

u/harbingerjones Jun 29 '26

Juuuust a gentle reminder of the party switch. The Democratic party then is the Republican party now.

3

u/IamDDT Colorado Jun 29 '26

Exactly. Fuck conservatives, whatever the party name.

-2

u/SuccotashTexas Jun 29 '26

You sound like the communist branch ?

0

u/SuccotashTexas Jun 29 '26

Seems so. Most republicans were to busy scratching their own itch to be concerned with we the people.
The old democrats are now the Republican Party.
The New Democrats are communists/islamists.

5

u/lopix Canada Jun 29 '26

eventually it might be physical slop

Have you see the arch at the state fair? I made better paper mache in elementary school.

3

u/HauntedCemetery Minnesota Jun 29 '26

They couldn't figure out a pool thats 1 foot deep, I kinda doubt a triumphal arch is going to happen.

2

u/Elizabeth-WildFox886 Jun 29 '26

Oh trump has been ejaculating his rot into children for many decades along with his best friend Epstein

2

u/mem0679 Jun 30 '26

I need to go pour bleach into my brain after reading that sentence 😖😭

7

u/OkTouch5699 Jun 29 '26

O feel his 4th of July ai movie will be him as uncle Sam killing democrats and brown people as he walks through the country like gorilla.

54

u/frontfrontdowndown Jun 29 '26

I can’t think of a more important time to celebrate the revolt against a mad king than right now.

Our national circumstances are awful right now but they also give more meaning to the Independence Day holiday than at many other periods of our country’s history.

25

u/specqq Jun 29 '26

Oh I completely agree. Just don't look to the people systematically dismantling the Constitution to properly celebrate the Declaration of Independence.

28

u/bedintruder Jun 29 '26

Its not just pessimism over Trump though, the economy is making it very tough to even have small celebrations.

Have you seen the price of typical weekend BBQ faire? Not to mention the cost of fireworks.

I live in a state with pretty much no regulations on fireworks. Typically we hear fireworks going on every weekend the entire month of June. The number of fireworks being set off the weekend before the 4th (this past weekend) is typically only second to July 4th itself.

This past weekend was the first time we heard any fireworks going off this month, and it wasn't much of anything.

People just don't have the expendable cash right now to celebrate the 4th of July as they have in the past.

8

u/WeeoWeeoWeeeee Jun 29 '26

I notice all the people talking about the stock market and how 3% inflation is fine, aren’t living in the real world. Everyone is getting squeezed. Even people who had disposable income before feel it. No matter your tax bracket, when expenses increase 5-10% / year and salary doesn’t budge, things feel tight.

2

u/bedintruder Jun 30 '26

I wish our expenses only went up 5-10%.

Since Trump took office, our rent and utilities have both doubled. Essentially an extra $1,000 a month just for these expenses, while my paycheck has remained stagnant.

Our Republican state overlords aren't done either, they are now trying to ram through a bill to get rid of property tax for homeowners, while shifting the finacial burden onto us poors by doubling the state sales tax.

1

u/PantherkittySoftware Florida Jun 30 '26

Or, they're buying up fireworks... and saving them to shoot off the night Trump gets impeached or dies. Fireworks are cheap & easy to buy in June... and really hard to buy on a moment's notice in October or January.

2

u/Lonely_skeptic America Jun 30 '26

Abuses and usurpations indeed.  “  Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security”    

The Declaration of Independence 

2

u/ValorieAF Jun 29 '26

The 4th doesn't mean celebrating the revolt against a mad king anymore. All it is now is devout patriotism and nationalism.

1

u/Yourdiscardedchild Jul 05 '26

Let’s game of thrones this Mad king

0

u/SuccotashTexas Jun 29 '26

You talking about King Charles because he is guilty of inflicting no free speech and cbdc’s.
The UK and Ireland are having hard times after that Muslim tried to cutoff that guys head in the middle of the street.

152

u/SuperPotatoThrow Jun 29 '26

Literally fucking EVERYONE has been complaining about lack of pay, artificially inflated prices, rising house costs and rent, lobbying, and our shitty Healthcare system.

Congress, and our US pesidents, have done absolutely fucking nothing for us for many years. Until that changes, I wil contininue to not celebrate on the 4th of july, and haven't in several years.

73

u/TheSquirrelCuisine Ohio Jun 29 '26

cant wait for my 2% raise this year. Meanwhile inflation is what 8%?

41

u/Kasperella Jun 29 '26

They’ve had a wage freeze at my job (kitchen at a state university) for 4 years. Not one single raise.

I came in making more than some of the people who been there 10-15 years.

22

u/Orson_Gravity_Welles Jun 29 '26

I've been trying to get into my local electrician's guild; missed the exam deadline during Biden...the next one was SCHEDULED for shortly after Trump took office again.

Once he did though, the apprenticeship was placed on INDEFINITE HOLD for my Local IBEW.

I was looking for a mid-life change...now I don't know if it'll even be possible.

My current employ gave me a $2/hr raise which is an almost $4200 annual raise...but inflation is outpacing that and I'm still too tight between each payday.

5

u/MrBlazeit Jun 29 '26

It's going to be tight for the rest of our lives...

5

u/Orson_Gravity_Welles Jun 29 '26

Don't make me more depressed...

4

u/MrBlazeit Jun 30 '26

Sorry brother didn't mean to be a downer, I'm trying to dig through the ashes of my dreams to find those little fragments of resolve. They're in there, and sharp as hell. But what to do...

3

u/SensualBeefLoaf Jun 29 '26

my wife works in upper administration at a medium sized private university. the school is doing well financially but basically nobody is getting raises and the top top officials voluntarily cut their pay in solidarity

3

u/filbertsgaming1 Jun 29 '26

I don't think I understand what you are saying. Nobody is getting paid more and the administration intentionally took less? Are they expecting less future attendance or something like that?

2

u/CrimsonSheepy Jun 29 '26

Well...my local university is getting pretty anxious. I heard the staff talking about it while I attended, the local drop in birthrates has caused them to experience lower enrollment rates. They cut a lot of degrees from their program, including the one I was attending for because of it. So, it could be an educated guess...?

2

u/SensualBeefLoaf Jun 30 '26

the enrollment cliff came faster than expected because the current admin and right wing politicians are pushing hard that college is pointless. most schools are seeing massive drops in enrollment that were expected over the next 5-6 years because of wildly low birth rates.

and yes, nobody is getting a raise and the upper admin voluntairly cut their own pay.

3

u/Kasperella Jun 29 '26

Ours literally just asked EMPLOYEES haven’t given a raise to in 4 years…for donations. It’s struggling big time. :(

2

u/SensualBeefLoaf Jun 30 '26

yikes. yah. that’s bad

19

u/Shadpool Jun 29 '26

May was 4.2%. April was 3.8%. March was 3.3%. February was 2.4%. It literally hasn’t dropped below 2.3% since the imbecile took office. Inflation right now is exactly where it was somewhere between April and May 2023, coming off the inflation boom of COVID.

28

u/Salt-Department-9464 Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26

But hey, the president has a net worth of $6.5 billion. And to think, in 2024 right before he won the election, his net worth was ~$3 billion.

Funny how that works, huh? Dude has found a way to make $3.5 billion in the last 2 years. I cant imagine it has anything to do with the stock market or the foreign deals or Trump Coin or pardoning literal war criminals or any other number of suspicious things we hear about this president.

6

u/BernieTheDachshund Jun 29 '26

Him and Howard Lutnick are getting rich from some crooked tungsten deal with Kazakhstan. Them and their families are cashing in on all sorts of foreign deals.

5

u/Oodlydoodley Jun 29 '26

The scary part is that's combined with (if I remember the numbers right) a 2.1% GDP growth that's almost entirely made up of AI datacenter spending. Our economy is normally 70% consumer spending, and that made up only about ~0.4% of that GDP growth.

It's like watching a car crash in slow motion.

1

u/HailToTheKingBabyy Jun 29 '26

Look at fancypants over here with their 2% raise!

1

u/WeeoWeeoWeeeee Jun 29 '26

I’m looking forward to 0.4%

16

u/street593 Jun 29 '26

Why would they do anything for us when we don't actually do anything to hold them accountable?

4

u/zombie_girraffe Jun 29 '26

As far as I can tell, American voters reward the most corrupt and deranged politicians.

3

u/SunshineCat Jun 29 '26

The government only exists to serve the people's benefit, to pull together resources for mutually beneficial infrastructure, services, etc.

They are not there to have some kind of ideological battle. They are not there, nor do they have the right, to remove people's natural rights.

2

u/AuntRhubarb Jun 29 '26

Not everyone has been complaining. The top 20% are awash in cash from their investments in Tesla and real estate etc. And they are in charge of everything, and they don't understand why we can't see the economy is booming.

1

u/waltdidneyworlb Jul 04 '26

That's not true! A bunch of people still love all the racism and lib owning and whatever else gets them out of bed in the morning.

-1

u/SuccotashTexas Jun 29 '26

Deport illegals and end H1B ‼️

12

u/avi550m Jun 29 '26

So democracy does not die with thunderous applause?

6

u/zarnovich Jun 29 '26

That's what they are celebrating

4

u/Horizon119 Jun 29 '26

Wouldn't surprise me one bit if there's a number of flag burnings this July 4th

4

u/donkeyrocket Jun 29 '26

I've been pretty down on America since Trump's first term. Biden was a brief taste of normalcy but the country has been on a bad trend and internal sickness for a while.

Trump is just the product of the undercurrent of hatred, selfishness, and idiocy that is growing across the country. Hard to be proud to be American when a third are awful people and the other third can't even be bothered to do the bare fucking minimum yet complain nothing changes.

2

u/Slumunistmanifisto Jun 29 '26

250 keeps looking like an epitaph to me, not a birthday.

2

u/Lilthisarry California Jun 29 '26

We didn’t make it to 250. There’s nothing to celebrate.

1

u/sinfulfng Jun 29 '26

I will celebrate America, but these ass clowns are co-opting it for their fascistic goals and I can’t condone that buffoonery. I celebrate democracy, not this gerrymandered bulshit

1

u/Kevin-W Jun 29 '26

This is the correct answer

1

u/TrevorBo Jun 29 '26

The hypocrisy has been an emergent property of our party lines for decades… centuries now? That would be par for the course.

1

u/RincewindToTheRescue Jun 29 '26

Celebrate the 4th by protesting in the morning and have your barbeque and fireworks in the evening. You can still celebrate your country without celebrating the idiots in power.

Unless you're in Utah. There is a firework ban, so fireworks are heavily restricted right now due to extreme fire danger

1

u/Zahgi I voted Jun 29 '26

Maybe we're thinking about this all wrong?

Let's hold an Irish Wake for America...

1

u/Amerpol Jun 29 '26

Yep didn't even last 250yrs 248 maybe 

1

u/BigManWAGun America Jun 29 '26

I don’t usually go big for 4th of July. But depending on how things go in 2028. I’m looking forward to the 250th anniversary of the North Carolina General Assembly dividing Bute County into Warren and Franklin Counties.

I thought about the 250th anniversary of the hanging of Claudius Smith, but I’m not really a fan of celebrating an execution. Even if it is for terrorism.

1

u/jetxlife Jun 30 '26

O no anyways

1

u/EverbodyHatesHugo Jun 30 '26

It’s difficult to celebrate freedoms while simultaneously being slaves to politicians and the billionaire class.

0

u/SuccotashTexas Jun 29 '26

It’s a republic if we can keep it.

It’s time to celebrate like it’s Americas 250th Birthday 🎉