WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥 President Donald Trump sees America鈥檚 250th anniversary as a chance to get the country excited again 鈥 about Donald Trump.
The president is hosting a rally Wednesday on the 好色tv Mall in Washington. He has said it will be replete with a military flyover by stealth bombers, military bands, singer of 鈥淕od Bless the USA鈥 fame and a speech by Trump.
It comes as Trump works to convince Americans ahead of critical November midterm elections that he's put the in the rearview mirror, with oil prices easing as the has started to reopen in the wake of an interim deal to end the war with Tehran.
The rally is designed to kick off weeks of celebrations about as part of 鈥淭he Great American State Fair鈥 on the mall, the national park that stretches from the U.S. Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial.
But Trump鈥檚 appearance onstage was only announced after several musicians 鈥 including Young MC, Martina McBride and the Commodores 鈥 because of concerns the event had become politicized. The president stepped into the void as he hyped his own ability to command a crowd.
鈥淚 am thinking about bringing the Number One Attraction anywhere in the World, the man who gets much larger audiences than Elvis in his prime, and he does so without a guitar, the man who loves our Country more than anyone else, and the man who some say is the Greatest President in History,鈥 Trump posted on social media about his plan to be the event鈥檚 headliner.
In a video posted Monday night, he said the event would be "the biggest rally we鈥檝e ever had,鈥 and declared: 鈥淚t鈥檚 our music, our playlist. We don鈥檛 have a lot of people boring you with songs you don鈥檛 want to hear. We have the hottest people.鈥
Tuesday afternoon, country singer Alexis Wilkins, the longtime girlfriend of FBI Director Kash Patel, posted on X that she would be performing at Wednesday's event.
Trump is pressing the case that he's made America better
Trump has struggled to deliver the presidency that he advertised to voters 鈥 causing his to dwell at a low 37%, according to the most recent polling.
Democrats say his botched repairs to the Lincoln Memorial and the resulting are a sign that he鈥檚 spending instead of the nation's legacy.
Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., said the Trump-affiliated group organizing the 250th anniversary was selling access to special interests and redrafting the nation's founding to the president's liking, based on documents he presented at a congressional hearing earlier this year.
鈥淚t should be about bringing us together,鈥 Huffman said. 鈥淗e's trying to make this 250th celebration all about him.鈥
Trump鈥檚 fondness for showmanship has not been a match for public anxiety about his presidency. Only 33% of U.S. adults approve of his economic leadership, with favorability at 40% on immigration and 34% on Iran.
鈥淚t鈥檚 clear that Trump鈥檚 preoccupations in his second term 鈥 from Iran to the Washington reflecting pool 鈥 are not those of most members of his base, let alone other Americans,鈥 said Daniel Treisman, a politics professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. 鈥淭hat explains his unusually low approval ratings.鈥
Trump's rallies can only help him so much without concrete improvements on inflation
than what Trump inherited and it has been outpacing wage growth. The remains on a path upward that keeps interest rates high. Investments in artificial intelligence are driving growth, but they come with fears of middle-class job losses such that the construction of data centers needed for have become controversial politically.
Trump has fueled dramas over tariffs, NATO, immigration, ownership of Greenland and his own renovations of iconic buildings and monuments in Washington 鈥 generating a flood of controversy that has pushed things the administration sees as accomplishments 鈥 such as the capture of Venezuela鈥檚 former leader 鈥 off the public radar.
James Snyder, a Harvard University professor, has partnered on research showing that past rallies have helped Trump turn out his supporters to vote, in the short-term. But he noted that Wednesday鈥檚 rally comes more than four months before the November midterm elections, and is unlikely to have a politically strategic benefit for Republicans.
鈥淚 would not expect that the rally would have any clear effect on the 2026 midterm elections,鈥 Snyder said.
