When the history of this time is written, it may be observed that the United States of America celebrated its 250th anniversary with one, big Donald Trump-themed party in the nation’s capital that lasted for one whole summer.
That is how it has looked, at times, over these last few months in Washington, where Mr. Trump used the occasion of the nation’s birthday to throw a series of parties done up in the distinct and florid style of the political movement he created, even as his presidency faced new perils.
It was an absolute MAGA-extravaganza, all summer long, and the imagery was something to behold.
There was an IndyCar race around the National Mall and an eight-sided fighting cage wrapped in crypto advertisements on the south lawn of the White House. Remember “the Claw,” how it towered like a jumbo inflatable bouncy house beside the White House?
On July 4, Mr. Trump stood before the Washington Monument during a lightning storm and ministered to his most faithful followers while surrounded by tattered American flags from key moments throughout the nation’s history.
The monuments and landmarks of the city changed. The reflecting pool turned green. The Kennedy Center shut down. National Guard troops patrolling the city posted up by great old fountains that were shooting water again for the first time in a long time.
Much of what was staged in Washington these last few months was done so under the banner of the nation’s 250th anniversary — but it was the nation’s 250th anniversary as directed by Mr. Trump.
Disparate elements of his base converged on the capital, rendering a portrait of his movement.
In May, families prayed on the national mall at “a celebration of America’s Christian history.” Billionaires with business before the Trump administration sat ringside at the White House UFC fight that the president threw on his 80th birthday. Young men watching the fight from the overflow area on the Ellipse roared at the spectacle of it.
A man with a Three Percenters tattoo took pictures of a military flyover during the IndyCar race. The pious, the ultrawealthy, the hypermasculine, the extremist — all made pilgrimages to the capital for this high-MAGA summer.
But the summer is ending. Mr. Trump’s approval ratings hit a new low in August. High-level White House staff have started to exit. An increasing number of his supporters with big social media followings are defecting.
There is no getting around the fact that Mr. Trump is a lame-duck president. As one of his favorite historical figures, Winston Churchill, famously said: “This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
How did Mr. Trump and his MAGA movement express themselves at their maximal moment?
Like this.
The post Looking Back on the Summer of High MAGA in Trump’s Washington appeared first on New York Times.
