The Matt Walsh Show - Ep. 1788 - Everything Wrong With The America 250 Celebrations

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00:00:30.000 One of my favorite Americans who happened to be born before America was a country is Daniel Boone.

00:00:35.420 Two years after America's birth as a nation, Boone was in captivity, having been taken prisoner by a Shawnee war party.

00:00:42.940 He was in prison for months, and then he escaped. He made a daring escape.

00:00:47.540 He had to travel 160 miles through uncharted wilderness by foot and by horse in just five days.

00:00:53.780 Makes it back to his settlement in just enough time to warn them of a coming attack.

00:00:58.440 Now, that story alone could be its own movie.

00:01:02.100 It's already separated into three acts right there.

00:01:04.760 And there should be dozens of movies about Daniel Boone.

00:01:07.560 Instead, there have been basically none, at least since the 1960s.

00:01:10.860 But that story is just one anecdote from an absolutely amazing, mythic, and yet also real American life.

00:01:20.840 Boone spent decades exploring and charting the wild American frontier.

00:01:24.680 He helped to blaze the wilderness road through the Appalachian Mountains.

00:01:27.900 which would pave the way for settlers to make it into Kentucky, which then became a doorway into

00:01:31.860 the West. Just 15 miles from their final destination on the Kentucky River, Boone's

00:01:36.780 party was attacked by Shawnee warriors. Two men were killed. And this echoed an incident from two

00:01:42.380 years before when Boone was attacked by Cherokees as he tried to make it into Kentucky. And at the 0.63

00:01:48.120 time, several of his party were killed, including his son. And yet two years later, here he was

00:01:51.900 again, and this time he completed the task. And this again is just one chapter in an amazing,

00:01:59.340 unbelievable, and yet real American life. These are the kinds of stories that we should be talking

00:02:05.580 about in the lead up to America's 250th birthday. We have a lot to celebrate and a lot to be

00:02:11.920 thankful for. We are a nation built by some of the most extraordinary humans who have ever lived on

00:02:17.260 the planet. And yet, as you may have noticed, America 250 has so far been a rather muted

00:02:24.820 anticlimactic affair. I mean, it's hardly been an affair at all. It's basically like not happening.

00:02:31.620 There's very little national excitement for it. Very little is being done to commemorate it. And

00:02:35.900 the few meager attempts to organize events around America 250 have been confused and disjointed and

00:02:41.340 disorganized and frankly embarrassing. All the more so because it was not supposed to be like

00:02:46.860 this. Now, less than two years ago, if you can recall back that far, Donald Trump won the popular

00:02:53.360 vote over Kamala Harris by several million votes. And to the liberal mind, to every true believer

00:02:59.660 in the self-described party of democracy, this result wasn't simply shocking. It was unthinkable.

00:03:04.760 I mean, these are people who firmly believe to their core that the Electoral College was the

00:03:09.440 only reason for the existence of the Republican Party to begin with. And of course, in truth,

00:03:13.300 Kamala Harris's defeat was not difficult to explain. It turns out that no sane American

00:03:18.480 wants to be told every day for years on end that America is a terrible country. Americans don't

00:03:24.400 want endless racial grievances to dictate public policy. We don't want open borders to destroy our

00:03:29.860 national identity any more than we want deranged activists to smear America's founders and tear

00:03:35.860 down their statues. So by electing Donald Trump over Kamala Harris, more than 77 million voters

00:03:41.840 rejected a political ideology that's premised on cynicism and resentment and envy and disdain

00:03:49.540 for America and its people, particularly white males. Instead, we voted for the candidate who

00:03:54.420 promised explicitly that he would celebrate America's greatness and in particular its history.

00:04:00.840 So this video is from the summer of 2023 as the Biden administration ramped up its campaign of

00:04:06.600 political prosecutions against Trump and his allies. At the time, to many Americans,

00:04:11.600 the idea that Trump could actually win re-elections seemed hard to comprehend.

00:04:16.180 But with that in mind, here was Trump's message at the time. Watch.

00:04:22.120 Three years from now, the United States will celebrate the biggest and most important milestone

00:04:27.240 in our country's history. 250 years of American independence. What a great country.

00:04:34.860 And we have to keep it that way.

00:04:37.820 But that's why, as a nation, we should be preparing for a most spectacular birthday party.

00:04:44.420 We want to make it the best of all time.

00:04:46.980 Here is my plan to give America's founding in 1776, the incredible anniversary it truly

00:04:53.540 deserves.

00:04:54.700 On day one, I will convene a White House task force called Salute to America 250.

00:05:01.440 It will be responsible for coordinating with state and local governments to ensure not

00:05:06.060 just one day of celebration, but an entire year of festivities across the nation, starting

00:05:12.700 on Memorial Day 2025 and continuing through July 4th, 2026.

00:05:19.540 Second, I will work with all 50 governors, Republican and Democrat alike, to create the

00:05:26.040 The Great American State Fair, a unique one-year exhibition featuring pavilions from all 50 states.

00:05:31.980 It'll be something.

00:05:33.600 The Great American State Fair will showcase the glory of every state in the Union,

00:05:39.180 promote pride in our history, and put forth innovative visions for America's future.

00:05:46.220 Now, Memorial Day 2025 has come and gone.

00:05:50.740 And as you've probably noticed, the nationwide parades have not begun. Far from it.

00:05:56.720 Instead, the administration's plan to honor the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and the birth of this country, by any measure, has fallen apart in spectacular fashion.

00:06:08.060 And has certainly fallen well short of that ambitious vision that he laid out that sounded really exciting.

00:06:15.040 That would have been great if that could have happened, but none of it did.

00:06:17.960 and you know i will freely admit that this is a failure that truly bothers me uh for a number

00:06:25.920 of reasons and the more that i think about it and the closer we get to july 4th the more frustrated

00:06:31.780 i become and the more depressing the whole situation is and uh you probably feel the

00:06:39.400 same way if you don't you should because no matter what your political beliefs happen to be

00:06:44.220 this is a story that has many ramifications, some obvious, some not so obvious, for the future of

00:06:49.680 this country. As I'll explain in a minute, there has never been a failure of this type

00:06:54.760 that is this embarrassing in the history of the United States. The total inability or interest

00:07:03.760 in celebrating an event like this is unprecedented in American history. And the most troubling thing

00:07:11.640 about this situation is what it says about the current state of our country. And that's why

00:07:15.860 on cable television right now, foreigners are telling millions of Americans that they should 0.99

00:07:20.660 feel unease about honoring our country's history in the first place. Watch. 1.00

00:07:26.700 In one month, America will mark the 250th anniversary of its founding. Like previous

00:07:31.820 anniversaries, there is a deep unease about this. I feel a deep unease about the celebrations to

00:07:38.780 which I am invited to mark the 250th anniversary of our so-called democracy.

00:07:46.160 Now, that MSNBC host, as you probably are not aware, is named Ali Velshi. He was,

00:07:53.400 as you could tell, not born here. He was born in Kenya. He went to school in Canada.

00:08:00.640 He was the guy who, during the George Floyd riots in Minneapolis in 2020, told everybody that the

00:08:05.900 riot was not unruly, even as buildings went up in flames behind him. And you could see there.

00:08:13.220 And now, as a proven liar, and as someone who isn't American, who has no loyalty or in love 0.75

00:08:19.620 for this country at all, he's going on national television and telling Americans they should feel 0.76

00:08:23.940 uneasy about celebrating their history. Now, something tells me that if I went to Kenya or

00:08:30.700 to India, where his parents are from, and announced that they should be uneasy about celebrating their

00:08:36.600 national holidays or commemorating their history, Ali Velshi would be the first in line to call me

00:08:43.020 a racist and a colonizer, and yet he can come here and say that's us. Now, his goal could not be any

00:08:48.700 more clear, and he's not alone. The rest of the corporate press is also running cover for leftists

00:08:53.680 who want to terrorize America to 50 events and destroy the country also. Watch.

00:08:58.540 Tonight, with preps already underway for an event celebrating America's 250th birthday on the National Mall, a new snag.

00:09:07.640 This will be a time like you've never had in your lives, America to 50.

00:09:13.220 Six musical artists originally announced as performers now dropping out, many citing political concerns.

00:09:20.640 Country singer Martina McBride writing,

00:09:22.960 I was presented with an opportunity to perform at a nonpartisan event, but that turned out to be misleading.

00:09:28.540 Rapper Young MC saying artists were never told about any political involvement and poison frontman Brett Michaels writing.

00:09:36.560 It's evolved into something much more divisive than I agreed to be part of.

00:09:41.300 The event is organized by Freedom 250, a public private partnership launched by President Trump.

00:09:50.020 Now, what's interesting about that footage is that while they read an excerpt from Brett Michaels post,

00:09:56.780 they conveniently left out the most important part. So here's what he wrote in its entirety.

00:10:01.160 Quote, unfortunately, what was presented to us as a celebration of our country has evolved into

00:10:05.560 something much more divisive than what I agreed to be a part of. Concerns have also been raised

00:10:10.500 regarding the safety of my fans, band, crew, family, and myself, including threats that are

00:10:15.860 completely unfounded and unforgivable. Because of that, I have made the difficult decision to step

00:10:20.800 away from this performance. So NBC News omitted the fact that in pulling out of the event,

00:10:27.840 Bret Michaels, the leader of the band Poison, which was popular for about 30 seconds in 1988,

00:10:34.180 cited threats of domestic terrorism and political violence that would be committed, obviously, by

00:10:39.860 leftists. Now, many of these artists, we can assume, have similar concerns, and those concerns

00:10:47.040 are not unfounded. I mean, if we're being honest with ourselves, we all know there's a very real

00:10:51.200 possibility that a leftist will attempt to murder people who try to celebrate the founding of

00:10:56.140 America. This is, after all, a movement that openly cheered the assassination of a health

00:11:01.480 insurance CEO, as well as Charlie Kirk. They've tried to murder Donald Trump more than any other

00:11:06.080 president in American history that's had attempts on their life. And they have adopted the tactics

00:11:11.760 of the Bolsheviks, who we'll discuss at length in an upcoming episode of Real History, by the way.

00:11:15.480 And like the Bolsheviks, leftists in America seek to violently topple the established order and murder tens of millions of people in the process.

00:11:23.980 That's why they're telling musicians that they'll be executed if they participate in an event that has anything to do with our country's history.

00:11:30.820 And it's one of the reasons why many of these musicians are backing out.

00:11:34.640 NBC News doesn't want to say that out loud, but it's true.

00:11:36.660 And yet, all that being the case, I cannot absolve the administration of responsibility here because they have bungled this event as well.

00:11:49.380 I mean, it's looking like we will not have anything close to the raucous, joyous, patriotic celebration that our nation's 250th deserves and that Trump promised.

00:12:00.560 And the blame for that failure can be cast in many directions.

00:12:04.060 and anyone who says that the Trump administration itself is entirely blameless

00:12:07.620 is just being a partisan shill, which I refuse to be.

00:12:12.540 I mean, the fact is that even before the artists started dropping out of Trump's planned concert in droves,

00:12:17.520 there was already a major problem.

00:12:20.220 The problem is that those artists were invited to begin with.

00:12:25.000 You know, the administration had planned a concert featuring, and I'm not making this up.

00:12:28.660 you saw it there on the screen, Milli Vanilli, Vanilla Ice, a few other washed up 80s acts,

00:12:37.700 a rapper from 15 years ago called Flo Rida, and a couple other artists that nobody cares about

00:12:43.220 or even knew were still alive. I mean, the only thing sadder and more pathetic than a Milli Vanilli 0.74

00:12:48.880 and Vanilla Ice concert getting canceled is a Milli Vanilli and Vanilla Ice concert that is 0.96

00:12:54.860 not canceled. So the lineup made no sense to begin with. It was a function of the conservative

00:13:01.760 habit of pathetically latching on to any famous people who give you the time of day, even if

00:13:08.080 they're only famous for being national punchlines, as is the case with, you know, Milli Vanilli and

00:13:12.700 Vanilla Ice. And now that the worst musical artists in modern history are dropping out,

00:13:18.660 the embarrassment is only compounded. I mean, it's like asking the ugliest girl in school to the prom 1.00

00:13:23.580 and getting turned down. So it's just like the ultimate humiliation. 0.95

00:13:28.920 So what's plan B? How will the Trump administration pivot? Well, after a few more artists canceled

00:13:36.000 their appearances, Trump posted the following message on social media. We'll put it up on the

00:13:40.280 screen. And I'm not going to read the whole thing, but the basic idea is that Trump says that he's

00:13:46.380 more popular than Elvis in his prime. And therefore he's going to, quote, give a major speech

00:13:52.160 rallying the country forward. We don't need any kind of musical performances or entertainment,

00:13:58.260 Trump says. He's just going to host an America is Back rally on Wednesday in Washington,

00:14:02.580 which he says will be a, quote, wild and beautiful celebration of America.

00:14:09.280 So in other words, we get another stump speech from the president. Now, you know, yes, years ago,

00:14:17.360 I was often entertained by Trump's speeches. Most of the country was. He was saying things that

00:14:23.920 no serious American presidential candidate had ever said before. But somewhere in the past half

00:14:30.100 decade, the speeches have started sounding pretty familiar. And that's not even a knock against

00:14:34.460 Donald Trump. It's an unavoidable fact of life that when somebody gives speeches for a decade,

00:14:39.600 they lose their novelty at a certain point. You know, we've still never seen a politician give

00:14:43.980 a speech like Trump, but we have seen Trump give a speech like Trump like a thousand times at this

00:14:49.380 point. You know, it's not the kind of main event that's going to draw in huge audiences. And more

00:14:54.420 importantly, it's not the best way to highlight the achievements of this country going back

00:15:00.180 hundreds of years. You know, America 250 should be a party, a celebration, not something that is

00:15:07.620 about Donald Trump or where Donald Trump is the main act. And the fact is that, you know, nobody

00:15:12.780 in the entire history of parties has ever wanted to sit and listen to a 90-minute speech from a

00:15:18.460 politician. Okay, you've never showed up to a party and said, hey, this is great. When do the

00:15:23.360 speeches start? You know, a political rally is not a party. And what's more, several of the acts

00:15:29.820 that pulled out claimed they were doing so because the event was more political than they were

00:15:35.660 initially told. Well, turning the event into a literal political rally would seem to legitimize

00:15:42.760 their concerns, so Trump is handing them a PR victory on top of everything else. America 250

00:15:49.220 should not be about Trump. It should be about America. And that's why, again, a Trump speech

00:15:55.420 should not be the main event. Now, he should attend the events. He should be a guest of honor

00:16:01.840 attending and being a part of it. It shouldn't be about him, though. Now, I'll be told, and I have

00:16:08.560 been told that, well, they tried. They tried to do it differently, but it didn't work.

00:16:14.380 Well, it's true, but the only thing they tried, as far as we know, was to have a concert featuring

00:16:19.080 Milli Vanilli, Vanilla Ice, and Bret Michaels. I would humbly suggest that there is a lot of room

00:16:25.700 in between a concert featuring geriatric one-hit wonders from the 80s and a rambling 90-minute

00:16:32.000 speech from Donald Trump. Those are not the only two choices on the menu. For one thing,

00:16:37.720 they could have a concert featuring military bands. That's an act that we know for sure the

00:16:44.080 White House can book, and it would be vastly, vastly superior to both Vanilla Ice and a political

00:16:50.580 rally. America doesn't stand for 250 years as a beacon of hope without brave men and women willing

00:16:56.340 to put their lives on the line to protect it. And when those men and women finally come home,

00:17:01.140 they shouldn't be forgotten. That's why Pure Talk and its customers are raising $250,000 for

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00:18:24.340 But there are other options too.

00:18:27.020 There's simply no way the administration can't find talented performers to take the stage.

00:18:31.220 Tim Burchett of Tennessee has come up with a few suggestions, some better than others, but watch.

00:18:38.180 What we ought to do is, my suggestion would be, get your friend and my friend John Rich, great musician, to lead it off.

00:18:47.320 He's got some great patriotic tunes he's written and he sings, and I mean, it's just awesome.

00:18:52.380 And let him emcee the dadgum thing and have all these folks come in.

00:18:56.460 There's plenty of acts in Nashville, people that are trying to get on, you know, get on a big stage.

00:19:02.080 Like, this is the world stage, be the largest stage in the world.

00:19:04.820 Everybody in the country will be watching this dadgum thing.

00:19:07.960 And let some of those musicians get out and sing a few songs.

00:19:12.080 All we'd have to do is pay for their dadgum airfare, most of them, just to get them up there.

00:19:16.640 And they'd love it.

00:19:18.040 And then, of course, have Kid Rock.

00:19:21.540 Nobody's more patriotic in the rock and roll world than he is.

00:19:24.420 Now, I'm going to cut it off there just because as much as I respect Kid Rock's patriotism, we can't have Kid Rock do everything. I mean, it's become a meme at this point. But as Burchett said, there are plenty of talented artists in Nashville who would jump at the opportunity to fly to D.C. and perform for a national audience.

00:19:40.940 nobody said that you have to have famous musicians play i mean i would make the bold suggestion that

00:19:47.220 it's better to have good musicians than famous ones if you have to choose between the two and

00:19:52.580 maybe you do in this case but you can't convince me that there aren't hundreds of musical acts in

00:19:57.700 nashville alone never mind the rest of the country who would leap at the chance to perform for an

00:20:02.760 audience of millions um i mean you could have done like a you could have done a year-long

00:20:09.700 almost American Idol-style tryout thing.

00:20:13.760 Trump could have gone back to his reality TV roots

00:20:18.120 and did something like that.

00:20:19.400 I mean, he could have done a contest to be the act,

00:20:22.900 to find five bands who can perform at this event.

00:20:26.800 You'd have thousands of people signing up for that.

00:20:31.220 Rather than trying to trade in on the meager fumes

00:20:34.560 of whatever fame somebody like Bret Michaels still possesses,

00:20:37.980 why not have a concert featuring non-famous artists and make them famous?

00:20:46.260 That would be creating culture for a change, which is what we should be doing.

00:20:51.740 It would take an extreme lack of creativity or laziness to conclude that there are no talented musicians anywhere who would perform at this event.

00:21:01.620 That's just total nonsense.

00:21:03.380 but we do have to acknowledge and this does work in the administration's defense to some extent

00:21:08.960 that nothing like this has ever happened in the country's history and i know that sounds like

00:21:14.240 hyperbole but it's true the centennial in um 1876 took place just a decade after the end of the

00:21:22.140 civil war and that was a conflict of course that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands

00:21:26.940 of americans about two percent of the population of the country we lost more soldiers in the civil

00:21:31.600 war than in all of our other wars put together. And to put those numbers in context, if a similar

00:21:37.300 war happened today, it would mean the deaths of millions of people, wiping out the equivalent of

00:21:43.460 the entire population of Los Angeles and Chicago combined. So we're talking about a massive

00:21:49.300 conflict here, one in which many Americans in the North came to view their Southern neighbors as 0.94

00:21:53.340 irredeemable, demonically possessed savages. And guess what? Even with all of that recent history 0.95

00:22:00.640 in mind, the country could still hold a centennial in 1876. Eleven years after the end of the Civil

00:22:08.200 War, several states celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

00:22:14.340 Despite extraordinary resentment, entire families and cities that were destroyed,

00:22:18.960 Americans still felt compelled to honor their country's history. In San Francisco, people

00:22:23.540 gathered and staged a mock naval battle and held festivals in the street. We'll put some of those

00:22:30.620 images on the screen. These are from July 3rd, 1876. The mock battle, which included some ships

00:22:38.180 in the water nearby, was held in the Presidio area of San Francisco. And according to some

00:22:44.140 estimates, more than 80,000 people showed up, including the governor, the National Guard,

00:22:48.100 several regiments, and a cavalry group. Meanwhile, the president, Grant, sent the original copy of

00:22:54.760 the declaration to Philadelphia, where it was put on display, in part because people noticed that

00:23:00.340 the document was falling apart, the government eventually responded many years later by

00:23:03.960 creating the National Archives to ensure that our historical records remain intact.

00:23:09.200 The torch of the Statue of Liberty was also on display in Philadelphia in 1876. The full statue

00:23:15.660 hadn't been completed yet, but people could check out the plans for the final statue. They could

00:23:22.140 climb the torch, and if they were feeling generous, they could donate to a fund to construct

00:23:26.640 the pedestal for the Statue of Liberty, which would ultimately be completed 10 years later.

00:23:30.340 The centennial events in Philadelphia continued for months. More than 10 million people showed up. Cutting edge technological inventions were displayed, including the giant steam engine. And you could see all the tiny people gathered around to give you an idea of the scale of the thing.

00:23:44.320 As Yale University reports, quote, at the 1876 American Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, a mighty Corliss steam engine was ceremoniously unveiled on opening day by President Ulysses Grant and Emperor Pedro II of Brazil.

00:23:59.860 The 1,400 horsepower engine powered all the other mechanical devices on display in the Grand Machinery Hall.

00:24:07.500 That wasn't the only attraction at the 1876 Centennial.

00:24:10.600 There were typewriters and calculators and bridge cables.

00:24:14.220 There was also a booth where people could try out a hot new invention called the telephone.

00:24:18.340 This is from the New York Times, quote,

00:24:20.040 In the closing days of the Philadelphia Exposition of 1876,

00:24:23.300 Dom Pedro, Brazil, stopped before Alexander Graham Bell's booth,

00:24:27.420 put a telephone receiver to his ear, heard human speech, and gasped in awe,

00:24:32.240 My God, it talks.

00:24:34.400 So again, all these people are optimistic.

00:24:37.560 They're celebrating American ingenuity and brilliance.

00:24:39.760 They're doing this in the immediate wake of a war where their fathers, brothers, uncles, and grandfathers slaughtered each other by the thousands, and yet even they could celebrate and feel proud of their country.

00:24:54.220 Now, in the Deep South, as you might imagine, the enthusiasm was a bit more muted, but even there, amid Reconstruction and the aftermath of the conflict, there was still some participation in Centennial.

00:25:06.020 In particular, Mississippi used the opportunity to promote their local industries and secure new business deals to boost their economy.

00:25:13.720 According to the Gulfport Museum of History, quote,

00:25:16.500 In 1868, Congress appointed war hero and Medal of Honor holder General Adelbert Ames, the provisional governor of Mississippi.

00:25:24.020 In this position, he promoted the entry of both Mississippi and Arkansas in the 1876 centennial celebration by constructing exhibition buildings.

00:25:31.660 The Republican-controlled legislature passed a bill making Ames head of the Centennial Committee with authority to appoint all the members.

00:25:38.900 They decided that a modest log cabin constructed entirely for Mississippi's vast timber resources would be the best way to promote that industry.

00:25:45.800 Ames saw the exposition as a prime opportunity for Mississippi to open markets for its most abundant natural resources.

00:25:51.860 And the national exposure did attract wealthy industrialists who saw the potential for profit and a way to get the timber out, the steam engine, and to get to market a deepwater port.

00:26:01.300 So to recap, even in the immediate aftermath of a literal civil war, this country held a successful celebration of our shared history.

00:26:10.560 And we did it again a century later at the bicentennial in 1876.

00:26:15.200 And as you may remember, the 70s were not exactly a period of harmony and prosperity in this country.

00:26:22.360 We were coming off the Vietnam War, extreme inflation, gas lines, the civil rights movement, the Watergate hoax, and so on.

00:26:29.540 And yet, despite all the angst, we were able to come together and honor this country's history.

00:26:36.860 The so-called Freedom Train, with a giant steam engine, went all over the country to 48 states as a kind of rolling museum for people to board.

00:26:45.920 The train contained several historical documents, including George Washington's copy of the Constitution and the Louisiana Purchase.

00:26:52.320 Gerald Ford gave speeches.

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00:28:28.280 Twizzlers keep the fun going.

00:28:30.340 Yeah, I know.

00:28:31.700 I just stopped whatever you were listening to to tell you that Twizzlers keep the fun going.

00:28:36.040 Well, irony isn't my forte, but twisty, chewy, yummy Twizzlers sure is.

00:28:40.740 So think of Twizzlers as a little palate cleanser for whatever's queued up.

00:28:44.820 Which, by the way, should be coming very soon.

00:28:47.560 Like any second now.

00:28:49.380 Okay, Twizzlers, time to keep the fun going.

00:28:54.960 In fact, Ford also boarded a wagon in Pennsylvania

00:28:57.700 as part of the Bicentennial Wagon Train Pilgrimage.

00:29:01.340 Volunteers in every state got into some wagons and headed eastward.

00:29:04.980 As the National Archives notes, this was an organic movement.

00:29:07.860 It wasn't part of any top-down effort from the federal government.

00:29:09.980 The United States Congress had previously established

00:29:12.340 the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission in 1966

00:29:15.720 to organize the Bicentennial celebration.

00:29:18.460 The ARBC was criticized, however, for showing excessive political bias and commercialism.

00:29:23.220 As a result, Congress replaced the ARBC with the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration in 1973.

00:29:29.480 ARBA focused on supporting and coordinating state, local, and private celebrations with around 66,000 recognized events in total.

00:29:37.400 And people loved it. Spontaneous events popped up all over.

00:29:40.780 And this was the attitude in the country at the time. Watch.

00:29:44.520 these days we seem to spend so much of our time and energy surviving and reacting to the unhappy

00:29:50.640 events and the strife and the conflict in our overcrowded world but the bicentennial seemed to

00:29:55.660 awaken a certain feeling a rather dormant spirit that too often seems to be missing from our modern

00:30:00.540 life and gabe was one of many who sensed it call it patriotism call it a rebirth of pride call it

00:30:07.080 whatever you will but if you mingled with the crowds who watched up sail and the fireworks

00:30:11.460 yesterday, or came down for a last fling like these people at the South Street

00:30:15.480 seaport this afternoon, you might have felt what we did, a great sense of joy

00:30:19.800 and well-being. For the first time in many years, New Yorkers of all ages and

00:30:23.340 backgrounds, out in force, celebrating together. It reminded you of a small-town

00:30:28.080 celebration of the Fourth of July, an idealized Norman Rockwell tableau. Only

00:30:33.240 it wasn't a small-town scene, not with these hundreds of thousands out to see

00:30:37.060 the ships. Young families, older people, in many cases, grandparents, parents, children, celebrating

00:30:42.740 together. And if you talk to them, you found they articulated what your eyes were seeing, a patriotic

00:30:48.080 euphoria. Bitter, angry, controversial years forgotten, at least for this moment, unity, reborn pride.

00:30:55.140 For a lot of Americans, July 5th was just as good a day to celebrate the beginning of our third

00:30:59.940 century as a nation as July 4th. And so the party was not over. People were out enjoying the sights

00:31:05.220 in the sunshine and they were still buzzing over yesterday's super celebration it will not happen

00:31:11.300 again in our lifetimes but what an incredible happy birthday we had a truly american adventure

00:31:17.540 that will be etched in the memory of the many millions who were witnesses and participants

00:31:22.340 operation sale was a magnificent success from every angle even more beautiful and spectacular

00:31:28.260 than we were led to believe it would be and most of the gloom and doom predictions went down the

00:31:32.900 the drain in a spirit of happy cooperation, befitting the event, the very special day,

00:31:38.700 and the unabashed joy of the American people. New York Harbor was jammed with a promised armada of

00:31:44.280 warships, great sailing ships, and thousands of pleasure boats. And leading the great parade,

00:31:49.580 witnessed by the so many millions on the shores, was the proud host ship, the Coast Guard Cutter's

00:31:54.400 Pretty Eagle, unmistakable with her dashing orange and blue sash and her very special grace.

00:32:00.780 For six million landlubbers,

00:32:02.400 upsell will also be hard to forget.

00:32:04.760 Crowds lined up in an orderly fashion yesterday,

00:32:07.040 waiting for the New York Harbor Parade to begin.

00:32:09.540 Battery Park alone was jammed at 8 a.m.,

00:32:11.800 and literally thousands were standing in line

00:32:13.940 to get a seat on the Staten Island Ferry.

00:32:16.320 Now, in the interest of full disclosure,

00:32:18.000 I will acknowledge that while the vast majority of people

00:32:20.160 were happy and celebrated America's history,

00:32:22.340 there were some hitches.

00:32:23.260 In particular, Ben Franklin was apparently hustled

00:32:25.300 by gangsters at one point.

00:32:27.420 This was, after all, an era of skyrocketing crime in New York.

00:32:31.340 They didn't have Giuliani yet.

00:32:33.880 Just for history's sake, watch.

00:32:37.660 Well, I paid $125 in the parking lot over there.

00:32:43.640 We haven't made a cent of it.

00:32:44.840 Now we've come here and set up, and these gangsters are walking around.

00:32:47.800 They want $50 cash, which I haven't even made $13 today.

00:32:52.280 Who wants the cash?

00:32:53.700 Some guys.

00:32:54.260 Well, some guys are walking around with Bicentennial Committee buttons on and bogus printing.

00:32:59.540 They have a thing that says Bicentennial Committee, a permit, $50.

00:33:02.600 Are you saying you're being hustled then?

00:33:04.440 I have to admit, I imagine that Ben Franklin would be a little braver than this.

00:33:07.100 I mean, he signed the Declaration of Independence.

00:33:09.920 He flew a kite in a thunderstorm.

00:33:11.040 He risked a lot over the years, but I guess by the 1970s, he grew soft and weak in his old age

00:33:15.280 and let some gangsters in New York boss him around over $50, which is a shame.

00:33:19.460 In any event, the point is, we've held massive centennials and bicentennials before.

00:33:23.480 even when the country was falling apart. But today in 2026, we have so far been unable to do so. And

00:33:30.560 it's even worse than it first appears. In response to my posts on the America 250 events,

00:33:36.000 I received several responses that tried to absolve the Trump administration of any part in the

00:33:40.020 failure, but all they did was prove again that there's plenty of blame to go around. And so

00:33:44.360 here's one of those replies from America First Insights. It says, quote,

00:33:48.880 ultimately the issue comes down to the fact that there are two organizers and one of them has been 0.99

00:33:52.500 around longer and sucks. America 250, which is the organization created by Congress in 2016

00:33:57.160 to get things planned, in which they have effectively done nothing, mostly because it

00:34:01.760 was an Obama appointee followed by a Biden appointee. The biggest successes have been

00:34:06.440 a place to announce you are hosting a block party at a Google map page to tell you where some events

00:34:12.380 are. And that's about it. They're the ones paying some other places, events, or companies to throw

00:34:18.020 the 250 on celebrations this year. It's a total S show of do nothing liberals. The other event is

00:34:24.680 hosted by Freedom 250. It was created by Trump the second he got into office. The Freedom 250

00:34:28.720 is at least attempting to be proactive. The national prayer event, the UFC fight, the Great

00:34:32.620 American State Fair, July 4th, fireworks, Patriot Games, and the Indy 500 are all Freedom 250 events.

00:34:39.240 Now there's more to the reply, which I'll read in a second, but I'll stop here to acknowledge that

00:34:42.740 Indeed, there are two groups that are involved in the planning here.

00:34:46.420 The America 250 group was established by Congress a decade ago.

00:34:50.920 It's supposed to be a nonpartisan, nonpolitical group, but it's run by an Obama Biden appointee named Rosie Rios.

00:34:59.220 Just like we saw in the 1960s and 70s, the federal government's commission was politically compromised, in other words.

00:35:04.920 And in the case of Rosie Rios, she clearly didn't expect that Donald Trump was going to win the presidency again.

00:35:10.760 So here's what she wrote in the summer of 2024. 0.53

00:35:12.540 Happy Pride Month, America. As we acknowledge the vibrant history and significant contributions of the LGBTQIA plus community, I'm honored to highlight their resilience and our nation's ongoing journey toward equality.

00:35:24.060 At America 250, our mission is to recognize and support those voices, and we commemorate the 250th anniversary of Declaration of Independence signing trailblazers like Harvey Milk, Marsha P. Johnson, Laverne Cox, Bayard Rustin, Lonnie Kahumanu, who we all know, a legend just like Daniel Boone.

00:35:47.500 You know, you got Daniel Boone and Lonnie Kahumanu. Anyway, and Sylvia Rivera, inspire us to continue the fight for equal rights and acceptance. Let's honor the legacy of LGBTQIA plus leaders and work together for a more inclusive and equitable future. Hashtag pride, hashtag America 250.

00:36:03.500 So this was the vision for America 250 that would have taken hold if Kamala Harris had won.

00:36:10.720 I mean, that's one thing for sure. You cannot even imagine what they'd be doing right now for this occasion if Kamala Harris was in the White House.

00:36:21.260 They would be doing something. They'd be doing a lot. They'd be doing a lot, but it would be, you know, taking the opportunity to honor pedophiles like Harvey Milk.

00:36:29.160 They'd make everybody watch Hamilton and pretend to like it 0.99

00:36:33.060 Once again, they'd worship transgenderism and various other forms of sexual perversions 1.00

00:36:38.380 It'd be like the Super Bowl halftime show 1.00

00:36:40.360 They'd flood the National Mall with foreigners who can't speak English 1.00

00:36:43.300 Along with monuments to EBT cards 1.00

00:36:45.200 Instead of celebrating America's history, they'd be celebrating their conquest of America

00:36:49.360 Now, we should all be grateful that we avoided that kind of atrocity by electing Donald Trump

00:36:54.280 But as a response to my complaints, this isn't really a meaningful point

00:36:58.160 Yes, leftists wanted to bastardize the event, but the Trump White House knew that, which is why they established their Freedom 250 committee.

00:37:06.700 So what we're left with is the fact that two separate committees, given many years of planning time, are apparently incapable of putting together an event that appropriately and sufficiently honors this country's history.

00:37:22.280 Which, to put it mildly, is not an encouraging sign.

00:37:26.220 As their response to my post continues, the group America First Insight offered their explanation of what's going on here.

00:37:32.080 Quote, the fact is, from our understanding, most of the 1976 celebrations were ground up.

00:37:39.080 Cities, towns, and such, when community meant a hell of a lot more, were predominantly responsible for most of the celebration.

00:37:45.220 Is that even possible in modern America?

00:37:47.620 Ignoring the fact that half of this nation has had genuine deep hatred for the country drilled into their mind since the Obama era.

00:37:54.320 It's actually a lot longer than that.

00:37:56.040 The sense of community is at its weakest,

00:37:58.020 to the point even things like Halloween

00:37:59.880 fail to have a large amount of trick-or-treaters.

00:38:02.340 The sense of community required for events like this

00:38:04.280 is not even close to the ones that were around in the 1970s.

00:38:07.620 You criticize the geriatric one-hit wonders,

00:38:10.020 but like, who else are you going to get? 0.96

00:38:12.280 You are not going to get most of the younger ones

00:38:13.980 because they hate America and they hate Trump.

00:38:16.940 They're going to put away their hatred for the greater good.

00:38:23.400 Well, I've already covered who else we can get. 0.89

00:38:26.540 You know, the idea that if we can't get Bret Michaels and Milli Vanilli, we can't get anyone is totally ridiculous. 0.94

00:38:34.340 The idea that there aren't any talented musicians who would perform at this thing is even more ridiculous. 0.97

00:38:40.140 But they do point to something undeniable, which lays at the bottom of this whole sad, pathetic affair. 0.96

00:38:45.320 The anti-American forces in this country are much stronger than they've ever been. 0.71

00:38:51.200 as a result of decades of left-wing indoctrination in schools as well as open borders,

00:38:57.060 an unprecedented number of people living in America have no love for this country,

00:39:01.840 no pride in its history, no connection to it. I mean, that's the difference between now

00:39:08.520 and 1976 or 1876. You know, I've heard it said that America 250 feels so anticlimactic and muted

00:39:16.460 because the economy is in bad shape. But the economy was in bad shape in the 70s

00:39:21.660 and that didn't stop them. I've heard it said that America 250 is a flop because of partisanship,

00:39:26.960 but they fought a civil war right before America 100 and that didn't stop them.

00:39:33.140 So this is not about partisan squabbling or a bad economy or any of those things.

00:39:37.740 The difference between now and back then is that the basic love for and pride in our country

00:39:43.260 has not been instilled. Entire generations of Americans today don't even know anything about

00:39:50.480 their own history, much less do they feel any real attachment to it. I mean, how many people

00:39:55.640 will listen to the beginning of this monologue and hear about Daniel Boone for like the first time?

00:40:01.900 I think the percentage will be low because I have an intelligent audience, but

00:40:05.020 the percentage is not zero and it should be. I mean, that's the problem.

00:40:11.020 By the way, it's not like our past is the only thing we have to be happy about either.

00:40:17.140 I mean, even today, we're doing far better at the moment than any Western nation. 0.62

00:40:24.680 Unlike other Western nations, including Canada and the UK, we don't imprison people for offending the cult of transgenderism. 0.87

00:40:31.920 We don't murder people and harvest their organs because they seem depressed at the local Tim Hortons, unlike Canada.

00:40:37.840 We have a growing economy.

00:40:39.300 We're sending manned space missions farther into space than ever before.

00:40:43.180 We have the best national parks in the world.

00:40:45.400 It's relatively easy to start a business here.

00:40:47.740 We're the world's only superpower.

00:40:49.700 Our quality of life is so high that everyone else is clamoring to get inside our borders.

00:40:54.320 We're one of the few places where you can own a gun and defend yourself.

00:40:58.020 We have individual states that would rank among the world's biggest economies.

00:41:01.880 None of that was true in the 19th century.

00:41:04.420 So, you know, the current picture is not all doom and gloom, even though the media and the podcast circuit are motivated for different reasons, or maybe not so different, to tell you otherwise.

00:41:13.960 And yet, whatever challenges we face today, and there are many of them, and they are really significant, there's no question that our history is undeniably great.

00:41:23.300 We are a nation that was forged from nothing.

00:41:26.320 We defeated the world's greatest empire.

00:41:28.920 We forged west into the unknown, vanquishing hostile Indians and conquering the wilderness. 0.99

00:41:34.540 We fought a civil war only 90 years into our existence, which could have been the end of the experiment. 0.71

00:41:39.000 Instead, we survived it, even thrived in the wake of the conflict.

00:41:43.340 Over the next century, we went on to become a superpower, win two world wars, build a transcontinental railway, an interstate highway system.

00:41:49.460 The Panama Canal landed a man on the moon, invented the light bulb, the airplane, the telephone, the Internet.

00:41:54.220 I mean, we're a nation of innovators, builders, inventors, pioneers. America 250 is about

00:41:59.540 recognizing and appreciating all of that. Now, if we no longer live up to the lofty standards set

00:42:05.560 by our ancestors, and I don't think we do, that's no less a reason to mark the occasion. In fact,

00:42:10.720 it's all more the reason. None of us today can hold a candle to the greatest Americans.

00:42:16.980 And that's why our goal shouldn't be to put on a political rally or a concert of one-hit wonders.

00:42:22.280 is it should be to celebrate the greatness we inherited

00:42:26.180 so that maybe one day we can reclaim it.

00:42:32.340 That'll do it for the show today.

00:42:33.400 Thanks for watching.

00:42:33.920 Thanks for listening.

00:42:35.040 Talk to you tomorrow.

00:42:35.980 Have a great day.

00:42:37.060 Godspeed.

00:42:43.480 Martin Luther King Jr. is an American icon,

00:42:46.200 widely considered one of the greatest Americans who ever lived,

00:42:49.720 A man who had a vision for a colorblind society,

00:42:52.900 a post-racial America. 0.76

00:42:55.360 He had a dream. 0.76

00:42:56.660 It's just not the dream you thought it was.

00:42:58.800 Were his true aims a colorblind society

00:43:01.460 or something far more radical?

00:43:03.640 Who bankrolled him?

00:43:05.200 What unfolded behind the scenes

00:43:06.640 in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963?

00:43:09.440 Was civil disobedience actually peaceful?

00:43:14.040 We wanted to show you a clip of the I Have a Dream speech,

00:43:17.140 but according to our lawyers, we can't.

00:43:19.020 In fact, King's family has made a lot of money

00:43:21.140 suing media outlets.

00:43:22.340 They want to silence critics like us.

00:43:24.840 What they're doing makes it very difficult

00:43:26.360 to judge Martin Luther King Jr.

00:43:28.020 not by the color of his skin,

00:43:29.880 but by the content of his character.

00:43:32.020 Is America today stronger, more unified,

00:43:35.100 and racially equal than before King's rise?

00:43:38.160 These questions demand answers,

00:43:39.560 and as Americans, we are entitled to a full accounting

00:43:42.340 of the civil rights movement and its consequences.

00:43:44.580 The King's Movement fundamentally transformed our country and our system of government.

00:43:48.580 I speak as a citizen of the world.

00:43:51.580 Each day the war goes on, the hatred increases, though the cause of evil prosper.

00:43:57.580 The first part of our two-part special on the Civil Rights Movement, A New Constitution,

00:44:02.580 available now on Daily Wire Plus.

The Matt Walsh Show - June 01, 2026

Ep. 1788 - Everything Wrong With The America 250 Celebrations

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