The War Over America’s Birthday Party

President Donald Trump’s attempted takeover of America’s 250th-anniversary celebration began this past spring when his team drew up a $33 million fundraising plan for a series of events starring the president, including a military parade in Washington. America250 had been founded by Congress as a bipartisan effort, with a mission to engage “350 million Americans for the 250th.” But Trump kicked off the final year of preparations with a political rally at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, attacking Democrats before a crowd that waved America250 signs. “I hate them,” Trump proclaimed July 3. “I cannot stand them, because I really believe they hate our country.”

Around the same time, Trump’s top political appointee at America250, a former Fox News producer named Ariel Abergel, moved to gain greater influence over the bipartisan commission. He called four Republican commissioners, who had been appointed years ago by then–Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and then–Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, with a blunt request: Consider resigning to make way for new appointees.

That request was reiterated by current House Speaker Mike Johnson, who applied pressure to one appointee at the request of the White House. But rather than solidify Trump’s control over the organization, the calls appear to have backfired, setting off a struggle for control of the organization, according to interviews with eight people briefed on the recent turmoil in the organization, who spoke with me on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

The four targeted commissioners ultimately refused to resign, despite two initially signaling their intent to comply. Johnson’s office decided to back off, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune has indicated that he seeks no changes to the commission, according to people familiar with their thinking. Then other members of the commission, which Abergel works for, began discussing efforts to push him out of his job, arguing that his decision to ask for the resignations demonstrated his lack of judgement.

“This position should have been reserved for a much more experienced and substantive candidate,” one of the commissioners told me, reflecting the views expressed by others. “The 250th is too important as a milestone for our country to jeopardize it with someone who doesn’t take it seriously.”

[T. H. Breen: Trump’s un-American parade]

Abergel defended his actions and argued that he had been acting in concert with the House speaker to request that “certain inactive members of the commission” resign. “The speaker has every right to make his own appointments to the commission,” he told me in a statement. “While some anonymous individuals are focused on lying to the fake news, my focus remains the same: to make America250 the most patriotic celebration in American history.”

The nation’s leaders have been planning since 2016 for next year’s celebrations to mark the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, which are expected to involve events in each of the states, including a ball drop in Times Square on July 4, organized in partnership with the commission. The Republican tax bill that Trump signed into law this summer included an additional $150 million for the Department of Interior, which is expected to be spent by the commission in partnership with a new White House task force to celebrate the anniversary, with additional private fundraising from companies such as Coca-Cola and Stellantis. But now, even as the festivities are unfolding, the commission that was established to oversee them is in turmoil.

Since winning reelection, Trump has moved swiftly to take control of the federal government’s cultural institutions, including the Kennedy Center and the National Portrait Gallery. But the United States Semiquincentennial Commission answers largely to the legislative branch, not the White House, and has a sprawling leadership structure that includes sitting senators, members of Congress, and ex officio members such as the secretary of defense and the secretary of state.

[Ryan Miller: Why I played the Kennedy Center]

The power to direct the operation resides with an additional 16 “private citizen” commissioners, who are appointed in equal numbers by the Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate for lifetime terms until the completion of the celebrations. Under the law, the forcible removal of commissioners requires a two-thirds vote of the commission, and the president’s main power is his ability to appoint a chair from among the private citizens already serving.

According to four people familiar with the conversations, the four commissioners whom Abergel asked to resign are the Washington and Lee University professor Lucas Morel, the Hillsdale College professor Wilfred M. McClay, the educator Val Crofts, and Tom Walker, the founder of American Village, a historical-replica development in Alabama. Morel and McClay declined to comment. Crofts and Walker could not be reached for comment. Two people familiar with the commission’s work described all four as regular participants in America250 oversight.

For the moment, there does not appear to be public pressure from Capitol Hill for a shake-up. “Johnson is not seeking the resignation of any of the speaker’s appointees,” a person familiar with his thinking, who requested anonymity to discuss the sensitive situation, told me. Someone familiar with Thune’s thinking gave me a similar response: “Thune supports his appointees.”

People familiar with the White House planning for America250 have argued that the commission needs more commitment of time and energy from its commissioners for the final year before next summer’s festivities. They told me that the attempt to encourage resignations was blocked, ultimately, by commission bylaws that limit the ability of congressional offices to push out a commissioner. And they made clear that efforts to change the commission makeup could continue.

“So far, the best work they have done is being part of this loyal cabal,” one person familiar with the White House thinking on the sitting commission told me. “There has been tremendous frustration with the lack of programmatic purpose, planning, and production.”

Others involved in the commission say that such arguments are merely a pretext for political control. Some of the people familiar with the discussion suspect that the White House wants to replace the four Republican commissioners—who are largely apolitical historical boosters and academics—with people more directly loyal to Trump, including one whom the president could then elevate to replace the commission’s chairwoman, Rosie Rios, a former U.S. treasurer during the Obama administration. Republican appointees have been targeted, they argue, because Democratic leaders have no say in who would replace them. (Just this week, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer filled two Democratic vacancies on the commission, appointing Jack Schlossberg, the grandson of former President John F. Kennedy, and Paul R. Tetreault, the director of Ford’s Theatre, according to a person briefed on the appointments.) White House allies contest this argument, saying Trump could elevate an existing Republican commissioner at any time to replace Rios.

Rios allowed the White House to appoint Abergel as the executive director this year, according to people familiar with the conversations. The commission’s executive committee, a group led by Rios, then approved the use of the America250 brand and nonprofit for this summer’s military parade and Trump rallies, allowing Trump’s fundraisers to bring in money to fund the events and green-lighting their production by his former campaign team.

But since then, a group of Democratic lawmakers on the commission has questioned the arrangement. Rios has signaled that all future programming decisions will be made with the consultation of the full commission. In an email update sent to the commission on Saturday, which I obtained, Rios recounted a recent planning meeting with White House officials, including Vince Haley, the director of the Domestic Policy Council, and Brittany Baldwin from TaskForce250, a separate body Trump set up to commemorate the semiquincentennial in concert with the commission.

“I am pleased to report that we are in agreement about the Commission’s vision and how to support and amplify other proposed activities,” Rios wrote in the email. “As I explained at our last Commission meeting, moving forward, my commitment to this Commission is that any proposed changes to our Playbook will come back to the full Commission for approval.”

The White House spokesperson Anna Kelly praised the commission when asked for comment for this story. “The White House is extremely pleased with the America250 Commission, which is doing a great job leading this historic, unifying celebration of our country’s 250th anniversary,” she told me in a statement.

The power struggle between Abergel and some members of the commission has been building for reasons beyond the Trump events. Abergel has suggested that “America’s Field Trip,” a contest in which students create art celebrating the country, be moved to a Cabinet agency. Commissioners pushed back against that change. A redesign of the website that Abergel directed added photos of Trump along with corporate logos of the companies funding Trump’s parade, and removed any mention of the Ambassador Circle, which named people including the musician Lance Bass, the historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, and former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown as representatives of the effort. Some people on the commission were alarmed by a recent Facebook post announcing an America250 partnership with Moms for Liberty, a conservative group that wants to ban certain books from school curricula and opposes the teaching of liberal ideas of race and gender.

“The branding and marketing had turned strongly around President Trump and strongly partisan looking,” another person familiar with the commission’s discussions told me. “The commissioners are united in what is best for America and a great celebration.”

Four Democrats on the commission, New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen, California Senator Alex Padilla, Pennsylvania Representative Dwight Evans, and New Jersey Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman, wrote to Rios and Abergel on July 21, asking about the Trump events and requesting assurances that the commission’s programming will be implemented. “The Chair intends that the Commission and Foundation personnel will execute and implement all approved programming,” Rios and Abergel responded yesterday in a letter, which I obtained.

[Eliot A. Cohen: A parade of ignorance]

They told the lawmakers in the letter that the commission had paid for logistics and operations support for the early-summer events headlined by Trump. But congressionally appropriated funds were not used through America250 to directly fund the military parade commemorating the Army’s 250th anniversary, the Fort Bragg speech, or the July 3 Iowa kickoff rally for the semiquincentennial.

To pay for the efforts, Trump’s political fundraiser, Meredith O’Rouke, began raising money for America250 Inc., a foundation created at the behest of the commission. Donors were offered a “dedicated VIP experience” at the events, according to fundraising documents. America250 subsequently announced donations from a list of companies with executives close to Trump who stand to benefit from his presidency, including Oracle, Lockheed Martin, Ultimate Fighting Championship, Coinbase, Palantir, and Amazon.

A person briefed on the spending said that America250 ultimately budgeted $33 million for the parade, the Fort Bragg rally, the Iowa rally, a West Point speech, and other events. Of that, $20 million was budgeted for the parade. Army officials have separately said the parade cost the military $30 million to stage, including $3 million to prepare street surfaces for heavy vehicles.

Trump previously announced that he plans to stage an Ultimate Fighting Championship bout at the White House in honor of the nation’s 250th birthday. People familiar with the planning say that the fight is likely to be organized through the White House task force, not the Semiquincentennial Commission.