On America's 250th birthday, the Democratic Party's leading 2028 contenders couldn't bring themselves to celebrate the nation — they used the milestone to attack Donald Trump instead, signaling to ordinary Americans that their patriotism is conditional and their priorities are political first, country second.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom delivered a nearly eight-minute July Fourth address that, according to the New York Post, spent almost the entirety of its runtime on Trump. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, another prospective presidential candidate, declared that "the very premise of patriotism is under attack" — alluding to Trump without naming him, as the New York Times reported.
The stakes are straightforward: the people who want to run this country couldn't pause their grievances for one day to mark a quarter-millennium of American self-government. If they won't celebrate America's founding when the cameras are on, what exactly do they plan to preserve?
Newsom's speech is the telling case. The New York Post reported that his office previewed excerpts focused on election policy — but the governor went considerably further, launching into what the Post characterized as multiple personal attacks. Newsom claimed Trump "doesn't care about you, he doesn't care about America, and he hardly cares about his own political party." He accused the president of adding "more than $4 billion to his personal fortune while sitting in what is supposed to be a public trust" and said Trump "gave" the swamp "a presidential suite."
Newsom also rehashed January 6 and criticized the Supreme Court for not standing up to the Trump administration, per the Post. He compared resisting Trump to the fights for women's suffrage and civil rights — a remarkable equivalence for a Independence Day address.
The Times framed the day as mutual combat, noting Trump called Democrats "evil" and used the holiday to mock his opponents. But the asymmetry is hard to ignore: Trump was celebrating the nation and taking shots at the opposition; Newsom and Moore were building their personal brands around opposition to one man, on a day meant for the country.
The Times also buried a telling detail: some Democratic-led states refused to participate in the Trump-backed Great American State Fair on the National Mall. Blue-state executives wouldn't show up to a public celebration of America's 250th because the president they dislike backed it. That's not principle — that's spite.
Notably absent from both outlets' coverage: any acknowledgment that Newsom and his wife currently face federal Department of Justice probes, a fact the Post mentioned only in passing. The governor railing about corruption while under federal investigation is the kind of context readers deserve.
The Times quoted historians calling Trump's approach "aggressively partisan and personalized" — but said nothing about Democrats turning a national birthday into a campaign launch. The Post was sharper on Newsom's motives, noting the speech was designed to "grow his national brand in advance of a likely bid for the White House."
Both parties have always used July 4 for politics. The question this year is why only one side couldn't find anything about America worth celebrating on its 250th birthday — and whether voters will notice.
