STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The writer David Frum is calling it. He says plans to celebrate America's 250th birthday are beyond the point of recovery. Most musical acts backed out of a planned concert, and President Trump said he would just hold a Trump rally. Frum is a former speech writer for President George W. Bush and a staff writer for The Atlantic.
DAVID FRUM: Well, let's compare the 250th celebration with the great celebrations of the past, the 100th and the 200th. Those are still remembered to this day. The 100th celebration in 1876 saw America have its first ever world exposition, a display of fantastic new technology. The artifacts from that show are still on display at the Smithsonian Museum to this day. And people are still mindful of 1876 in Philadelphia. 1976 in New York Harbor, some people listening to us may remember that, the tall ships regatta. And anyone who saw it or saw the photos still remembers.
What are we going to remember from the 250th? The cage fight on the president's birthday and Trump on the $250 bill. There's nothing here that is worthy of the country. And even the things that the president has set his heart most fixedly on, like this giant concert that's supposed to be on the mall the week before July 4, that's turning into a fiasco, with seven of the nine headline acts cancelling.
INSKEEP: The president, of course, as you note, is a showman. So where has he gone wrong?
FRUM: He's a showman, but he's also a person with egomania. What we commemorate on 1776 is not just the end of foreign rule over the United States. It's also the end of monarchical government in the United States. So the idea that you would commemorate 1776 by saying, let's have the president's face on a coin. Let's have the president's face on a bill. Let's have the cage fight, the only event that looks like it is going to come off - assuming there's no thunderstorm, come off OK - not on July 4, but on the president's birthday. If there's anything that 1776 was supposed to be a repudiation of, that would be it.
INSKEEP: Are you assuming at this point that July 4 is a disaster? I mean, we still have a month to adjust things.
FRUM: To plan a 250th anniversary takes not a month, but a decade. And, look, I think a defender of the president could fairly say that the preexisting planning for the 250th anniversary showed a pretty severe lack of imagination. But Trump took something that was not as impressive and powerful and unifying as it should be, and then just made it a personal show. And if you're a musical act, you say, I don't need to be in politics. My fans come from every point of view. I don't need to seem to take a side. And if you create a format that looks partisan, why am I there and alienating half my fans?
INSKEEP: I guess we should note some of the mechanics here. America 250 was created by an act of Congress before Trump became president. It was criticized, as you say, for not being as creative or not thinking as big as it might have. The Trump administration then created this other group, Freedom 250, which is Trump-dominated. And that leads to a question, kind of the reverse of what you're saying. How would you respond to supporters of the president who would argue that musicians should show up, and it's partisan to make musicians step away or pressure musicians to step away?
FRUM: I don't think the musicians are under pressure to step away. I think they feel like they didn't get what they signed up for. They all signed up for this program. And by the way, these were not the acts that should've been the headlines. I mean, for America's 250th birthday, you should have Taylor Swift singing in front of 1,000 dancing AI robots. I mean, just something that just knocks everybody's - takes everyone's breath away. Just a reminder that America dreams big, can do big things. And it shouldn't all be entertainment. There should be a celebration of America's achievements in the arts and the sciences and technology, in human rights. That should be part of the story.
INSKEEP: OK, I want to work through your premise a little bit here. You have asserted here that the July 4 celebrations are a mess. And, well, let me use an analogy. In 1940, in World War II, the British Army was trapped in France. And the British navy was struggling to help them escape. And at Dunkirk, private boats came and helped carry away the soldiers. So is there a Dunkirk version of July 4 that you can think of...
FRUM: (Laughter).
INSKEEP: ...That Americans on a local level, on a private level can get together over the next month?
FRUM: Well, every state capital, every town, I mean, of course, people will commemorate in their own way, as they always do, in ways big and small. And there can be some extra added meaning that it's been 250 years of American independence. But let's also remember that at Dunkirk, the small boats worked because there were giant battleships just a few miles out to shore.
And this is a little bit like the national celebration. It's the celebration of the American nation. So as welcome and as charming as it will be to celebrate in the localities in town, there needs to be a national statement. And 30 days is not time to organize it.
INSKEEP: David Frum, it's a pleasure talking with you. Thanks so much.
FRUM: Bye, bye.
INSKEEP: We reached the White House for comment on Frum's opinion. And they said President Trump is, quote, "excited to participate in various events around the country that properly honors the momentous 250th anniversary of America's great founding." Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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