The 250th anniversary of the American Revolution lacks the unified national celebration of the Bicentennial because the Trump administration politicized the event, making it harder for those outside his movement to participate.
Conan contrasts the unified joy of the 1976 Bicentennial with the divisive atmosphere of the 250th anniversary, noting that the Trump administration's co-opting of the event alienated many Americans. ✦ AI generated
Conan O'Brien · The Rest Is History · 2026-07-25 · original ↗
starts at this moment · 8:48
Now we have the 250th and there is something interesting that's happening which is some people I think felt that the Trump and the administration kind of grabbed the 250th and made it more about their movement which meant that people maybe who weren't part of that felt left out or felt like they didn't want to participate. We're in a moment right now. We're clearly in a moment in this country and I think it's very hard for some people maybe to just say um I'm really excited about our 250th uh when our current state is so divided.
verbatim transcript · starts at 8:48
8:44was 12 or 13 the bsentennial. We had the bsentennial in this country as led by the great Gerald Ford. And I remember that very clearly. There was a mania. Um it was sort of just it felt very much like kind of an undiluted joy about the bicesentennial. You know, the the tall ships came into Boston. I believe the queen visited. I mean, it was just everyone I think felt unified and good
9:13about it. Uh now we have the 250th and there is something interesting that's happening which is some people I think felt that the Trump and the administration kind of grabbed the 250th and made it more about their movement which meant that people maybe who weren't part of that felt left out or felt like they didn't want to participate. We're in a moment right now. We're clearly in a moment in this
9:43country and I think it's very hard for some people maybe to just say um I'm really excited about our 250th uh when our current state is so divided. So yeah, it's a little it's a little strange I think at the moment. And do you think that um the fact that there are people say on the left who will say they should all be cancelled, they were all slave owners, they deserve to be
10:13toppled, it solidifies attitudes on the right that you can't say anything negative about them at all. Yeah, I do think that's probably the case that you know uh and it's probably just natural uh law of physics or chemistry, whatever you want to attribute it to, but when if someone moves farther to the left, someone will else will move farther to the right. It's almost like a a a
- ·1976 Bicentennial was a moment of unified national celebration.
- ·Trump administration co-opted the 250th for its own movement.
- ·Outsiders feel excluded and reluctant to participate.
- ·Current national division makes unified joy difficult.
- ·Celebrating feels disingenuous amid deep polarization.
- ·Conan: people struggle to express excitement in this climate.