The Fourth of July — "Donald Trump Appreciation Day"

The Fourth of July is a time to celebrate America’s greatness, and this year there was so much for Americans to celebrate. Goals that seemed out of reach a few short months ago now seem possible. Greatness is within reach.

The United States is now the world leader of Covid-19, fearlessly reopening the economy while other, more timid nations held back. Some people scoffed at the beginning of the pandemic when a team of researchers at King’s College in London estimated that more than a million Americans might die, but now the country seems on target to reach that end. It is inconvenient for richer Americans that many on the front lines of providing their services, disproportionately Black and Latin Americans, are, quite literally, dying to serve them, but then we all have to make sacrifices for the good of the nation. White Americans might celebrate with special fervour, for America will become whiter — and perhaps also younger — as the elderly, along with people of colour, account for the vast majority of the deaths.

Abroad, we can celebrate an America that is being freed from the fetters of alliance with those nations, like Britain and Canada, that feigned to be our friends while in fact only seeking to profit from our good will. No longer does the country have to fear the national indignity of being expected to help other nations when disasters strike. Nor does it any longer have to fear being held up as a model of either competence or democracy. Now, America is free to be great alone.

And we can also be grateful that our adversaries have been taught a lesson. Sure, the tariff wars of the last few years have hit the pocketbooks of many Americans, especially farmers in middle America, but then, again, sacrificing for America is noble. And if there remains unfinished business — North Korea’s nuclear programs continues apace, as does Iran’s adventures in the Middle East, while China militarises more rocks in the South China Sea and Russia may have paid the Taliban to kill American soldiers in Afghanistan —those are quibbles. They didn’t spoil the celebration of the Fourth of July, which found many brave Americans shoulder-to-shoulder with their compatriots and without masks, taking their cue from an administration that issues guidelines but wouldn’t think of inconveniencing citizens by suggesting they abide by them.

Indeed, our esteemed leader celebrated the holiday at an event being held on sacred land appropriated from Native Americans, at a monument built by a card-carrying member of the Ku Klux Klan. But at least offending the Native Americans will distract from the Black Lives Matter movement. And besides, as true American freedom-loving patriots, no social distancing will be required! The wimps who aren’t okay with that can just stay home.

At home, we can also celebrate that the “deep state” is being dismantled. No longer will senior political leaders, including the president, need fear the indignity of being investigated, even prosecuted, for using their high office to enrich themselves and their families or commandeering the tattered remnants of that state to punish their enemies. And the Supreme Court is only one justice short of a reliable majority to liberate the nation from the scourges of environmental regulation, limits on money in politics, and abortion.

Indeed, there is so much to celebrate.  Why, next year we might want to rename the holiday “Donald Trump Appreciation Day”.