President will reportedly take starring role in the celebration by delivering an address from the Lincoln Memorial

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Donald Trump’s plans to speak at a Fourth of July celebration in Washington has set off alarm bells over the prospect of politicizing the most sacred of American holidays.

The president is poised to take a starring role at the commemoration of US independence from British rule, by delivering an address from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, located at the far end of the National Mall in Washington DC from the US Capitol, according to reports.

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Although the White House has remained silent on the details, prompting confusion, Trump’s expected involvement has been criticized for injecting politics into a historically nonpartisan tradition.

“The president politicizes everything he touches and uses national symbols and institutions for his own purpose. One concern is his doing this with July 4,” said Julian Zelizer, a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University.

“Rather than being part of the celebration or even attending the celebration, he will make it about himself and he will make it political.”

Trump first previewed his plans in late February, tweeting: “HOLD THE DATE! We will be having one of the biggest gatherings in the history of Washington, D.C., on July 4th. It will be called ‘A Salute To America’ and will be held at the Lincoln Memorial. Major fireworks display, entertainment and an address by your favorite President, me!”

Last week, the Washington Post reported that Trump had “effectively taken charge” of the celebrations and forced the US capital’s fireworks display to move from the National Mall and closer to the Potomac River. But little else is known about his agenda, prompting local officials to lament being left in the dark.

The possibility of the holiday being “Trumpified”, they said, raised both logistical concerns and threatened to disrupt one of Washington’s busiest days of the year.

“The city is scrambling to figure out what to do, because all they have is the outline of what [the White House] wants,” Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District of Columbia’s representative in Congress, told the Associated Press. “This will be all sorts of headaches for security.”

Protesters have already sprung into action in anticipation of Trump’s activities. The activist group Code Pink on Monday requested a protest permit from the National Park Service, and potential plans include flying the “Baby Trump” blimp featured during his trips to London, as he delivers his Fourth of July remarks.

Democrats in Congress have meanwhile urged Trump to reconsider his plans, warning that his planned appearance “could create the appearance of a televised, partisan campaign rally” on the American taxpayer’s dime.

“For decades, the Fourth of July on the National Mall has been nonpartisan and apolitical,” the House majority leader, Steny Hoyer, natural resources committee chairman, Raúl Grijalva, and Minnesota representative Betty McCollum, who chairs a subcommittee on the House appropriations panel, wrote in a letter to Trump.

“We respectfully call on you to look for ways to complement, not conflict with, the Fourth of July celebration, such as considering an earlier time or alternative location for your remarks.”

Testifying before Congress in May, Trump’s interior secretary, David Bernhardt, insisted the president’s speech was not designed to promote himself and would be nonpartisan in tone.

“I think the president is excited about the idea, and we’re working hard on it, and I think it could be very, very meaningful,” Bernhardt said. “The president loves the idea, as probably all Americans do, of celebrating America on the Fourth of July, or thereabouts.”

He also sought to pacify lawmakers who questioned the use of taxpayer dollars for what could quickly amount to a campaign event and risk violating federal spending laws, stating: “I will make absolutely sure that every dollar we spend will comply with the law – I will promise you that.”

Despite his administration’s assurances, Trump’s plans mark a departure from how his predecessors have observed the Fourth of July. Previous presidents have typically delivered remarks honoring US troops or hosting events with military families at the White House.

There has been occasional controversy, Zelizer said, such as Richard Nixon playing a video message on the National Mall in 1970 during antiwar protests and Ronald Reagan’s interior secretary, James Watt, temporarily banning the Beach Boys from performing at a Fourth of July concert in 1983.

But Trump’s plans, he noted, were yet another way in which the president was “challenging, destabilizing and unsettling American institutions”.

“He is willing to go further than most in taking things over for his own purpose without concern for tradition and history. This is a prime example of that.”

Anita McBride, the executive in residence at the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University, was not concerned.

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“People are always going to question change and perhaps unfairly draw conclusions,” said McBride, who served in both the Reagan and George HW Bush administrations.

“The important thing is that our presidents find ways to celebrate and recognize this incredibly important holiday for our nation.”

But Bill Kristol, a conservative commentator and vocal Trump critic, described the president’s desire to put himself at the center of the national holiday as a “third world” tactic.

“He’s trying to make it a celebration of Trump America instead of just a celebration of American independence,” Kristol said.

“It’s totally contrary to the spirit of it.”