America's Birthday Balloon Is Flying Away. Reality TV Might Be Only Way To Get It Back
Even I don’t want to watch Trump talk for 90 minutes.
Welcome back to Good Life, a newsletter about navigating our modern culture and staying sane in the process. This week, we discuss America’s 250th birthday and why it’s so important that we don’t screw up the celebration.
Enjoying this newsletter? Share it with your friends and family! And if you’re one of those friends or family members, you can sign up to get your own copy every week right here.
We might as well get straight into this. The celebration for America’s 250th birthday is extremely disappointing. I’ve been trying to stay as positive about it as possible because I want this to be a national unifier, something that brings the country together and makes us excited to be American again. However, last week’s debacle over artists canceling on the America 250 concert and the Trump administration’s decision to turn it into a Trump rally is concerning.
I’ve been captivated with Trump since he rode down those golden escalators. I’ve watched just about every one of his political rallies once they began livestreaming them. But even I don’t want to watch Trump talk for 90 minutes, telling the same jokes and bloviating about his administration’s supposed wins for the country.
That’s not the point of the celebration. We are supposed to be uniting the country. And whether Trump supporters like it or not, the reality is that half the country loves him and half the country wants him dead. So watching another one of his speeches isn’t going to draw large swaths of Americans from all walks of life.
It’s June 3. There isn’t much time before July 4. Still, if they act quickly, there is a way to salvage this and turn it into something that could captivate Americans. I saw a lot of people online complaining about the original lineup being filled with has-beens, which I think is a little unfair. We all know how polarizing the Trump administration can be, and the left is extremely violent. Not only does it not make sense for headliners to put their careers on the line for this, but it could be a fatal decision if a far-left agitator becomes activated to strike.
Still, someone (I think it was Matt Walsh) asked why they didn’t get talented, regular, no-name artists to perform at the concert. And that got me thinking: We have a president who ran a successful reality show. Why not lean on his expertise in that arena and create an “America’s Got Talent”- or “American Idol”- type contest that is livestreamed nationwide to find talent for the concert?
The way I see it working is to put out a massive casting call to all 50 states. They could broadcast the auditions to ramp up the national buy-in and allow Americans to vote on their favorite artists. Each state sends a winner to perform at the concert. That gives enough talent to produce a great show and helps unify the nation, solving both problems.
I am sympathetic to the cause. I understand how hard it is to put on something like this, but I can’t support just giving up. And that is exactly what it seems to be when a concert turns into a Trump rally.
If you read my post for Memorial Day, you know I feel like our nation is dying. Americans are desperate for normalcy. We are searching for a reason to forget the oppressive economy, the Iran War, and constant negative news cycles. America’s big birthday is the perfect opportunity for this, but we are wasting the potential.
We have very few chances left to resurrect the patriotism needed to carry on another 250 years. With our country so divided, it’s imperative that we do this. The left believes that American culture is based on ideas. The right believes that it’s based on heritage. Not only are these two things incompatible, but neither is fully correct.
Take Democratic Texas Senate candidate James Talarico’s girlfriend as the perfect example. Brianna Menard descends from Michel Branamour Menard, founder of Galveston and signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. This would make her a 6th- or 7th-generation Texan. For all intents and purposes, her ancestry makes her Texas royalty. However, her political views are insane.
Brianna is a far-left vegan whom her great-grandfather would likely disown if he were still alive today. She’s dating a man who claims that the Virgin Mary was pro-choice, that kids should be allowed to chop their body parts off for the transgender ideology, and has made statements like “God is non-binary.”
He supports strict gun control and a bloated, out-of-control federal government that should control everything from healthcare to local education. None of this is compatible with a healthy country. We learned during the COVID-19 pandemic that the more power Americans gave the federal government, the worse our lives got.
In short, his ideas (which Brianna supports) are terrible. And yet, by the right’s “heritage” definition, she is an authentic American.
I think two things can be true at once. America has an immigration problem, both illegal and legal. They’ve come over to our country, refused to assimilate, and gained power through our electoral system. In this case, the right has the correct idea that we shouldn’t allow this to happen. This power should only be accessible for those with blood, sweat, and tears fertilizing our land. However, we have another just as equally toxic problem in that there is a large portion of “heritage Americans” who are just as harmful to our way of life, like Brianna and Talarico.
There is no simple solution to either of these. Immigration is arguably the easiest one to tackle, but it would require mass deportations and/or forced assimilation, which the courts and Democrat-controlled cities make virtually impossible to do. But how do we get the heritage Americans who no longer believe in the legacy that their ancestors left behind to buy back in?
The answer is certainly not another Trump rally. Most of these people are conditioned to scoff or have some other visceral reaction to his voice. Nothing he says will sway their minds, which is why it’s so important we resurrect the concert with something that everyone gets excited about.
For lack of a better term, we are going to have to trick them into celebrating this year. Country music made a comeback, even with the left, because our national culture accepted it. There is no reason why we can’t make patriotism “cool” again.
I think the reason I feel so let down by this is that I desperately want my children to grow up in the country that formed me. I want them to see their neighborhood adorned with American flags, Main St. with red, white, and blue covering every lamppost, and their community celebrating as one people. There is so much that disconnects us, forcing us to pick tribes. America 250 shouldn’t be a part of that.
Whether my idea of a reality show audition is feasible or not, there has to be something better than a political rally. We deserve more than that. Our forefathers gave us the greatest country ever formed, and we owe their sacrifice and boldness to celebrate the last 250 years with a hope-filled promise for the next.
Please send any questions or comments about the newsletter to goodlife@dailycaller.com.