July 5, 2026 - Trump Rings in 250th With Partisan Politics

Two hundred and fifty years ago yesterday at Independence Hall, 56 men put their names to a document that could have gotten every one of them hanged. They knew it. The signature was the crime. And at the bottom, they pledged three things to one another - their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.

Look at that last part. They didn't pledge those things to a king, or a flag, or even to an idea. They pledged them to each other. Men from different colonies, different faiths, different stations, most of them strangers. They decided to belong to one another. That was the radical act. Not the philosophy. The pledge.

I've spent much of this year talking about what we've lost. We don't join the way our parents did. The clubs are graying. The pews are emptier. The fire companies can't fill the ranks. We've sorted ourselves into red and blue, online and alone, certain the other side isn't just wrong - they're the enemy.

The 56 would not recognize that. They risked the noose to stand next to people they disagreed with.

The fix isn't grand. It's small, it's local, and it's available tomorrow morning. Show up. Join something. Coach the team. Sit on the board. Learn the name of the neighbor whose politics you can't stand. That's how a country gets rebuilt - not from that building, but from your block.

They pledged themselves to each other when it was dangerous to do so.

All they're asking of us is that we try.

Happy birthday, America. 

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President Donald Trump marked America's 250th anniversary with a patriotic, but politically charged Independence Day speech in Washington, as severe weather disrupted celebrations across parts of the East Coast.

Associated Press

From Nobel-winning science and record medical breakthroughs to dominant capital markets, unmatched military power and an unbroken 250-year streak of holding federal elections, the case for betting on America's next chapter remains formidable.

The Washington Post

Axios Co-founder and CEO, Jim VandeHei, argues that despite political division and persistent challenges, the United States remains the world's leading engine of economic growth, innovation, entrepreneurship and philanthropy, with record-low death rates and strong economic indicators underscoring an optimistic case for America's future.

Axios

A new nationwide well-being report ranks Minnesota as the best-performing state and Louisiana the worst, concluding that despite rising incomes, no state is improving in overall life satisfaction or several key measures of mental health, trust, and quality of life.

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Thousands gathered in Tehran to honor assassinated Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as Iranian authorities framed the nationwide commemorations as a display of national unity, continuity of the Islamic Republic, and a pledge of revenge against the United States and Israel.

Aljazeera

Participants in NPR's Swing Shift project offered a mix of pride, embarrassment and unease as the country turns 250, describing the future in words ranging from "uncertain" and "concerned" to "excited" and "cautiously optimistic."

NPR

An opinion essay argues that recent primary victories by Democratic Socialists of America-backed candidates reflect growing influence on the political left and warns that the Democratic Party must more forcefully confront socialist ideas to remain broadly competitive.

The Wall Street Journal

Prince Harry will travel to the UK next week without Meghan Markle and their children, as ongoing security concerns and unresolved protection arrangements have made bringing the family to London unworkable.

Sky News

Representative Tom Kean Jr. disclosed that his more than 100-day absence from the House was due to depression, reigniting debate over how much personal health information lawmakers should share and how much stigma still surrounds mental illness.

The Hill

A month before he was killed, Rob Reiner secretly filmed his final role as George Washington in Larry David's HBO sketch series 'Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness,' delivering a Fourth of July weekend broadside at President Donald Trump that aired in the show's second episode.

Variety