It’s impossible to provide the number of events that celebrated America’s 250th Birthday on July 4th because they were staged by federal, state and local governments, as well as by private and local communities. It’s also impossible to give a correct account of how many American businesses celebrated America’s 250th Birthday on July 4th.That’s because in addition to major brands many mom and pop stores also had promotions.
But one thing that can be said with certainty is the celebrate America stunt that was the most classless and vulgar one. It was, of course, sanctioned by the most crass, foul-speaking American president in the 250 years since the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776.The vulgarities that come out of this president’s mouth used to make parents wash their children’s mouths with soap, maybe some still do, and ground them as punishment. I’m talking about, of course, President Donald Trump, who should have his DNA washed with disinfectant.
As I wrote in an email to some friends the day after the fight that demonstrated the uncouthness of the President:
“The mixed martial arts fights on the grounds of the White House last night, as part of President Trump’s 80th birthday celebration, featured competitors in a caged ring attempting to punch, kick, and wrestle their way to victory. It’s understandable why the president would sanction such an undignified event. It reminded him of how on Jan.6 his supporters punched, kicked and wrestled their way into the Capitol, which led to the death of five Capitol policemen while trying to overturn his election defeat.”
I’m not the only person who faulted the “fight in the cage” at the White House. Many other people also did. One that, in my opinion, was a bull’s eye was by conservative commentator Bill Kristol.
Said Kristol: “It’s vulgar, violent, commercial, grandiose, tacky and it dishonors a place once thought worthy of care and respect. In other words, it’s Donald Trump.”
A June 11 Reuters article said that few Americans think that making the White House grounds into a fighting ring was appropriate.
The article said, “Few Americans, including only a third of Republicans, approve of President Donald Trump’s plan to hold mixed martial arts cage matches at the White House.” A Reuters/Ipsos poll revealed, “Just 16% of Americans said it was appropriate for Trump to hold the Ultimate Fighting Championship event, scheduled for his 80th birthday, while 46% said it was inappropriate and the rest didn’t offer an opinion.”
The president’s actions, I believe, can be considered in three ways: 1) He believes in the ancient and discredited adage that “there is no such thing as bad publicity,” or 2) He is a person of tastes that only a Philistine approves of or 3) He is mentally unbalanced because he acts like a person who believes he is infallible, dogmatic and narcissistic, not to mention vindictive and greedy. After saying that Iran was defeated on day one of his war and insisting that if re-elected he could end the Russia-Ukraine war in “one day” or “24 hours, “my diagnosis is that he’s suffering from “Trump Delusional Syndrome.”
The third point is also true of many CEO’s of businesses and, as many PR practitioners have experienced supervisors, who because they have been given a title, think that whatever they say or do is correct. And that’s too bad. Because titles in our business are granted for many reasons not associated with being the best available individual. They include being given a meaningless title instead of an immediate increase in salary, being the best of the worst, office favoritism and being of a particular race or sex. (When I was at Burson-Marsteller, which for nearly a quarter of a century was the foremost international PR agency, people were told that they would be getting a salary increase, but had to wait six months before it became effective.) It’s as if Mr. Trump copied the B-M tactic of promoting account handlers for reasons other than heir expertise. In the president’s case people are promoted to important positions because of their loyalty to him.
President Trump’s embrace of the bloody fight at the White House might remain as the tackiest America’s Birthday event celebration that occurs during the year-long 250th Birthday celebration. I might have missed it, but thus far I haven’t seen any promotions that come close to it. But there is still
several months remaining, so the president still has the opportunity to stage an event that makes the fight at the White House look like a dignified event.
I also haven’t seen brands wrapping themselves around the flag, except at sporting events that have long used patriotic displays to try and convince people of their patriotism, even though in the past Sens. Jeff Flake and John McCain exposed the sports families “honor America” tributes as “paid patriotism,” causing the leagues to reimburse the government hundreds of thousands of dollars.
America’s July 4th 250th Birthday Party is now over but the celebration will continue for the remainder of the year. Like other holidays that are supposed to celebrate an important moment in history, the 250th Birthday anniversary was dominated by businesses that used the occasion as a sales tool. And that’s sad, in my opinion.
Question: Am I the only person that finds it ironic that two aspects of a July 4th celebration that are most popular with Americans are not “American made ?” One is the fireworks displays. According to Forbes ,China, no friend of the U.S., is also celebrating America’s Birthday. A July 2 post said: “Ironically, China – widely seen as a big economic and geopolitical rival of the U.S. – will also have a big day in the country on July 4th. It supplies 70-75% of aerial display fireworks sold in the U.S.; for consumer fireworks, it holds an even larger 90% share,” according to the American Pyrotechnics Association, a leading fireworks industry group.
The other is the music that accompanies fireworks, the 1812 Overture, which has nothing to do with the founding of America. It was composed by Port. Iliac Tchaikovsky in 1880 to commemorate Russia’s turning back Napoleon as his army neared Moscow and for many years was considered a patriotic Russian orchestration.
I admit that the 250th Birthday of America didn’t excite me for a few reasons: It was just another holiday that became a sales promotion vehicle; it took place during the administration of a president, who not only has been
accused of corruption and has been impeached two times, but more important, has been attempting to remove the freedoms that made the United States the envy of the world and has enriched himself like no other president has even attempted to do.
Much more important than my personal feelings, was the results of a Wall Street Journal NORC survey published on July 9th. The headline of the story read, ‘Poll Finds America In Dark Mood at 250.’
The responses to questions are two numerous to report here. But what caught my attention was how people feel about the economy, their future and government.
“Just under half of Americans say capitalism is working very well or even somewhat well, down from 60% who said so about a decade ago…. Only 35% are even fairly sure that the nation offers people the ability to get good jobs and achieve the American dream and…Confidence in the nation’s system of government is even lower. Only 12% say democracy is working very well or extremely well, and a mere 16% say average citizens have considerable influence on politics,” reported the Journal. (Count President Trump, who has enriched himself and his family by millions of dollars in the last two years among those who think capitalism is working very well.)
No wonder not one person in my circle, which includes Democrats, Republicans, conservatives, moderates and liberals and one DSA supporter mentioned America’s 250th Birthday. They spoke about the World Cup, the New York Mets, the tennis matches and how expensive groceries are.
The results of the poll should be a wake-up call for traditional liberal and conservative politicians. If it isn’t, expect the extreme radicals of the Democratic and Republican parties to keep growing., along with democratic socialists.
But not being excited about America’s Birthday doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate America. When military service was mandatory, I didn’t attempt to avoid the draft by becoming a school teacher, or like President Trump claim that shin splints bothered him to avoid the draft, even though they didn’t bother him enough to spend thousands of hours playing golf.
On January 17, 1925 President Calvin Coolidge said, “The chief business of the American people is business.” But he added that the accumulation of
material wealth was necessary to support education, intelligence and culture, and said wealth should be used to foster progress rather than being pursued for its own sake.
A recent federal filing revealed that President Trump has enriched himself by at least $2.2 billion since he was reelected. And he still has two more years to use America as his personal piggy bank. Obviously, President Trump doesn’t agree with President Coolidge’s philosophy regarding wealth or with Etiquette: The Blue Book of Social Usage, written by American author Emily Post, the book that detailed good manners.
But, according to published reports, President Trump did read a book which contained the speeches of Adolph Hitler, which might explain his totalitarian-like instincts and his admiration of far right dictators.
In this year, the 250th anniversary of the U.S., we have a president unlike any other one. President Trump is famous for the way he treats people who have been staunch supporters of him as disposable objects once he no longer needs them. So do many CEO’s of businesses, and ours is a prime example. That’s why the average time an employee stays at a PR firm is about three years.
So my advice to PR practitioners is regardless of your title, don’t think you know it all. Listen to other’s opinions and treat people who report to you with kindness, even if they can’t do the job because you never know when your paths will cross in the future.
Personal Example; When I decided to open my own consultancy, after almost a quarter of a century at B-M, people who reported to me who advanced to supervisory levels immediately gave me project work. That was their way of thanking me for treating them as human beings and not as “cannon fodder,” a description used by a disillusioned B-M executive to describe how PR practitioners at the agency were treated.
Perhaps if this celebration did not take place during the administration of an egocentric prejudiced totalitarian-inclined president who admires dictators, and whose mission is to take away the rights that have made America the
envy of the world for so many peoples, before MAGA was a fiction of his imagination, I’d be more enthusiastic about America 250.
The celebration of America’s Birthday will continue for the remainder of the year. And as certain as day follows night throughout this and next year President Trump will blame others for his mistakes and take credit for things that others did that worked, including his campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again,” which he initially said in November 2012, but as A.O. Scott reported in the New York Times on July 4th was said by Presidents Ronald Reagan in 1980 and Bill Clinton in 1991.
What President Trump’s use of “Make America Great Again” proves that not only does history repeat, but in the case of this president, is stolen.
President Trump has attempted to silence late night comics from criticizing him. He has threatened networks with losing their licensees if they don’t support him. Some have caved in, as have some law firms, and instead of fighting for the right to express their opinions, have settled their legal differences with the president with cash payments or equivalent financial concessions.
As disseminators of various viewpoints, public relations practitioners have a lot to lose if first amendment rights are curtailed. Whether you’re a MAGA supporter, Democrat or democratic socialist PR people should speak out in support of the first amendment. History shows that keeping quiet about policies that are designed to stifle criticism leads to the loss of freedom. And for many PR agencies that would be a disaster.
(The above viewpoints are solely those of the author)
