The 250th anniversary of America's liberation from a king kicked off with a campaign-style rally on the National Mall by President Donald Trump, whose face already stares down from banners fluttering across the capital. The images illustrate how the Republican president has dominated daily life since returning to power and, to some, evoke more the style of a monarch than the leader of the world's oldest democracy.
Imperial Comparisons and Presidential Power
Since returning to office in January 2025, Trump has nominated one of his personal lawyers to serve as attorney general, ordered the Department of Justice to pursue his political enemies, deployed the US Marines to the nation's second largest city, and leveraged the presidency to enrich himself and his family. He has demanded that comedians who mock him be fired, slapped his name on the Kennedy Center, pushed to seize control of elections, filed lawsuits against news organizations, and sued his own government seeking $10 billion in taxpayer money.
With the 250th anniversary approaching, Trump's own celebrations have overshadowed the bipartisan commission that was supposed to coordinate events. He plans to return to the National Mall on July Fourth for a "Trump rally." The president's actions have led to comparisons with King George III, a parallel Trump himself rejects. “I’m not a king,” he told CBS’ “60 Minutes” earlier this year. “If I was a king, I wouldn’t be dealing with you.”
Historical Context of 'Imperial' Presidents
Julian Zelizer, a Princeton University historian, said the king label fits Trump differently. “It’s more about how he imagines who is he and what the presidency is,” Zelizer said. “We’re celebrating founding principles, and that was a driving issue — fears of how a centralized power can be corrupted. And here we are again.”
When King Charles III visited Trump this year, the official White House X account posted an image with the caption “TWO KINGS.” At the start of his second term, Trump declared he had ended a New York City transportation program and posted: “LONG LIVE THE KING.” The posts indicate a willingness to leverage the label and the reaction it provokes. The main resistance movement in Trump’s second term adopted the slogan “No Kings.” Ezra Levin of Indivisible said activists were thinking ahead to 2026 and the America 250 celebration when they chose the label. “It looks like the same kind of tyranny we were rebelling against 250 years ago, the type of domination of Americans by a secret police force that’s murdering people in the streets like in Minneapolis this year and in Boston in 1770,” Levin said, referring to demonstrations against the administration’s immigration crackdown that led to the fatal shootings of two protesters this year by federal officers.
Supreme Court's Role in Enabling Trump's Approach
With a deferential Republican-controlled Congress, courts have become the last check on Trump. The president has harshly criticized judges who have ruled against him, and his administration has sometimes defied their orders. Yet the conservative majority on the US Supreme Court has sided with Trump numerous times after lower court rulings hampered him. In the middle of his 2024 campaign, the high court ruled that presidents have broad immunity from prosecution, derailing multiple investigations stemming from his first term, including one focused on his attempts to overturn the 2020 election results.
Trump has argued the courts cannot constrain the president on key issues, including his claims that he can fire members of independent agencies. The most notorious example was in 2024 when a judge asked during the immunity case whether a president could be prosecuted for ordering the assassination of a political rival. Trump’s lawyer, D. John Sauer, answered with a “qualified yes.” Sauer is now solicitor general and has continued to insist that courts cannot review presidential acts. “Once the President has made a determination … at that point, there’s no work for the reviewing court to do,” Sauer said during Supreme Court arguments in a case over whether Trump could fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. However, the Supreme Court allowed Cook to remain on the board while it considers the case. The majority also slapped down his global tariffs, finding that only Congress had that authority.
Financial Entanglements and Enrichment
Trump was the richest man to ever become president. During his first term, he was criticized for owning properties where foreign dignitaries and others hoping to curry his favor spent lavishly. The conflicts of interest have escalated in his second term. Trump launched cryptocurrencies before and after returning to office. By conservative estimates, one has pulled in $320 million this year alone, while another sold $550 million worth of tokens. A third received a $2 billion investment from a foreign wealth fund.
Trump took a new step earlier this year, filing a private $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS for the leak of his tax returns during his first term. His Department of Justice directed the IRS to settle the litigation to create a $1.776 billion fund to pay damages to people who claimed the federal government unfairly prosecuted them. The administration pulled back the settlement amid an outcry from congressional Democrats and Republicans. But Todd Blanche, a former personal lawyer for Trump who is now acting attorney general, said at least one provision remains — a ban on the IRS auditing Trump. Zelizer said Trump’s financial entanglements might be the most monarchical part of his administration. “We have not seen a person who has a business operation of this scale and scope benefiting directly from the decisions he makes,” Zelizer said.
Pursuit of Political Enemies
The Justice Department’s role in the IRS lawsuit is one example of how Trump has decreed that executive branch employees should act as agents of his will. In breaching what is supposed to be a firewall between the White House and Justice Department, Trump has demanded that federal prosecutors target his foes. In one social media post last year, he called out by name Pam Bondi, who was attorney general at the time, in pushing her to prosecute several of his political opponents: “JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!” Indictments followed shortly after, including against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat. The charges against both eventually were dismissed, but the department under Blanche filed new charges against Comey.
For his 80th birthday this month, the president hosted a fight held by UFC — a company he invested in — on the White House lawn. The event was broadcast on a network owned by the son of one of the president’s major donors. The spectacle drew a rebuke from California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a persistent critic and potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender. “The White House was built to serve the American people. Tonight it was used to promote a company the President owns stock in, sell subscriptions, promote corporate sponsors, push Trump crypto, and enrich the President and his family,” Newsom wrote on X. “The founders warned us about kings enriching themselves from public office.” Days later, Newsom disclosed that Trump’s Department of Justice was investigating him and his wife.
