Fears are mounting over President Donald Trump's massive Independence Day fireworks display for one simple reason. His administration "couldn't even paint a pool blue."
That's the criticism from MS NOW editor Ryan Teague Beckworth in an opinion piece detailing his pending dread of a 40-minute pyrotechnics "stunt" slated for 11 p.m. in Washington D.C.
"Organizers aim to launch more than 850,000 fireworks — compared to the 7,000 at the 2025 show," wrote Beckworth. "The fireworks display is just another attempt to force the city to submit to his whims. As with all his grandiose gestures, it won’t work."
Beckworth pointed to multiple problems that have plagued the Great American State Fair in Washington D.C. — the extreme heat, complaints of "inedible" food and a collapsing stage, among them — as reasons not to trust the Trump team to pull off the last big shebang.
The writer also suggested the firework show was a form of revenge.
"Ninety percent of Washington voted against Trump in 2024, one of the largest margins of any U.S. city," wrote Beckworth.
"Trump doesn’t like that. He envisions himself as a grand potentate overseeing the capital city. Like Ozymandias, he wants its residents to build him a great arch and an opulent ballroom and hold elaborate events in his honor."
Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Kyle Whitmere had another complaint for Trump, not as a citizen, but a dad.
"Donald Trump might have kids," he wrote on X, "but anyone who schedules fireworks at 11 p.m. never parented children."