America250's Potluck
Refusing to let anyone else define what this milestone means
My Sunday afternoon was devoted to reading Harper’s Magazine. The cover of the magazine shows the President’s face depicted in a cloud of red smoke. The headline is “Twilight’s Last Gleaming: An Exhausted America Turns 250.” From cover to cover, the magazine provokes a complicated dis-ease with the semiquincentennial. I loved it.
I put that discomfort beside the fact that I wrote a murder-mystery and family play to celebrate and am in the middle of working on Founding Father Karaoke. This feels like the most American thing of all to me: it all belongs.
Today, Sarah and I discuss how we’re approaching this milestone, what it means to us, and what role, if any, the President plays in observing 250 years since the Declaration of Independence. - b
Topics Discussed
- Why celebrating America's 250th feels awkward this year
- The America250 commission vs. Trump's separate "Freedom 250" / White House rally
- What the 1976 Bicentennial actually got right
- The military's place in the anniversary — a component, not the centerpiece
- Holding patriotism and clear-eyed honesty about the country's failures at the same time
- America's Potluck and celebrating at the level of your own town and table
- Outside Politics: naming your "mom aesthetic"
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Pantsuit Politics is hosted by Sarah Stewart Holland and Beth Silvers. The show is produced by Studio D Podcast Production.
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