If Kamala Harris had won the presidency in 2024 this July 4th would look radically different.
Imagine the conga line of celebrities gathered to honor the nation's 250th birthday. The July 4 concert lineup would be a who's who of music superstars. Beyonce! The Boss! Taylor Swift!
You'd see A-listers begging to introduce the various acts, eager to play up Harris' "historic" achievement along the way.
If only.
Instead, Hollywood has all but ignored the country's milestone. There's no major film coming our way to honor the nation's birthday or its grand experiment in democracy. If you want a blast of patriotism, you have to rely on a newbie film shingle like Angel Studios and its "Young Washington" feature - out July 3.
And we all know what happened to the Freedom 250 concert, brimming with '90s acts like Young MC and Bret Michaels of Poison fame. One by one, they bailed on the concert. Why?
Some claimed the event became political, without explaining exactly how. President Trump did establish the Freedom 250 group, but it appeared to be apolitical in nature.
Others suggested violent threats forced their hand. The one obvious reason? They feared their name on the lineup could hurt their career prospects. If you don't think that's real, you haven't been paying attention to Hollywood over the past 20 years.
Just ask two-time Oscar-nominee James Woods, who hasn't had a major film role in more than a decade due to his conservative leanings.
The only Freedom 250 act to stand tall? Vanilla Ice, who refused to bow to his industry's unofficial rules regarding anything related, real or imagined, to President Trump.
And the way the people are dragging this into politics, it's not fair," he continued. "It is not fair to us as entertainers for sure. And I think that this shouldn't be looked at as political or anything.
Not all heroes wear capes. Some just swipe hooks from established songs.
Democrats feel more patriotic when they're in power. Otherwise, it's problematic to love one's country. Just ask The New Yorker, which ran a story on the subject.
National pride in America has plummeted in the Trump era. Is it worth trying to salvage?
Oh.
Or quiz the average Democrat. NBC just did that, and the results are startling.
NBC News poll: How proud are you to be an American?
— Steve Kornacki (@SteveKornacki) June 14, 2026
Overall
Extremely/very 56%
Not very/none 21%
Extremely/very by party:
GOP 90%
Dem 29%
By age:
65+ 75%
18-34 36%
The "Extremely Proud" to be American split between parties? GOP - 90 percent, with only 29 percent of Democrats responding in kind.
That's not a typo. It's reality.
To the Left, America is systemically racist and brimming with Sen. Bernie Sanders' favorite word ... "oligarchs." Patriotism doesn't mean blind loyalty, of course. It still should be a recognition of America's promise and ability for anyone to rise up the social ladder based on hard work, grit, and inventiveness.
Maybe the Democrats should support fewer Nazi-tattooed candidates and spend more time with a U.S. history textbook.
