As President Donald Trump prepares to mark the nation’s birthday with a UFC fight on the White House lawn, Americans say the country’s best days are over.
A Pew Research Center analysis shows that 59 percent of Americans believe the country’s best days are behind it, while 40 percent say they are still to come.
At the start of this year, as the country marked the lead-up to its 250th birthday, 7 in 10 adults said they were dissatisfied with the way things are going, while two-thirds of Americans believe the country will be more politically divided by 2050, according to Axios.
This sentiment comes amid declining public trust in one another, the government, the media, colleges, and other institutions.
Yet, while Americans are nearly evenly split between optimism and pessimism about the country’s future, one person appears to remain especially optimistic despite the broader trends.
Trump, 79, plans to mark both America’s 250th birthday and his own 80th on Sunday, with just 16 percent of Americans saying it is appropriate for the president to hold such an event at this time.
The $60 million UFC event is expected to draw thousands of attendees, who will watch fights take place in a towering superstructure known as “The Claw,” constructed on the South Lawn of the White House, in an event that has drawn comparisons to the Roman Empire—which fell in 476 CE amid political instability and internal decline.
It comes as gas prices have topped $5 a gallon in some states, while Americans face a broader cost-of-living crisis across a wide range of groceries, which the president has called a “hoax.”
The country’s broader challenges are already visible in preparations for another Trump-backed event: a 16-day national expo set to run from June 25 through July 10, 2026, called the “Great American State Fair.”
Most of the headline acts initially announced for a concert marking the start of the fair have canceled their appearances due to Trump’s association with the event, prompting the president to scramble for replacements and announce what he called a “Rally to End All Rallies.”
The plan also called for every state to have a pavilion on the National Mall showcasing U.S. culture, but three states have withdrawn, and one remains undecided, with officials citing cost concerns and fears the two-week D.C. festival would be too partisan.
It seems that even Trump’s UFC Freedom 250 event, which is set to take place on Sunday despite a lawsuit seeking to block it, may face conditions that mirror public sentiment, as an AccuWeather forecast warns that Sunday could bring hot, humid conditions, thunderstorms, and “downpours and lightning that could affect events at the White House.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
