Happy Birthday, America. You Look Like Sh*t.
Red, White & Bruised: This Year's Fourth is a Farce. But the Fight Goes On.
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It’s Independence Day in America, and the White House lawn has been turned into a stage for the world’s most deranged cosplay. Trump, dressed like a dictator and talking like a wrestling heel, is gearing up to sign his “mega-bill”—a stink pile of tax cuts for billionaires, service cuts for the rest of us, and a million little poison pills slipped in while no one was looking.
Behind him? Flags. Fireworks. Frothing MAGA superfans cheering as he signs the biggest atrocity of a bill this country has ever seen, complete with a military flyover.
In front of him? A gutted nation that can barely breathe.
Let’s be honest: a lot of us feel doomed right now. And it’s not paranoia. It’s pattern recognition.
We’re watching a man with a failing mind and a fascist playbook sign away the last scraps of the social contract—on the Fourth of July. The symbolism isn’t subtle. He’s claiming the holiday for his own cult. Rebranding liberty with a logo and a lie.
This isn’t just policy. This is performance warfare. A WWE-style spectacle designed to dazzle the base while dismantling democracy.
And yeah, we feel doomed. Because we should.
We have a president who doesn’t understand the bills he signs, doesn’t know the departments he’s dismantling, and doesn’t care. His staff writes legislation while he professes his hate for Democrats while floating plans for a WWE-style championship fight at the White House as part of the America 250 celebration in 2026. He even mentioned building a venue for 20,000–25,000 spectators, called the idea “EPIC,” and said he was “dead serious.” And of course he’s serious. He patterns his entire life like a WWE-style reality show.
Meanwhile, the institutions that are supposed to check him are either complicit, silent, or neutered. The press? Half are playing stenographer. The other half are locked in existential debates about tone.
So yeah. It’s fair to feel like the walls are closing in. Because some of them are.
But here’s the thing they don’t want us to remember—because it doesn’t fit their agenda.
Every single one of America’s greatest rebirths began in moments just like this one.
In 1932, during the depths of the Great Depression, it felt like the country was collapsing. Banks failed, crops died, and the president did nothing. A populist demagogue—yes, another one—rose up on a wave of rage. But instead of electing the strongman, Americans took a chance on a New Deal.
In 1968, it felt like the nation was at war with itself. MLK was assassinated. RFK was assassinated. Cities burned. Vietnam dragged on. The sitting president refused to run again. But out of that crucible came the Civil Rights Act, Medicare, Medicaid, and the first cracks in systemic segregation.
Even 2016, as crushing as it was, gave rise to the most energized protest movement since the 1960s. Millions marched. People organized. Progressives won seats. The backlash wasn’t the end. It was the fuse.
That’s how American history works: we flirt with collapse right before we reinvent ourselves.
That doesn’t mean it’s easy. Or inevitable. Or guaranteed.
It just means the story’s not over.
Not even close.
Because here’s what today really is:
It’s not just a birthday. It’s a reckoning.
It’s not just a celebration. It’s a dare.
Do we let the worst people in power redefine what this country stands for—or do we remind them that liberty isn’t theirs to brand?
We can’t fireworks our way out of this.
But we can remember the power that lives in the people they keep trying to silence.
We can choose to build again, like we have before.
And we will, because we’ve done it, every time this country has tried to eat itself alive.
So yes, today feels like shit.
But feeling doomed is not the same as being doomed.
And if history is any guide, this is the part where the fire starts to spread—the good kind. The kind that clears the dead wood and makes room for the future.
Happy Independence Day, America.
Let’s go earn it.
Rosie
🔥 How are you feeling this Independence Day? Drop your thoughts in the comments. 👇
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I’m a journalist and novelist whose career was upended by long COVID—years of neurological and physical damage that still keep me in recovery mode most days and prompted an urgent move to lower elevation. But the state of this country lit a fire I couldn’t ignore. So I write when I can, from the margins of exhaustion, because staying silent isn't an option.
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I'm definitely feeling discouraged this Independence Day, but also hope we can all turn our anger into energy for the resistance. Stay safe today, but let's send a message. This entire party needs to be pushed down.
I definitely needed this today, Rosie…thank you.