Stephen Gruber-Miller and Brianne Pfannenstiel, Des Moines Register
President Donald Trump drew a crowd to the Iowa State Fairgrounds one day before Independence Day to kick off America’s yearlong 250th birthday celebration.
Trump spoke for about an hour in 90-degree heat, touting his administration’s achievements and his plans for the country’s 250th birthday on the same day Congress passed his massive tax cut and spending package.
Here are five takeaways.
Trump says there’s ‘no better birthday present for America’ than the ‘big, beautiful bill’
Trump landed in Iowa hours after Congress took a final vote to pass his package of tax cuts, cuts to spending on public assistance programs and a funding boost for border security.
“There can be no better birthday present for America than the phenomenal victory we achieved just hours ago when Congress passed the One Big Beautiful Bill to make America great again,” Trump said.
Trump said the bill would “deport the illegals,” and slash hundreds of billions of dollars of “waste and fraud.”
“With this bill, every major promise I made to the people of Iowa in 2024 became a promise kept,” he said.
The bill makes permanent a set of 2017 tax cuts that Trump signed during his first term, as well as cutting taxes on tips and overtime pay and boosting spending on border security.
The bill will cut Medicaid spending by about $1 trillion over a decade, resulting in 11.8 million people becoming uninsured, and would cut $300 billion in spending on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, according to estimates from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
The legislation is expected to add $3.3 trillion to the federal deficit over a decade, the CBO predicted.
Trump also criticized congressional Democrats, none of whom voted for the package. He suggested Republicans would use Democrats’ “no” votes against them in the 2026 elections.
“With all of the things we did, with the tax cuts and rebuilding our military, not one Democrat voted for us,” he said. “And I think we’ll use it in the campaign that’s coming up — the midterms. Because we’ve got to beat them.”
Democrats, in turn, plan to use the legislation’s Medicaid spending cuts and tax benefits for the wealthy to attack Republicans in the midterms.
‘Great American State Fair’ to begin in Iowa, Trump says
President Donald Trump reaffirmed his plans to hold a “Great American State Fair” with exhibits from all 50 states that will begin in Iowa.
“We will be orchestrating what we’re calling the great American state fair and it will start right here in Iowa, right,” he said. “So we’re starting it off in Iowa. Now we’re starting it off at your great fairgrounds, and we’re going to have a big crowd just like we do tonight.”
Trump initially floated the idea in 2023 and Iowa’s Republican elected officials have expressed excitement about hosting the kickoff.
“The Great American State Fair will bring America 250 programming to fairgrounds across the country culminating in a giant patriotic festival next summer on the national mall featuring exhibits from all 50 states,” Trump said. “And all 50 states are excited.”
The event will be part of the yearlong celebration of America’s 250th birthday, which Trump said would also include a “national garden of American heroes,” an outdoor park featuring statues of figures throughout American history, as well as a UFC fight held at the White House.
It was part of a theme as Iowa leaders thanked Trump for centering America’s birthday festivities in the heartland.
“Just in case you haven’t heard, America’s going to celebrate our 250th and Donald Trump picked Iowa to start it all!” Republican Party of Iowa Chair Jeff Kaufmann proclaimed. “He picked us, folks!”
Attorney General Brenna Bird pointed out that Iowa wasn’t even a state when the Declaration of Independence was signed, noting that Trump chose the state over places such as Washington, D.C., and Independence Hall in Philadelphia.
“Thank you, President Trump for picking Iowa and bringing our celebration to the heart of the heartland,” she said.
Speaker says Trump inherited ‘heroic character’ from America’s founders
Although the event was ostensibly a nonpartisan event, hosted by the nonprofit organization America250, speakers also used their time to praise Trump, who they said would help usher in next 250 years of American greatness.
“Our current president is a direct inheritor of the founders’ heroic character,” said Monica Crowley, the Trump administration’s chief of protocol. “A profoundly brave man driven by the noble fight for American Freedom, guided by the hand of God. From Washington, Adams, Jefferson and Hamilton to Trump, the through lines of history are clear.”
Later, Trump joked with the audience while proposing his national garden of American heroes.
“We’re going to do statues to our greatest Americans, and we’re going to let the people choose who they are,” he said.
“You better choose me. No, I’m only kidding,” he said, as the crowd laughed. “I should take myself out. I think I should take myself out.”
Reminders of assassination attempt linger
At points in the event, there were reminders of the unsuccessful assassination attempt against Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania one year ago.
The president spoke from behind protective glass — a feature of his stage setup that Iowa audiences hadn’t previously seen.
And law enforcement was out in force as attendees trekked from their cars into the event. Snipers sat perched atop semi-truck beds — high vantage points amid the sea of vehicles — and on rooftops, binoculars in hand as they scanned incoming people.
At one point, Trump stopped his speech as he was speaking about immigration as a boom sounded in the distance.
“Don’t worry, it’s only fireworks,” he said. “I hope. Famous last words. My famous last words. Trump said, ‘Don’t worry, it’s only fireworks.’ You always have to think positive.”
The president sounded a skittish note.
“I didn’t like that sound, either,” he conceded.
Iowans braved the heat to catch a glimpse of Trump
The event opened up to attendees early in the day. And they braved the heat as temperatures climbed into the nineties.
There was little shade to be had at the fairgrounds’ midway point as attendees sat in the sun for hours. But volunteers, armed with a stockpile of water bottles, worked to keep the crowd hydrated.
Dan Thompson, a 76-year-old Ankeny resident, grabbed a bottle of water out of a cooler near the back of the gathering crowd. He’d put a handful of ice under his bucket hat to help cope with the 93-degree heat as he awaited Trump’s arrival.
Thompson, who said he’s seen Trump speak a dozen-or-so times, said the heat was no deterrent and he was excited to see him once again.
“It’s just the fun of being with a crowd of people that think the way I do,” Thompson said. “He does what he says and he doesn’t hem and haw.”
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