In 1776, America Told the King of England to Go Fuck Himself. Why Are We Acting Like We Want One Back?

As we approach the 250th Anniversary of this historical moment in time, it seems appropriate to remind ourselves what we were fighting for in 1776.

Americans didn’t just declare independence. They rejected the idea that one man could sit above the law, rule by whim, and treat the government like his personal property. July 4, 2026 marks 250 years of American independence, rooted in the Declaration of Independence and its commitment to self-government.^{1, 2, 3}

Two hundred and fifty years later, that lesson is supposed to be settled. Instead, Donald Trump is back in the Oval Office, and critics argue that his governing style often pushes against the constitutional limits designed to keep the presidency from functioning like a crown.^{4, 5, 6}

Let’s be honest about what this is. Trump has used executive orders aggressively to try to reshape major areas of public life, including election administration, and courts have blocked key parts of those efforts after finding that the president lacked authority to impose some of those rules by decree.^{4, 7}

That matters because the American Revolution was, in part, a rejection of arbitrary rule. The founding generation broke with a system in which executive power could be used to impose policy from above without meaningful democratic consent, and the Declaration anniversary invites comparison with modern efforts to stretch unilateral power.^{1, 8}

Trump has also attacked the independence of institutions that are supposed to stand apart from the president. His administration sought to revive executive orders targeting major law firms, while courts blocked those directives on the ground that judges believed the orders intruded on constitutional protections and exceeded lawful authority.⁹

Critics of this style of government argue that the pattern resembles older forms of monarchical behavior: reward allies, punish enemies, and test every boundary until another branch forces retreat. Reporting on Trump’s second term describes a rapid effort to push the limits of presidential power, along with broader allegations of executive overreach and constitutional conflict.^{6, 10}

And when courts push back, the administration and its allies often frame that pushback as obstruction rather than as the normal operation of checks and balances. Multiple court fights over executive orders reached appellate courts and the Supreme Court, underscoring how central these power disputes have become to Trump’s second term.^{11, 12, 13}

That is the deeper insult on the eve of America’s 250th birthday. The country is supposed to be commemorating the moment it broke from a king, yet the modern political argument is once again about whether one man should be allowed to govern first and justify himself later.^{1, 2, 3}

No president is literally a monarch, and the United States still has courts, Congress, states, and elections as counterweights. But when a president repeatedly treats limits as nuisances, rivals as targets, and executive orders as the first answer to every disagreement, the old warning from 1776 starts sounding less like history and more like instruction.^{4, 6, 9}

Source Appendix

1. National Archives, America250.
   URL: https://www.archives.gov/freedom250
2. GovInfo, America's 250th Anniversary.
   URL: https://www.govinfo.gov/features/america-250
3. National Archives, National Archives Launches Declaration250 Campaign.
   URL: https://www.archives.gov/news/articles/declaration250-campaign-launch
4. Democracy Docket, Federal court blocks key parts of Trump's anti-voting order, restores states control.
   URL: https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/federal-court-blocks-key-parts-of-trumps-anti-voting-order-restores-states-control-o
5. Los Angeles Times, The Supreme Court broadly expanded Trump's power in 2025, with some limits.
   URL: https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2026-01-01/supreme-court-trump-power
6. ABC News, How Trump has pushed the limits of presidential power in his first 100 days.
   URL: https://abcnews.com/Politics/unprecedented-trump-pushed-limits-presidential-power-100-days/story?id=121124189
7. Elias Law, Federal Court Permanently Blocks Additional Provisions of President Trump's Executive Order on Elections.
   URL: https://elias.law/press-release/federal-court-permanently-blocks-additional-provisions-of-president-trumps-executive-order-on-el
8. National Archives, Remarks at the Memorandum of Understanding Signing for the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
   URL: https://www.archives.gov/about/speeches/2021/mou-signing-250th-anniversary-declaration-of-independence
9. Reuters, Trump administration seeks to revive executive orders targeting law firms.
   URL: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-administration-seeks-revive-executive-orders-targeting-law-firms-2026-03-07/
10. Issue One, New report chronicles pattern of executive overreach and corruption in Trump's first 100 days.
    URL: https://issueone.org/press/new-report-trumps-first-100-days/
11. Supreme Court, Trump v. Wilcox (05/22/2025).
    URL: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/24a966_1b8e.pdf
12. Supreme Court, Trump v. CASA, Inc. (06/27/2025).
    URL: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/24a884_8n59.pdf
13. Cornell Law School, Trump v. American Federation of Government Employees.
    URL: https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/24A1174