Yale historian David Blight said Trump's vanity projects are "theatre of the absurd," comparing him to Mussolini.
Harvard's Jill Lepore noted that participating in celebrations can seem like endorsing Trump.
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A Reuters/Ipsos poll found 38% of Americans doubt the US will exist as a single country in 250 years.
Nearly two-thirds say democracy is in danger.
Bill Whalen of the Hoover Institution lamented that the anniversary could have been a "Christmas truce."
Instead, voters unknowingly chose between a reflective, shame-filled commemoration under Kamala Harris or a narcissistic one under Trump.
The Declaration's preamble speaks of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness," but its author Thomas Jefferson enslaved over 610 people.
The nation has wrestled with this contradiction for 250 years.
Princeton's Eddie Glaude said Trumpism is not an aberration but an expression of a durable strain in American politics.
He compared the current moment to 1926, when the Ku Klux Klan marched on Washington.
Freedom 250's "Freedom Trucks" tell a relentlessly positive story that downplays slavery and culminates with a video of Trump.
Last year, an executive order directed the removal of "divisive" ideology from the Smithsonian.
Lonnie Bunch, the Smithsonian's first Black secretary, called this the most challenging period since the Civil War.
A court filing alleges Trump ordered removal of exhibits from at least 37 museums.
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As July 4 approaches, the nation's birthday feels less like a celebration and more like a case study in division and leader narcissism.
