President Donald Trump delivered a late-night address to the nation Saturday marking America’s 250th birthday, then immediately took to Truth Social to declare the accompanying fireworks display the “Best fireworks show, EVER.”
The celebration at the National Mall featured more than 850,000 pyrotechnic shells launched over roughly 40 minutes, shattering the previous Guinness World Record of 810,754 set during a 2016 New Year’s show in the Philippines. Trump officials confirmed it was the largest fireworks display in U.S. history.
The company behind the display, Pyrotecnico, a fifth-generation family-owned firm, stationed eight barges on the Potomac River for the show. The display was approximately 80 times the typical amount of fireworks launched in D.C. on the Fourth of July.
“Best fireworks show, EVER,” Trump posted on Truth Social shortly after concluding his address.
Trump’s speech ran 37 minutes and came after a severe thunderstorm forced a temporary evacuation of the Great American State Fair on the National Mall. Crowds returned and packed back in as the president spoke and the pyrotechnics began.
In the address, Trump honored gold star families and cited American exceptionalism as the nation’s defining characteristic.
“In this country, we could achieve the wildest and most impossible dreams, and no dream in history is bigger or more incredible than the one that started on July 4th, 1776,” Trump said. “The war for independence was launched by minutemen, farmers, blacksmiths, tradesmen who took up their muskets against the mightiest army on earth, the most powerful army and unbeatable army, until they met us.”
He also pointed to American strength as something to embrace, not apologize for.
“Together, we are also reasserting the truth that American strength and power is not something to be ashamed of. It is something that we are very, very proud of,” Trump said. “This country has been the greatest force for peace and justice on earth in the last century. We defeated tyrants, demolished evil, and saved freedom again and again and again.”
The celebration included extensive military flyovers across the D.C. skyline, featuring B-2 bombers, NASA F-5s, the Thunderbirds, Ospreys, the Golden Knights, and Air Force One. The aerial display spanned more than three hours.
