Why Trump’s Juneteenth Tantrum Says the Quiet Part Out Loud
It was Juneteenth — a day set aside to commemorate the emancipation of enslaved Black Americans — when Donald J. Trump, never one to miss an opportunity to be tone-deaf in high definition, decided to grumble about there being “too many holidays.”
I’ll pause so you can gag a little.
Because of course he did.
Let’s be clear: when Trump says there are too many holidays, he doesn’t mean Presidents Day (where people ironically buy mattresses in his honor), or the Fourth of July (where he can cosplay patriotism in an ill-fitting suit and squint at fireworks like they owe him money). No — the kind of holiday that suddenly feels excessive to him is the one rooted in Black liberation.
Juneteenth is not new. Black communities in Texas and beyond have been honoring it since 1866. It became a federal holiday in 2021 — in large part thanks to decades of advocacy and a national reckoning after the murder of George Floyd. It’s a day about freedom delayed, justice overdue, and the unfinished business of America’s moral ledger.
But for Trump, who once referred to white supremacists as “very fine people,” and who kicked off his first campaign calling Mexican immigrants rapists, a holiday that centers Black history and resilience feels… inconvenient. Because this isn’t about a calendar overload. It’s not about productivity or bureaucracy or holiday pay. It’s about who gets to be remembered. Who gets to be seen. Whose story gets federally sanctioned as “American.”
And in Trump’s America, where nostalgia for a whiter, “greater” past is always lurking behind the curtain, holidays like Juneteenth interrupt the illusion. They challenge the mythology. They shine a light on the blood and chains beneath the red, white, and blue.
Of course he resents it. Let’s not pretend this is subtle. When Trump rails against Juneteenth, it’s not just a comment about holidays — it’s a dog whistle with a foghorn attached. It’s a signal to his base that this version of America, one that dares to honor Black freedom, is not the one he’s interested in leading.
It’s a page from the same playbook that erases history, bans books, censors AP African American Studies, and throws tantrums about Critical Race Theory while not knowing what it actually is. It’s the same energy that sparked performative rage over kneeling athletes, renaming military bases, and — let’s not forget — that time Trump scheduled a rally in Tulsa on Juneteenth, until someone with a half-functioning moral compass reminded him of the optics.
Here’s the thing: Juneteenth isn’t just a holiday. It’s a reckoning. It’s an acknowledgment that this country was built on stolen labor and broken promises. It’s a chance to reflect on how far we’ve come — and how far we still need to go. It’s a reminder that freedom delayed is still freedom denied.
And that, frankly, terrifies men like Trump. Because the more we honor Juneteenth, the more we shift the narrative. The more we elevate Black voices and celebrate Black joy and refuse to let the American story be told through a single, whitewashed lens — the harder it becomes to peddle his fantasy of a bygone era where “everyone knew their place.”
So no, Donald. We don’t have too many holidays.
We have too many people in power who are threatened by the truth. And if one more day off means we get to honor that truth — to teach it, remember it, and build on it — then maybe you should take the day to reflect. Or, better yet, sit this one out entirely. Preferably without a microphone.