250th anniversary celebration of US independence turns into 'culture war' United States President Donald Trump seems to enjoy his notorious displays of personal power. He has surrounded himself with a cabinet and other authorities who praise him in public. He attacks world leaders who have lost his approval. And he pressures some of the biggest American companies to do what he wants. As he approaches the halfway point of his second term in the White House, Trump declared in an interview that "there are no limits" to his power. This sentiment seems to be the antithesis of the so-called American experiment, which began 250 years ago when the country declared independence from British monarchical power. What would those revolutionaries think about the current American head of state? Not much, according to critics. Millions of people marched in protests against Trump in the United States and other countries, carrying signs reading "no kings", "democracy, not monarchy" and "we have a Constitution, not a king". They claim that Trump is pushing his power beyond what his predecessors dared to do. President of the United States, Donald Trump. Reuters He, for example, did not ask for authorization from Congress to start the war in Iran. And he kept most lawmakers in the dark about the military operation in Venezuela, which led to the capture of then president Nicolás Maduro. Trump also used emergency powers to bypass the need for legislation to impose trade tariffs across the world. The Supreme Court later ruled that the measure was unconstitutional. By using the United States Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute people considered his adversaries, such as former FBI director James Comey, Trump is accused of ignoring the traditional separation between the White House and federal prosecutors, which has existed since the Watergate scandal in the 1970s, during the Richard Nixon administration (1913-1994). "I don't feel like a king," Trump said recently when asked about the protests. "I have to go through hell to get the measures approved." It is clear that Trump was elected on the promise of creating profound and fundamental changes in almost every area of ??American politics and government. Many voters who voted for Trump in 2024 over former President Joe Biden no doubt expected sweeping changes regarding immigration, trade and relations with historic American allies. Four in five Republicans support the work done by Trump, according to the most recent polls from the YouGov institute. But, among all American voters, his approval fell below 40%, a level significantly lower than at the beginning of the current president's second term. The American Supreme Court ruled that the import tariffs created by President Donald Trump in 2025 were unconstitutional. AFP Donald Trump is not the first American president to try to expand his powers, according to professor of History and public affairs Julian Zelizer, from Princeton University, in the United States. But he highlights that he cannot remember "another president who has gone so far and who was so passionate about power." Joshua Treviño, director of the conservative think tank America First Policy Institute, warns not to confuse Trump's carefully crafted image with the expansion of the powers of the presidency. "It's easy to confuse the aesthetics with the substance of President Trump," he said. Treviño cites Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945) and Richard Nixon as past presidents who tried to expand the powers of the Executive. “I would vehemently reject the idea that Donald Trump would be doing something qualitatively unique in American history,” he highlights. In addition to Nixon, Franklin D. Roosevelt was another former American president who attempted to expand the powers of the Executive Universal History Archive via Getty Images The exact limits of a single politician's power have long generated heated debates in the United States. As early as the 18th century, the country's founding fathers were very concerned about the excessive concentration of power in the hands of a single head of state. So much so that some of them wanted an executive committee to govern the country, instead of a president. Others defended the granting of more powers. "You are afraid of the only one and I am afraid of the few", wrote the second American president, John Adams (1735-1826), to the third president, Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826). "We are in perfect agreement that the many should have full, fair, and perfect representation. You are apprehensive of monarchy; I of aristocracy. Therefore I would have given more power to the president and less to the Senate," Adams explained in 1787. At one point, the founding fathers even considered some titles to have a distinctly monarchical appearance. They discussed the possibility of referring to the president as "Your Highness", "Your Excellency" or "Your Elected Majesty". They even thought of calling him "His Greatness". The Second Continental Congress put the United States Declaration of Independence to a vote in 1776 Getty Images George Washington (1732-1799), Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) and Thomas Jefferson may have widely debated these constitutional issues at the Middleton Tavern, a bar older than the country itself on the coast of Annapolis, today in the US state of Maryland. The place is proud to say that they all drank there in the early days of the new republic. That's where I meet Lorraine Ross, celebrating her 60th birthday. She says she also wants to celebrate the United States' birthday, but is worried about the country's future. "I'm not going to run around and say 'hurray, USA, we're free,'" she says. Ross says she is particularly concerned about cuts to financial assistance for needy families and children with special needs. She demonstrates her irritation with Congress for "simply letting [Trump] out of control, ignoring all the laws" that have restricted the behavior of American presidents in the past. Other Americans I spoke to at the tavern simply await the Independence Day (July 4th) festivities. The Trump administration has promised that they will be the biggest and best celebrations ever. John Knox says he doesn't want to get caught up in the politics surrounding the current president. He came from Atlanta, Georgia, to visit the site. For him, if people disagree with Trump, the time to express their dissatisfaction is the midterm elections in November, not during the 4th of July celebrations. Craig Graul with his wife Annette and dog Rip in Keystone, South Dakota It was there that Donald Trump spent the eve of the celebrations of the 250th anniversary of American independence, visiting Mount Rushmore, where the faces of four presidents were carved in granite. Trump was the subject of memes that placed him on the mountain, alongside former presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) and Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1918). Many of his supporters approve of this idea. And there is even a bill in the US Congress for Trump to be added to that iconic monument. Mount Rushmore is a monument to the presidency of the United States Getty Images Terry Davis and Tim Burke are part of a group of old friends who cross the central United States, traveling from one national park to another. They tried to get tickets to watch the president's fireworks on Friday night (3/7), without success. I ask if they can imagine Trump's face added to the Mount Rushmore national monument. Davis, 72, responds that Trump should be the biggest face, front and center on the monument. "I've never been so excited about any other president in the past until he took the reins of this country," he says. Motorcyclists highlight what they still consider to be Donald Trump's outsider status. And they are happy to see the president use his powers to stand up to Democrats and a federal government that they consider too invasive. "Long after he leaves the presidency, 20 or 30 years from now, I believe historians will say that he was one of the greatest presidents in the history of our country, for everything he did for the nation," says Burke. A leader 'must be particularly aware of his own shortcomings', said the first American president, George Washington, in his inauguration speech Universal Images Group via Getty Images What the American president does with his powers does not only impact the country's current citizens. He can also define how future presidents will use the same power. For Julian Zelizer, "each chapter in the expansion of presidential power has long-term consequences." “It creates real precedents that previously did not exist, which future presidents will be able to use. And it also fuels a process of normalization, which makes everything simply become part of what we expect presidents to do." The model of the American president was established in 1789, when the country inaugurated George Washington as the country's first president. In his inaugural address, Washington seemed restrained about the power he was given. He stated that a leader "must be particularly aware of his own shortcomings." It is difficult to imagine Trump, who declared himself "the greatest president in history", expressing a similar sentiment