U.S. PrTresident Donald Trump had many opportunities to renew the war since the April 7 cease-fire, and each time he chose to avoid escalation, arguing that the long-awaited agreement was just around the corner.
That agreement has not materialized, but even now the president tried to prevent escalation, publicly demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not respond to Iran’s missile attack — which came in response to Israel’s strike in Beirut — saying Washington and Tehran were very close to a final deal.
“I don’t want this to blow up because of what’s happening now,” he said before a late-night phone call with Netanyahu. The call did not prevent Israel’s response overnight Sunday into Monday, which was followed by further attacks from Iran and the Houthis in Yemen, in what appears to be the beginning of a significant new round of fighting.
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Trump is worried the escalation in Iran will take attention away from the World Cup and the US 250th anniversary celebrations
(Photos: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters )
Although Trump did not say so explicitly, the escalation comes at a particularly problematic time for him — just before the World Cup opens Thursday and the celebrations marking 250 years since the United States declared independence. It is quite possible Iran knew full well he would try to avoid renewed fighting when it decided to respond to Israel’s attack on Hezbollah, hoping to create a new “equation” with Israel and further restrict its freedom of action.
At noon on Monday, after another wave of Israeli strikes in Iran, Trump posted on Truth Social: “Israel and Iran must immediately stop 'shooting.'”
These are the events and celebrations planned in the coming weeks in the U.S., which Trump is believed to be eager to keep from being overshadowed by the escalation.
The World Cup, 'like three Super Bowls a day for a full month'
June 11-July 19
The World Cup, which opens Thursday, is being jointly hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico. But the quarterfinals, semifinals and final will be held in the United States alone and for Trump, Canada and Mexico appear to be secondary partners in an event that offers a golden opportunity to project American power worldwide — or, as British commentator Ellis Cashmore described it, “to turn a global event into an advertisement for American supremacy.”
Trump himself said last May, during a meeting with FIFA President Gianni Infantino: “This is going to be something very, very different and very special. These events will draw millions of passionate fans from around the world, including my son Barron ... and more than a billion viewers. You’re going to have one of the biggest viewership numbers of any sport, ever. This will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to showcase the beauty and greatness of America, and we cannot wait to welcome soccer fans from around the world.”
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Donald Trump during a meeting with FIFA President Gianni Infantino
(Photo: Jacquelyn Martin/AP)
The president also embraced Infantino’s comparison, according to which hosting the World Cup is equivalent to hosting "three Super Bowls every day for a full month."
Trump has been talking about hosting the World Cup since the U.S. and its two neighbors were selected in 2018, during his first term. Over the past year, he has described several times how disappointed he was then that he would not be president when the games actually took place.
“But then what happened is they rigged the election,” he claimed, for example, during the meeting with Infantino last year, referring to his false claim that the 2020 election was stolen — a loss that allowed him to run again in 2024 and now be president during the World Cup. “So that was a good thing.”
The White House website also boasted of the importance of the World Cup games, which will be held in 11 U.S. cities, saying they are expected to generate an enormous $40.9 billion in economic output, including $17.2 billion in the U.S. alone, and create 185,000 new jobs.
UFC fights at the White House — on Trump’s birthday
June 14
On Sunday, in an event presented as part of the celebrations for America’s 250th anniversary, a UFC competition will be held for the first time on the White House South Lawn. A massive octagonal cage arena with thousands of temporary seats has been built there, alongside renovations underway to construct a large ballroom.
Officially, the event will mark Flag Day, which commemorates the official adoption of the U.S. flag. But by coincidence — probably not — it will also take place on Trump’s 80th birthday. Trump is an avid UFC fan.
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The giant UFC octagon fighting cage erected on the White House lawn
(Photo: John McDonnell/AP)
Trump called the event “the biggest UFC event ever” and boasted that there would be “a ring right outside the front door of the White House.” He said: “We’re having a big fight. This will never happen again. It has never happened before.”
The event will indeed be unprecedented. The White House has hosted sports, entertainment and leisure events in the past, but this will be the first time a live professional sporting event is held on its grounds. According to the plan, about 4,300 to 5,000 people will watch the fights from the South Lawn, most of them U.S. service members. At the same time, about 85,000 free tickets will be distributed to the public for viewing on giant screens in the Ellipse park near the White House. UFC stressed that there will be no regular ticket sales to the general public.
The Great State Fair, with a 'huge' MAGA rally
June 25-July 10
As part of the celebrations marking 250 years of independence, a huge fair will be held on the National Mall, from the Capitol to the Washington Monument, with displays and exhibitions from all 56 U.S. states and territories. Each day of the 16-day Great American State Fair will focus on a different theme, such as health and wellness or honoring the military and veterans. The organizing committee said, for example, that the exhibition will feature a rodeo from Wyoming, a Chamorro dance from Guam and a “desert experience” from Arizona.
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The Reflecting Pool in Washington, which Trump repainted ahead of the celebrations
(Photo: Aaron Schwartz / Getty Images North America / AFP)
The fair was supposed to include a series of musical performances, but after numerous singers canceled out of concern over being politically identified with Trump, the president announced that he would deliver the fair’s main opening rally himself — and that it would be a MAGA rally, meaning a rally of supporters of his Make America Great Again movement.
He said he would hold “the biggest rally ever,” calling it “the rally of rallies.” Several singers will perform at the rally, including Lee Greenwood, whose song “God Bless the USA” has been a staple at the president’s rallies for years.
“We don’t want singers with no talent but huge payment demands, who will put you to sleep. We told them all to stay home,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “All we want is you, me, a few speakers and the greatest music ever played, the same music you’ve been listening to for years!”
The 'world’s largest' fireworks show
July 4
As every year, fireworks displays will be held across the U.S. on Independence Day itself. But in Washington this year, organizers hope to break the Guinness World Record set in the Philippines in 2016, when more than 810,000 fireworks were launched over more than an hour. Now, according to reports, organizers plan to launch more than 860,000 fireworks in a 40-minute show.
Another unique event will take place in New York, where, similar to the traditional ball drop in Times Square on New Year’s Eve, the ball will drop eight times on July 4 — marking midnight in each of America’s time zones, each time with a different design.
Grand Prix race
Aug. 22-23
The 250th Independence Day celebrations will continue into August, with a car race in Washington hosted by IndyCar. The racecourse, officially called the Freedom 250 Grand Prix, will run 2.7 kilometers near several of the city’s historic sites, including the Capitol, the Washington Monument, the National Gallery of Art and the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
Trump, who is also a motor racing fan, announced the race in an executive order earlier this year, saying its purpose was “to showcase the splendor of our great city as drivers navigate a course around our iconic national monuments.”
Ahead of the race and other planned events in the U.S. capital, the president has promoted several projects to “beautify” Washington. One of the main ones was repainting the famous Reflecting Pool blue. The pool stretches 620 meters between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument.
The project, like many others promoted by the president, led by the new White House ballroom, has drawn fierce criticism from his political rivals, who called it ostentatious and wasteful. Trump said the renovation would cost $2 million, but The New York Times reported that its actual cost was $13 million.
Even after these celebrations, Trump may have another incentive to avoid escalation: the approach of the November 3 midterm elections, in which Republicans’ continued control of both chambers of Congress, the Senate and the House, is at stake. Although Trump repeatedly says the elections are not a factor for him in managing the campaign against Iran, Republicans themselves are very worried that the deeply unpopular war, especially because of the spike in oil prices it caused, will hurt their chances of keeping control of Congress.
Trump confirms that he called Netanyahu 'F**king crazy'
(Video: Pod Force One, New York Post)
The pressure on the president to end the war was reflected just last week in the unusual defection of four Republican members of Congress, who joined Democrats and enabled the passage of a symbolic House resolution limiting the president’s war powers, calling on him to withdraw U.S. forces from Iran without explicit congressional authorization to continue the campaign.
Trump attacked the Republicans who joined Democrats, claiming they were undermining his ability to negotiate from a strong bargaining position. But he himself has already effectively compromised in those contacts by agreeing to a memorandum of understanding that would not finally resolve the dispute over the nuclear program, but would end the war in exchange for the immediate opening of the Strait of Hormuz — a move that would help stabilize oil prices.