Trump: Juneteenth One Of 'Too Many Non-Working Holidays'

US-POLITICS-TRUMP — Source: MANDEL NGAN / Getty

Black MAGA, y’all alright?

Donald Trump has once again shown us who he is, the most un-American, unproductive, and unapologetically divisive figure ever elected to the highest office in the land, who has the audacity to complain about “non-working” holidays—namely, Juneteenth.

On Thursday (Jun 19), as Black Americans celebrated Juneteenth, commemorating the end of chattel slavery in the United States, Trump didn’t issue a statement, attend an event, or offer even a hollow gesture of recognition. Instead, he took to his communication platform, Truth Social, to complain that America has “too many non-working holidays,” intentionally ignoring one of the most historically significant dates for our community.

“Too many non-working holidays in America. It is costing our Country $BILLIONS OF DOLLARS to keep all of these businesses closed,” Trump said Thursday on Truth Social without explicitly mentioning Juneteenth.

Allow me to say the quiet part out loud: This wasn’t an oversight; it was an intentional and calculated decision to disrespect.

While Trump spent the holiday doing nothing, former President Joe Biden spent the day honoring Juneteenth at the exact site where Union soldiers arrived in 1865 to inform more than 250,000 enslaved people of their freedom, Reedy Chapel AME Church in Galveston, Texas. It’s a stark contrast moment that shows the difference between honoring American history and actively trying to erase it.

According to the White House, Trump had initially planned to sign a proclamation recognizing Juneteenth, but that plan was quietly scrapped without explanation after White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed the administration was “working 24/7” before dismissing the need for a Juneteenth proclamation altogether.

“I’m not tracking his signature on a proclamation today,” she said. “I know this is a federal holiday.”

What’s more disrespectful is that this is the same administration that uses Black people as props while refusing to protect Black life or recognize Black history. Whether it’s photo ops with Black pastors, staged roundtables with cherry-picked community “leaders,” lying on us with fake stats, or parading out HUD Secretary Scott Turner for cover, Trump’s playbook is always the same: surround yourself with Black faces while ignoring Black voices.

And let’s talk directly to the 30% of Black voters who proudly say they support Trump.

This is what you’re co-signing—a man who weaponizes the Black struggle when it suits his narrative and ignores it when it requires decorum. Trump claims to have “made Juneteenth famous” in 2020, as if generations of Black Americans haven’t been celebrating the day with parades, cookouts, and sacred remembrance for over a century, only to pretend a few years later that it doesn’t matter—and that’s the bigger issue.

Trump’s rejection of Juneteenth isn’t just disrespectful; it’s part of a much larger and more dangerous pattern by an elderly man who’s waging war on DEI initiatives, rewriting curriculum to exclude critical race theory, and gutting federal protections for Black workers.

And let’s not forget, Trump had no problem announcing two new holidays, Victory Days for both world wars — including one that already exists as Veterans Day, but Juneteenth is suddenly too costly, because it’s too Black.

It’s clear that Trump’s disregard for Juneteenth is not about the number of holidays, but instead about denying the truth of America’s past to protect the illusion of its innocence and solidifying to his base that acknowledging Black liberation is optional.

Deepak Sarma, inaugural distinguished scholar in the public humanities at Case Western Reserve University, told HuffPost that Trump’s reversal on Juneteenth this year shows that his political strategies embrace “cruelty,” and that he employed a “bait-and-switch” in an attempt to woo Black supporters; noting that Trump is “appealing only to his MAGA constituents, many of whom were covert, and now are overt, racists,” and he has discarded the concerns of his Black supporters.

“This is consistent with his Machiavellian political philosophy, which embraces deception, cruelty, and immorality to achieve his selfish goals,” Sarma told the publication. ”[Rejecting] DEI, embracing pro-life, utilizing ICE, are all ways to cater to MAGA voters.”

Since the beginning of his second term, Trump has done more to dismantle Black progress than almost any president in modern history. From banning DEI programs to banning books about Black history, his record speaks louder than his silence ever could.

So yes, Trump’s refusal to acknowledge Juneteenth is disrespectful; it’s also entirely on brand, serving as a reminder that his presidency is built on white grievance, historical revisionism, and the suppression of truth.

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