Donald Trump signed an executive order to put a car race on the National Mall. The President of the United States used the formal legal mechanism by which the executive branch directs the federal government to make sure there would be IndyCars going 200 mph down Pennsylvania Avenue. This is a real thing that happened.
What Actually Took Place Here
On Sunday, August 23rd, Trump and Melania did a slow ceremonial lap around a 1.7-mile, seven-turn street circuit carved out of downtown Washington, D.C., before the president waved the green flag to start the Freedom 250 Grand Prix. According to CBS News, the festivities included a flyover featuring a B-2 stealth bomber and the Qatar-gifted Air Force One, escorted by four fighter jets, plus a performance of the national anthem by tenor Christopher Macchio, described as a favorite singer of the president's.
Top IndyCar drivers, including this year's Indianapolis 500 winner Felix Rosenqvist, then proceeded to absolutely send it down Pennsylvania Avenue at speeds approaching 200 mph, within eyeline of the White House. The course's front stretch runs about four-tenths of a mile along that famous road. Cars in this series are capable of hitting 230 mph in optimal conditions. So, yes, that was the scene outside the seat of American government on a Sunday afternoon in August.
The event was free and open to the public, which is, genuinely, one of the few unambiguously decent things about this story. General admission, no ticket required. Just show up and watch open-wheel racecars scream past the Washington Monument. That part is kind of cool, actually.
The Executive Order Nobody Asked About
Here is the part that deserves more attention. CBS News reports that Trump signed an executive order earlier this year specifically calling for the Freedom 250 Grand Prix to happen. The order declared that the cars and drivers "inspire awe and respect in all who watch this quintessentially American sport," and that the event will "showcase the majesty of our great city."
Set aside for a moment that IndyCar was founded in Indiana and the current series champion, Alex Palou, is Spanish. Set aside that the Indianapolis 500 winner this year, Rosenqvist, is Swedish. The formal apparatus of the executive branch was mobilized, in writing, by presidential order, to produce a racing event. Sean Duffy, the Secretary of Transportation, was apparently the point person on logistics. The Department of Transportation helped organize a race.
"What's more American than fast cars racing through the streets of our nation's capital?" Duffy told Fox News Digital. "Freedom doesn't just ring, it revs!" That is a quote from a sitting cabinet secretary, discussing the official duties of his department.
The Roger Penske Connection
IndyCar series owner Roger Penske, a longtime friend of Trump's who received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from him back in 2019, is the one who pushed to bring a race to Washington. CBS News reports Trump told Fox on Sunday that Penske had been trying to make this happen for 20 years.
"When he came to see Trump, it got done in about 15 minutes," the president said, speaking about himself in the third person. To be clear: two decades of institutional effort, resolved in a quarter-hour once the right guy was in the White House and the right friend asked the favor. Trump framed this as evidence of his own effectiveness. You can decide how you'd like to frame it.
Penske Corporation president Bud Denker also appeared at the July preview event outside the White House, alongside Penske himself and Secretary Duffy, as Trump promised the crowd "an awesome display of American patriotism and raw horsepower ingenuity." He also noted, apparently without irony, that the speeds cars would reach on Pennsylvania Avenue would, under normal civilian circumstances, probably land someone in jail "perhaps for the rest of their lives."
The Summer of Trump Doing Ceremonial Stuff
This race is, CBS News notes, the latest in a string of ceremonial spectacles Trump has centered himself in during his second term. Last month he attended the World Cup final, presented the trophy to Spain, and then, according to CBS News, lingered onstage with the winning team as confetti rained down around him. He was not asked to linger. He lingered.
There is a version of the American presidency where the occupant of the office attends major national and international events in a representative capacity, says a few words, hands something to someone, and leaves. That is not the version currently running. The version currently running waves the green flag, does the slow ceremonial lap, refers to himself in the third person when explaining why the event was possible, and hangs around in the confetti.
Rep. Erin Houchin, Republican of Indiana, told Fox News Digital she got to ride in one of the IndyCars for a fast lap around the track ahead of the race. "You go down that first straightaway, and it's so fast that you almost lose your stomach for a second," she said. At least someone involved sounds like they're having a good time for uncomplicated reasons.
What the White House Said About All This
White House spokesman Davis Ingle told Fox News Digital that "President Trump is ensuring America gets the spectacular birthday it deserves as we celebrate our 250th anniversary." He also said the president would "leave his imprint on this historic race in a way that only he can." That second sentence is doing a lot of work and the spokesman did not elaborate on what he meant by it.
America's 250th birthday is, to be fair, a genuine milestone. Semiquincentennials don't come around often. Exactly once per nation, in fact. The question of how a country ought to mark that moment, what it should reflect on, what it owes its citizens and what it says about itself to the watching world, is a legitimate and interesting one. The current administration's answer, apparently, is: IndyCar race, B-2 flyover, Christopher Macchio, executive order.
The Dingo Take
You are supposed to look at all this and feel the swell of patriotism. Cars! Speed! The National Mall! A stealth bomber! And sure, on a pure spectacle level, open-wheel racecars doing 200 mph past the Lincoln Memorial is objectively a striking image. Nobody is going to pretend otherwise. But somewhere between the third-person self-congratulation and the cabinet secretary whose department regulates actual American transportation infrastructure spending his summer organizing a street circuit, something worth naming out loud is happening.
This is a presidency that governs by aesthetic. The executive order, the medal-of-freedom recipient getting his favor, the Secretary of Transportation holding the stopwatch on pit stop logistics instead of, say, fixing a bridge, the president explaining that his friend's 20-year ambition got resolved in 15 minutes once Trump was involved. These are not the incidental details. These are the point. The spectacle is the policy. The ceremony is the product. And the country, 250 years in, is asked to watch the cars go by and feel grateful.
Roger Penske spent two decades trying to put this race together and couldn't close it. Then his friend became president, issued a formal executive order, tasked a cabinet department with the logistics, and it happened in months. There's a word for a system where that's how things get done. It's not a particularly American word. But hey, at least the admission was free.
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