Fergus Finlay: America has never had a president who thinks so little of the country he leads

America's 200th anniversary set out to capture the essence and spirit of the world’s leading democracy. The 250th anniversary, it turns out, is not about America at all. It’s about the attempted self-glorification of a supremely trivial and banal man 

Work on a structure for the upcoming UFC fight US president Donald Trump will host as part of the 250th anniversary of the United States on the South Lawn of the White House. Picture: Getty Images

I turned 20 in America. On a J1 visa, of course. It was a mad, unforgettable summer. I was too late for Woodstock in upstate New York, although I did get to see Santana at the Tanglewood Festival in western Massachusetts (that was where I was introduced to some odd ingestible products that I’d rather not refer to).

But what I remember most is the revelation that was the US of A itself. I wouldn’t have described myself as a conservative Irish Catholic, but the atmosphere in which all of us were raised here was utterly different to there.