Trump Orders Washington IndyCar Race Amid Criticism
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WASHINGTON (AP) — For once, things were moving fast in the nation’s capital. Washington was hosting an IndyCar race through its streets Sunday, with President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump kicking off the Freedom 250 Grand Prix by leading a slow lap in the presidential limousine through the course. Soon after, the president waved the green flag to start the race and drivers began whipping through downtown, including a stretch along Pennsylvania Avenue not too far from the White House.
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The FederalistThe Freedom 250 Grand Prix — which appears to be the first time a sitting president attended an IndyCar race as President Donald Trump waved the green flag to start Sunday’s competition — was a melding of different worlds. The weekend’s juxtaposition of cultures brought visitors to the capital for a historic race, and brought IndyCar racing into the Northeast or Mid-Atlantic for the first time since 2019.
NPR Newstoggle caption Tierney L. Cross/Reuters President Trump waves the green flag to start the race alongside first lady Melania Trump, right, and from left, Bettina Trump and Donald Trump Jr. during the IndyCar Freedom 250 Grand Prix race. Doug Mills/Pool/The New York Times/AP hide caption
BreitbartThe race cars practiced Saturday on the streets of the nation’s capital before the highly anticipated event which was the first-of-its-kind. President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump took the first lap around the track in the presidential limousine, according to Breitbart News.
BBC NewsUS President Donald Trump was among hundreds of people who gathered to see the IndyCar race through the streets of Washington DC on Sunday.
Fox NewsSen. Adam Schiff’s latest attack on President Donald Trump was challenged by an IndyCar veteran who pushed back on the California Democrat's charge that the commander-in-chief was wasting taxpayer funds for his own "self-aggrandizing."
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Schiff criticized Trump for ordering the Washington race by executive order and accused the president of using the motorsports "spectacle" to distract Americans from higher costs and policy failures.
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BreitbartSchiff accused Trump of using the racing event to distract Americans, Fox News reported Monday.
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“While you struggle with the cost of gas, Trump offers you the spectacle of an IndyCar race hoping you will not notice. More taxpayer money spent on his self-aggrandizing distractions. And you get higher taxes and higher costs,” he wrote in a social media post featuring a clip of the president waving a green flag to start the race:
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Fox News"While you struggle with the cost of gas, Trump offers you the spectacle of an IndyCar race hoping you will not notice," Schiff said Sunday.
HuffPostThe IndyCar race took place Trump has struggled to resolve the war he started nearly six months ago with Iran, a conflict that has driven up gasoline prices and exacerbated worries from officials in his Republican Party that voters in this November’s midterm elections see the president as distracted and not focused enough on cost-of-living concerns.
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However, IndyCar driver Graham Rahal swiftly rebutted Schiff and also pointed out the economic and cultural benefits of the race.
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Fox NewsRace fans and other critics lambasted Schiff’s comments, including IndyCar driver Graham Rahal, who reminded the California Democrat that the race was privately funded and argued it benefited government coffers because thousands of spectators traveled to Washington and spent money.
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"And guess what, hundreds of thousands of Americans, blue & red, as well as fans from all over the world loved the Freedom250."
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Breitbart“It allowed folks who have never been to see museums, monuments, the White House and AMERICAN history for the first time as well. And guess what, hundreds of thousands of AMERICANS, blue & red, as well as fans from all over the world loved the #Freedom250!” Rahal stated:
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An executive order Trump signed earlier this year calling for the Freedom 250 Grand Prix declared that the “cars and drivers inspire awe and respect in all who watch this quintessentially American sport,” and the event will “showcase the majesty of our great city as drivers navigate a track around our iconic national monuments in celebration of America’s 250th birthday.”
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The AtlanticAn interest in the thrills of car racing is not what drove me to spend my Sunday afternoon at the Freedom 250 Grand Prix, the latest of the spectacles that Donald Trump has presided over during the United States’ big birthday celebrations all summer. I was there yesterday because I was worried about art. The event involved 25 cars zipping around a number of D.C.’s museums and historic buildings at worryingly high speeds—147 times. Preservationists and conservators had raised concerns ahead of the contest, leading me to imagine creaking sculptures and rattling ceramics, all because the president wanted a race around the National Mall.
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Independent claims that didn't surface elsewhere in our corpus. Treat as supplementary — not corroborated across outlets.
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01 The Federalist For a city known for its stifling summer heat and humidity, few people would call the nation’s capital in August “cool.” And yet this weekend, that very term frequently rolled off the lips of visitors to the National Mall.
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02 Fox News Schiff posted the criticism on X alongside video of Trump waving the green flag as FOX Sports announcer Leigh Diffey got the race underway.
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03 The Atlantic But it turns out that playing art patrol is rather difficult at an IndyCar race, especially when you find yourself crammed into a sweaty crowd as blurs of color whiz by. This proximity to the action means you are a participant in a much more visceral way than at many other sporting events: You can feel the vibrations in your toes. Somewhere among the vrooms, I realized that this was not like the other Freedom 250 productions I had attended, like the Great American State Fair with its drab triumphal arch and the Freedom Trucks with their selective history. Instead, in some moments, the Grand Prix was … fun?
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04 Breitbart “No, no, Adam. He wanted you to notice and bask in the pride of being AMERICAN, watch great racing and patriotism on display. Not only that, this was privately funded, not government although it drove thousands of folks to the DC area that have never been (that’s economic impact for you),” he wrote.
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05 HuffPost “I think is better, the view of the Capitol behind us. They can sell beer — by the way, this is the first time they’re going to sell beer on the mall of the Capitol,” Duffy told Fox News of the $13-14 beer cans for sale on the National Mall. (Note: Beer has been sold there before.)
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06 NPR News Freedom 250 Grand PrixIndyCar drivers zoomed past some of the nation's most famous landmarks this weekend. They faced novel challenges on an unconventional route.
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07 RealClearPolitics Freedom 250 IndyCar Race Was Actually Kind of Fun
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