Donald Trump has celebrated the passage of his signature tax and spend legislation by declaring “there could be no better birthday present for America” on the eve of the 4 July holiday.
The US president took a victory lap during an event in Des Moines, Iowa, that was officially billed as the start of a year-long celebration of America’s 250th anniversary, in 2026.
But Trump turned the potentially unifying moment into a campaign-style rally, mocking Joe Biden’s speaking style, repeating his lie of a stolen election and lambasting the “fake news” media. In a policy shift, he said he is willing to let migrant labourers stay in the US if the farmers they work for will vouch for them.
Only after half an hour did he address plans for the semiquincentennial, which he said will include a “Great American State Fair” as well as an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) bout for 25,000 spectators in the grounds of the White House.
Iowa had been described as a “logical choice” for the anniversary launch by Monica Crowley, Trump’s liaison to the organising group, America250. She said its location in the middle of the country was symbolic of a desire to use the coming celebrations to help bring people together.
But once he arrived in the heartland wearing a red “USA” cap, Trump’s rhetoric proved as divisive as ever as he basked in the glow of his “One Big Beautiful Bill” narrowly passing in the House of Representatives on Thursday.
Donald Trump gestures at the event hosted by America250. Photograph: Nathan Howard/Reuters
The sweeping legislation permanently extends Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, adds hundreds of billions of dollars in funding for the Pentagon and border security, slashes health insurance and food stamps and phases out clean energy tax credits. It will add nearly $3.3trn to the deficit over a decade, according to the nonpartisan congressional Budget Office.
“There could be no better birthday present for America than the phenomenal victory we achieved just hours ago, when Congress passed the “One Big Beautiful Bill” to make America great again,” Trump told a crowd at the state fairgrounds, in a car park that was far from full.
As he championed the bill’s impact on estate taxes, Trump referred to bankers who exploit their clients as “shylocks”, a term the Anti-Defamation League has called an antisemitic stereotype. Biden apologised after using the word in 2014 when he was vice-president.
Later Trump claimed he was unaware the word “shylocks” is linked to antisemitism, according to a pool report. “I’ve never heard it that way,” the president told reporters travelling back to Washington. “The meaning of Shylock is somebody that’s a money lender at high rates. You view it differently. I’ve never heard that.”
Democrats say the bill will take food and healthcare from the poor while handing billions to the rich. But Trump complained bitterly that their unified opposition was personal: “Only because they hate Trump. But I hate them too, you know that? I really do. I hate them. I cannot stand them because I really believe they hate our country.”
The president went on to boast, “one-hundred-and-sixty-five days into the Trump administration, America is on a winning streak like, frankly, nobody has ever seen before in the history of the presidency.”
With characteristic brio, he told how an aide called him the greatest president in US history, surpassing George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. He touted the recent US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, the declining price of eggs, trade deals with Britain and Vietnam and the lower number of migrants crossing the southern border with Mexico.
Supporters cheer as Trump leaves after speaking at the rally. Photograph: Scott Olson/Getty Images
But in a tacit admission that his hardline policy of mass deporations may have overreached, Trump noted there have been some complaints from farmers that their crops are at risk due to a depleted work force.
Addressing his homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, Trump said: “If a farmer is willing to vouch for these people in some way, Kristi, I think we’re going to have to just say that’s going to be good, right?”
Speaking in a midwestern state where farming is a dominant industry, the president added: “We don’t want to do it where we take all of the workers off the farms.” He said he will also work with the hotel industry on the issue.
A few thousand spectators waited for Trump for hours in temperatures above 90F (32C), wearing Trump paraphernalia, including “Make America Great Again” hats, shirts that said “Ultra Maga” and a stuffed monkey with its own miniature Trump shirt.
Giant TV screens showed images of the founding fathers while the makeshift outdoor arena had 55 national flags flying, including a massive one hanging from a crane. Singer Lee Greenwood greeted Trump with his song “God Bless the USA”.
A recent Gallup poll showed the US is experiencing the widest partisan split in patriotism in more than two decades, with only about a third of Democrats saying they are proud to be American, compared with about nine in 10 Republicans.
Children sit on the ground at the Iowa rally. Photograph: Nathan Howard/Reuters
In a preview of battles to come over historical narratives, Trump promised to open a National Garden of America’s Heroes then alleged: “They took down a lot of our statues. They took down statues of some of the greatest people that we’ve ever had living. I stopped them from taking down Thomas Jefferson … You could imagine who they were going to put up.”
He said the 250th anniversary commemorations would also include a televised “Patriot Games” led by Robert Kennedy Jr for top high school athletes and a national state fair that will begin in Iowa, travel to state fairs across the country and culminate with a festival on the National Mall in Washington.
“We’re going to have a UFC fight – think of this – on the grounds of the White House,” Trump said. “We have a lot of land there. We are going to build a little – we are not, Dana is going to do it … We are going to have a UFC fight, championship fight, full fight, like 20-25,000 people, and we are going to do that as part of 250 also.”
During the hour-long address, which ricocheted from topic to topic, Trump heard a sudden bang in the distance. The anniversary of his attempted assassination in Butler, Pennsylvania, is only 10 days away. “It’s only fireworks, I hope,” he said. “Famous last words.”
Trump speaks from behind bulletproof glass in Iowa. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images
Unlike a year ago, Trump was speaking from behind thick bulletproof glass. “You always have to think positive,” he said. “I didn’t like that sound either.”
The rally ended with a chorus of “YMCA” and fireworks display in the evening sky. Despite the punishing heat, Trump supporters went home satisfied by the president’s recent run of wins, especially gratified that the “One Big Beautiful Bill’” made it across the finish line.
Ray Seeman, 52, who works for a gas company, said: “I couldn’t believe it. I looked last night and I thought, ‘boy, I don’t know if they can get this pulled off or not’ but I’m glad they did. I haven’t read the whole thing but a lot of stuff that’s tied America down might be getting undone.”
Troy Rector, 53, a government contractor, acknowledged the divisiveness of the bill: “There were some things in there that, no matter which side you’re on as far as politics, a lot of people aren’t going to be happy about. But the majority of the bill is going to help all of America.”
Michelle Coon, 57, a psychotherapist, added: “I had mixed feelings on the BBB but I am glad that it passed so that we continue to have the tax cuts. I used to be in social work and I would see people who are undocumented get lots of free health care that I and other Americans weren’t getting. That was very difficult to see so the idea that they might pull some of that back would be good.”
Chances are very good that if someone wins Saturday’s promised Powerball prize of $1.8 billion, they will cash in their ticket. But it’s not certain.
Not every jackpot-winning ticket sold over the years has been cashed in. And if you totaled up all the missing smaller “winners” who could claim anywhere from a few dollars to millions of dollars, their total-lost winnings likely stretch to the 10-figure range annually.
Prizes worth about 1% of yearly lottery revenue go unclaimed, said Victor Matheson, an economics professor at the College of the Holy Cross and an expert on gambling and lotteries, citing an annual report from the New York Lottery Commission.
“The amount of unclaimed prizes are similar nationwide,” said Matheson. And since so many lotto tickets are sold each year, that 1% estimate adds up to more than $1 billion.
One of the unclaimed prizes last year was a winning lottery ticket sold on July 3, 2024, at a Walmart Supercenter in Huber Heights, Ohio. That unclaimed ticket would have paid the holder $138 million spread over 20 years, or $65.8 million as a lump sum.
Eight Mega Millions or Powerball jackpots have gone unclaimed in the last 25 years, according to data on the two lottery sites. Those jackpots have a combined worth of $646 million, or $821 million when adjusted for inflation.
But those eight missed prizes are about 1.5% of all 520 jackpots won during that time. Most of the unclaimed potential winnings come from the smaller prizes, and far more of them don’t ever get cashed.
Many lottery players likely never check their tickets after they hear there was no jackpot winner, or that the winning ticket was sold far from where they bought their ticket, according to Matheson. Most probably are unaware they are leaving potential winnings on the table, or stashed their winning ticket in their pockets or junk drawers.
Some prizes are as low as $4 for those who match only the Powerball number in that game. But it can also be millions for those who get the five regular numbers but not the Powerball or Mega Ball number. Mega Millions pays $2 million for that prize, while Powerball pays either $1 million or $2 million, dependingon whether the player paid extra for a “power play option.”
Beyond the million-dollar prizes, there are also modest prizes of between $4 and $500 in Powerball and between $10 and $800 in Mega Millions. And there are also prizes for up to six figures offered in the two games, ranging from $1,000 to as much as $500,000.
Different states have different time limits to turn in a winning ticket. Powerball’s site has a list of prizes of $50,000 or more that have not been claimed, as well as the time remaining for the winner to claim them. One of those listed prizes, a $50,000 winning ticket sold in March in Covington, Louisiana, just expired Friday without being claimed.
Most of the money wagered in lotteries isn’t in these jackpot drawing games, said Matheson. About 70% of the $110 billion in tickets sold are for instant scratch-off games. And while he has no firm data to back it up, he suspects relatively few of those winning tickets end up not being cashed.
“There’s just less time between when the tickets are sold and when the player knows if they won, less time for the ticket to be lost or forgotten,” Matheson said.
Donald Trump has warned that, if Venezuelan jets fly over US naval ships and “put us in a dangerous position, they’ll be shot down”.
The president’s warning comes after Venezuela flew military aircraft near a US vessel off South America for the second time in two days, US officials told the BBC’s US partner CBS News.
The reports follow a US strike against what Trump officials said was a “drug-carrying vessel from Venezuela” operated by a gang, killing 11 people.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has said that the US allegations about his country are not true, and that differences between the nations do not justify a “military conflict”.
“Venezuela has always been willing to talk, to engage in dialogue, but we demand respect,” he added.
When asked by reporters in the Oval Office on Friday what would happen if Venezuelan jets flew over US vessels again, Trump said Venezuela would be in “trouble”.
Trump told his general, standing beside him, that he could do anything he wanted if the situation escalated.
Since his return to office in January, Trump has steadily intensified his anti-drug-trafficking efforts in Latin America.
Maduro has accused the US of seeking “regime change through military threat”.
When asked about the comments, Trump said “we’re not talking about that”, but mentioned what he called a “very strange election” in Venezuela. Maduro was sworn in for his third term in January after a contested election.
Trump went on to say that “drugs are pouring” into the US from Venezuela and that members of Tren de Aragua – a gang proscribed as a terrorist organisation in the US – were living there.
The US military has moved to bolster its forces in the southern Caribbean, including through the deployment of additional naval vessels and thousands of marines and sailors to stem the flow of drugs.
The White House said on Friday that it is sending 10 F-35 fighter jets to Puerto Rico.
When asked about the build-up of military assets in the Caribbean, Trump said: “I think it’s just strong. We’re strong on drugs. We don’t want drugs killing our people.”
Trump is a long-time critic of Maduro, and doubled a reward for information leading to his arrest to $50m (£37.2m) in August, accusing Maduro of being “one of the largest narco-traffickers in the world”.
During Trump’s first term in office, the US government charged Maduro and other high-ranking Venezuelan officials with a range of offences, including narco-terrorism, corruption and drug trafficking.
Maduro has previously rejected the US allegations.
The Trump administration is planning to release a report this month that will reportedly link use of the common painkiller acetaminophen (sold under the brand name Tylenol) during pregnancy, as well as certain vitamin deficiencies, to autism spectrum disorder, despite lacking the scientific research to back up such claims.
This is just the latest controversy surrounding the actions of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has repeated unsupported claims about autism in the past, and promised to “get to the bottom” of its cause.
The agency confirmed it is working on a report, but declined to comment on its conclusions. “Until we release the final report, any claims about its contents are nothing more than speculation,” a spokesperson for HHS emailed in a statement.
There is no credible scientific evidence that acetaminophen causes autism or that leucovorin (a derivative of folic acid) can prevent the disorder, as the HHS report purportedly will suggest, according to reporting by the Wall Street Journal.
In fact, those in the medical community, including the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, said in a statement that acetaminophen is safe and recommended for use in pregnancy, especially to treat fever and pain. “Untreated fever, particularly in the first trimester, increases the risk of miscarriage, birth defects, and premature birth, and untreated pain can lead to maternal depression, anxiety, and high blood pressure,” the society said in its statement.
“It is disingenuous and misleading to boil autism’s causes down to one simple thing,” said Dr. Alycia Halladay, chief science officer at the Autism Science Foundation, in a statement. There are hundreds of genes that are linked to autism, and while there are also thought to be other complex environmental factors, the foundation says “any association between acetaminophen and autism is based on limited, conflicting, and inconsistent science and is premature given the current science.”
A few small studies have suggested an association between fetal exposure to acetaminophen and the subsequent risk of diagnosis with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). But the largest study to date, an NIH-funded collaboration between U.S. and Swedish scientists, found no increased risk.
Even before that study was published in 2024, a U.S. District Court had reached a similar conclusion in a product liability case.
Leucovorin, also known as folinic acid, is a form of vitamin B9 (also known as folate) that is used to treat certain types of vitamin B9 deficiency that are usually caused by cancer chemotherapy. It is sometimes prescribed off-label as a treatment for autism, though the evidence that it works is scant.
The use of leucovorin is based on research suggesting that many people with autism have a metabolic difference that could reduce the amount of folate that reaches the brain. Leucovorin appears to offer a way around that metabolic roadblock.
Folate is important for brain and nervous system development, which is why pregnant women are often prescribed supplements that contain folic acid, a synthetic version of folate. Folate deficiency in a mother increases the risk of neural tube defects including spina bifida, but the link to autism is unclear.
The Autism Science Foundation said in its statement that there are four studies suggesting low folate levels in pregnant women could increase the risk of autism, but it said “this science is still in very early stages, and more studies are necessary before a definitive conclusion can be reached.”
