President Donald Trump all but ignored the nation's celebration of Juneteenth on Thursday until taking to social media to once again bemoan that the country has "too many non-working holidays" and demanding a change.
The New York Times noted Thursday afternoon that the White House had celebrated the holiday, which marked the end of slavery in the United States, for the past four years. But the Trump administration barely noticed, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt telling reporters she wasn't aware of plans by Trump to mark the holiday.
“I’m not tracking his signature on a proclamation today,” Leavitt said. The report noted that Trump in the past week has signed proclamations commemorating Father’s Day, Flag Day and National Flag Week, as well as the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill. None are federal holidays, unlike Juneteenth.
Indeed, the president took to his Truth Social platform to denigrate non-working federal holidays.
"Too many non-working holidays in America," wrote Trump. "It is costing our Country $BILLIONS OF DOLLARS to keep all of these businesses closed. The workers don’t want it either! Soon we’ll end up having a holiday for every once working day of the year. It must change if we are going to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"
Trump has attacked non-working holidays in the past, including last month when he doubled down on his plans to celebrate the end of World War I and World War II in the United States by designating specific "Victory Days" for each conflict. In that instance, he also proclaimed, "we already have too many Holidays in America — There are not enough days left in the year."
"We were Workers then, and we are Workers now! Documentation to follow," he wrote at the time.