President Trump appeared to mark Juneteenth on Thursday with a Truth Social post arguing the United States has “too many non-working holidays.”
“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 … working day of the year,” Mr. Trump wrote. “It must change if we are going to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
The post did not explicitly mention Juneteenth. CBS News has reached out to the White House for comment.
The holiday commemorates the end of slavery in the U.S. after the Civil War — specifically, the day in 1865 when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, and belatedly announced that enslaved people were freed.
Juneteenth has been a federal holiday since 2021. Federal and state government offices are generally closed as a result, along with banks and stock exchanges, but private businesses aren’t required to close for Juneteenth or any other holiday, and many retail establishments remain open.
When asked earlier Thursday if the president planned to commemorate Juneteenth, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters: “I’m not tracking his signature on a proclamation today. I know this is a federal holiday. I want to thank all of you for showing up to work. We are certainly here. We’re working 24/7 right now.”
Mr. Trump honored Juneteenth during his first term, including in 2017, when he called it “a historic day recognizing the end of slavery.” He issued similar messages in 2018 and 2019, and in 2020, he said during an interview that he “made Juneteenth very famous” — referring to his decision not to hold a campaign rally in Oklahoma on the holiday.
“It’s actually an important event, an important time. But nobody had ever heard of it,” Mr. Trump said in a 2020 interview with The Wall Street Journal.
Former President Joe Biden signed a bill making Juneteenth an official federal holiday in 2021, after the measure passed both houses of Congress with overwhelming bipartisan margins. One longtime backer of the holiday is Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas.
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