There is a type of politician who cannot look at Americans having fun without calculating how to weaponize it politically. Adam Schiff is that politician’s platonic ideal.
President Donald Trump waved the green flag Sunday at the Freedom 250 IndyCar race through Washington D.C. — part of America’s 250th anniversary celebrations — riding the presidential motorcade around the track before 300,000 Americans cheered racing at one of the most iconic backdrops on the planet. Schiff’s response was a social media post accusing Trump of “spending taxpayer money on self-aggrandizing distractions” while Americans supposedly struggle with gas prices.
But Schiff is from California, home to some of the nation’s highest gas prices, which he never references. So there’s that.
There’s also another problem. The Penske Corporation picked up almost the entire tab. Privately funded. Not a taxpayer race.
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. pic.twitter.com/gYca1FDqJh
— Senator Adam Schiff (@SenAdamSchiff) August 23, 2026
IndyCar driver Graham Rahal — son of racing legend Bobby Rahal — posted the correction with the kind of direct authority that comes from actually knowing the industry you’re commenting on: “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). It allowed folks who have never been to see museums, monuments, the White House and AMERICAN history for the first time.”
The White House piled on appropriately. White House spokesman Davis Ingle: “It’s a complete disgrace that Pencil-Neck Adam Schiff is willing to trash the United States of America during its historic 250th birthday celebrations simply because he hates President Trump.”
The summary of what Schiff actually objected to: hundreds of thousands of Americans of both parties — plus international fans — came to Washington to celebrate the country’s 250th birthday, watched world-class racing at America’s most iconic monuments, spent money at local businesses, visited the Smithsonian, and had a genuinely great time. The whole thing was paid for by a private corporation. Schiff posted a complaint about it anyway.
This tells you everything about the left’s cultural moment. They cannot simply allow Americans to celebrate America. Every parade, every race, every fireworks show is a potential venue for grievance. The America 250 celebrations — the UFC at the White House, the Army parade, the IndyCar Freedom 250 — have been targeted with the same sourness every time. Democrats didn’t show up to celebrate the country’s 250th birthday. They showed up to complain about whoever was organizing the party.
Meanwhile, the Penske Corporation sponsored a spectacular event that brought hundreds of thousands of people to Washington and delivered exactly what the America 250 initiative was supposed to deliver: national pride, spectacle, and a reminder that this country is worth celebrating.
Schiff got the facts wrong. Rahal corrected him. The internet was unkind. The White House was pointed. And the race itself was genuinely fantastic.
Adam Schiff is a senator from California, a state with the worst business climate in the country, rampant homelessness, medieval diseases in its cities, and a governor under federal criminal investigation – as well as insanely high gas prices. Maybe focus on that, Senator.
