Donald Trump celebrates Independence Day as world gripped by viral hotdog eating competition
Donald Trump is revelling in Independence Day celebrations after passing his tax and spending bill into law, but all eyes were on the belly-busting annual hotdog eating competition. Watch the video.
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Competitive eating legend Joey Chestnut was once again crowned champion of Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest in his triumphant return to the Fourth of July competition after skipping last year due to a sponsorship dispute with a vegan wiener brand.
JOEY CHESTNUT'S DOMINANCE CONTINUES ðŸ
— ESPN (@espn) July 4, 2025
Chestnut downs 70.5 hot dogs to win his 17th Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest title 🆠🌠pic.twitter.com/B3TMBrayZ7
Mr Chestnut, 41, scarfed down a belly-busting 70.5 hot dogs in front of a raucous crowd at New York’s Coney Island on Friday and reclaimed the Mustard Belt for a record 17th time. The feat was close but not close enough to beat his own record of 76 franks he set at the competition in 2021.
“Man, I wish I could have ate a couple more. I’m sorry, guys,” Chestnut said after the scarf-fest. “My goal was 70 to 77 — I really wanted a little bit more.”
“But yeah, I’ll be back next year,” he added. “I’m just happy I’m here, and happy Fourth of July.”
Mr Chestnut made his eagerly awaited return after he was bounced from the contest in 2024 over his deal with Impossible Foods, which had recently launched a plant-based hot dog.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump maintained a relatively low-key presence on Independence Day sending his best wishes to the American people via Truth Social before hosting military families for a picnic on the lawn of the White House.
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TRUMP TO HOST UFC BOUT FOR AMERICA’S 250TH BIRTHDAY
US President Donald Trump stunningly announced that there would be a UFC fight with up to 25,000 spectators at the White House next year to celebrate America’s upcoming 250th birthday.
Mr Trump, 79, is a close friend of Dana White, the CEO of UFC, aka the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and attended a fight last month in Newark.
“Every one of our national parks, battlefields and historic sites are going to have special events in honour of ‘America250’ and I even think we’re going to have a UFC fight,” he said in a speech at the Iowa State Fairgrounds.
“Does anybody watch UFC? The great Dana White? We’re going to have a UFC fight. We’re going to have a UFC fight — think of this — on the grounds of the White House. We have a lot of land there.
“We’re going to build a little — we’re not, Dana is going to do it. Dana is great, one of a kind — going to be UFC fight, championship fight, full fight, like 20,000 to 25,000 people, and we’re going to do that as part of ‘250’ also.
“We’re going to have some incredible events, some professional events, some amateur events. But the UFC fight is going to be a big deal, too.”
This story was originally published on The New York Post.
TRUMP WINS MAJOR VICTORY AS FLAGSHIP BILL PASSES CONGRESS
US President Donald Trump signed his flagship tax and spending bill into law on Friday, capping a pomp-laden White House Independence Day ceremony.
“That’s a good one,” he said, as he signed the document with a Sharpie marker, flanked by scores of Republican lawmakers who had fallen into line to support the “One Big Beautiful Bill.”
Mr Trump on Thursday secured the major political victory when Congress narrowly passed his bill, cementing his radical second-term agenda and boosting funds for his anti-immigration drive.
The bill underlines the president’s dominance over the Republican Party, which has been wracked by misgivings over a tax that will balloon the national debt and gut health and welfare support.
A small group of opponents in the party finally fell into line after Speaker Mike Johnson worked through the night to corral dissenters in the House of Representatives behind it.
The bill squeezed past a final vote 218-214, meaning it can be on Trump’s desk to be signed into law on the July 4th Independence Day holiday.
“One of the most consequential Bills ever. The USA is the ‘HOTTEST’ Country in the World, by far!!!” Trump said on social media as he scented victory.
The timing of the vote slipped back as Democratic minority leader Hakeem Jeffries spoke against the bill for nearly nine hours to delay proceedings.
The legislative win is the latest in a series of successes for Mr Trump, including a Supreme Court ruling last week that curbed lone judges from blocking his policies, and US air strikes that led to a ceasefire between Israel and Iran.
His sprawling mega-bill just passed the Senate on Tuesday and had to return to the lower chamber for a rubber stamp of the senators’ revisions.
The package honours many of President Trump’s campaign promises: boosting military spending, funding a mass migrant deportation drive and committing $4.5 trillion to extend his first-term tax relief.
“Today we are laying a key cornerstone of America’s new Golden Age,” Johnston said.
But it is expected to pile an extra $3.4 trillion over a decade onto the country’s fast-growing deficits, while shrinking the federal food assistance program and forcing through the largest cuts to the Medicaid health insurance scheme for low-income Americans since its 1960s launch.
Some estimates put the total number of recipients set to lose their insurance coverage under the bill at 17 million. Scores of rural hospitals are expected to close.
While Republican moderates in the House fear the cuts will damage their prospects of re-election, fiscal hawks chafed over savings that they say fall far short of what was promised.
Johnson had to negotiate tight margins, and could only lose a handful of politicians in the final vote, among more than two dozen who had earlier declared themselves open to rejecting Mr Trump’s 869-page text.
Mr Trump has spent weeks hitting the phones and hosting White House meetings to cajole politicians torn between angering welfare recipients at home and incurring the president’s wrath.
Democrats hope public opposition to the bill will help them flip the House in the 2026 midterm election, pointing to data showing that it represents a huge redistribution of wealth from the poorest Americans to the richest.
Mr Jeffries held the floor for his Democrats ahead of the final vote, as he told stories of everyday Americans who he argued would be harmed by Mr Trump’s legislation.
“This bill, this one big, ugly bill – this reckless Republican budget, this disgusting abomination – is not about improving the quality of life of the American people,” he said.
Extra spending on the military and border security will be paid in part through ending clean energy and electric vehicle subsidies – a factor triggering a bitter public feud between President Trump and former supporter Elon Musk.
TRUMP GEARS UP TO CELEBRATE 250 YEARS OF US INDEPENDENCE
US President Donald Trump visits the midwestern state of Iowa on Thursday to kick off a year-long celebration of America’s 250th birthday – and tout his own second-term presidency.
The Republican will deliver a campaign-style speech followed by fireworks, hot on the heels of what he hopes will be Congress passing his “big, beautiful” tax and spending bill.
It also comes the day before Independence Day on July 4, and has been sold by Mr Trump as the start of celebrations to mark two and a half centuries since the foundation of the United States.
But as with a huge military parade in Washington for the US army’s 250th birthday last month, it reflects Mr Trump’s growing tendency to use the semiquincentennial festivities to boost his own image.
“I am thrilled to announce that I will be travelling to one of my favourite places in the World, beautiful Iowa … to kick off the very beginning of our exciting Celebration of America’s 250th Anniversary!” Mr Trump said on Truth Social earlier this week.
“Iowa voted for me THREE TIMES, because they love my Policies for our Wonderful Farmers and Small Businesses, and they LOVE AMERICA!”
President Trump, 79, also said he would also be talking about how his trade policies affect farmers, a key demographic in Iowa and one of the voter groups that helped propel him to a second term in the White House.
He is set to say that his hard line tariff negotiations with countries around the world, which have caused jitters on the markets, will benefit working class Americans.
The America 250 committee, which is organising the events over the next year, said the “Salute to America” event at the Iowa State Fairgrounds would also feature “patriotic entertainment and fireworks.”
Iowa is well known as one of the first stops for primary campaigns in US presidential elections.
Mr Trump won the state by 13 points in 2024. He also easily took it in 2016 when he won the presidency for the first time – and in 2020 when he lost the White House to Democrat Joe Biden.
Mr Trump earlier this week dropped a federal lawsuit over an Iowa poll that wrongly forecast he would lose the state in November’s election against Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.
The president had sued renowned pollster Ann Selzer, her former employer the Des Moines Register, and the newspaper’s parent company, Gannett, over a poll that showed him trailing Ms Harris by three points.
The rally in a place famed for its role in US presidential elections will also throw the focus on who might succeed Mr Trump as Republican candidate in 2028.
His second son Eric said last week that he and other relatives may run for public office, fuelling speculation of a Trump dynasty.
Mr Trump meanwhile has repeatedly teased trying for a third term, despite it being barred by the US constitution.
CANADA-US TRADE DROPS TO LOWEST ON RECORD
Canada’s trade with its neighbour to the south withered in May in the wake of a punishing tariff war launched by US President Donald Trump, the national statistical agency said Thursday.
However Canada made up part of the shortfall with increased shipments to other nations.
As exports to the United States fell for a fourth consecutive month, shipments to other nations rose to “a record high,” said Statistics Canada.
As a result, Canada’s share of exports destined to the United States fell from a monthly average of 75.9 per cent to 68.3 per cent. The agency said this was “one of the lowest proportions on record.” Imports from the United States were also down for a third consecutive month, it said.
As a result, Canada’s trade surplus with the United States widened slightly to Can$3.2 billion (US$2.4 billion).
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s liberal government and the Trump administration are in intense negotiations to try to reach a deal that would avert escalating tariffs.
Mr Trump has imposed steep levies on imports of autos as well as steel and aluminium – two metals that Canada has historically shipped in large quantities to the United States. The North American auto sector is also highly integrated.
Carney set a July 21 deadline for a new trade agreement.
Without one, he said he would adjust Canada’s 25 per cent counter tariffs on US steel and aluminium – in response to a recent doubling of US levies on the metals to 50 per cent.
The month of May saw a 1.1 per cent increase in total Canadian exports, led by a jump in gold shipments to the United Kingdom.
Canada also shipped more oil to Singapore, aluminium and pharmaceuticals to Italy, and pork to Japan. This rise was partially offset by lower exports of canola and oil to China.
Total imports, meanwhile, fell 1.6 per cent as inbound shipments of motor vehicles and parts continued to fall.
As a result, Canada’s trade deficit with the world narrowed from a record $CAD7.6 billion in April to $CAD5.9 billion in May.
– with AFP
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Originally published as Donald Trump celebrates Independence Day as world gripped by viral hotdog eating competition
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