President Donald Trump launched festivities for America’s 250th birthday with an event that devolved into a MAGA rally rather than a national commemoration.
The Great American State Fair kicked off on Wednesday with a speech from the president on the National Mall, which has been transformed for the 16-day fair and now features a giant Ferris wheel and a plywood replica of Trump’s planned triumphal arch.
It became clear as the crowd rolled in that the event would serve as a tribute to Trumpism above all else.
“I’m seeing a lot of families, a lot of Trump gear and a lot of red, white, and blue,” NewsNation reporter Kellie Meyer wrote on X.
One attendee from Waco, Texas, told the right-wing Right Side Broadcasting Network that he came out for the Great American State Fair opening “mainly to see President Trump, my hero,” adding that it had been his birthday wish.
Meanwhile, one man in a green “Make America Great Again” hat told CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan, “Today will be my 116th Trump rally,” adding, “A Trump rally, it’s the greatest show on Earth.”
Trump was not initially scheduled to speak at the event, which was billed as a concert by Freedom 250, a group the president created by executive order and later awarded $80 million in taxpayer money to stage events marking the nation’s anniversary.
But almost all of the performers—including the Commodores, Morris Day, Poison frontman Bret Michaels, Young MC, and headliner Martina McBride—backed out last month, claiming they were duped into believing it was a nonpartisan event rather than one organized by Trump loyalists.
A furious Trump later declared on Truth Social, “We don’t want singers with no talent, but big fees to put you to sleep, we’ve told them all to stay home,” and vowed to host “a rally to end all rallies.”
A lineup of MAGA figures warmed up the crowd before Trump’s speech, including Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and FBI Director Kash Patel’s girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins, who sang the national anthem. Longtime Trump supporter Lee Greenwood, meanwhile, performed “God Bless the USA.”
Once he took the stage, Trump spent much of his speech touting his administration and railing against his political enemies.
He claimed that his Reflecting Pool renovation had been “gruesomely vandalized by thugs,” drawing boos from the crowd.
