Turns out throwing yourself a 250th birthday party doesn't guarantee anyone shows up to the cake-cutting.
According to a new CNN report, Trump grew furious behind the scenes after his kickoff speech for the "Great American State Fair" on the National Mall drew a crowd so thin it left acres of empty field visible beyond the stage.
Trump reportedly didn't even clock it in the moment — it took an aerial photo circulating afterward to set him off, and multiple White House staffers who'd posted that photo scrubbed it from their accounts once the boss saw it. Problem solved!
Naturally, Trump's own account of the night was a bit rosier. He described the rally as a crowd of at least 45,000 people and told supporters on Truth Social it was "packed to the brim." Media estimates, unsurprisingly, suggest otherwise — nowhere close to that number.
Now White House officials are reportedly sweating over whether the same thing happens at his July Fourth blowout, which he's been hyping as one of the defining moments of his presidency. The fair itself hasn't helped the vibes: musical acts dropped out over its political branding, several states skipped it over cost concerns, and power outages have taken out everything from the Ferris wheel to the ice cream.
Nothing says "America's birthday" quite like your own staff deleting evidence of who didn't show up.
“The mistake here was not driving attendance,” one person close to the White House told the outlet. “It was an ‘if you build it, they will come’ mentality that failed.”
On opening day, the fair was nothing to write home about, unless it's hate mail: a jazz band played to an audience of about 10 people; a power outage hit the food pavilion, melting ice cream and raising concerns about spoiled goods; and a Washingtonian writer noted that the most energetic section was an evangelical Christian tent. Also: no corn dogs, no funnel cakes, no roller coasters — and Oregon's state exhibit was a wall that said "the beaver state" and one wooden chair—very sad stuff, as I noted earlier this week.
As Heather reported, it was a "big fat bust."
What are y'all doing for the 4th? While it doesn't feel like a time to celebrate as we watch our country crash and burn, flipping burgers on the grill with your family is always a good idea. That's what we'll be doing at our house -- with the news turned off.
This just is sad, you guys:
