Ahead of the nation’s 250th birthday, the White House organized something it described as the Great American State Fair, which would help kick off the festivities in the nation’s capital. Even before Wednesday’s launch, however, the event started to unravel.
Not only did musical acts withdraw from the gathering, but roughly a fifth of the nation’s states decided not to send official delegations or spend public money on participating in the fair.
When the gathering got underway on Wednesday night, things managed to get even worse. Not only did Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy mock the musicians who chose not to perform — the former Fox News host labeled the artists “libtards,” an offensive term that combines the words “liberal” and “retard” — but he was soon followed by Donald Trump, who delivered a campaign-style speech and made much of the gathering a celebration of himself, not the country.
In case that weren’t quite enough, turnout for the event was — how do I put this gently — underwhelming.
An NBC News report noted, “Roughly half of those in Wednesday’s crowd of more than 1,000 wore Trump’s slogans or likeness on their clothes. For them, America’s 250th birthday was secondary to an opportunity to see the president.” The Washington Post ran a related report that noted, in reference to attendees, “The crowd thinly covered an area about the length of the National Museum of American History, smaller than some summer outdoor movie screenings.”
The New Republic added, “Dozens of attendees Wednesday were seen flocking toward the exits in the middle of Trump’s address, which was meant to kick-start the two-week event.”
Take a wild guess who did not appreciate the reporting.
On Thursday afternoon, the day after the poorly attended event, the president wrote on his social media platform:
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Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”
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