President Donald Trump and his aides are worried that his upcoming July 4th rally, which is meant to cap off his Great American State Fair and America’s 250th anniversary celebration, is going to be a flop.
The concern exists because, despite the efforts of pro-Trump media outlets like Fox News to depict his Great American Fair as a success, it has in fact been a dud, from MAGA supporters deriding it to a triumphal arch built for the event literally falling apart.
“Inside his White House, there’s growing angst over how many people will actually show up to celebrate,” CNN’s Adam Cancryn, Kristen Holmes and Piper Hudspeth Blackburn reported on Wednesday. “The lackluster attendance for Trump’s speech on the mall last week — a fact that has infuriated the president behind the scenes — has sparked fears of a similarly disappointing turnout when he headlines an Independence Day celebration, sources familiar with the matter told CNN.”
Yet the speech may not get a large turnout given the triple-digit heat, tightened security and various planning problems. White House officials are apparently terrified of that happening.
“I do not understand why we are doing this so late,” a White House official told CNN, adding that aides are still trying to fix things for the president. “I’m really not sure who thought this was a good idea.”
Making matters worse for the staff, Trump was reportedly “livid” when he only drew a small crowd to a campaign-style speech he gave last week.
“Though he wasn’t initially aware of the size of the crowd, he later saw an aerial photo that showed acres of sparsely populated fields beyond the audience that had crowded around the stage,” CNN reported. “The visual enraged him, the sources said, and multiple White House officials who had posted the photo deleted their posts. The revelation led to a defensive Trump lashing out on social media, claiming that the crowds were ‘packed to the brim.’”
The Guardian’s Adam Gabbatt broke down on Wednesday exactly what has made the fair so unappealing, even to people who might agree with Trump’s politics.
“The fair’s signature attraction, a (quite small) ferris wheel, was plagued by power cuts on the first day,” Gabbatt wrote. “And despite organizers’ claims that 56 states and territories would be represented, each given their own booths at the event, several declined to participate due to cost.”
He added, “The opening ceremony was meant to be a musical extravaganza, featuring acts including Martina McBride, Bret Michaels, the Commodores, Morris Day and the Time, Young MC, and Flo Rida, but most of those performers pulled out, several saying they had been unaware the event would have a political undertone.”
He concluded, “Instead, people attending the opening night got a performance from Trump: specifically, a campaign-style rally during which the president trotted out his usual claims about how the US is the ‘hottest country anywhere in the world.’ (Ironically, the Virginia booth at the fair was closed on Tuesday due to extreme heat, and the fair itself was forced to close early on its second day, because of a storm.)”
