Washingtonian: I Went to Trump's Great American State Fair. It Was Bleaker Than I Expected.

[AStern]

Opening day of the Freedom 250 event in DC was sparsely attended and shockingly boring.

Thursday was opening day for the Great American State Fair, the latest round of summer patriotism planned by President Trump’s Freedom 250 semiquincentennial task force. In preparation, the National Mall has spent weeks cluttered with half-built plywood structures and has been largely cordoned off to the public. Road closures and bus detours will choke downtown through mid-July. The fanfare conflicts with the usual dates of the locally beloved Smithsonian Folklife Festival, which has moved its iconic marketplace to the Arts and Industries Building instead. Surely, I thought, this thing ought to be worth the fuss.

Gates opened at 10 AM, and I feared my noon arrival would relegate me to the back of a winding security line. Getting to the bag check wasn’t easy: Tall fences flank the entire Mall, and I walked well over a mile from Federal Triangle station just to reach an entry point. But when I finally make it, already sweating through my shirt, there is no line to speak of. (Later, a vendor tells me that nobody really trickled in for at least an hour after the start time.) A guard glances into my purse, ushers me through the metal detector, and off I go.

Of all the bombastic Freedom 250 programming—a UFC fight that chewed up all the grass on the Ellipse, an Indy car race slated for August that’s expected to mangle downtown traffic for days—the state fair seemed like it was going to be the most benign. Organizers promised exhibits from all 56 states and territories, a quaint showcase of Americana that wouldn’t involve a gas leak or LED octagon lights blinding pilots en route to National Airport. And honestly, who doesn’t love to eat a funnel cake and take the Ferris wheel for a spin?

But the tender sheen over the event quickly dissipated last month when a hodgepodge of musicians booked for live performances backed out at the last minute, saying they were not informed that the Freedom 250 festivities would have a political tilt. Several states also announced they would not participate. In the eleventh hour, the president declared he would headline the fair himself: He was introduced at a rally Wednesday night by transportation secretary Sean Duffy, who started by eschewing the “libtards that canceled on us.” When Trump finally took the stage, he lauded America as the “hottest” nation in the world. “Nobody’s laughing at us anymore,” said the man filling in for Milli Vanilli.

https://washingtonian.com/2026/06/26/i-went-to-trumps-great-american-state-fair-it-was-bleaker-than-i-expected/

[Leghorn21]

1. Well this just makes my day!!

Thanks for posting, AStern, and may the sad host of this *major event* catch a glimpse of this article!!
(or at least have Natalie Harp read it to him!)

[hookaleft]

2. LOL

I read the whole article. What a joke. Trump has ruined everything

[Raftergirl]

3. I wonder how many people will go in 90-100 degree heat and 100% humidity.

[Goonch]

4. ;-{) THIS

[Biophilic]

9. That's pretty funny.

[mountain grammy]

19. Halloween or the 4th of July?

You decide! What idiocracy!!

[purr-rat beauty]

5. Trump don"t give a fuck

Million$ have been snatched and snuck away already for this series of scams

[orthoclad]

6. Nobody's laughing

The UN laughed out loud at T1.0, but the humor has gone.
Feds murdering citizens in the street.
US killing schoolgirls.
Need I continue?

Nobody laughs anymore.

[NNadir]

7. "The man filling in for Milli Vanilli..." Best witticism of the week.

[calimary]

8. MAN, what a quote!!!

Trump finally took the stage, he lauded America as the “hottest” nation in the world. “Nobody’s laughing at us anymore,” said the man filling in for Milli Vanilli.

https://washingtonian.com/2026/06/26/i-went-to-trumps-great-american-state-fair-it-was-bleaker-than-i-expected/

I’ve gotta use this somewhere…

[Botany]

10. "THEY" walk among us. Photos: Trump's Rally to Open the Great American State Fair

Warning! Eye bleach might be needed.

https://washingtonian.com/2026/06/25/photos-trumps-rally-to-open-the-great-american-state-fair/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=photos-trumps-rally-to-open-the-great-american-state-fair

[Grokenstein]

11. Yikes. And of course there's one old guy yelling while he gives someone the finger.

Let me guess: he's a TROO CHRIS-CHUN VALOOZE man who heard that someone say "be nice to each other" or something woke like that.

[odins folly]

12. Looks like any of the previous magat rallies

I especially like the guy in maga hat and t-shirt with his big ol’ cross hanging prominently while he’s flipping off the camera…..

Nothing says christian like you middle finger extended to your gawd….

🙄😑

[Botany]

16. Or the man with the surfing Trump shirt or that lady who was saluting in her hideous get up.

Those people are deeply mentally ill, I guarantee very racist, and Christo Taliban too. However
they forget that IF the story of the Biblical Jesus is true then he was a black man.

[Permanut]

21. Saluting with her left hand..

First thing this veteran noticed.

[paleotn]

14. That's what scum and trash looks like.

[mountain grammy]

20. All the idiots in one place.

May they all melt

[3catwoman3]

26. Looks like something from The People Of Walmart site.

[AStern]

28. Look at all of those white people!

Very diverse array of lighter flesh tones.

[LearnedHand]

29. Yeah who wouldn't want to spend vacation time with that lot

Jeezus it’s indistinguishable from a trump rally; all that’s missing are the Kotex ears.

[Botany]

33. Trump's ear being hit by a bullet fun fact.

You know what doesn’t grow back? Cartilage.

What the fuck is the matter with these people outside being really racist and stupid?
Trump is a life long criminal (had to go to military school instead of a juvenile facility),
a con man, raped little girls, screwed all kinds of people all kinds of ways, flunked out
of Fordham, stolen tens of billions from America, an out and out crook, has zero taste,
and an electrician I know did some work for some businesses in the NYC area that were
owned or run by the Mafia, and members of the Mafia told him never to do any business
with Trump because he was a crook. Btw everything he did for those businesses was
proper and when I asked him about the mob he told me that “sometimes there are things
I really don’t need to know.”

BTW in a brief moment of optimism I bought a bottle of Brut to have ready when Donny
expires. I hope it is before the 4th then we can have a real Independence Day.

[ultralite001]

13. So many Flag Code violations...

💔💔💔

[paleotn]

15. Smells like the usual Trump Dump...

And not the full load in his diaper.

[johnnyfins]

17. Isnt that "arch" the stonehenge set they used

In Spinal Tap?

[infullview]

18. Trumps idea of bread and circus for the masses

[MustLoveBeagles]

22. This makes me happy 😊😁

[DinahMoeHum]

23. Buffett and Petty must be turning. . .

. . .over in their graves to have their images abused.

I’m greeted by a wall of “Famous Florida Men and Women” that boasts Jimmy Buffett and Tom Petty, two famously anti-Trump celebrities

[JohnnyRingo]

24. Wow! Well worth the entire read.

Very well written. Thanx for posting.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

25. Trump "No one's laughing at us anymore"

[3catwoman3]

27. I wouldn't be so sure about that, Donnie.

[mr715]

30. I want to take the opportunity to underscore the creepiness of that image.

The only thing that could make it look creepier would be to have overcast skies. It looks very, very Soviet.

The proportions are screwy and it is very unsettling. I know the arch is just a scale model here. If it were enormous it'd be worse, I wager.

[Crowman2009]

31. I'd have more fun hanging out with farm animals and viewing the blue ribbon flowers

[C_U_L8R]

32. The 'arch' and wheel spell "NO"

Even the props have more sense than your average magat.