MSNBC host Rachel Maddow expressed utter disbelief on Monday about President Donald Trump and his MAGA base's celebration of America's 250th anniversary, pointing to the lackluster Great American State Fair in Washington, D.C., over the weekend.
Maddow's Critique of the Anniversary Events
“I mean, 49 years and 363 days from now, if and when we hit our 300th anniversary as a country, I’m telling you — whatever media we have then will be looking back at us,” Maddow said. “They’ll be looking back at this 250th anniversary.”
She asked, “What are we going to say we did? It’s just going to look like this feckless, failed, truly laughable effort by a cult of personality, would-be dictator, failed extremist president who is more unpopular than just about any other president in the history of the presidency.”
Trump's Attempt to Turn America into 'Trumpistan'
Maddow added that Trump is still trying to turn America into “Trumpistan,” noting the president declared in advance that Saturday’s Fourth of July celebration was a “TRUMP RALLY” and delivered a controversial speech.
She also cited a New York Times report on MAGA supporters refusing to evacuate Saturday amid dangerous lightning conditions at the National Mall, with one man blaming the warning on “liberals in the weather service” trying to scare off Trump supporters.
Stage Collapse and Artist Withdrawals
“And Trump tried to put together something he called a state fair, but it was sad and petty and underwhelming, and nobody really came, and the ‘Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy’ dancers on Trump’s weird National Mall stage were nearly killed,” Maddow said Monday.
Viral footage showed part of the stage crashing down behind dancers rehearsing Thursday for their July Fourth performance as part of the fair. The 16-day series of events was arranged by Freedom 250, an organization Trump created via executive order last year. A veritable deluge of other artists had already dropped out ahead of their scheduled concerts.
Historical Context and Final Thoughts
Maddow acknowledged that landmark anniversaries weren't ideal in the past either, citing a 1926 article confirming Philadelphia Mayor W. Freeland Kendrick had to bar the Ku Klux Klan from attending America’s 150th anniversary.
She argued that the fireworks and U.S. military flyover Saturday “proved to be the only thing” the federal government under Trump was “capable of pulling off” for the 250th anniversary. “And maybe they weren’t going to be great no matter who was in the White House,” Maddow pondered. “But for the kind of leader we have in the White House right now, for this kind of a guy, this kind of anniversary was never going to be his thing, right?” She concluded, “It was always going to be too much about the country and not enough about him.”
