IN BRIEF
- The concerts were planned as the opening ceremony of the Great American State Fair.
- Trump said he has ordered aides to assess “the feasibility of doing an AMERICA IS BACK Rally”.
President Donald Trump has suggested he might take the stage at a Washington rally, asserting he could draw crowds even bigger than those of Elvis Presley. This comes after several performers withdrew from events commemorating the United States’ 250th anniversary.
The artists were initially announced as part of a concert series linked to the July 4th celebrations. However, they pulled out shortly after, with some attributing their decision to the event’s increasing political associations.
The concerts were set to commence on June 25, forming a central feature of a significant exhibition on the National Mall. This event is organized by Freedom 250, a public-private partnership backed by Trump.
President Trump addressed the situation on Truth Social, saying, “I understand Artists are getting ‘the yips’ about performing,” following the departure of the fourth and fifth acts from the lineup of nine initially announced.
Trump further commented, “I am thinking about bringing the Number One Attraction anywhere in the World, the man who gets much larger audiences than Elvis in his prime … and the man who some say is the Greatest President in History (THE GOAT!), DONALD J. TRUMP, to take the place of these highly paid, Third Rate ‘Artists.’”
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Trump said he was ordering aides to assess “the feasibility of doing an AMERICA IS BACK Rally on Wednesday” on the mall, where he would deliver a speech “rallying the Country forward like I have done ever since being President!”
The Republican leader did not specify which Wednesday he was eyeing, nor did he describe which events his rally was meant to supersede.
The statement came a day after multiple artists including country singer Martina McBride and glam rocker Bret Michaels, frontman of 1980s band Poison, said they were dropping out of the White House-backed concert series.
“Unfortunately, what was presented to us as a celebration of our country has evolved into something much more divisive than what I agreed to be a part of,” Michaels posted on social media.
Trump has openly tried to stamp his mark on the celebrations, most notably by staging an ultra-violent mixed martial arts fight in a specially constructed arena on the White House lawn on 14 June — his 80th birthday.
In a country that regularly produces many of the world’s biggest global stars, the remaining line-up of artists whose prime came and went decades ago — such as Vanilla Ice and C+C Music Factory — has sparked a flood of sarcastic comments on social media.
What is the Great American State Fair?
The concerts were planned as the opening ceremony of the Great American State Fair, a 16-day event running from 25 June to 10 July.
The Freedom 250 group said the fair would stretch on the National Mall from the US Capitol to the Washington Monument, with concert stages, state pavilions, exhibits, rides, and other attractions.
Organisers have not publicly detailed the reasons for the musicians’ departures, though the exits have raised questions about the viability of the event as originally envisioned.
Danielle Alvarez, an adviser to Freedom 250, told the Washington Post that “Trump will personally kick off this historic celebration on Wednesday, June 24 in an opening ceremony celebrating America’s 250th birthday”.
A hulking metal arena is also rising on the White House’s South Lawn as Trump pursues a spate of construction projects, and is set to host a night of cage fighting to mark the 250th anniversary of US independence.
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