CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins went to experience Donald Trump’s failing Great American State Fair for herself, after hearing rumors of growing “angst” over the president’s planned July Fourth rally.
Trump, 80, told supporters in North Dakota on Wednesday he does not intend to deviate from his usual long-winded speech on Saturday, despite the predicted extreme weather.
“On July Fourth, it’s going to be approximately 107 degrees out,” the president said, “and I’m going to make a really long speech just to show that I can do anything. It’s gonna be 107!”
However, Collins cited sources who said the triple-digit temperatures and “super-strict security measures,” have White House officials “bracing for a potentially underwhelming showing” for Trump’s rally.
Further rumors from the White House suggest growing concern about how many people will actually show up for Trump’s big night out, which could lead to public humiliation.
“This is meant to be about celebrating our nation, so we hope to see as many people as possible,” one insider told the Daily Beast.
Trump’s speech is not scheduled to commence until 9 p.m. on Saturday, with the fireworks display due to follow him at 10: 30 p.m, depending on how long his speech runs.
“Trump is planning a grand finale air show, and enough fireworks to break a Guinness World Record,” Collins said. “But it remains to be seen if the heat, tightened security measures and fireworks that won‘t start before 10:30 p.m will produce the turnout the president is hoping for.”
Visiting the event, Collins noted that “for a president who often fixates on crowd size so far, the fair on Washington‘s National Mall hasn‘t exactly lived up to the hype.”
This week, the Trump administration has been embarrassed by scenes of sparse crowds, including damning footage shared by the president’s favorite network, Fox News, which is broadcasting from the event.
As well as the heat wave, the State Fair has been dogged by misfortune, including environmentally damaging fireworks and visibly melting botched repairs on Trump’s replica arch, which were rushed through this week.
During her visit to the National Mall, Collins pointed out how heavily politics had been “injected” into so many events at the State Fair, considering the America 250 campaign was initially a bipartisan commission.
When Trump took office in January 2025, he took over the programming of the anniversary celebrations under a new organization, Freedom 250.
Speaking to CNN, Democratic congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman, who served on the America 250 campaign for seven years, had strong words for Trump’s influence over the event.
“Freedom 250 is his vanity project,” she said. “And the things that he‘s trying to implement, they‘re all about him. And it is because, unfortunately, the president has an insatiable ego. And so he has denigrated the essence of the celebration.”
Reflecting on stark footage of minimal attendance, Watson Coleman said, “it doesn’t seem to be well attended. It just looks very sedate to me.”
Collins pointed out that several booths representing American states had to close due to the hot weather and malfunctioning air conditioning.
Pennsylvania withdrew from the event because it was too political.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
On Thursday, several dancers had a near-death experience during a rehearsal on the State Fair’s main stage.
In a video shared online by progressive media influencer Aaron Parnas, two groups of young dancers can be seen performing their routine when a large, rectangular piece of the structure falls from above, narrowly missing the group stage right.
Trump’s event had some good luck on Thursday, however, when one of the two musical acts who didn’t cancel their original State Fair performances honored the contract.
Rapper Flo Rida entertained a surprisingly large number of people on the main stage, while promoting a Democratic candidate on his Instagram page the same evening.
