MS NOW host Jen Psaki shared a baffling clip from President Trump’s Great American State Fair on Thursday night’s episode of The Briefing.
Psaki, a former adviser in the Obama and Biden administrations, showed several scenes from the event on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., which has been plagued by problems including bailing musical artists, crumbling stages, and sparse crowds.
Initially intended to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the weeks-long fair has flopped and been widely criticized for cheap decorations, expensive food, and strange entertainment choices.
“This was the scene on Tuesday, when there were actually more in the band on stage than there were in the crowd watching them,” Psaki said.
She then noted that the initially disappointing crowds had not picked up as the week had worn on, “thanks in part to the absolutely bizarre entertainment choices the Trump team booked for the affair.”
She then played a clip of Daily Wire commentator Michael Knowles, saying, “This is one of my favorites because it’s so strange, this moment when the guy who used to co-host Ted Cruz’s podcast seemed to defend the Salem Witch Trials in an apparent debate with someone who I’m guessing is about 10 years old.”
Despite those who were condemned at the Witch Trials being hanged, Knowles said in the clip, “But the one area where the Salem Witch Trials went a little far is, I would say, they weren’t organized enough. So you had these random judges kind of burning these ladies.”
He continued, “I’m not—I don’t know if they were guilty or not, but I think more if it were more formalized, built up a little bit more, maybe with like a Grand Inquisitor or something, that would have been a better way to do it.”
“If you don’t know what you watched there, I don’t know what I watched there either,” Psaki said. “But I do know that the person he is talking to… is definitely a child.”
She continued: “You can also see the people who gathered to watch them. And as bizarre as that was to watch, it may have also had the biggest crowd of any event I’ve seen at this particular fair.”
“Things haven’t improved since then,” she said. “I mean, here was the scene earlier today when the stage actually started to fall apart and nearly crushed a group of performers.”
In one shocking moment, part of the stage collapsed on a troupe of dancers, narrowly missing them.
“I mean, the whole thing has been quite an unmitigated disaster, and the level of embarrassment for Trump has been compounded by the fact that his favorite news channel has been broadcasting live from the event all week, showing just how sparsely attended it really was.”
Psaki then played a clip of several Fox News hosts sitting in front of the near-empty Mall, some claiming the images don’t tell the whole story.
Jesse Watters even said, “Trump’s throwing the biggest party right in D.C.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
