The Great Relearning Begins Anew

Trump's Great American State Fair suffers new blow as weather forces concert cancellation

Already beset by artist boycotts, electrical problems, equipment breakdowns, and small crowds, Donald Trump’s "Great American State Fair" suffered the indignity of bad weather, which forced organizers to cancel the one concert they hoped would draw fans on Friday night.According to the Independent, the plug was pulled on “Ice Ice Baby” rapper Vanilla Ice’s show two hours before he was set to take the stage.The cancellation represents yet another failure for what has become a disaster for the administration. Three days into the 16-day celebration, Trump's fair has been wracked by artist boycotts, electrical failures, broken equipment, sparse attendance, and now a weather-canceled performance by a 1990s rap act that was supposed to salvage the event.According to the report, Freedom 250, the public-private partnership managing the 250th anniversary festivities, announced after 5 p.m. ET Friday that the fair would close for the day "due to inclement weather." The organization promised to reopen Saturday at 10 a.m., leaving open whether the Vanilla Ice concert would be rescheduled."The safety of our guests, staff, and partners remains our top priority. We are actively monitoring conditions and will provide updates as they become available," Freedom 250 wrote on social media.According to the Independent, hours before the cancellation, Vanilla Ice (real name Rob Van Winkle) had posted on Instagram calling the event a "once in a lifetime opportunity," promising fairgoers: "We're about to have a great party tonight. This is gonna be epic."Virtually every major artist originally booked—Martina McBride, The Commodores, and Bret Michaels—had already withdrawn from the lineup after the partisan nature of the event became apparent.The aging Vanilla Ice represented the last entertainment draw organizers could assemble. His cancellation leaves fairgoers with little beyond one malfunctioning ride, power outages, and empty state pavilions from the eight states that boycotted the celebration.The fair is scheduled to stay open until July 10th.

Trump dragged over low turnout to Great State Fair: ‘Seen more people at my local diner’

Critics pounced on President Donald Trump Saturday after video emerged that appeared to show less-than-anticipated crowd sizes at the Great American State Fair.Organized by the Trump-linked group Freedom 250, the Great American State Fair officially got underway on Thursday, but had already stumbled weeks earlier when performers pulled out en masse after learning of its ties to Trump. In the wake of the mass exodus of artists, Trump floated himself as a suitable replacement.As of Saturday, the fair was described by The Atlantic’s Kelsey Ables as an event with “holograms, free Frosties and a lot of Donald Trump,” but its crowd sizes drew even more attention from countless political commentators.“I've seen more people at my local diner,” noted information technology expert Carl Sizelove, who runs the popular political commentary account “Badd Company” on X, in response to video of the fair that showed a sparsely populated National Mall.MeidasTouch reporter Aaron Parnas compared the fair to the infamous Fyre Festival, a 2017 music event that ended up as “the world’s biggest festival flop” and landed its creator behind bars. Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) took the small crowds as a sign that “people aren’t very MAGA after all.”And Kyle Kulinski, a prominent progressive political commentator and podcast host, argued that the fair’s crowd sizes represented the United States’ deterioration under Trump.“We had a good run but clearly we didn't make it to 250,” Kulinski wrote Saturday in a social media post on X to his nearly 560,000 followers.Fyre Festival meets DC https://t.co/v7BPK344xj— Aaron Parnas (@AaronParnas) June 27, 2026

Trans People Behind Bars Face Great Risks. Prison Officials Are Making It Worse.

Even state-level legal protections for trans people have not always extended to those behind bars.

The maestro passes as regime change begins at the Fed

Just five days after Kevin Warsh’s first press conference as Federal Reserve chairman, Alan Greenspan, one of his predecessors, died at age 100. It is, to some extent, a passing of the torch. Warsh made it clear on June 17, in his first interaction with the press, that he is a reform-minded Fed chairman, laser-focused […]

Trump makes final pitch for ‘Great Star’ Julia Letlow ahead of Louisiana Senate runoff

President Trump made a final appeal to Louisiana Republicans on Friday to support Rep. Julia Letlow (R-La.) in Saturday’s Senate runoff election, calling the lawmaker a “Great Star” and a “TOTAL WINNER” in one of this year’s most closely watched GOP primaries. Letlow faces off against state Treasurer John Fleming (R) in a two-way race…

'Come Get Some' — Homan Has Message for Haters, Tells Great Story About How Trump Recruited Him

Democrats hoping to blame Trump for World Cup failures forced to change strategy after great success: Politico

The fantastic success of the World Cup in the U.S. has soured many Democrats who were hoping it would be a black eye for President Donald Trump, according to a Politico report.The report found that many believed the complex logistics of organizing the global event might be too much for American officials but that that hope has been dashed so far.'What an absolute crock of an article.'"I think that there was a little bit of like liberal wishcasting that this would maybe be a disaster to sort of stick it to Trump,” said Democratic strategist Rob Flaherty. "It hasn’t yet been."It went on to say that Democrats have pivoted from criticizing the tournament in anticipation of its failure to praising local officials rather than crediting the Trump administration.The Politico report was unwelcome on social media, where many on the left expressed their outrage."This is the most hilarious stretch I've ever read," replied A.J. Delgado, who identifies as anti-Trump. "Yes, nothing makes Dems more uncomfortable than Dem-mayor Boston; Dem-mayor Atlanta; Dem-mayor Miami and more doing a great job hosting. This is like saying Dems are struggling with the Knicks' success.""Why would Democrats grapple with it being that it’s democratic cities that benefited from it? Pretty stupid headline," responded Leslie Marshall."What an absolute crock of an article," said another X user."Truly stupid claim. Conservatives make everything political & divisive. The media was so much better when it simply reported events," said another critic."Article is trash. Dems arent uncomfortable with #WorldCup success," replied one detractor. "You can enjoy games, events and Europeans amazement of American culture while also thinking Trump is POS. Cup just showed Europeans think Trump is POS but still love USA."RELATED: Atlanta stadium accused of promoting Islam at World Cup match White House spokesperson Davis Ingle responded to the report by praising Trump's role."Thanks to President Trump’s bold leadership, the FIFA World Cup 2026 will undoubtedly go down as one of the greatest and most historic sporting events in history," he said on social media."Another win for the American people and the world," he added.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Trump’s “Great American State Fair” Gets Off to Terrible Start

President Donald Trump’s Great American State Fair was off to a rocky start.Dozens of attendees Wednesday were seen flocking toward the exits in the middle of Trump’s address, which was meant to kick-start the two-week event.Crowds flock towards the exit in the middle of Trump's speech. pic.twitter.com/bM3DPhsM4M— The Bulwark (@BulwarkOnline) June 25, 2026Rather than celebrating America’s 250th anniversary during his speech, Trump chose to focus on the last two years of his disastrous presidency, the BBC reported. Within half an hour of the president beginning to speak, the crowd had thinned out significantly, according to The Bulwark’s Jared Poland. And one person was even spotted sleeping. Trump’s snooze-worthy speech comes after several musical performers pulled out—leaving FBI Director Kash Patel’s country singer girlfriend with a great new gig. Trump’s kick-off event also featured several military flyovers and music provided by the U.S. Army Band Downrange. The president delivered a brief, albeit highly partisan address, which finished after just 30 minutes.