{"id":942,"date":"2026-05-30T20:23:01","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T20:23:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/?p=942"},"modified":"2026-05-30T20:23:01","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T20:23:01","slug":"trump-set-to-headline-great-american-state-fair-after-artists-drop-out-over-ties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/?p=942","title":{"rendered":"Trump set to headline \u2018Great American State Fair\u2019 after artists drop out over ties"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/dims.apnews.com\/dims4\/default\/916e0e1\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/5998x3997+0+1\/resize\/980x653!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.apnews.com%2Faf%2Fa2%2F2152bfbefd3afbcfdea0a489a8af%2Fb152b5458e4742258b2461125d913952\" width=\"100%\" \/><small>President Donald Trump looks out the window of his limousine at the construction in Lafayette Park as he departs the White House, Saturday, May 30, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Alex Brandon)<\/small><\/p>\n<p>2026-05-30T19:55:11Z<\/p>\n<p>WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 An upcoming celebration of America\u2019s 250th anniversary, \u201cThe Great American State Fair,\u201d recently had <span><a data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/freedom-250-concerts-cancellations-what-to-know-8f506ad99fc1aee7413514e37ce59604\">several musical guests back out<\/a><\/span> because of the event\u2019s connections to President Donald Trump. Now, Trump himself is slated to headline the festivities, the organizers said Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI understand Artists are getting \u2018the yips\u2019 having to do with their performance,\u201d Trump posted to his social media platform Truth Social Saturday, adding that he was thinking of bringing \u201cthe 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 \u2018Artists.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The group organizing the June fair on Washington\u2019s National Mall, Freedom 250, confirmed the billing in a statement, writing, \u201cwe are excited to announce that President Trump will personally kick off this historic celebration.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Trump\u2019s social media post twice referenced the event as being \u201cWednesday,\u201d though the fair doesn\u2019t start until June 25. The White House did not immediately clarify the discrepancy.<\/p>\n<p>Danielle Alvarez, a spokesperson for Freedom 250, emphasized the broader fair that will run through July 10 includes an array of exhibits, family friendly attractions, musical performances, flyovers and more.<\/p>\n<p>Freedom 250 is billed as nonpartisan, but was launched last year by Trump and is led by a former State Department appointee from Trump\u2019s first term. Several artists, including Bret Michaels, the Commodores and Martina McBride dropped out last week.<\/p>\n<p>    <a><\/a><\/p>\n<p>    <!-- AP \"Read More\" embed (place mid-article) --><\/p>\n<p>  <button type=\"button\" aria-expanded=\"false\"><br \/>\n    Read More <span aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><br \/>\n  <\/button><\/p>\n<p>Michaels and other artists have said that they were misled about the theme of the shows or were otherwise wary of being caught up in a political fight. <\/p>\n<p>Other artists plan to attend, including Flo Rida, Fab Morvan of Milli Vanilli and Vanilla Ice. The latter\u2019s representative previously said that the \u201cIce Ice Baby\u201d rapper was \u201cproud to help celebrate America\u2019s 250th Anniversary!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>        <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/author\/jesse-bedayn\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"JESSE BEDAYN\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" src=\"https:\/\/dims.apnews.com\/dims4\/default\/121f100\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/662x662+40+0\/resize\/100x100!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.apnews.com%2Ff0%2Fc4%2F8040c4324b2b83aeac17896c7a88%2Fheadshot-bedayn-jesse-bedayn.png\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/p>\n<p>        <\/p>\n<p>                <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/author\/jesse-bedayn\">JESSE BEDAYN<\/a><\/p>\n<p>                Bedayn is a national politics reporter based in Austin, Texas.<\/p>\n<p>                        <a rel=\"noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/cdn-cgi\/l\/email-protection#a8c2cacdccc9d1c6e8c9d886c7dacf\" target=\"_blank\" data-social-service=\"mailto\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>        <svg><\/svg><\/p>\n<p>        <\/p>\n<p>    <span><br \/>\n        mailto<br \/>\n    <\/span><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<p>        <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/author\/collin-binkley\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"COLLIN BINKLEY\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" src=\"https:\/\/dims.apnews.com\/dims4\/default\/7d54d12\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/2939x2939+0+49\/resize\/100x100!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.apnews.com%2Fa8%2F08%2F243c59b94215ad3a5f63aaf9014e%2Fcollinbinkley14-collin-binkley.png\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/p>\n<p>        <\/p>\n<p>                <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/author\/collin-binkley\">COLLIN BINKLEY<\/a><\/p>\n<p>                Binkley covers the White House and education policy for The Associated Press. He is based in Washington and joined the AP in 2015.<\/p>\n<p>                        <a rel=\"noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/cbinkley\" target=\"_blank\" data-social-service=\"twitter\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>        <svg><\/svg><\/p>\n<p>        <\/p>\n<p>    <span><br \/>\n        twitter<br \/>\n    <\/span><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<p>                        <a rel=\"noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/cdn-cgi\/l\/email-protection#1a7978737471767f635a7b6a3475687d\" target=\"_blank\" data-social-service=\"mailto\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>        <svg><\/svg><\/p>\n<p>        <\/p>\n<p>    <span><br \/>\n        mailto<br \/>\n    <\/span><br \/>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Donald Trump looks out the window of his limousine at the construction in Lafayette Park as he departs the White House, Saturday, May 30, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Alex Brandon) 2026-05-30T19:55:11Z WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 An upcoming celebration of America\u2019s 250th anniversary, \u201cThe Great American State Fair,\u201d recently had several musical guests back out because&hellip;&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","neve_meta_reading_time":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}