President Donald Trump opened the Great American State Fair on Wednesday with a rally-style speech on the National Mall, turning the first day of the 16-day event into a celebration of his own brand of American revival. He stood behind bulletproof glass as the stage carried Freedom 250 and Great American State Fair signs, with the Washington Monument visible behind him.
The opening mattered because this was the moment the fair moved from planning to pageantry. Freedom 250 organized the exposition as a showcase for America’s 250th birthday, and the crowd saw fighter jet flyovers, military bands and Alexis Wilkins singing the national anthem with the U.S. Marine Band before Trump spoke for about 30 minutes. Wilkins, who is the girlfriend of FBI Director Kash Patel, was part of a program built to look patriotic first and political second.
That contrast was exactly what had drawn attention to the fair before it began. Several musical artists who were booked for the event backed out last month after deciding they were uncomfortable with what they saw as its political nature and its ties to the Trump White House. Young MC and Martina McBride were among those who withdrew, leaving the lineup thinner than planned even before the first note was played.
Trump used the stage to deliver a broad declaration of national strength, telling the audience, “Tonight, as we stand at the edge of our 250th year, I am thrilled to declare that America is back.” He added that the United States had gone from being “a dead country” to “the hottest country anywhere in the world,” and said the nation would leave its children “nothing less than the richest inheritance, most advanced civilization and highest standard of living in human history.”
The program around him leaned heavily into that message. Lee Greenwood introduced him during a live performance of “God Bless the U.S.A.,” the U.S. Army Band Downrange played Laura Branigan’s “Gloria,” and Sean Duffy praised the military bands while also calling Trump the greatest U.S. president since George Washington. Monica Crowley said the movement marking the 250th birthday had no greater cham, cutting off as she made the point that the event was meant to unify rather than divide.
Trump also tied the opening to foreign policy, saying last week brought a historic agreement to end the conflict with Iran, fully open the Strait of Hormuz and accomplish what no president had managed before. He said Iran would never have a nuclear weapon. But the fair’s opening still carried the mark of the withdrawals that came before it: organizers got their celebration, yet the performer pullouts showed that the event’s claim to be nonpartisan did not persuade everyone asked to join it. The fair now runs on for the rest of its 16-day span with that split already baked into its debut.
