You know what American democracy really needs for its 250th? More party poopers.
As Washington braces for the multiweek birthday bash that President Trump has arranged to honor the nation and — mostly — himself this summer, several states have RSVP’d “no” to one of the premier events. Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington are bowing out of the Great American State Fair, a 16-day festival starting June 25 on the National Mall. These states, all but Vermont led by Democratic governors, will neither send official delegations nor spend their taxpayers’ money outfitting and operating the pavilions being erected for the event. (Some will be represented by private entities instead.)
Good for them. And here’s hoping they are joined by more states. (At last check, Pennsylvania was still a maybe.) A semiquincentennial is a big deal meriting much celebration. But, like a spoiled monarch, Mr. Trump has hijacked America’s milestone moment, turning what was meant to be a grand, unifying tribute to the entire nation into another chest-thumping, militarized, politicized spectacle all about him — this one built around a literal cage match on the White House lawn and a July 4 rally that the president is pitching as “the most spectacular TRUMP RALLY of them all.” How ominous.
Plus, thanks to the incompetence and dishonesty of Mr. Trump’s planning team, there won’t even be any good bands playing. Talk about a lame party. Better that states stay home and invest in less divisive local festivities.
Several states declining to participate cited cost concerns. North Carolina crunched the numbers and estimated that it would need to spend $100,000 on its pavilion, not including staffing costs, reported NOTUS. Massachusetts’s governor, Maura Healey, expressed her dismay to Boston Public Radio. “He invited all the states to participate and wants to charge us — charge us! — to go down and put something on his exhibit,” she said.
There are also “growing concerns that the event in Washington, D.C., is shaping up to be a more partisan affair than originally presented,” a spokesman for Oregon told The Times.
Of course it is. Like everything Mr. Trump touches.
Note that the Great American State Fair was not organized by America250, the bipartisan foundation tasked by Congress a decade ago with planning this year’s events. The White House shoved aside that group, along with many of its early plans, to make way for Freedom 250, the Trump-headed alternative announced last December.
Affiliated with the National Park Foundation, Freedom 250 has already received tens of millions in taxpayer funding, which it is supplementing with private donations, solicitations for which have promised big-money contributors posh perks and presidential schmoozing. The group’s lack of transparency about its use of public money has prompted congressional inquiries and a lawsuit. The presidential vanity projects it is championing include the 250-foot-high triumphal arch Mr. Trump wants built near Arlington National Cemetery.
“President Trump’s bold vision will be imprinted upon the fabric of America and be felt by generations to come,” a White House spokesman said in February of the 250th-themed plans. The threats just keep coming.
The administration, meanwhile, has refused to hand over $25 million of the funds pledged to America250, which has continued to plod along, taking abuse from Trumpworld. “America250 can’t get over the fact that Trump won,” Chris LaCivita, a top Trump apparatchik who worked with America250 before shifting to Freedom 250, told The Atlantic. “They want to apologize for America’s 250th. We don’t.”
The president’s pugilistic, not-so-inclusive approach to this anniversary was on display at the U.F.C. Freedom 250 fight at the White House last weekend. Funded largely by the U.F.C.’s parent company, this exercise in branding overflowed with Mr. Trump’s supplicants and superrich pals. The members of the military in attendance had been screened for the proper waist-to-height ratio to create a no-fatties zone. During the event, one fighter used the White House stage to make a nasty crack about the former first lady Michelle Obama.
Mr. Trump had plugged the brawl, scheduled on his 80th birthday, as part of his gift to America. But with a recent Reuters poll showing that only 16 percent of Americans approved of turning the people’s yard into a “Thunderdome” reboot, the bloody spectacle sure seems like a trash present — reminiscent of that old episode of “The Simpsons” where Homer gives Marge a new bowling ball for her birthday. Engraved with his name.
For the upcoming fair, Mr. Trump had hoped to host a kicking concert series. But shortly after the musical acts were announced, most of them — including Martina McBride, Milli Vanilli and Young MC — canceled. Some said they had been misled about the political nature of the event. The president promptly threw a tantrum, trashed the offending performers, canceled the entire series and announced that, instead, he would headline “the Greatest Rally, EVER!” on June 24.
Imagine some state leaders not wanting to be a part of all this.
The question now is how many more governors will refuse to pay for the privilege of fluffing up the president’s politicized show. Yes, there is a risk Mr. Trump will attack nonparticipants as unpatriotic. He may even accuse them of hating America. But if Milli Vanilli has the chutzpah to say “no” to the president, surely more governors can manage the same.
