President Donald Trump became so upset over photos showing less-than-enthusiastic turnout at his Great American State Fair kickoff speech that White House staff scrambled to delete the images from social media after he melted down at them.
The president was “livid” over an aerial image of his MAGA rally-style remarks to mark the opening of the shambolic event last week, which NBC News later reported as having drawn “nowhere near” the 45,000-strong crowd he boasted about on Truth Social, CNN reported.
The network reported that his angry reaction prompted his own staff to scrub photos of the small crowds from official and personal social media channels in a vain attempt to memory-hole the poor turnout.
Trump had turned the launch event for his Freedom 250 project into a celebration of himself as much as America’s 250th birthday after a group of artists booked to perform backed out because they’d been led to believe it had been organized by America 250, the bipartisan, Congressionally chartered group celebrating America’s 250th anniversary that has been sidelined by the MAGA-aligned Freedom 250 organization.
Now, with just days remaining until the president is scheduled to headline a similarly MAGA-coded July 4 celebration on the National Mall, his aides are increasingly worried that the combination of heavy-handed security, hot temperatures and a late start time could mean a similarly pathetic turnout for what he has billed as a once-in-a-lifetime celebration to mark the country’s semiquincentennial.
Weather forecasters are predicting triple-digit temperatures in the Washington area on the country’s birthday, making the open-air National Mall a potential hot spot with little shade for anyone who ventures out to see the president — and the fireworks afterwards.
But Trump’s appearance may put a damper on the possible crowd in more ways than one.
Not only is the political nature of the event by virtue of his involvement likely to turn off many Washington area residents who might be otherwise inclined to attend, but those who do brave the heat will be forced to run a Secret Service gauntlet that will strip them of the usual July 4 accoutrements such as blankets, coolers, beverage containers and any bag that isn’t clear.
Moreover, the Secret Service’s procedures mean attendees must arrive hours before the night’s program is scheduled to start and remain in place with little access to water or shade.
And to make matters even more complicated, Trump is not even scheduled to speak until 9:45 pm, which means attendees who arrive in the afternoon could spend as many as eight hours baking in the Washington sun as thermometers top 100 degrees.
The president is understood to be planning a 45-minute speech but if past is prologue he could speak for much longer, pushing the scheduled 10:30 pm fireworks display even closer to midnight.
One White House official told CNN the nonsensical timing was causing significant consternation within the administration.
“I do not understand why we are doing this so late,” they said. “I’m really not sure who thought this was a good idea.”
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