President Donald Trump is furious that his supporters aren't showing up to attend his "state fair" in the District of Columbia.
Since the start last week, the response has been minuscule. Independent journalist Amanda Moore has been on the scene every day to narrate what she's seeing and provide videos of the crowd sizes at the great stage.
The Daily Beast reported on Wednesday that Trump "freaked out" seeing the small crowds at his fair.
One of the more successful turnouts was Trump's rally opening night. Compared to Trump's rallies in the past, however, it was painfully tiny. While the Freedom 250 spokesperson claimed that there have ben over 150,000 who "flocked" from around the world, CNN revealed things aren't going the way Trump planned. Insiders told CNN that Trump was “livid” at the low turnout for his opening remarks.
All the events lead up to Trump's big event on Saturday. The Washingtonian noted that Trump's record-breaking fireworks display will be so gigantic that the low-lying Washington D.C. "bowl" and predicted cloud cover could turn it into more of a "smoke show" and block the fireworks entirely. As the Capital Weather Gang said, the smoke could "just ... hang."
Trump had a similar problem on the night of his first inauguration, when heavy cloud cover not only trapped the smoke but also blocked views of the fireworks, videos confirmed There are a lot of things working against his crowd-size plans: predicted triple-digit temperatures that have already resulted in an "extreme heat watch," stifling humidity and potential severe storms, local WJAR reported Wednesday. They called it a "quadruple threat" because of the risk of power outages from energy use.
"This could be one of the hottest Fourth of Julys the D.C. area has seen in decades, as emergency officials ramp up coordination ahead of the holiday," the report said.
According to CNN, the White House is "already bracing for an underwhelming showing" on Saturday, in large part because the event is significantly later than previous years. In the past, the big concert in the U.S. ended around 9 p.m. EST, with the National Symphony Orchestra playing the "1812 Overture" while fireworks and cannons went off. This year it will end hours later.
“I do not understand why we are doing this so late,” one White House official said about the late hour. “I’m really not sure who thought this was a good idea.”
The Independence Day fireworks are normally a family-friendly event and children don't usually stay up so late. At the same time, public transportation for those more than 20 miles outside of D.C. will be restricted because the last MARC train out of Union Station leaves at 10:25 p.m. Luckily, those within about a 20-mile radius around Washington will still be able to access the metro until 2 a.m.
One local D.C. limousine company wrote, "Every transportation option has a real failure mode on this day."
"OK, this is quickly becoming proof that you can just say “great American state fair” and get a million views. Almost nobody replying to it follows me or has any idea what I cover," said independent Amanda Moore online about the state fair.
She wasn't the only one to point out that social media doesn't reflect "real life."
Stand Together vice president Daniel Bassali called it "Just another example of what’s online isn’t reality."
TMZ has been posting photos of the fair. In one case, actor Dean Cain and Dr. Mehmet Oz cheered the crowd before the stage. TMZ panned around to look at the crowd, seeing a few dozen people.
Trump proclaimed over the weekend that his event was “packed with happy people," but rain scared off key performer and one-hit-wonder Vanilla Ice from performing.
Fox News has provided a lot of comedy relief for those watching clips of the anchors claiming huge crowds, only to look behind them and see they're anemic at best. One pro-Trump fan live-streamed their attendance at the fair, also claiming thousands of people, only to find far fewer.
At one point, the network was ridiculed for showing a medium-sized crowd sitting on the grass watching a big screen. The Fox chyron read, "State Fair Surprise: Karoline Leavitt enjoys fair with her family." The photo was of World Cup fans at the FIFA Fan Zone in Washington instead. FIFA set up large screens in cities around the U.S. for fans who want to watch the games with a group of other fans. The fan zone is also on the National Mall.
Two sources told CNN that Trump "flipped" when he saw the low turnout at the state fair, and staff were even told to delete the photos from social media in hopes he wouldn't see them.
“The mistake here was not driving attendance,” said one person close to the White House. “It was an ‘if you build it, they will come’ mentality that failed.”
Dozens of people walked out of Trump's speech at the fair's opening.
As CNN wrote, "The episode has further heightened the stakes for Trump’s Independence Day address, which represents just the latest element of the U.S.’ semiquincentennial celebration that he’s sought to effectively make an extension of his all-consuming presidency."
