President Donald Trump's birthday bash for America is hitting fresh trouble, with at least six states publicly saying they will not officially participate in his Great American State Fair, NOTUS reported Wednesday.
Officials from Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, North Carolina and Oregon told the outlet they will not send official delegations to the 16-day fair on the National Mall, set to open June 25. Three other states — Maryland, Pennsylvania and Washington — remain uncommitted just two weeks out.
The state holdouts come days after a wave of musical acts abandoned the festival, with performers including Martina McBride and Bret Michaels saying they had been misled about the event's political ties. After the lineup collapse, Trump announced he would open the fair with "the Greatest Rally, EVER!"
NOTUS reported the fair is an example of a deeper rift between Freedom 250, the Trump-created entity producing the spectacles, and America 250, the bipartisan commission Congress created a decade ago. The Trump administration has withheld tens of millions from America 250, which now faces a $100 million shortfall, while funneling at least $68 million to Freedom 250, NOTUS found.
Freedom 250 spokesperson Rachel Reisner told NOTUS, "all 50 states and U.S. territories will be represented," adding: “The idea that a president’s presence at America’s 250th birthday is somehow a political act is not a serious argument — and frankly, it is not serious journalism to treat it as one."
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey delivered a withering assessment on the spectacle.
"This guy finds a way to try to get money into his own pocket any which way," she said.
North Carolina, the only Trump-voting state skipping so far, said preparing its space would cost at least $100,000, which it doesn't have. Officials in other states cited rushed timelines and concerns about staffing 11- to 13-hour days.
"This is not the hill we want to die on," one official told NOTUS anonymously.
