Donald Trump ended the tortured saga around his gala for America’s 250th anniversary in typical fashion. Trump claimed 150,000 people attended his final speech, which was humiliatingly contradicted by videos of the event. Then Trump made it worse. During the speech he insisted that 375,000 people had been present before storms and an evacuation caused chaos and turmoil, reducing the crowd to 150,000 (again, a baseless number). But then afterward he posted that the initial total had been 422,000. Somehow the number ballooned by nearly 50,000, delivering still another blow to his credibility. We talked to New Republic senior editor Alex Shephard, who writes really well about MAGA’s dwindling cultural relevance. We discuss the deeper failures of Trump’s extravaganza, why Trump can’t tell a compelling story about the country anymore, why Barack Obama’s national narrative is far superior, and why the World Cup is acting as the perfect foil to Late Stage Trumpism. Listen to this episode here.
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Trump Wrecks His Own 250 Crowd Size Claims in Final, Epic Humiliation
As Trump’s disastrous celebration of our 250th ends with a howler, a writer who focuses on MAGA’s weak grip on the culture reflects on what all this says about the country’s desire to move on from MAGA.
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