States Are Ditching Trump’s “Great American State Fair”

President Trump’s Freedom 250 birthday extravaganza is looking so bleak that entire states are pulling out.

NOTUS has reported that Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Oregon, and North Carolina—the last of which Trump won in 2024—have all declined to send a representative to the president’s 16-day fair on the National Mall. Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Washington remain undecided even as the fair begins just two weeks from now.

Each state is supposed to have a 600-square-foot themed booth with a representative or official sent by state leadership. With these states declining to send one, the administration has decided to pick their own. Multiple states said they had no knowledge as to who was chosen to represent their homes or why.

Other states noted the hefty price attached to the event. Michele Walker, the comms director of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, told NOTUS her state would have to spend a minimum of $100,000 on travel, hotels, and their themed booth all together.

“We decided early in the process that we do not have the capacity to participate,” Walker said. “Our limited resources are focused on America250 events across North Carolina.”

This news comes just a week after nearly all of the first wave of musical performers—from Young MC to the Commodores—dropped out as well. This lack of enthusiasm only reaffirms that this “Freedom 250” event, unlike the educational America250 commission, is just a birthday party for Trump.

President Trump is threatening a ground invasion of Iran.

On Truth Social Thursday morning, Trump posted that the U.S. military “will be hitting Iran (Whose Navy, Air Force, Radar, Anti Aircraft, and all other forms of Defense, together with most of its offensive capability, are GONE!), VERY HARD TONIGHT.

“At some point in the not too distant future, we will be taking Kharg Island, and other oil infrastructure points, and assume total control of their Oil and Gas Markets, much like we have with Venezuela, which is working out brilliantly for both Venezuela and the United States of America. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP,” the post read.

Trump’s threats are an alarming escalation, especially considering he previously claimed the U.S. and Iran are close to a deal to end the war. Publicly announcing plans for such an attack also carries risks, as it puts U.S. troops in harm’s way and gives Iran time to prepare countermeasures. Trump could also be bluffing, thinking that the specter of a ground invasion of Iranian territory will force concessions.

That seems to be in line with what he told Fox & Friends Thursday morning. Trump was asked about the post, and complained about media coverage of Iran, claiming the country has been decimated but that news outlets such as The New York Times, CNN, and The Wall Street Journal say that it’s doing well.

“They’re dying to make a deal. They want to make a deal so badly,” Trump said. “We dropped $250 million of bombs on them last night, the whole thing is crazy. And they’re really in submission, they just don’t know it yet.”

Trump’s daily accounts of the war with Iran are increasingly incoherent, and it’s tough to tell what’s real and what isn’t. Anything could happen Thursday night, and in the meantime, the world will be watching with uncertainty as a man with visible cognitive decline has his finger on the trigger.

President Donald Trump’s bizarre claim to have secretly moved more than 100 million barrels of oil through the Strait of Hormuz just got shut down by the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.

Trump announced Wednesday that he’d directed the military to conduct a “secret mission” to support the flow of energy through the essential trade passageway—as he struggled to justify the U.S. economy reaching its highest annual inflation rate in three years.

Speaking on CNN that night, Connecticut Representative Jim Himes, who serves as ranking member on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, dismissed the president’s claim.

“A lot of that is just flat out untrue,” Himes said.

“And remember the record here, right. This war was going to be over in a couple of days. For the last three months the Iranians have been two or three days, or maybe a week or two weeks away from striking a deal,” Himes said. “So, let’s just agree that the president has precisely zero credibility on anything that he says about the Iran war.

“But look, you don’t need to be an intelligence expert to understand that in the Strait of Hormuz, you’re not moving anything in secret. With a good pair of binoculars on either coast you can see what’s happening.”

Himes isn’t the only one calling B.S. on the president’s claims: Energy Secretary Chris Wright appeared not to have a clue what Trump was talking about, either.

When asked about the 100 million barrels of oil during a House committee hearing Wednesday, Wright appeared confused and said he was “unaware” of the operation.

“I do not think the president is lying, I think the president is talking casually about our efforts to stop the flow of Iranian oil,” Wright claimed, though Trump was clearly talking about oil that had made it out of the strait, not oil that had been blocked.

Donald Trump’s health has hit a new milestone.

The president’s latest examination at Walter Reed Medical Center on May 26 reportedly involved 22 specialists, reported The Washington Post. That puts Trump at a dozen specialists beyond the previous record held by George W. Bush, who once saw 10 specialists in one go.

The White House has not elaborated on exactly why Trump needed so many doctors. Trump officials told the Post that the unconventionally large medical team allowed for a “complete and preventive evaluation” of the president. White House physician Sean Barbabella commented that the assessment found Trump in “excellent health.”

“The involvement of multiple specialists reflects a comprehensive, multidisciplinary evaluation consistent with best practices for executive-level medical care,” the White House said in a statement.

Nonetheless, the figure has contributed to yet more intrigue about Trump’s health as he nears his eightieth birthday.

“It is an extraordinary number,” Jonathan Reiner, a longtime cardiologist for former Vice President Dick Cheney, told the Post. “What specialties do they represent? Why so many?”

Trump is the second-oldest man to ever serve as America’s commander in chief, and his increasingly erratic behavior has sparked global concern in recent weeks about his stability and judgement. The 79-year-old has spent hours at Walter Reed Medical Center on multiple occasions over the last nine months, fallen asleep during more than a dozen critical meetings, seemed lost and disoriented around foreign heads of state, frequently slurred his speech, and appeared with discolored and bruised skin on several occasions.

His behavior has also grown increasingly erratic, as he has thrown cheap and petty insults at members of the press, challenged longstanding U.S. alliances, and even taken jabs at the pope.

The American public is apparently wising up to Trump’s age: A Washington Post–ABC News–Ipsos poll released last month found that 59 percent of Americans do not believe that Trump has the mental acuity to lead the country.

Secretary of Energy Chris Wright was caught off guard Wednesday when he learned about President Trump’s statements earlier in the day about inflation and a “secret mission” on oil amid the war in Iran.

Democratic Representative Emilia Sykes grilled Wright during his testimony before the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, asking him if he loves inflation. Dumbfounded, Wright said that he loved Iran not being able to get a nuclear weapon, only for Sykes to press the question until Wright finally answered that he prefers lower inflation. Sykes then pointed out that Trump stated earlier in the day that he loves inflation.

Wright tried to put his best spin on Trump’s answer.

“He’s an entertaining, hyperbolic guy who’s done tremendous leadership, and on balance, he’s driving inflation down—” Wright said before Sykes cut him off, suggesting that Wright doesn’t love inflation, but Trump does. Then, Sykes asked Wright if he was aware that the U.S. was taking millions of barrels of gasoline from Iran.

Wright didn’t seem to understand, only for Sykes to press him again and then play audio of Trump claiming to be taking out “millions of barrels of oil.” Sykes then asked if Wright was aware of the U.S. seizing Iranian oil.

Wright finally replied that he was not, and Sykes then asked him if he thought the president was lying.

“Oh, no I do not think the president’s lying. I think the president’s talking casually about our efforts to stop the flow of Iranian oil—” Wright started, before Sykes cut in, asking if it was appropriate to speak casually about war in which 13 U.S. military servicemembers were killed.

After Wright defended Trump’s manner of speaking and said the country was better for it, Sykes laid the problem bare.

“[Trump] is clearly keeping you in the dark about what he is doing in Iran, and now you are sitting here in this committee unaware that the president just made an announcement about millions of barrels that they have taken from Iran and stated in that very, very clearly, people don’t know but now we get to know, but unfortunately, he sent you here and you didn’t know it. What is your response to that?” Sykes asked.

Wright paused, and said “I’m very proud to serve with president Trump. He’s been tremendous leadership in a time of great stress right now. I’m proud of what he’s doing, proud to be part of the team.”

Trump later claimed on Truth Social that the “secret mission” in Iran meant that more than 100 million barrels of oil had passed through the Strait of Hormuz, not coming from Iran directly. Still, it’s clear the energy secretary has no idea what’s going on.

Trump seems to be either experiencing cognitive decline, or keeping his Cabinet in the dark. In either case, it’s hard for the public to know exactly what’s going on when Trump’s advisers have to adapt their public comments on the fly to go with whatever incoherent thing the president has just said.