Trump to ’kick off’ America’s 250th event after berating artists who backed out

President Donald Trump will join the opening ceremony of the White House-backed “Great American State Fair” on the National Mall, the organizer said Saturday, just hours after Trump excoriated music artists who dropped out of the event.

Danielle Alvarez, a spokesperson for the White House initiative Freedom 250, said in a statement that Trump will “personally kick off this historic celebration on Wednesday, June 24 in an opening ceremony celebrating America’s 250th birthday.”

Earlier in the day, Trump had railed against artists who distanced themselves from the event celebrating the country’s 250th anniversary, saying in a Truth Social post that they “get paid far too much money” and “aren’t happy.” He said he was considering replacing them with the “number one attraction anywhere in the world”: himself.

The artists — many of whom have had successful decades-long careers — are “getting ‘the yips’” about having to perform at the event, he wrote. “So I am thinking about bringing the Number One Attraction anywhere in the World, the man who gets much larger audiences than Elvis in his prime, and he does so without a guitar, the man who loves our Country more than anyone else, and the man who some say is the Greatest President in History (THE GOAT!), DONALD J. TRUMP, to take the place of these highly paid, Third Rate ‘Artists,’ and give a major speech, rallying the Country forward like I have done ever since being President.”