Jen Psaki said the Great American State Fair on the National Mall drew sparse crowds and was marked by “absolutely bizarre entertainment choices,” citing clips of a stage collapse and defenders of the Salem witch trials. She also highlighted what she called em
On Thursday, the National Mall in Washington, D.C. became the backdrop for the Great American State Fair — and, in a sharp segment on MSNBC, Jen Psaki argued that the footage made the event’s story impossible to ignore.
Psaki pointed viewers to live images running behind Fox News anchors throughout the week. “I want you to pay very close attention to the live images of the National Mall behind the anchors while they are talking,” she said, then rolled a supercut of Fox News broadcasts from the fair.
In the clips. Fox News hosts promoted the fair as “the biggest party. ” claimed “thousands of people” were there. and insisted there was “a wash of people” in attendance who couldn’t be seen on camera. But Psaki said the reality on the ground looked different. She described sparse crowds visiting the fair and showed what she characterized as a field with very few people.
One moment, she said, was especially striking: she showed footage of a man on stage defending the Salem witch trials. The argument. as played on Psaki’s timeline. was that the only problem was they “weren’t organized enough. ” and that the event would have been better if they were “formalized” with “a grand inquisitor or something.” Psaki described the entertainment choices as “absolutely bizarre.”.
She also turned to what she called poor execution. In her segment, Psaki showed footage of a stage falling apart while performers were rehearsing for a show.
Psaki framed the fair as an unfolding public embarrassment. She said the event had been “quite an unmitigated disaster. ” and argued that the embarrassment was compounded because what she called the fair’s “favorite news channel” had been broadcasting live from the National Mall all week — showing how sparsely attended it really was.
She did not stop at the entertainment and the crowds. Psaki said the sparse field reflected broader problems tied to President Donald Trump’s plans for America’s 250th birthday. “The reason I’m telling you this is not just to make fun of Donald Trump. ” she said. before adding that “Donald Trump’s celebration of America’s 250th birthday is in many ways a reflection of the Trump administration itself.”.
In her telling. it was a “perfect encapsulation” of the Trump presidency — a “bizarre two-bit right-wing circus that is deeply unpopular with the American people.” She described it as a combination of “poor execution” and “the focus on Trump and his ego. ” along with “rampant corruption and cronyism” and “the weaponization of justice.”.
Psaki also said the event included details on the $68 million in taxpayer funds that Trump spent on the fair, and she tried to trace where that money went during the segment.
The controversy. as Psaki presented it. isn’t just about what people saw at the fair — it’s about what the cameras behind the anchors were showing while the hosts claimed crowds were everywhere. And as she asked viewers to pay close attention to those live images. the tension in the segment was clear: the promotional language and the visible turnout didn’t match.
Jen Psaki Great American State Fair National Mall Fox News Donald Trump America 250th birthday Salem witch trials stage collapse taxpayer funds $68 million