Nicolle Wallace struggled to hold back laughter while reporting on Donald Trump’s Great American State Fair, describing “itty-bitty little crowds” and pointing to problems at the Freedom 250 event—even as Trump praised it as “fantastic” on Truth Social.
Nicolle Wallace’s voice cracked with a grin as she talked through the latest on Donald Trump’s Great American State Fair—specifically, the size of the crowds he said should be believed.
Choking back laughter while reporting for MS NOW, the “MS NOW” host recalled saying, “Don’t believe your eyes. Don’t believe your ears. I put on my glasses to get a closer look,” after playing footage tied to Fox News defending the attendance at the Freedom 250 event.
Wallace then drove the point home, saying the “live shot literally behind all those people saying all those things tells a totally different story from the things coming out of their mouths.”
To her, the weekend didn’t just land poorly—it looked like it came in quietly. She described Trump’s “long-awaited Freedom 250 Great American State Fair” going off “with a whimper this weekend. ” saying it appeared to bring “tens” and “dozens” of people. and calling attention to what she described as problems at the event. Those issues. as she laid them out. included power outages. a shutdown ferris wheel. extreme weather. and the cancellation of a performance by one of the only artists said to have stood by Donald Trump other than Kash Patel’s girlfriend—“and that was … Vanilla Ice.”.
The laughter didn’t disappear as she connected the dots between the fair’s reception and Trump’s reaction. Wallace said “the less-than-stellar reviews of the fair,” along with “the viral posts about his itty-bitty little crowds,” got to the president.
Trump then posted a defense on Truth Social, where Wallace read it aloud and visibly battled to keep her composure. She remarked, “I can’t believe I’m reading this,” after Trump praised the event as “fantastic.”
Wallace found particular humor in the president’s jab about whether “Obama or sleepy Joe Biden could have done it.” She responded with a straight retort: “The answer was like, Obama did it last week at the opening of the Obama Center.”
“But, I guess in this case Trump has a point,” Wallace added. “Obama has never in his life – like Obama’s motorcades draw bigger crowds for OTRs. Trips that aren’t even announced.”
For Wallace, the fair wasn’t just a bad weekend on the calendar. She wrapped her segment by saying it did “little to turn around Donald Trump’s political fortunes. ” and didn’t dispel the belief among Americans that Trump is “obsessed [with] himself and his vanity projects” more than “the concerns of the American people. ” or more than what Wallace described as an urgent outcry from Trump’s own coalition over the economy and a “very unpopular war in Iran.”.
Wallace’s full commentary is available in the video embedded above. “Deadline: White House” airs weekdays at 4 p.m. ET on MS NOW.
Nicolle Wallace MS NOW Deadline: White House Donald Trump Great American State Fair Freedom 250 Truth Social Vanilla Ice Kash Patel Kash Patel’s girlfriend Obama Center itty-bitty little crowds