Trump Hijacks America's 250th Birthday, Then Artists Flee — Leaving Him With Vanilla Ice and Milli Vanilli

Congress established America250 — a bipartisan commission — in 2016 to plan the nation's 250th anniversary celebration for July 4, 2026. It has spent a decade preparing, with corporate sponsors including Amazon, Boeing, General Mills, FedEx, and Palantir.

Trump created his own rival organization: Freedom 250, a public-private partnership founded by executive order shortly after his second term began. It is headed by Keith Krach, a Trump State Department appointee from the first term. Freedom 250 has no Congressional authorization, no independent oversight, and does not disclose its donors. Congressional Democrats are investigating whether the organization facilitates corporate payments in exchange for access to the Trump administration.

Freedom 250's marquee event: the "Great American State Fair," a two-week concert series and exhibition on the National Mall from June 25 to July 10. Nine artists were announced. Within 48 hours, more than half had fled.

The exodus

Five of nine artists pulled out after discovering they'd been misled about the event's supposedly nonpartisan nature:

1. Morris Day and the Time — first to exit, calling his listed appearance a "rumor"
2. Young MC — told Rolling Stone the concert was a "bait-and-switch": "The artists were never told about any political involvement with the event"
3. The Commodores — pulled out
4. Martina McBride — said she was presented with "an opportunity to perform at a nonpartisan event but that turned out to be misleading." She added: "I asked lots of questions and was assured this was a nonpartisan event that was meant to celebrate ALL 50 states." Ric Grenell — the Trump loyalist installed as Kennedy Center president — responded by tweeting: "You've always been a woke Lefty."
5. Bret Michaels — said the event had become "something much more divisive than what I agreed to be a part of." He reported that he and his crew received threats due to his potential participation.

Who's left

Two of the nine committed to performing:

• Vanilla Ice — told TMZ: "I don't even vote, so I don't even care." Added he'd "go play for Putin" and "play in Iran if you want. It don't matter."
• Fab Morvan (the surviving member of Milli Vanilli, the group that was stripped of a Grammy for lip-syncing) — enthusiastically committed

Freedom Williams (C&C Music Factory) said he was on the fence. Flo Rida said nothing. Bill Maher's summary: "You can't close the deal with Milli Vanilli."

Trump's response

Trump posted multiple times on Truth Social, escalating as the day went on:

First, the Elvis comparison — referring to himself in the third person:

"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 some say is the Greatest President in History (THE GOAT!), DONALD J. TRUMP, to take the place of these highly paid, Third Rate 'Artists.'"

Then the cancel-and-replace:

"We should have a giant MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN RALLY, for 250, instead of having overpriced singers, who nobody wants to hear, whose music is boring, and yet who do nothing but complain."

He demanded to be "surrounded by Happy People, Smart People, Successful People, and People that know how to WIN" and called for an "AMERICA IS BACK Rally on Wednesday, Washington, D.C., same time, same location. Only Great Patriots invited."

Freedom 250 then announced that Trump will personally headline the opening ceremony on June 24. White House advisers told the Washington Post they "were quickly working to make his suggestion of being the fair's opening act a reality."

The pattern

This is what happened to the Kennedy Center, replayed in miniature. Trump's team told artists and sponsors the event was nonpartisan. It wasn't. The artists discovered the truth and left. Trump attacked them for leaving. Then he announced he would replace them with himself.

The Kennedy Center lost the Washington National Opera, the New York City Ballet, and the Martha Graham Dance Company. Freedom 250 lost five of nine booked acts within two days. In both cases, the departing artists cited the same thing: they were misled about political involvement, and the events became more about Trump than about what they were supposed to celebrate.

The birthday party

America's 250th birthday celebration now features:

• A MAGA rally replacing the concert series, headlined by the president himself
• Vanilla Ice and Milli Vanilli as the remaining musical acts
• A UFC fight on the White House lawn on June 14 — Trump's 80th birthday — with a 5,000-seat arena and an octagon constructed on the South Lawn
• A rival congressionally established commission that Trump is actively undermining

Congress spent a decade planning a celebration of the nation's founding. Trump created a rival organization, booked nine artists under false pretenses, lost five of them in 48 hours, attacked the ones who left, compared himself to Elvis, proposed replacing music with a political rally, and announced he would perform the opening ceremony himself. The remaining lineup: the "Ice Ice Baby" guy and a man who was stripped of a Grammy for lip-syncing.

Happy birthday, America.