US President Donald Trump fired off a lengthy Truth Social post on Saturday, directing his frustration at musicians who have been withdrawing from a government-backed concert series in Washington, DC He labeled the departing performers “highly paid, third rate artists” and floated the idea of scrapping the planned shows entirely, replacing them with a rally headlined by himself.
The comments followed a wave of announcements from several artists originally booked for the major concert series tied to the president’s Freedom 250 celebration, who confirmed they would no longer perform.
Trump did not hold back in his post. He wrote that he was considering ordering his representatives to look into holding an “America Is Back” rally in Washington on the same day and at the same location as the planned concert.
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The Freedom 250 backstory
Freedom 250 is a public-private organisation ready to lead celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of the United States. Its programming includes a major 16-day festival on the National Mall called the Great American State Fair, scheduled to run from June 25 through July 10.
The concert lineup became public earlier in the week as part of that broader patriotic programming. More than half of the nine scheduled acts pulled out in the days that followed.
Artists who withdrew include Martina McBride, Bret Michaels, Morris Day, Young MC, and The Commodores. Some cited misleading nature and purpose of the event as the reason for their exit. Vanilla Ice and Milli Vanilli’s Fab Morvan announced they would still take the stage.
The withdrawals created an embarrassing situation for organisers, stripping the lineup of its bigger-name draws just days after the full roster was public.
Trump’s Elvis comparison
The most striking part of Trump’s Truth Social statement was his comparison of himself to Elvis Presley as a crowd-drawing force.
He described himself as someone who “gets much larger audiences than Elvis in his prime” and noted that he manages to do so “without a guitar.”
Trump referred to himself as “the Number One Attraction anywhere in the World” and added that he was, in his own words, “the man who loves our Country more than anyone else” and who some call the greatest president in history.
He also tagged himself with the acronym “THE GOAT,” meaning Greatest of All Time, and signed off the statement with his full name in capital letters: DONALD J. TRUMP.
‘The yips’ and ‘happy people’
Trump used an unusual phrase to describe the mood among the departing performers. He wrote that artists were getting “the yips” over performing at the upcoming concert, framing their hesitation as a kind of performance anxiety.
He then made clear he had no interest in reluctant participants. Trump wrote that he did not want “so-called artists” who got too much money and were still unhappy, stating that he only wanted to be surrounded by “Happy People, Smart People, Successful People, and People that know how to WIN.”