‘Number One Attraction’: Trump ready to headline concert as artists pull out

US president Donald Trump has responded to a wave of cancellations by artists who were scheduled to perform in Washington for the US’s 250th birthday by proposing himself as a better alternative.

“I am thinking about bringing the Number One Attraction anywhere in the World,” Trump wrote in a social media post Saturday.

The president said he would “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!”

At least five of the nine performers pulled out of the shows on the National Mall this week shortly after they were announced, saying the event, which begins on June 25, was more political than they had been led to believe.

Freedom 250, which is organising the events, is a group described by Trump as a public-private nonprofit that also organised an overtly Christian prayer meeting on May 17 that included a video message from the president.

Freedom 250 announced a few hours after Trump’s post that he would indeed kick off the event on Wednesday, June 24, in an “opening ceremony”, saying the president was the “visionary” behind the event. A spokesperson, Danielle Alvarez, described the event as a “World’s Fair” that celebrates America through musical performances, exhibits, flyovers and other activities.

Trump has largely avoided big outdoor rallies since a gunman tried to assassinate him at a 2024 campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania. In April, his security detail opened fire at the Washington Hilton on a man who authorities say tried to storm a gala dinner Trump was attending.

Trump’s announcement that he may hold a rally in Washington comes at a low point in his popularity, with the war in Iran and rising gas prices among the issues weighing down his approval rating as Republicans fret about the midterm congressional elections in November.

In his post, Trump said artists “are getting ‘the yips’ having to do with their performance on Wednesday” — though none of the performances were scheduled for Wednesdays.

“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!”

“Only Great Patriots invited – It will be a Wild and Beaut