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The Great American State Fair seemed to attract dozens of attendees ahead of America’s 250th-year Fourth of July celebration. Now it’s attracting no one.Meghan McCain, the daughter of late Arizona Senator John McCain, hosted the “Race2Win” quiz show at the sprawling semiquincentennial celebration Tuesday. But a picture of the game stage, as shared by McCain herself, illustrated that nobody had shown up to her event. Instead, McCain’s voice rang out to an empty field, speckled by just a few lonely chairs.“So cool to host @2waytvapp new game show ‘Race 2 Win’ at The Great American State Fair today!” she wrote on X.But even McCain couldn’t be bothered to show up to the event. The pundit’s image was broadcast onto large screens on the enormous stage while she remained in a presumably climate-controlled room, speaking with participants over Zoom.The event technicians overseeing the show couldn’t be bothered by its technicalities, either. Instead, they streamed McCain’s show as is on the two vertical monitors that bordered the stage, mangling the image while cutting off the text of a trivia question about the building materials used to construct the Capitol dome, due to the altered aspect ratio.Practically every component of Donald Trump’s wildly expensive plan to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary has turned out to be a dud. The $15 million renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool failed to rid the iconic monument of algae; a multiweek lineup of musical acts had to be canceled after practically every artist pulled themselves from the program; and a fleet of buses carrying a contemporary retelling of American history have failed to make a splash in their journey across the country.The Great American State Fair was supposed to be the centerpiece of the Trump administration’s America 250 celebration, yet even it is more of a Potemkin village than a sincere homage. The booths, which offered space for each state to represent its heritage and culture (visitors could pet a replica of a bison at the North Dakota pavilion, or walk away with a bag of chips from Maine), were ideologically pitted against the seismic presence of the federal government and Trump’s authoritarian expansion (banners featuring his grim face flanked the event, while a small-scale replica of his proposed “Triumphal Arc” sat center stage).The fair also suffered from power outages and dangerous technical failures that included large stage equipment falling behind dancers during rehearsal. But the extreme heat that consumed Washington over the weekend seemed to be the final blow to the expansive celebration: Even the thin crowds that did appear to watch the world record–shattering fireworks display were forced to leave the area for several hours due to an unprecedented weather advisory.

Caroline Knowles’ book “peels back, layer by layer, the truth about Chinese investment and influence” in the UK, The Telegraph wrote.

President Trump went on a sprawling, rambling rant Wednesday at the NATO summit in Turkey, in which he called Iranian leadership “scum” and announced that the ceasefire was over, called for an end to all trade with Spain, threatened to colonize Greenland, and continued to attack NATO for not doing exactly what he tells it—all while NATO Secretary Mark Rutte heaped praise on him.Here were the worst moments:While you were sleeping, Trump had a complete meltdown at the NATO summit in Turkey, ranting and raving that "Spain is a wasted cause" led by "bad people," claiming "Greenland is a big problem for us" and the US should've kept it after World War 2, and adding that Iran is led by… pic.twitter.com/65RNL7Hphf— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 8, 2026On Iran“We attacked, very powerfully last night, the very dangerous people from Iran. They’re sick. There’s something wrong with them. We said, ‘Go and do your funeral stuff,’ and instead of that, they start shooting rockets at ships,” Trump said. “So we hit them very hard last night, very hard. I would say 20 to one … I told them every time you hit, we hit.… They’re a bunch of scum. You want to know that? They’re scum. So we don’t like them, I don’t like them, and they’re evil people.”Trump also called Iranian officer Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. strike in Trump’s first term, the “father of the roadside bomb.”“He was an evil genius, but a bad guy, and he was the father of the roadside bomb. The roadside bomb is a bomb that goes on when you’re driving your little vehicle around, and it goes on, and you have no legs, no arms, and no face,” Trump said.He was later asked about the status of the ceasefire, given both Iran and the U.S. had resumed aggression.“It’s a very interesting question. To me? I think it’s over,” he replied. “They’re scum. You know what scum is? They’re scum. They’re sick people. They’re led by sick people, and they’re vicious, violent people. And if they had a nuclear weapon, they’d use it. As far as I’m concerned, it’s over.”On SpainThe president attacked Spain for being “a terrible partner in NATO,” going as far as to demand the U.S. cease all future trade with the nation.“Spain is a wasted cause. We don’t want to do any trade business with Spain anymore. By the way,” he said. “Spain is a terrible partner in NATO. They don’t participate, they don’t pay. I don’t want anything to do with Spain. Cut off all trade with Spain, including visits.… Watch them, watch them come running back. Oh, they’ll come running back.“We’ll see how hostile they remain when they call [me] up, and they, ‘Please, please, we want to trade with you, sir,’” Trump continued, using a high-pitched begging voice to mock Spain. “‘We want to trade with you, sir.’ They make so much money with us, and we’re going to see that they make a lot less. I want no business with them.”On GreenlandTrump again took time to attack Greenland, one of his most constant targets for potential takeover in his second term. “I’m not happy with NATO because of what they did with Greenland, and I’m not happy with NATO because of the fact that they didn’t want to help us with the number one state sponsor of terror; that’s Iran. They were unwilling to help us,” he said. “Greenland is very important for the United States, but it’s not important for Denmark. In fact, when Denmark was overrun by the Nazis in less than one day—Hitler beat them out in one day, took over—they asked us to take care of Greenland.“In fact, we took Greenland, and then stupidly we gave it back. We shouldn’t have given it back to them, because we’re the ones that need it. We need it for protection of the world, not just the United States. And it’s very important. It doesn’t help Denmark, but it helps us, and it’s very important for us.”This was a textbook crashout from a president who has done more damage to U.S. alliances than perhaps any other president this century. Focusing on his petty gripe with NATO payments, restarting the war with Iran, and rekindling rumors of annexing Greenland, all while sitting next to the NATO secretary general, is just a routine Wednesday for Trump.For what it’s worth, Rutte did absolutely nothing to push back on any of Trump’s drivel, only chiming in to applaud him for keeping Israel, Europe, and “the region” (the Middle East) “safe” by downgrading Iran’s ballistic missile capabilites—even as that success is highly questionable.

A Trump administration official tried to take foreign policy into his own hands and caused turmoil within the State Department.Axios reports that in two instances, Deputy Secretary of State Chris Landau gave wrong information about U.S. policy to foreign countries over exiled Venezuelan politician María Corina Machado and her plans to return to the country.Immediately following Venezuela’s June 24 earthquakes that killed over 3,500 people, Machado sought to return to the country to help with relief efforts, despite the fact that she doesn’t have a valid Venezuelan passport. Administration officials thought this was a bad idea, calling it “gross political opportunism” that could in fact hurt relief and recovery efforts.Machado tried again by reaching out to Landau, suggesting that she could go back to Venezuela via Curaçao, a Caribbean island controlled by the Netherlands. Landau advocated Machado’s plan with the Netherlands’ ambassador to the U.S., Birgitta Tazelaar, without approval from Rubio. The Dutch signed off on the plan, giving Machado the necessary permission since she had no passport.“This is U.S. policy, and it’s supported by Secretary Rubio,” Landau reportedly told Tazelaar. Machado planned to stay in U.S. Consul General Ramón Negrón’s residence in Curaçao.On June 25, the next day, Tazelaar was confused because it seemed that the U.S. didn’t want Machado to go to Curaçao. She called the U.S. assistant secretary for the Western Hemisphere, Mike Kozak, who told her that the administration wasn’t helping Machado return to Venezuela. The Dutch then removed their permission while Machado was in the air, and her plane had to return to the U.S.A shocked Machado quickly called Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who explained actual U.S. policy to her. Landau told Rubio that he had been misunderstood and didn’t explicitly say he supported Machado’s plans. But that wasn’t Landau’s only slipup, according to Axios. He then reportedly told Panamanian Foreign Minister Javier Martínez-Acha in a text message exchange that the U.S. was making arrangements for Machado to return to Venezuela.“I understand that your country will make arrangements so that this person can enter Venezuela,” Martínez-Acha texted at 9:21 p.m. June 26 to Landau, who replied, “Perfect description of our position.”On June 28, Machado was in Panama and tried to fly to Venezuela on Copa Airlines from there, only to be rejected when U.S. and Venezuelan officials communicated their disapproval.A source inside the State Department told Axios, “There’s a widespread belief that Landau went rogue, and the evidence supports that belief.” Another source said “Marco isn’t happy” with Landau.Machado has gone out of her way to curry favor with President Trump, gifting him her Nobel Peace Prize after Trump arrested Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January. But Trump hasn’t included her in his plans for the country, and even when she thought she was getting help, it was from a rogue official. Now Landau is in trouble and Machado has nothing.

In When the World Sleeps: Stories, Words, and Wounds of Palestine, the UN Special Rapporteur speaks with Chris Hedges about Gaza, international law, media complicity, and why she believes silence has become one of the greatest enablers of injustice. Joshua Scheer United Nations Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese shares stories of the immense suffering in Palestine […]