President Trump vows 'really long speech' as heat concerns mount over 250th celebration

[0:00] Joining us, host of the Bulwark podcast and MSNOW political analyst Tim Miller, [0:04] former Republican governor of North Carolina Pat McCrory, MSNOW senior White House reporter [0:09] Vaughn Hilliard, and MSNOW senior legal reporter Lisa Rubin, because there's a legal angle to this. [0:17] Okay, Vaughn, is the White House really concerned about Saturday? [0:23] Absolutely. I mean, look at the event production that we have seen over the course of the last [0:28] week at the National Mall. And there are serious questions that when you're looking at 100 degree [0:35] temperatures on Saturday, you're looking at the reality that because the president wants to [0:40] deliver a primetime speech at 9 p.m., which is usually when the fireworks go off on the National [0:45] Mall every year, that they're looking at a two hour delay of the fireworks not starting until 11 p.m. [0:51] And the fact is that because the president is going to be there, there is going to be a U.S. [0:55] secret service apparatus that is large, one that is going to require folks to go through [1:00] magnetometers to get in to the event and be out in the sunlight for all those hours. There are [1:06] questions about families, whether they are going to come out. Typically, the National Mall is a [1:10] welcoming event annually for folks across the greater D.C. area, people that fly in from out of [1:15] town. But I was talking to one person who is very familiar with the production team that is a part of [1:21] this. And they put it to me very skeptically, believing that this is going to look like a [1:26] typical Trump rally, that only the most loyal supporters of the president are going to be [1:31] coming to this event. He has made this an overtly political event. Initially, a commission was [1:35] started back in 2016, a bipartisan one on Capitol Hill, passed through legislation to fund and [1:42] ultimately plan and coordinate these types of commemorative events. But there was another [1:46] organization and outside, effectively, a political arm with Trump allies named Freedom 250 that [1:53] ultimately hired the firms behind this event and are the ones orchestrating it. And you have Donald [1:59] Trump himself saying that this is going to be the biggest political Trump rally yet, at the same time [2:04] that they're planning a fireworks show that is going to be 10 times that of a normal National Mall [2:08] fireworks show, which health experts are telling us at MSNOW. They have deep concerns over the health [2:14] and concerns that it could cause for older folks, for folks with asthma. So there is a lot at play [2:21] here coming into Saturday, one in which there's deep questions about exactly what that crowd will look [2:26] like for the president come Saturday night. All right. Let's play Donald Trump talking about how he's [2:31] going to battle the heat. This is him from yesterday. On July 4th, it's going to be [2:39] approximately 107 degrees out. And I'm going to go and I'm going to make a really long speech [2:45] just to show that I can do anything. Tim, when he said that, I immediately thought of the drunk [2:53] history of William Henry Harrison. The story, I mean, that TV show was really funny, but just the story [3:00] of what happened to him when he gave his inaugural speech. He wanted to prove that he was still tough. [3:06] He was 68 years old. He was older for the time, at least. And he didn't wear a coat and it was very [3:12] cold, snowy and rainy. And about 30 days later, he succumbed to illness and died. One of the [3:20] shortest presidencies that we've ever had in this country or the shortest presidency. It does just [3:27] like there's all the times where Donald Trump is just fighting against an uncomfortable parallel in [3:33] history. And here's another one. Well, this presidency has been a lot longer than that [3:38] one. And it feels even longer. Here we are talking about it. He's talking about like 950 at night. [3:45] So it's not going to be at the peak of the day in the heat. We'll see. I think the bigger question [3:49] is, who wants to go hear a really long Trump speech on the 4th of July night in America 250? I mean, [3:57] even some of the biggest Trump fans, you would wonder, wouldn't many of them rather just watch [4:03] it on their big screen and go out and set off sparklers and hang out with their friends in the [4:08] air conditioning? And, you know, it just it just seems extremely unappealing. This is what happens [4:14] when you're a megalomaniac. He only thinks about himself. The original idea for this was that there's [4:18] going to be a lot of musicians and and and fanfare. And it would be a moment to remember the history of [4:24] the country. And you can understand why people might want to do that and like bring their kids [4:27] to it and kind of experience it. He changed it from that to being a Trump rally. It's going to be [4:32] really hot. It's going to be really late at night. He said he says it's going to be long. That's his [4:36] pitch. I think it's going to be pretty empty. Let me play folks that have been going to this [4:42] Great American Fair. We're showing some images of it right now and how they how their visit has been. [4:49] What brings you to the 250th State Fair? We got married in 1976. So it's [4:59] 50 years tomorrow. So are you surprised about how empty it is at all or no? Well, a little bit [5:05] remembering back to the 1976. This place was a mob. Yeah. And that fair was packed. Yes. And it was here [5:15] on the mall. Yeah. Yeah. In 1976. It was great. There are a lot of people that aren't coming for [5:21] whatever reason. But it's come down here. So I'm going to be 250 once. And what do you think of it [5:29] so far? Great. Great. I love it. Are you a little bit surprised that it's this empty? [5:35] Yes. I'm surprised it's a little empty. I saw you looking at the arch, the triumph arch. What do [5:40] you think of it? I think it's beautiful. Yeah. Yeah. I hope it gets built. Yeah. So some people, [5:47] you know, there and wanting it to be fuller. I've been to a lot of state fairs. When you cover [5:51] political campaigns, you end up going to state fairs, Governor. I know you've been to [5:55] your share of them yourself. Is this a state fair? No. Three quick points. I agree with all the [6:05] points that have been made. But first of all, we miss the Beach Boys. We need the Beach Boys on 4th [6:10] of July. But we've lost Brian Wilson. Second, we're competing against the World Cup. I think the World [6:19] Cup has taken over 4th of July 250. That is the number one thing on people's mind right now. [6:25] Soccer in America. And third, kind of sarcastically but half serious, I think maybe people think they [6:33] have to buy Bitcoin or crypto to get in. Because Washington, sadly, has been taken over by the [6:39] crypto industry. Not just the Trump White House, but all of Congress, both Republicans and Democrats. [6:45] They're the largest donor to Washington politicians right now in Washington, D.C., over every other [6:50] industry. And that's a sad commentary on the state of Washington right now and both political parties [6:56] and the Trump White House. Well, there's plenty of reason to be worried about that. I mean, we have [7:02] news, and Lisa, you can report this out, about Democrats alleging fraud about how the money was raised [7:08] for this. I think it's a fair gun. I'm sorry. Hold on, Governor. Let Lisa explain it first. [7:16] Katie, there are some Democrats who have released a report today from the Hill explaining that there [7:21] were folks who wanted to be donors to the original bipartisan commission set up in honor of the 250th [7:27] America 250. But when they expressed that they wanted to make those contributions, they were given [7:33] routing numbers and other information to direct their donations instead to the nonprofit organization set [7:39] up by the Trump administration, Freedom 250. And you'll note that today, when asked about this, the White House [7:46] didn't quite deny it. Instead, what they did was dump all over America 250, saying that it had become bloated [7:53] and inefficient, that they had spent a bunch of money since its establishment in 2016 for not, and therefore that [8:00] they had to essentially replace it with a better organization. The problem, of course, being that it's not clear [8:06] that all of the ways in which Freedom 250 is spending its money are in fact nonpartisan, as is required of [8:14] any federal 501c3 organization, the kinds of organizations we know traditionally as nonprofits. [8:20] So not only is there a component of potential deception of those who wanted to donate to the bipartisan [8:26] commission, there's also the question raised by Vaughn's reporting of what is this organization [8:32] actually doing with its money? And is it fulfilling the federal mandate applicable to tax exempt [8:37] organizations that they remain steadfastly nonpartisan?