May 31, 2026
Bigger Than Elvis: We Have a New Headliner For The Great American State Fair
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RSS Feed In another jaw dropping Truth Social post, President Trump has announced that he is canceling the concert series after nearly all of the musical acts dropped out. Instead, he says the man who gets larger audiences than Elvis in his prime will hold a rally… yes, President Trump is referring to himself. Trump went on in a second post to also say he is canceling the Kennedy Center renovations after a judge ruled his name must be removed from the building.
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00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey, the folks, it is Sunday, May thirty first, And who cares if Martina mcrie, Brett Michaels and the Commodore is canceled on the Big two hundred and fiftieth anniversary concert. We now have a new headliner that, according to President Trump, gets bigger audiences than Elvis ever did. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Holy hell Rose, Who cares about these folks who were hits in the eighties and nineties. Trump has somebody now to take the stage for the Big two undred and fifty Even Elvis in his prime didn't get these numbers.
00:00:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, who could we possibly be talking about?
00:00:41
Speaker 1: Crazy?
00:00:42
Speaker 2: What star could bring in that many people? Let me think, Let me think, Let me think what headliner could just line unite folks kick off this celebration the way only one person could?
00:00:53
Speaker 1: You know what? Lady Gaga gets good crowds, Kira does, jay Z could bring in somebody, but it's not so okay. Let me think you're Garth Brooks. Garth Brooks does some big concerts, right, Who does these massive Comp'm trying to think.
00:01:04
Speaker 2: Who Kendrick Lamar.
00:01:09
Speaker 1: Maybe, but it doesn't seem like that would be the president's choice. I'm trying to, really, Rhodes, think of the biggest names in all of art. Who could bring who could bring a crowd that big. I'm bad trying to think bad Bunny. We know that's not happening, but it's a good point. So Robes, who could it be that the President has now announced is the big headliner?
00:01:31
Speaker 2: This is insanity because the big headliner is President Trump himself.
00:01:37
Speaker 1: Boom there, Donald J. Trump, Boom there. It is, folks. The mess, the embarrassments, and the absolute joke of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary concert continues now in Robes. This has only been five days in the making, and this is where we are. But we're getting this from the President himself. He said he's going to be the head We should know he's not gonna perform.
00:02:01
Speaker 2: I don't think can you imagine him singing, oh god no? But look, you know, he has got to be furious behind the scenes about how this has been handled, how this has been managed. This is a pr disaster beyond I mean of epic proportions.
00:02:21
Speaker 1: It's embarrassing that young MC doesn't even want to be affiliated with you. And again this is not a knock. We all love that song and loved his music, but he had his run in the nineties and okay it was a major one hit wonder. Fine, but these aren't people robes who are bringing in head bringing in big crowds and doing tours and whatnot robes. This list of folks who aren't considered right now at least I'm not being offensive to them, are not considered a list headliners. They are running from your concert. That's embarrassing.
00:02:58
Speaker 2: These folks who we're in their prime, most of them in the nineties, so we're talking thirty years ago. You would have assumed, and I'm sure this was the strategy from the folks heading up this organization that we're trying to put together this concert. Hey, if we get folks who are thirty years beyond their prime, clearly they'll be excited to be in them.
00:03:20
Speaker 1: All.
00:03:21
Speaker 2: People will know their songs. This is a win win. This is how we can get artists to perform and not feel any immediate public pressure to distance themselves from this administration. I'm sure that was their strategy.
00:03:33
Speaker 1: And it seemed robed at least with the theme they say we're going to have a nineties theme with music that everybody can dance to. I said, I'll buy it fine, and I know the list. Here we have Martina mcbriye, Morris Day in the Time, Brett Michaels, Milli, Vanilli, the Commodore's Young MCU Flow Ride, See and See Music Factory, Vanilla Ice. You hear that, go wait a minute, this is our big list. Well, every single one of these folks has a song or songs that had an impact on your life and have been considered iconic.
00:04:01
Speaker 2: Yes, And I think if you really look at it from where they were going with this, it makes a lot of sense because it's intergenerational, like you've got young kids and old folks who all know the same songs. There aren't many songs or decades at this point where that would work. And I thought it was pretty cool that they did that. It made sense for a lot of reasons, and yet it still blew up in their faces.
00:04:25
Speaker 1: So we got two posts, very long posts somewhat from the President letting us know how he feels about what has happened. And what happened is they announced I think it was on Tuesday or Wednesday of last week on this list of entertainers. Forty eight hours later, five or six of the nine had dropped out, So who still in now? Rogues Florida hasn't said anything, not a word. Vanilla Ice said something on social media and he did an interview with TMZ saying yeah, I'll show up, I'll play for anybody. He was excited and CNC Music Factory is unclear they're going to do so most of them Robes didn't just say I don't want anything to do with Trump kind of sort of, but they said, hey, this isn't what we were told it was going to be.
00:05:09
Speaker 2: Yes, they all seemed to be aghast when they realized that their names were attached to this big anniversary concert, and that was interesting to me because they all claimed that they didn't want to be partisan, they didn't want to be playing politics.
00:05:26
Speaker 3: Now.
00:05:26
Speaker 2: Brett Michaels even insinuated very clearly that his family and that his life was being threatened just by being attached to this group that was being this concert that was being put on by Yes, the current administration. But it's interesting because in the announcement I didn't see any language that seemed political. It was just by association. But I'm confused how they were. They didn't think this had anything to do with a show or a celebration that was being put on by this current administration, and perhaps the private funding. I was suggesting, perhaps these artists were being paid, and maybe that those payments could be linked to partisan groups, and for whatever reason, they all backed out.
00:06:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would give some of them the benefit of the doubt, and that sometimes you don't know three months ago, four months ago, your manager, somebody comes to us a concert for the two hundred and fifth, the anniversary of the country. It's going to be in DC on this date. Get you good, and hadn't thought about it. Again, I give some of them that, yes, because I say Robes, when the announcements were made, they didn't have time to read the tea leaves. They immediately started pulling out.
00:06:38
Speaker 2: That's true. We had people pulling out from.
00:06:41
Speaker 1: The from the jump. Okay, so here we are, all of this has taking place, and we were waiting to hear from the president, and sure enough we did. And you're not gonna believe, or maybe you will believe, but or it was still a little unbelievable to me that the president of the United States in the middle of a war has time for this and for something that seems I know it's a big deal, Rose, but he put there was an amount of energy and response to this whole situation that it appears it just bothers him more than I think it should.
00:07:11
Speaker 2: Well, and he understands how it looks. He understands pr he understands that, yes, it matters and it's important, and so he's trying to get He's not ahead of it, but he's trying to stop the bleeding.
00:07:23
Speaker 1: All right. So this is what we heard first from the president. Two posts, the first one here Robes and I was a little surprised he didn't name anybody by name, but he didn't. But this is the first first we heard from the President about this whole situation. In a post yesterday, he.
00:07:36
Speaker 2: Wrote, I understand artists are getting the yips having to do with their performance on Wednesday. So I'm 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 says say is excuse me the greatest president in the history 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. Two years ago, the United States was dead. Now we have the hottest country anywhere in the world. I don't want so called artists that get paid far too much money who aren't happy. I only want to be surrounded by happy people, smart people, successful people, and people that know how to win. So by copy of this truth, I am ordering my representatives to look at the feasibility of doing an America is Back rally on Wednesday, Washington, d C. Same time, same location, only great patriots invited. It will be a wild and beautiful celebration of America.
00:08:56
Speaker 1: That's man's wow. A lot of that's.
00:08:59
Speaker 2: Tough, slusional, Babe. That is tough delusional.
00:09:03
Speaker 1: I mean, I want to hear JD Vans. Jdvans is the best at taking a lot of this stuff that you he's a smart dude. There's no way you look at this and think this is normal or this is okay. And if you want to be dismissed at all, President's having a little fun. Oh you're just being a little silly. This is consistent Robes.
00:09:25
Speaker 2: It is shocking, it's narcissism. It's an ego like I don't think any of us have ever seen before. And it is delusional because the way he's speaking as if what he's saying is just true, and it's outrageous and it's bizarre and it's very far from the truth.
00:09:46
Speaker 1: Okay, I want to put in what I go back to JD. Vans because somebody's going to have to defend it. So what do they often say, Ah, it's just President having a little fun. Are we supposed to just take it as such? Should we all just relax?
00:09:58
Speaker 4: No?
00:09:58
Speaker 1: Stop, I can't believe I was suggesting that because relaxing has his name in front of Kennedy's on the damn Kennedy Center right, where is there any we are. We've normalized it to the point that we don't challenge it anymore.
00:10:10
Speaker 2: And that's you know, what you just said is so important for everyone to remember. We can all say, oh, he's just being Trump, he's just doing his thing. No, he follows through on what he says, and when it's not just about I'm so great and I did this, and I did that. No, he's putting his name on things, he's putting his faces on things. He's acting bizarrely in a way presidents do not act.
00:10:32
Speaker 1: Oh, I forgot about the two hundred and fifty dollars bill. Yeah, the Trump Kennedy Center, the Passports Arc, the Trump the Past, the National Park passes. That's true.
00:10:43
Speaker 2: And he's using the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary as a birthday part of his own personal Yes, the reason why he should be able to brand everything on this in this country.
00:10:54
Speaker 1: So he suggested their robes. He is suggesting that he comes wears the line down there Wednesday. What was he saying by this truth? I am ordering what was it down there? I'm missing it.
00:11:06
Speaker 4: But he wants to have a rally, look at the feasibility there it is, So he put that out and sure enough was a little time later, the Freedom Too fifty organization that's putting this together, that did have a statement and they did say, quote, as the visionary behind the Great American State Fair, we are excited to announce that President Trump will personally kick off this historic celebration on Wednesday, June twenty fourth.
00:11:31
Speaker 1: In an opening ceremony celebrating America's two hundred and fiftieth birthday. They have not confirmed robes, whether or not the artists who might still come, which is right now Floorida and Vanillas, if those concerts will go forward, But they are saying now robes. The draw is President Trump having a rally, which will certainly robes now be for what him, his supporters, his people. That doesn't feel like an America thing.
00:11:58
Speaker 2: He even said only great patriots invited.
00:12:01
Speaker 1: So I mean, how do you show your patriot card to get access? I don't know, Rose, but anybody who has any issue with anything that comes out of the White House is not patriotic, and that's just dangerous. Robes to label everybody anti American or treason US, or telling people they need to be put in jail because they disagree with something he does. Robes. That is not United States of America type stuff.
00:12:24
Speaker 2: It's not democracy robes.
00:12:26
Speaker 1: That is stuff we see other places. Get in line or else, get in line, or you're anti US, Get in line, or you're against this country. Get in line, or you'll be thrown in jail. Get in line, or you're being killed. We're not too far from those things. Please, folks, don't get Misunderstand. I'm not suggesting this president is doing that. I'm saying it goes in line with things we see other places. And I don't know how much scarier this can get.
00:12:48
Speaker 2: Yes, it is frightening. Look I even look at it like this. This is childlike behavior, which is deeply concerning to me. Remember I had a I think we were talking one time just about parenting, and there was an amazing I believe it was a New York Times article, way way way back when, and they said, if you want to know if your child is entitled, or you know, basically a spoiled brat, tell them no. When most people get disappointed are told no, they are disappointed. They might be a little sad, but they they rally and they and they pivot. If you have an entitled, spoiled brat, they will throw a fit. They will throw a tantrum, they will get angry, they will freak out. That is exactly what we see President Trump do every single time. People don't get in line, don't tell him he's the goat, don't agree with everything he says.
00:13:39
Speaker 3: He throws a temper, tantrum. Roase, you just mentioned this is repeated. This isn't a one off.
00:13:49
Speaker 1: And I know a lot of folks that you watch a lot of new Most people do not, I would argue, spend the time that we do reading through his truth social It is shocking. It is shocking every day, And even though we read it every day, Robes, we still can't believe a lot of this that's so true.
00:14:05
Speaker 2: It's not as if we've even we even't even had the chance to grow accustomed to it. We even have haven't had a chance to be desensitized to it. It all is still shocking.
00:14:16
Speaker 1: Well, folks, the shock will continue in just a moment, because we're gonna let you hear his second post about the Freedom two fifty concert, and in this post he says the things should flat out be canceled the concert altogether, But then he pivots and starts attacking the wife of a judge who made a decision he didn't like. Yes, folks, will place this all together for you. Stay here, all right, folks, We continue here on Amy and TJ on this what five days now Here we sit Sunday five, with five days after the original announcement last week about the Freedom to fifty concert. You had nine artists. Within forty eight hours, at least five or six had dropped out, and this is where we are. So it's this is an overwhelming embarrassment for the President, for the White House because we know he's been talking about this two fifty for a long time.
00:15:17
Speaker 2: Oh, he has made this. He has wanted to make this a huge part of his second term. Just the legacy he will leave the celebration people remember for generations to come. That is what he has envisioned. And yes, on Wednesday they made the announcement. By Friday, what seventy percent had dropped out. So yes, his second post, though, my goodness, this one took it to a whole new level.
00:15:42
Speaker 1: And I didn't see this one coming. But there has been a lot of it has been bro There's been a lot of bad news for the president this week. There was the mentioning this the what was it? The concert's happening, his name's coming off the Kennedy Center. There was one other thing that he just took. He's been taking big blows and embarrassing blows this week. You know he's upset. So his second post here robes. Yes, he talks about the one embarrassment of the concert. But then he pivots pretty quickly to the other embarrassment having to do with the Kennedy Center.
00:16:15
Speaker 2: That's right, he says, we should have a giant make America Great Again rally for two fifty instead of having overpriced singers who nobody wants to hear, whose music is boring, and yet who do nothing but complain.
00:16:29
Speaker 1: All right, there for a second that now, Robes is the problem with America's two hundred and fifty Make America Great Again rally? Is a political rally. Absolutely, this is not a celebration for everybody anymore. He has confirmed. And now it's almost robes. Half the country's not invited. If you're not a supporter of President Trump, would you set foot at this rally?
00:16:51
Speaker 2: Absolutely? Not right.
00:16:52
Speaker 1: It should be for the country. It should feel like that. And the freedom to fifty, Yeah, you know, we didn't explain that the freedom two fifty is his thing that he created. There's another America two fifty bipartisan group in Congress that was putting together a celebration. And if he did this.
00:17:08
Speaker 2: One, yeah, And if they had allowed the bipartisan group perhaps to pick and choose and offer invitations to artists, it would have been a completely different scenario. And I just it makes me so sad, actually sad to think that if he could just take his hands off the wheel when it comes to controlling everything and recognize that some things are better to let other people who have different views, different opinions coming from the other side of the aisle, come together and create a celebration for everyone. And with that, that's leadership. That is leadership. There's a difference between control, controlling something, and leading something. He constantly wants to control. He will never lead, and that's sad because there's such an opportunity there. You can still hold your beliefs, you can still pursue your policies, and you can still try to make America great again through your lens. But you have to lead and you have to bring people along with you. You can't just tyrannically tell people what they have to do, and when they don't do exactly what you want them, to, insult them, humiliate them, drag their names through the mud. He's calling all these folks who he asked to perform, or at least the group he funded to perform, yes, calling them nobody's and boring. I mean, we all see through that he's speaking in pain, and so he's hurt people hurt. That's what he's doing.
00:18:34
Speaker 1: But ro you can't. That sounds like weakness.
00:18:36
Speaker 2: It is.
00:18:38
Speaker 1: But no, you just said something there, Robes. That humanized a guy who seems larger than life, right, most powerful man in the world type thing. But you humanized him in a way. It's not the most positive human trait, but it is one that a lot of people have, baby, and that's tough if you think about an eighty year old man with all that power, all that money, all that influence, and still the most basic of human instincts gets to him. I'm hurting, so let me lash out. Oh man, that's it. It's almost I feel a note of sympathy for the man for a second.
00:19:17
Speaker 2: Because the last thing he wants is your pity.
00:19:19
Speaker 1: I know, not even pity, you're just sympathy. You are sympathetic to you can't that's still at this time of your life, this point in your life, you can't get past this.
00:19:29
Speaker 2: And I could understand, and I appreciate the fact that you are recognizing that and saying that, and I I guess I'm not there because he's dangerous, like we can talk about these posts, but he is the most powerful man in the United States, not in the United States, in the world, and speaking of the pain that we can see through these words, it continues.
00:19:52
Speaker 1: All right, let's pick back up. Yes, uh, you know I started. I stopped you there because of the freedom to fifty rally. I wanted to explain who these the make America Great Again rally ropes? That is confirmation that nobody else is invited except my people.
00:20:05
Speaker 2: That's tough, Okay, yes, okay, So cancel it, just like I canceled my involvement with the failing and unsafe to be in Kennedy Center because a highly conflicted, crooked federal judge said that I should not be allowed to spend my time and money in order to make the center great again, actually far greater than it ever was before. It would have also been nice to see a Republican Democrat Union bring it back to life. The Kennedy Center is broken, unsafe, and busted, and has been for many years. Judge Cooper also stated that the highly prestigious board of the Center was not authorized to add the name Trump, despite the fact that hundreds of millions of dollars of my time and money will be necessary for its successful reincarnation. So now the Kennedy Center will collapse, both structurally and financially. Judge Cooper and his wife Amy Jeffers obfuscation. Anyone should be ashamed of themselves. Judge Cooper, like numerous other crooked judges on my cases, should be impeached. Make America great again. Judge Cooper, what is he saying about his wife Amy Jeffris. I don't know her backstory.
00:21:20
Speaker 1: There is a longer post he has that we might get into in a later episode today. But she is one of the most impressive attorneys and resumes you will ever see in your life. But she happens to work for a big time boutique law firm that has represented the likes of Joe Biden. She is worked for Eric Holder's Justice Department. So he has gone through and he is pointing her out as the problem who is illegally influencing her husband who just ruled that Trump's name has to come off the Kennedy Center. You've seen this happen plenty of times. Ropes to where he is discrediting anybody who goes against him. So this is unfair. This is wrong. He throws the wife. He goes off on the wife in another post, robes in a way that as a husband he might want to step out back with the president kind of a thing. Wow, Like he goes after the wife in such a way. But it was odd. Now I shouldn't say odd. But he pivots very quickly cancel the concert, just like I canceled my involvement in the Kennedy Center, and the scary one there, robes is that about adding the name. It's going to take hundreds of million dollars of my time and money to successfully bring it back. He's making the argument, so of course my name should be up.
00:22:44
Speaker 2: There, correct, because I paid for it.
00:22:47
Speaker 1: Damn baby, the man got shot. The man Kennedy got shot and killed in front of the world. I'm fixing the buildings of my name. He's saying it. Yeah.
00:22:58
Speaker 2: Oh, and he believes it too. He's not just saying it. He believes it.
00:23:04
Speaker 1: He want to leave space. So this is not we're not having conversations about policy is to cut taxes, policy is pro abortion rights against abortion rate. It's not We're not talking about knolicy and economic development and rooms. We are talking about fighting over his name being in front of Kennedy's and good morning to you on what's going to be next in your prediction as we wrap up here for the concert, will there be any musical performance?
00:23:35
Speaker 2: Well, Vanilla Ice has made it very clear he's desperate to perform. I mean, I shouldn't say that, but he really wants to.
00:23:40
Speaker 4: He was.
00:23:41
Speaker 2: He did his whole video to cameras saying he really wanted to. I think Trump will like that. I think it's possible.
00:23:48
Speaker 1: Is he going to consider him washed up and he's not good enough to be there? Kind of a thing. I mean, he insulted all of them.
00:23:54
Speaker 2: He did.
00:23:54
Speaker 1: Vanilla Ice was performed, I believe at another Trump event. He was in his video the one we saw, he like it was on the spot. He seemed he was excited.
00:24:03
Speaker 2: He was excited, like woo, I get to do this. This sounds and by the way, it should be an honor. That's the thing. It should be exciting. There's nothing wrong with being excited about that opportunity. That is very cool to say that you performed at the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of our country. That's amazing. So I understand his enthusiasm. I don't know if it will be rewarded or if hearing the President say he might just think he's talking about the other fans. He's not talking about me. And look, well right a very interestingly silent waiting to hear him say anything. But yes, I could see us getting to hear both of those acts. But I could also see him just putting up Lee Greenwood.
00:24:43
Speaker 1: I hadn't heard him Lee yet. Kid Rock is in Nashville at his house. I just sent the Apache helicopter to pick him up, like it shouldn't be a problem. Well, well, of.
00:24:53
Speaker 2: Course, keep our eye on this developing story and what may happen in Washington, DC to celebrate our our country. But it's been a hell of a last five days trying to figure things out. But thank you as always for listening to us everyone. I'm Amy Robach alongside TJ. Holmes. We'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 1: Hey, the folks, it is Sunday, May thirty first, And who cares if Martina mcrie, Brett Michaels and the Commodore is canceled on the Big two hundred and fiftieth anniversary concert. We now have a new headliner that, according to President Trump, gets bigger audiences than Elvis ever did. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Holy hell Rose, Who cares about these folks who were hits in the eighties and nineties. Trump has somebody now to take the stage for the Big two undred and fifty Even Elvis in his prime didn't get these numbers.
00:00:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, who could we possibly be talking about?
00:00:41
Speaker 1: Crazy?
00:00:42
Speaker 2: What star could bring in that many people? Let me think, Let me think, Let me think what headliner could just line unite folks kick off this celebration the way only one person could?
00:00:53
Speaker 1: You know what? Lady Gaga gets good crowds, Kira does, jay Z could bring in somebody, but it's not so okay. Let me think you're Garth Brooks. Garth Brooks does some big concerts, right, Who does these massive Comp'm trying to think.
00:01:04
Speaker 2: Who Kendrick Lamar.
00:01:09
Speaker 1: Maybe, but it doesn't seem like that would be the president's choice. I'm trying to, really, Rhodes, think of the biggest names in all of art. Who could bring who could bring a crowd that big. I'm bad trying to think bad Bunny. We know that's not happening, but it's a good point. So Robes, who could it be that the President has now announced is the big headliner?
00:01:31
Speaker 2: This is insanity because the big headliner is President Trump himself.
00:01:37
Speaker 1: Boom there, Donald J. Trump, Boom there. It is, folks. The mess, the embarrassments, and the absolute joke of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary concert continues now in Robes. This has only been five days in the making, and this is where we are. But we're getting this from the President himself. He said he's going to be the head We should know he's not gonna perform.
00:02:01
Speaker 2: I don't think can you imagine him singing, oh god no? But look, you know, he has got to be furious behind the scenes about how this has been handled, how this has been managed. This is a pr disaster beyond I mean of epic proportions.
00:02:21
Speaker 1: It's embarrassing that young MC doesn't even want to be affiliated with you. And again this is not a knock. We all love that song and loved his music, but he had his run in the nineties and okay it was a major one hit wonder. Fine, but these aren't people robes who are bringing in head bringing in big crowds and doing tours and whatnot robes. This list of folks who aren't considered right now at least I'm not being offensive to them, are not considered a list headliners. They are running from your concert. That's embarrassing.
00:02:58
Speaker 2: These folks who we're in their prime, most of them in the nineties, so we're talking thirty years ago. You would have assumed, and I'm sure this was the strategy from the folks heading up this organization that we're trying to put together this concert. Hey, if we get folks who are thirty years beyond their prime, clearly they'll be excited to be in them.
00:03:20
Speaker 1: All.
00:03:21
Speaker 2: People will know their songs. This is a win win. This is how we can get artists to perform and not feel any immediate public pressure to distance themselves from this administration. I'm sure that was their strategy.
00:03:33
Speaker 1: And it seemed robed at least with the theme they say we're going to have a nineties theme with music that everybody can dance to. I said, I'll buy it fine, and I know the list. Here we have Martina mcbriye, Morris Day in the Time, Brett Michaels, Milli, Vanilli, the Commodore's Young MCU Flow Ride, See and See Music Factory, Vanilla Ice. You hear that, go wait a minute, this is our big list. Well, every single one of these folks has a song or songs that had an impact on your life and have been considered iconic.
00:04:01
Speaker 2: Yes, And I think if you really look at it from where they were going with this, it makes a lot of sense because it's intergenerational, like you've got young kids and old folks who all know the same songs. There aren't many songs or decades at this point where that would work. And I thought it was pretty cool that they did that. It made sense for a lot of reasons, and yet it still blew up in their faces.
00:04:25
Speaker 1: So we got two posts, very long posts somewhat from the President letting us know how he feels about what has happened. And what happened is they announced I think it was on Tuesday or Wednesday of last week on this list of entertainers. Forty eight hours later, five or six of the nine had dropped out, So who still in now? Rogues Florida hasn't said anything, not a word. Vanilla Ice said something on social media and he did an interview with TMZ saying yeah, I'll show up, I'll play for anybody. He was excited and CNC Music Factory is unclear they're going to do so most of them Robes didn't just say I don't want anything to do with Trump kind of sort of, but they said, hey, this isn't what we were told it was going to be.
00:05:09
Speaker 2: Yes, they all seemed to be aghast when they realized that their names were attached to this big anniversary concert, and that was interesting to me because they all claimed that they didn't want to be partisan, they didn't want to be playing politics.
00:05:26
Speaker 3: Now.
00:05:26
Speaker 2: Brett Michaels even insinuated very clearly that his family and that his life was being threatened just by being attached to this group that was being this concert that was being put on by Yes, the current administration. But it's interesting because in the announcement I didn't see any language that seemed political. It was just by association. But I'm confused how they were. They didn't think this had anything to do with a show or a celebration that was being put on by this current administration, and perhaps the private funding. I was suggesting, perhaps these artists were being paid, and maybe that those payments could be linked to partisan groups, and for whatever reason, they all backed out.
00:06:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would give some of them the benefit of the doubt, and that sometimes you don't know three months ago, four months ago, your manager, somebody comes to us a concert for the two hundred and fifth, the anniversary of the country. It's going to be in DC on this date. Get you good, and hadn't thought about it. Again, I give some of them that, yes, because I say Robes, when the announcements were made, they didn't have time to read the tea leaves. They immediately started pulling out.
00:06:38
Speaker 2: That's true. We had people pulling out from.
00:06:41
Speaker 1: The from the jump. Okay, so here we are, all of this has taking place, and we were waiting to hear from the president, and sure enough we did. And you're not gonna believe, or maybe you will believe, but or it was still a little unbelievable to me that the president of the United States in the middle of a war has time for this and for something that seems I know it's a big deal, Rose, but he put there was an amount of energy and response to this whole situation that it appears it just bothers him more than I think it should.
00:07:11
Speaker 2: Well, and he understands how it looks. He understands pr he understands that, yes, it matters and it's important, and so he's trying to get He's not ahead of it, but he's trying to stop the bleeding.
00:07:23
Speaker 1: All right. So this is what we heard first from the president. Two posts, the first one here Robes and I was a little surprised he didn't name anybody by name, but he didn't. But this is the first first we heard from the President about this whole situation. In a post yesterday, he.
00:07:36
Speaker 2: Wrote, I understand artists are getting the yips having to do with their performance on Wednesday. So I'm 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 says say is excuse me the greatest president in the history 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. Two years ago, the United States was dead. Now we have the hottest country anywhere in the world. I don't want so called artists that get paid far too much money who aren't happy. I only want to be surrounded by happy people, smart people, successful people, and people that know how to win. So by copy of this truth, I am ordering my representatives to look at the feasibility of doing an America is Back rally on Wednesday, Washington, d C. Same time, same location, only great patriots invited. It will be a wild and beautiful celebration of America.
00:08:56
Speaker 1: That's man's wow. A lot of that's.
00:08:59
Speaker 2: Tough, slusional, Babe. That is tough delusional.
00:09:03
Speaker 1: I mean, I want to hear JD Vans. Jdvans is the best at taking a lot of this stuff that you he's a smart dude. There's no way you look at this and think this is normal or this is okay. And if you want to be dismissed at all, President's having a little fun. Oh you're just being a little silly. This is consistent Robes.
00:09:25
Speaker 2: It is shocking, it's narcissism. It's an ego like I don't think any of us have ever seen before. And it is delusional because the way he's speaking as if what he's saying is just true, and it's outrageous and it's bizarre and it's very far from the truth.
00:09:46
Speaker 1: Okay, I want to put in what I go back to JD. Vans because somebody's going to have to defend it. So what do they often say, Ah, it's just President having a little fun. Are we supposed to just take it as such? Should we all just relax?
00:09:58
Speaker 4: No?
00:09:58
Speaker 1: Stop, I can't believe I was suggesting that because relaxing has his name in front of Kennedy's on the damn Kennedy Center right, where is there any we are. We've normalized it to the point that we don't challenge it anymore.
00:10:10
Speaker 2: And that's you know, what you just said is so important for everyone to remember. We can all say, oh, he's just being Trump, he's just doing his thing. No, he follows through on what he says, and when it's not just about I'm so great and I did this, and I did that. No, he's putting his name on things, he's putting his faces on things. He's acting bizarrely in a way presidents do not act.
00:10:32
Speaker 1: Oh, I forgot about the two hundred and fifty dollars bill. Yeah, the Trump Kennedy Center, the Passports Arc, the Trump the Past, the National Park passes. That's true.
00:10:43
Speaker 2: And he's using the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary as a birthday part of his own personal Yes, the reason why he should be able to brand everything on this in this country.
00:10:54
Speaker 1: So he suggested their robes. He is suggesting that he comes wears the line down there Wednesday. What was he saying by this truth? I am ordering what was it down there? I'm missing it.
00:11:06
Speaker 4: But he wants to have a rally, look at the feasibility there it is, So he put that out and sure enough was a little time later, the Freedom Too fifty organization that's putting this together, that did have a statement and they did say, quote, as the visionary behind the Great American State Fair, we are excited to announce that President Trump will personally kick off this historic celebration on Wednesday, June twenty fourth.
00:11:31
Speaker 1: In an opening ceremony celebrating America's two hundred and fiftieth birthday. They have not confirmed robes, whether or not the artists who might still come, which is right now Floorida and Vanillas, if those concerts will go forward, But they are saying now robes. The draw is President Trump having a rally, which will certainly robes now be for what him, his supporters, his people. That doesn't feel like an America thing.
00:11:58
Speaker 2: He even said only great patriots invited.
00:12:01
Speaker 1: So I mean, how do you show your patriot card to get access? I don't know, Rose, but anybody who has any issue with anything that comes out of the White House is not patriotic, and that's just dangerous. Robes to label everybody anti American or treason US, or telling people they need to be put in jail because they disagree with something he does. Robes. That is not United States of America type stuff.
00:12:24
Speaker 2: It's not democracy robes.
00:12:26
Speaker 1: That is stuff we see other places. Get in line or else, get in line, or you're anti US, Get in line, or you're against this country. Get in line, or you'll be thrown in jail. Get in line, or you're being killed. We're not too far from those things. Please, folks, don't get Misunderstand. I'm not suggesting this president is doing that. I'm saying it goes in line with things we see other places. And I don't know how much scarier this can get.
00:12:48
Speaker 2: Yes, it is frightening. Look I even look at it like this. This is childlike behavior, which is deeply concerning to me. Remember I had a I think we were talking one time just about parenting, and there was an amazing I believe it was a New York Times article, way way way back when, and they said, if you want to know if your child is entitled, or you know, basically a spoiled brat, tell them no. When most people get disappointed are told no, they are disappointed. They might be a little sad, but they they rally and they and they pivot. If you have an entitled, spoiled brat, they will throw a fit. They will throw a tantrum, they will get angry, they will freak out. That is exactly what we see President Trump do every single time. People don't get in line, don't tell him he's the goat, don't agree with everything he says.
00:13:39
Speaker 3: He throws a temper, tantrum. Roase, you just mentioned this is repeated. This isn't a one off.
00:13:49
Speaker 1: And I know a lot of folks that you watch a lot of new Most people do not, I would argue, spend the time that we do reading through his truth social It is shocking. It is shocking every day, And even though we read it every day, Robes, we still can't believe a lot of this that's so true.
00:14:05
Speaker 2: It's not as if we've even we even't even had the chance to grow accustomed to it. We even have haven't had a chance to be desensitized to it. It all is still shocking.
00:14:16
Speaker 1: Well, folks, the shock will continue in just a moment, because we're gonna let you hear his second post about the Freedom two fifty concert, and in this post he says the things should flat out be canceled the concert altogether, But then he pivots and starts attacking the wife of a judge who made a decision he didn't like. Yes, folks, will place this all together for you. Stay here, all right, folks, We continue here on Amy and TJ on this what five days now Here we sit Sunday five, with five days after the original announcement last week about the Freedom to fifty concert. You had nine artists. Within forty eight hours, at least five or six had dropped out, and this is where we are. So it's this is an overwhelming embarrassment for the President, for the White House because we know he's been talking about this two fifty for a long time.
00:15:17
Speaker 2: Oh, he has made this. He has wanted to make this a huge part of his second term. Just the legacy he will leave the celebration people remember for generations to come. That is what he has envisioned. And yes, on Wednesday they made the announcement. By Friday, what seventy percent had dropped out. So yes, his second post, though, my goodness, this one took it to a whole new level.
00:15:42
Speaker 1: And I didn't see this one coming. But there has been a lot of it has been bro There's been a lot of bad news for the president this week. There was the mentioning this the what was it? The concert's happening, his name's coming off the Kennedy Center. There was one other thing that he just took. He's been taking big blows and embarrassing blows this week. You know he's upset. So his second post here robes. Yes, he talks about the one embarrassment of the concert. But then he pivots pretty quickly to the other embarrassment having to do with the Kennedy Center.
00:16:15
Speaker 2: That's right, he says, we should have a giant make America Great Again rally for two fifty instead of having overpriced singers who nobody wants to hear, whose music is boring, and yet who do nothing but complain.
00:16:29
Speaker 1: All right, there for a second that now, Robes is the problem with America's two hundred and fifty Make America Great Again rally? Is a political rally. Absolutely, this is not a celebration for everybody anymore. He has confirmed. And now it's almost robes. Half the country's not invited. If you're not a supporter of President Trump, would you set foot at this rally?
00:16:51
Speaker 2: Absolutely? Not right.
00:16:52
Speaker 1: It should be for the country. It should feel like that. And the freedom to fifty, Yeah, you know, we didn't explain that the freedom two fifty is his thing that he created. There's another America two fifty bipartisan group in Congress that was putting together a celebration. And if he did this.
00:17:08
Speaker 2: One, yeah, And if they had allowed the bipartisan group perhaps to pick and choose and offer invitations to artists, it would have been a completely different scenario. And I just it makes me so sad, actually sad to think that if he could just take his hands off the wheel when it comes to controlling everything and recognize that some things are better to let other people who have different views, different opinions coming from the other side of the aisle, come together and create a celebration for everyone. And with that, that's leadership. That is leadership. There's a difference between control, controlling something, and leading something. He constantly wants to control. He will never lead, and that's sad because there's such an opportunity there. You can still hold your beliefs, you can still pursue your policies, and you can still try to make America great again through your lens. But you have to lead and you have to bring people along with you. You can't just tyrannically tell people what they have to do, and when they don't do exactly what you want them, to, insult them, humiliate them, drag their names through the mud. He's calling all these folks who he asked to perform, or at least the group he funded to perform, yes, calling them nobody's and boring. I mean, we all see through that he's speaking in pain, and so he's hurt people hurt. That's what he's doing.
00:18:34
Speaker 1: But ro you can't. That sounds like weakness.
00:18:36
Speaker 2: It is.
00:18:38
Speaker 1: But no, you just said something there, Robes. That humanized a guy who seems larger than life, right, most powerful man in the world type thing. But you humanized him in a way. It's not the most positive human trait, but it is one that a lot of people have, baby, and that's tough if you think about an eighty year old man with all that power, all that money, all that influence, and still the most basic of human instincts gets to him. I'm hurting, so let me lash out. Oh man, that's it. It's almost I feel a note of sympathy for the man for a second.
00:19:17
Speaker 2: Because the last thing he wants is your pity.
00:19:19
Speaker 1: I know, not even pity, you're just sympathy. You are sympathetic to you can't that's still at this time of your life, this point in your life, you can't get past this.
00:19:29
Speaker 2: And I could understand, and I appreciate the fact that you are recognizing that and saying that, and I I guess I'm not there because he's dangerous, like we can talk about these posts, but he is the most powerful man in the United States, not in the United States, in the world, and speaking of the pain that we can see through these words, it continues.
00:19:52
Speaker 1: All right, let's pick back up. Yes, uh, you know I started. I stopped you there because of the freedom to fifty rally. I wanted to explain who these the make America Great Again rally ropes? That is confirmation that nobody else is invited except my people.
00:20:05
Speaker 2: That's tough, Okay, yes, okay, So cancel it, just like I canceled my involvement with the failing and unsafe to be in Kennedy Center because a highly conflicted, crooked federal judge said that I should not be allowed to spend my time and money in order to make the center great again, actually far greater than it ever was before. It would have also been nice to see a Republican Democrat Union bring it back to life. The Kennedy Center is broken, unsafe, and busted, and has been for many years. Judge Cooper also stated that the highly prestigious board of the Center was not authorized to add the name Trump, despite the fact that hundreds of millions of dollars of my time and money will be necessary for its successful reincarnation. So now the Kennedy Center will collapse, both structurally and financially. Judge Cooper and his wife Amy Jeffers obfuscation. Anyone should be ashamed of themselves. Judge Cooper, like numerous other crooked judges on my cases, should be impeached. Make America great again. Judge Cooper, what is he saying about his wife Amy Jeffris. I don't know her backstory.
00:21:20
Speaker 1: There is a longer post he has that we might get into in a later episode today. But she is one of the most impressive attorneys and resumes you will ever see in your life. But she happens to work for a big time boutique law firm that has represented the likes of Joe Biden. She is worked for Eric Holder's Justice Department. So he has gone through and he is pointing her out as the problem who is illegally influencing her husband who just ruled that Trump's name has to come off the Kennedy Center. You've seen this happen plenty of times. Ropes to where he is discrediting anybody who goes against him. So this is unfair. This is wrong. He throws the wife. He goes off on the wife in another post, robes in a way that as a husband he might want to step out back with the president kind of a thing. Wow, Like he goes after the wife in such a way. But it was odd. Now I shouldn't say odd. But he pivots very quickly cancel the concert, just like I canceled my involvement in the Kennedy Center, and the scary one there, robes is that about adding the name. It's going to take hundreds of million dollars of my time and money to successfully bring it back. He's making the argument, so of course my name should be up.
00:22:44
Speaker 2: There, correct, because I paid for it.
00:22:47
Speaker 1: Damn baby, the man got shot. The man Kennedy got shot and killed in front of the world. I'm fixing the buildings of my name. He's saying it. Yeah.
00:22:58
Speaker 2: Oh, and he believes it too. He's not just saying it. He believes it.
00:23:04
Speaker 1: He want to leave space. So this is not we're not having conversations about policy is to cut taxes, policy is pro abortion rights against abortion rate. It's not We're not talking about knolicy and economic development and rooms. We are talking about fighting over his name being in front of Kennedy's and good morning to you on what's going to be next in your prediction as we wrap up here for the concert, will there be any musical performance?
00:23:35
Speaker 2: Well, Vanilla Ice has made it very clear he's desperate to perform. I mean, I shouldn't say that, but he really wants to.
00:23:40
Speaker 4: He was.
00:23:41
Speaker 2: He did his whole video to cameras saying he really wanted to. I think Trump will like that. I think it's possible.
00:23:48
Speaker 1: Is he going to consider him washed up and he's not good enough to be there? Kind of a thing. I mean, he insulted all of them.
00:23:54
Speaker 2: He did.
00:23:54
Speaker 1: Vanilla Ice was performed, I believe at another Trump event. He was in his video the one we saw, he like it was on the spot. He seemed he was excited.
00:24:03
Speaker 2: He was excited, like woo, I get to do this. This sounds and by the way, it should be an honor. That's the thing. It should be exciting. There's nothing wrong with being excited about that opportunity. That is very cool to say that you performed at the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of our country. That's amazing. So I understand his enthusiasm. I don't know if it will be rewarded or if hearing the President say he might just think he's talking about the other fans. He's not talking about me. And look, well right a very interestingly silent waiting to hear him say anything. But yes, I could see us getting to hear both of those acts. But I could also see him just putting up Lee Greenwood.
00:24:43
Speaker 1: I hadn't heard him Lee yet. Kid Rock is in Nashville at his house. I just sent the Apache helicopter to pick him up, like it shouldn't be a problem. Well, well, of.
00:24:53
Speaker 2: Course, keep our eye on this developing story and what may happen in Washington, DC to celebrate our our country. But it's been a hell of a last five days trying to figure things out. But thank you as always for listening to us everyone. I'm Amy Robach alongside TJ. Holmes. We'll talk to you soon.