A Tennessee congressman is trying to resurrect the Great American State Fair after artists bolted from the Trump-affiliated event en masse.
President Donald Trump, 79, on Saturday appeared to rage-quit hosting America’s 250th birthday concert after two-thirds of the acts withdrew over the event’s affiliation with the Trump administration.
In a two-minute video posted to social media on Sunday, Tim Burchett, a Republican from Tennessee’s second congressional district, addressed Trump directly as he outlined his plan to rescue the event by flying in MAGA acts.
“What we ought to do is, my suggestion, get your friend and my friend John Rich, great musician, to lead it off,” Burchett began, after denouncing the acts who cancelled as “pathetic.”
“He’s got some great patriotic tunes he’s written and he sings and it’s just awesome, and let him MC the dadgum thing, and have all these folks come in, there’s plenty of acts in Nashville—people that are trying to get on, get on a big stage like this—this is a world stage,” he continued, perhaps not having heard that even before Trump threatened to cancel there were problems selling tickets.
“Let some of those musicians get out and sing a few songs. All we’d have to do is pay for their dadgum airfare...they’d love it,” he said.
John Rich, the 52-year-old country singer and devoted Trump supporter who won the 2011 season of Trump’s reality TV show The Celebrity Apprentice, responded to Burchett’s proposal on X, writing, “Hey @timburchett don’t threaten ME with a good time! (Have guitar, will travel:).”
Burchett, 61, also called on Trump to hire one of MAGA’s biggest stars, Kid Rock.
“Nobody’s more patriotic in the rock and roll world than he is, and he’s awesome,” he said, before addressing Trump: “I know you got his number, heck I’ve been with him when he’s called you.”
The congressman then suggested Lee Greenwood, who is most famous for the song “God Bless the U.S.A.,” as the show’s finale.
“It’d be cool to have Lee Greenwood come out and sing—he’s got a bunch of great songs—but of course the ending would be “God Bless the U.S.A.” and have all the other acts come out and sing along with him.
“I think that would be awesome to have all those big stars up on stage.”
Burchett then asked social media users to tag the bands and artists they thought might be open to joining the line up.
“Anyway, if y’all got any ideas of some groups that would from your area that would be willing to play, how about tagging them in this—in this story and let’s see if we can make this thing happen,” he said.
The plea comes after more than half of the acts dropped out of the event, citing the event’s political overtones.
Nine acts were announced last week as musical guests, but two-thirds have since canceled their appearances, among them country superstar Martina McBride, rapper Young MC, and the soul band The Commodores.
McBride, one of the event’s biggest stars, said that the event was described to her as a non-partisan celebration, but that it has since turned out that “what we were told is, in fact, not what is happening.”
Trump, in response, posted on Truth Social Saturday that he would be the drawcard for the concert series, saying he pulled bigger numbers than Elvis.
Burchett’s call out reached Vanilla Ice’s drummer, Trent Laugerman who replied that he’s still planning to play the concert, indicating that it perhaps had not been canceled entirely just yet.
“We have no problem with it! Can’t wait to play the show and bring the good vibes...Honored to be part of this and celebrating this awesome country!!” he wrote.
The Great American State Fair was is scheduled to run on the National Mall between June 25 and July 10.
