WASHINGTON (dpa): US President Donald Trump and his MAGA movement look set to headline the upcoming US anniversary festivities after cancellations by several musical acts who were slated to perform.
Trump will personally open the historic celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of the United States in a ceremony on Wednesday, June 24, a spokeswoman for the president's Freedom250 initiative told US media outlets at the weekend.
Earlier, Trump wrote on his Truth Social online platform that he might even step in himself to fill the slots that the "third rate artists" had vacated.
His representatives would look at "the feasibility of doing an AMERICA IS BACK Rally on Wednesday, Washington, D.C., same time, same location. Only Great Patriots invited," Trump wrote, calling himself the "Number One Attraction anywhere in the World."
Going further still, the 47th President of the United States underscored that he is also "the man who gets much larger audiences than Elvis in his prime, and he does so without a guitar."
The line-up of musicians due to perform at the anniversary celebrations in the US capital between June 25 and July 10 was first published last week.
Shortly afterwards, several artists cancelled their appearances, including The Commodores, country singer Martina McBride and Poison frontman Bret Michaels. They stated that the event, which claims to be non-partisan, was too politically charged for their liking.
In a further post, Trump railed against the musicians and even called for the anniversary concert to be cancelled altogether.
"We should have a giant MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN RALLY, for 250, instead of having overpriced singers, who nobody wants to hear, whose music is boring, and yet who do nothing but complain," he wrote. -- dpa
