Having a Normal One in Our Nation’s Capital

WASHINGTON, DC – As I entered the Great American State Fair on Monday, I saw a red-faced older gentleman, looking upset. “I’m mad at Trump!” he exclaimed, adding the event didn’t resemble any fair he had been to before. 

I stopped him and identified myself as a journalist. He and his wife brushed me off, saying he didn’t want to talk to the media.

He was far from alone in having that reaction to the Great American State Fair, which is taking up the National Mall with a tiny model of Trump’s triumphal arch, broken air conditioning, sagging tarps, and more for the next few weeks. Many of those at the fair seemed to be a mix of confused and underwhelmed by the whole thing. In other ways, it was like a microcosm of the modern conservative movement’s vision of America: lots of God, a warped view of the country’s values, much of it a scam.

I went last Saturday with a friend of mine. He’s a former journalist, but made the wise financial move of declining to turn this into a lifelong career. He follows politics and current events. But not super closely, and definitely not in the kind of detail that we offer at TPM. 

After arriving, we decided to stop by a Freedom Truck. They had sample curricula outside; for High School, the first question was: “What were the Western and Judeo-Christian traditions inherited by the American colonists?” 

As if to provide one possible answer, a middle-aged woman in front of us in line started to make conversation. A rodeo that the fair hosts had a competition that morning featuring a nationally ranked Black cowboy from Maryland, she said. The man had been on Fox News that morning, she added, before expressing bewilderment: how could it be that a Black man from Maryland competed in rodeos?

After the Freedom Truck, we spotted, visited, and avoided a Budweiser Truck ($12 Michelob, no thank you), and then moved on to a tent with a religious theme. A “Great Awakening” booth had books and DVDs on the essential fakeness of the COVID pandemic, the country’s Christian founding, and more. My friend and I stopped to speak with an attendant at the stall; she immediately began to try to convert us. She asked if we really knew what would happen once we died; I replied that I didn’t think anyone knew the answer to that question. Her eyes now burning, she told us that she knew, asked our names, and started to pray for us. Once she asked if we could repeat after her that Jesus Christ was our lord and savior, we walked away.

The whole thing veered from strangely funny to unsettling to deadening. Another booth was for AMAC, the Association of Mature American Citizens. It’s the conservative AARP; among other things, they support raising the minimum eligibility age for Social Security. At the fair, they were giving out red grip pads with “THE LEFT NEEDS TO GET A GRIP” emblazoned on the front. 

Outside of the big tents are rows of smaller ones that line the edges of the fair. One activity involves taking a mini-passport and going to the booth for each of the states and territories represented at the fair. Connecticut Public Media reported that Freedom 250 was demanding that the states fund and staff the exhibits.

Because several states declined to participate, the result was bizarre. The booths for Vermont and Hawaii were decorated with two chairs, a stamp, and a backdrop that has the name of the state. New Jersey declined to send a delegation. Instead, an organizer told me, Freedom250 reached out to conservative Cape May county. That is how Cape May came to represent the entire state of New Jersey at the fair.

Many of the states seemed confused about the assignment, and appear to have sent a trade delegation to the fair. These are the kinds of people meant to showcase a state or territory for foreign investment: Puerto Rico, for example, came with products made on the island, and a display boasting that it “combines full U.S. market access, a competitive cost structure, skilled bilingual talent, and established global industry presence.” Idaho boasted its tech sector; South Carolina its golf courses. 

We went into another booth that exhibited the work of an artist who made stylized images of American cities and monuments. It wasn’t immediately obvious, but he also seemed to be a Christian nationalist. In the style of a pre-printing press illuminated manuscript, he included a fabricated quote from George Washington: “Do not let anyone claim tribute of american patriotism if they even attempt to remove religion from politics,” it read.

Federal departments had booths, as well. The Justice Department’s was entirely devoted to the Bureau of Prisons, with at least three recruitment tables to become prison guards. The Department of State had giant mockups of the new, limited-edition Trump passport. 

One guest gravely asked whether this would apply to everyone seeking a new passport; another, younger man, eagerly asked how to get one.

By that point, we had had enough. A few days later, the friend I went with texted me, describing a “psychic shock” he got from the fair.

“Things are worse than I thought,” he wrote.

The Strange Saga of Alaska’s Dueling Dan Sullivans 

It turns out there will be two Dan Sullivans running in Alaska’s primary election after all. To the dismay of incumbent Sen. Dan S. Sullivan, the state Supreme Court ruled this week that his fellow Republican opponent, Dan J. Sullivan, can also appear on the ballot. 

This very “Malkovich, Malkovich” saga has prompted accusations of trickery from the right. Republicans allege that Democrats and their candidate, Mary Peltola, are backing the Other Sullivan’s campaign in order to confuse Alaskans into splitting their votes. Peltola’s campaign, the Alaska Democratic Party, and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee all told the Associated Press they had nothing to do with Dan J. Sullivan’s campaign; Sullivan himself, a retiree who formerly worked for the U.S. Forest Service and as an elementary school teacher, insists he’s had “zero” contact with Peltola’s team. Sullivan told the AP he was registered with the Alaskan Independence Party until the party’s dissolution last year, at which point he became a registered Republican. Whatever his motivation, he doesn’t quite seem like he’s equipped for a federal election campaign, initially rescheduling his interview with the AP “because the king salmon were running and he wanted to fish” and acknowledging that he was still working on the details of connecting with voters in the state’s larger cities. (He lives in the 3,400-person fishing town of Petersburg.)

The details of the whole fast-moving affair are truly odd, so let’s run things back with a quick timeline. 

May 29: The challenger declares his candidacy in a simply titled press release: “Dan Sullivan Challenges Dan Sullivan for U.S. Senate Seat.”

June 2: Sen. Sullivan goes a bit postal to reporters on Capitol Hill, telling reporters, including TPM’s Emine Yucel, that Peltola’s campaign and DC Democrats “are complicit in trying to trick Alaskans — that’s an insult — to rig, and I say very strongly, rig an election in their favor.” 

June 10: Lt. Gov Nancy Dahlstrom, a Republican whose office oversees elections in the state, launches an investigation into Dan J. Sullivan’s campaign, citing “credible allegations” that he launched his bid “with the deliberate intent to confuse voters.”

June 15: The Alaska Division of Elections disqualifies the Other Sullivan from appearing on the ballot, citing its agreement with Dahlstrom’s complaint and others filed by the Alaska Republican Party and National Republican Senatorial Committee. His campaign, the division said, was not an “actual good-faith candidacy.”

June 22: The Other Sullivan files a suit to stay on the ballot.

June 26: A Superior Court judge rejects the Division of Election’s decision, saying it “was based upon a new, previously unstated, ‘good-faith’ criteria” that’s not in the Constitution or state law, as Alaska Public Media reported. The decision is promptly appealed. 

June 29: In an order of less than 100 words, the Alaska State Supreme Court orders that the Other Sullivan must be included on the ballot, saying that kicking him off represented “the most extreme remedy possible.” The court said the Division of Elections could determine how to present the challenger’s name (e.g. to include initials to differentiate the candidates).

June 30: Ballots begin printing in the Senate race.

With legal options exhausted, the candidates are moving onto primary day on August 18. This whole situation is more than just a fun curiosity because Alaska’s Senate seat represents one of the Democrats’ best pickup opportunities in the midterms. Per Newsweek, Peltola has been polling either slightly ahead or even with Sen. Sullivan in recent surveys from Alaska Survey Research. There are 16 candidates running in the state’s open, non-partisan primaries, and the top four finishers will advance to the ranked-choice general election in November. So every primary vote truly counts. 

A Selection of the Best Headlines About Trump’s Great American State Fair

7) ‘Fox & Friends’ Leaves Trump’s Fair After Days of Empty Scenes

6) MAGA Man Arrested For Masturbating At Trump’s America 250 Spectacle

5) Come on down to the Great American State Fair — there’s plenty of room

4) At the Great American State Fair, you can find a dinosaur’s rib cage. Unity is another matter

3) Illinois skipped the Great American State Fair; Peoria stepped in

2) Donald Trump’s Great American State Fair Features a Cow Named Melania

1) Mt. Olive Pickles withdraws from Great American State Fair after Confederate flag at NC booth

The Handbasket x TPM Are Hosting an Event!

We’re thrilled that independent journalist and chronicler of our current hellscape Marisa Kabas will be joining us for an event in July. Marisa and our own Josh Marshall will chat about the pros and cons of working in independent media at a moment when Bari Weiss is wreaking havoc at CBS and the Trump administration is targeting progressive journalists. In a conversation moderated by our publisher Joe Ragazzo, Marisa and Josh will also talk about how they’re covering the ceaseless chaos of Trump II. Following the chat, they’ll stick around for a happy hour with TPM staff — and all of you!  

Join us at 7 p.m. on Weds 7/29 at Crystal Lake bar in Brooklyn. Tickets are just $25. Get yours while they last.

Got ‘Em

How Much of This Week’s News Do You Remember?

1. How did the Supreme Court rule in the case blocking Republicans from restricting vote by mail: a) 5-4 b) 6-3 c) 7-2

2. Name at least two anti-establishment candidates who won their elections in Colorado’s primary elections this week.

3. What absurd haul did President Trump take in as income in his first year back in the White House: a) $500 million b) More than $1 billion c) More than $2 billion 

Answers below

Snoozing Towards the Midterms 

“It’s a yawn. Some people say it’s wonderful. To me, compared to the SAVE America Act, just about everything is a big yawn.” – President Trump on the affordable housing bill he’s refusing to sign

Lauren Boebert Has Standards

Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) has expectations for her colleagues. In a tirade to TMZ, the Colorado congresswoman denigrated Rep. Tom Kean (R-NJ) for his floor speech acknowledging that he’d missed some 100 votes in the House due to his severe depression. “Sure, take care of yourself, get healthy. But who gets to take four months off of work because they’re sad?” Boebert asked. She called Kean’s actions “embarrassing” and “an absolute disrespect to his voters.” 

Setting the sheer callousness of these comments aside, there are legitimate criticisms to be made of Kean’s lack of transparency with his district and with his House colleagues. There’s also the fact that, as Mother Jones reported, during his two decades in the New Jersey Senate, Kean repeatedly voted against making the kind of paid sick leave that he benefited from accessible to his own constituents. 

But it’s just a bit rich to hear lectures about proper decorum from a congresswoman who was kicked out of a performance of the Beetlejuice musical for vaping and fondling her male companion. 

Trivia answers: 1) 5-4 2) Melat Kiros, Phil Weiser, Manny Rutinel 3) $2.2 billion to be exact, mostly thanks to his crypto ventures.