Bulwark Takes - Trump’s Pitiful America 250 Event Is Already an Embarrassment

Episode Date: May 28, 2026

JVL and Sonny Bunch take on Trump's "Freedom 250" disaster—the washed-up acts already bailing on the Great American State Fair, the UFC cage being built on the White House lawn, and why the whole spectacle looks less like a birthday party and more like something straight out of The Boys.

Donald Trump's America Freedom Free America Patriot Big Hullabaloo has had its musical guests announced. We're going to talk about all that plus the UFC fight. I'm JVL here with my bulwark colleague, Sunny Bunch. Sunny yesterday, Freedom 250 said that they have the Great American State Fair, which I guess is the other thing we're calling this. It's going to have Martina McBride, Flo Rida, not Florida, it's Flo Rida. Young MC, C&C Music Factory, who are going to make you sweat. Vanilla Ice, Millie, Vanilli, the Commodores, Morris Day, and the Time, Brett Michaels, not the wrestler. That's Sean Michaels.

That's Sean Michaels. Or Brett Hart. Or Brett Hart. Anyway, the whole thing happened about this. And then suddenly a bunch of people said, wait, no, we're not doing this. So Young MC dropped out. Morris Day and the Time dropped out. I think there may be more.

And that's before we even get to the giant cage fight, which is going to happen. on the White House lawn, which they are building right now. We'll talk about that second. Looks great. Sonny, what is happening? Are we living in idiocracy? As you know, no, we're living in the boys. This is all very explicitly, like, things that would happen in the Amazon prime video TV

series, The Boys, which just wrapped up. But we're celebrating America's 250th anniversary. And in normal times, this would be, you know, fun and be interesting. And instead, it's turned into a whole weird. Trump-driven thing. The musical guests that were announced for this are really just the icing on the cake. As you mentioned, Martina McBride, Flo Rida,

Young MC, a CNC music factory, Vanilla Ice, Millie Vanilli, The Commodores, Morris Day and the time, Brett Michaels, these were the acts that were announced, and they were going to perform over several days at the Great American State Fair. And once you think about that name for about 10 seconds, it becomes very obvious what happened.

These are all acts that frequently perform at state fairs. Look, we have a very nice, state fair here in Texas. I live just miles from the Texas state fairgrounds and they're great and every year they have all sorts of interesting musical acts. Frankly, they're usually better than this.

Although last year we had the village people here, which I'm surprised the village people is not on this lineup, frankly. I was scanning. I am sorry. But it is one thing to play their music. Having the actual gaze on stage, I think, would have made a bunch of people in the Trump Coalition unhappy. I just don't think that's true. Trump was on stage with him not long ago. He was, you know,

he was, he was doing the dance. It was at the convention, wasn't it? Didn't they have the village people at the convention? I don't remember. Maybe it was maybe it was the inaugural. I don't know. It happened recently and Trump's very, he's doing his Trump dance. But so what happened was all of these acts, I'm sure their management was just like, yeah, sure, you're going to give us money to play to state fair. That's what we do. That's all we do now. That's our, that's our job. And our job is to sign those contracts and get you out there. And then he gets announced by the Daily Wire. And of course, Daily Wire has a very strong pipeline to the White House for all White House celebrity news. So they put that out there and everybody kind of makes fun of this. And Morris Day of Morris Day

in time is like, no, we're not doing this. What? I'm not, I'm not doing this. That's not a thing that's happening. First comment on Morris Day on the Times Facebook page, by the way, was thank fuck. I nearly died when from a fan who heard heard about it. And then, MC dropped out. Of course, he wrote several big tone lobes songs. Is he still young? I think he's just MC now.

He actually had the, the courts required him to drop the young. Because he's got to be 65. But this whole lineup, though, is kind of hilarious. Like the folks who haven't dropped out, C&C Music Factory,

who wants to make everybody dance now. Everybody dance now. Like neither C nor C is part of music factory anymore. One, David Coles, David Coles died in 95 or 96 or something like that. And then Robert Savilla is was essentially kicked out of,

he had the band name stolen from him through a series of legal maneuverings and is no longer involved in is very annoyed that they're out in touring and doing everything without him. Maybe that has changed. That, that, the last I knew that that that was true. Are either Millie Vanilli or Vanilly still with us? One of, one half of Millie Vanilli is dead. They took their own life after the VH1 behind the music special. And then the, the other one is still out there.

But like Millie Vanilly is the, I'm sorry, what are you having Millie Vanilli there to perform? They didn't, they didn't perform their own songs in the first place. I don't, what is happening here? Vanilla Ice is the one only person here who makes the actual most sense. I guess maybe Martina McBride. I assume there's a lot of overlap between Trump fans and McBride fans. But Vanilla Ice has performed at Mar-a-Lago, I believe. He has done, you know, Trump events.

Trump Stan, right? He's a big Trump, you know, Ice Ice Baby and the Ninja Rap from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles too. I would, I would happily have gone to see that if I was eight years old in 1990 and this was playing on the White House long.

Dirt bike, like stunt jumps too. Yeah. Which is very America. I mean, I'm just spitballing here. But we've seen the gigantic arches that are going to be going over the octagon, the big cage. fighting pit. And I'm just thinking that it is a missed opportunity not to have vanilla ice

jumping on his dirt bike, jumping the dirt bike over it while singing his song. I mean, look, you say this in jest, but I really, if we are doing this thing, how do we not have- Is this America or not? If this was a RAM commercial, if this was a RAM commercial, that's what would happen. Do we not have an evil-cenevel-like figure who can do a jump over the U.S. sea fight. We do. His name is Vanilla Ice. The image of this thing is amazing. Just the before and after picture of the White House is a real telling look into where things are right now. You've got, yeah, you've got before. The before picture is just the White House. We all know what the White House looks like. And it's got multiple wings and it's got a nice little lawn area. It looks really nice.

New White House. Half the White House has been destroyed, has been raised. It looks like we've lost a war. It looks like the British came back and we're like, we're finishing 1812, bitches. And then there's a big awful ugly stages that it has the big arcs for the lights. Of course, you know, you can't buy tickets to see this thing. The tickets are all going to be handed out. No, you have to be one of the nomenclatura. Well, the tickets are going to be handed out to members of the military and other American heroes and also probably a lot of donors.

But if you're a normal person, you can watch it on the ellipse. You know, that's what, that's where the normies can watch it on, on the ellipse on a screen. The whole thing is a disaster, but it is representative. Roman Empire? Probably just mid-Roman Empire, frankly. The bread and circuses was throughout. That wasn't, that wasn't limited to late stage. The whole America 250 thing is, again, like something out of the boys, though. Like, if you go to the website and you scroll through it, there's like a black and white image of a girl on a beach with a triangular American flag kite running along. And it's like, you can just practically hear somebody saying, America is freedom. And if you don't like, the, the, The tagline on this thing is, what is it? It's patriotism is participation. Be a patriot, celebrate, participate. It is like something that VOT would do on the boys.

Now, JBL, you don't watch the boys because you don't watch TV. You don't have time for that. You don't have time for TV. I did read some of the comic. I was, I dabbled in the comics when the comics came out. The boys is based on a comic book people. Don't think that it just happened on, on screen streaming television. But the show is pretty different from the comic books.

The big thrust of it. And this happened kind of to the detriment of the show. People watching the show got very into Homelander, who is the villain of the thing. He's like the Superman figure who's very evil. And so the show kept making him more and more like Donald Trump. There's a shot in the latest season of the boys in which Homelander has decided he is Christ 2.0. He is the actual Christian God. And so he creates a golden idol of himself at a church that he goes and is going to, you know, ascend at.

this came out literally like two weeks before Donald Trump unveiled his own golden statue of himself at Mara Lago. It was like the show the show leaned into it so hard that but you can't parody it. You can't parody what it's happening. You cannot, you cannot parody what is happening here. There is a JVL, have you seen the freedom truck? Have you seen the freedom truck? The freedom big rig? The freedom truck is, it's a big rig and it's got a painting of water.

Washington crossing the Delaware on the side of it. And it travels the country with a museum exhibit going to various high schools and festivals to bring freedom to the people. We're bringing freedom to the people on a truck because Lord knows, nobody else knows how to celebrate American freedom other than Freedom250.org. It's the whole thing. Diesel at $6 a gallon. That's got to be expensive. I wonder, I do wonder how much this is, I assume this is all private donations though. Just like, just like the ballroom. Oh, yeah, just like the ballroom.

Would Doge approve of a freedom truck? It just seems wasteful. I don't know. Yes, well, we took away all the AIDS drugs from the African children and we poured it into the freedom truck. Put it into $6 diesel for the freedom truck. Sure. Makes sense.

Why not? I struggle here. You struggle? I struggle. Is this going to work? Define work. Or is it going to be like the military parade? You will recall that Trump wanted his military parade and it was a big deal.

And then when it happened, it was sad. And he was even sort of mad about it. Yeah. Is this going to wind up being sad? Like, what if, I don't know, what if the, what if the fights aren't very good? People who care about, like, combat sports, like the M. They actually, it's not a very good card. And what if the American lose?

What if the blood sports are no good? What if the blood sports aren't good? That's a great question. Could Trump go down? Will he go down onto it like in Gladiator, like Commodus? Will he give the thumbs up, thumbs down at the end of the gladiating? I don't know. I just have questions about it.

And so will people look at this and be like, yes, this was awesome. Or will this be sort of cringe? It's already cringe. I mean, this is the problem that most Republican administrations face, frankly, is that they claim to hate celebrity and yet they grab onto the barest glimmers of celebrity that they can. This is frankly one of the reasons why Trump rose to prominence in the first place was like, ooh, a celebrity. Saying things I like about somebody. I don't like Barack Obama saying things about immigrants who I also don't like. I've seen this guy on TV.

I'm pretty excited. He must be a great businessman. He must be very successful. if he is saying the things I like and he's on TV. So this has always been a problem, but it's already cringe. I mean, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. There's a day, there's a single day of this musical concert that is Millie Vanilly and

vanilla ice and I don't know, whatever the other, the last one was. CNC Music Factory, just like the worst portion of 1990 to 1993, all combined into one amazing evening. I just, I can't, I can't imagine anybody is looking at this thing and not thinking it's cringe. In fall, we're going to have the Patriot Games. Aren't you excited for the Patriot Games? Yes. Yes.

The Patriot Games national competition. And sadly, it's not just repeated screenings of Patriot games on the lawn. I would watch that. I, you know, I love, I love Philips. Do like Sean Bean. Number one. Sean Bean and Harrison Ford together again. I mean, who could, who could not want that.

I would watch that. But the, but there's going to be an indie car race. maybe that'll be good. I don't know. There's a big sail. They're going to put together a bunch of ships from, you know, colonial times and the wars of independence in 1812 and they're going to sail them around the harbor. I'm sure that'll be fun to look at, you know, I guess. I don't know, man. The whole thing is already terrible. Also, what we have high school, won't we have teenage kids from each state competing in games of physical skill? You're thinking of the Hunger Games, yes. We will have that.

No, but I believe that is also part of the Patriot games. It is. Yeah, that's part of the Patriot games, I believe. There is a, yes, first of its kind of athletic competition will spotlight male and female high school athletes from every state and territory. From opening heats to the live final day in front of a live audience, these competitors will light the torch for a new generation of Americans. And again, you could just imagine a segment on the boys about this. in which A train is doing an adony is like, these kids can run almost as fast as me. It would be the worst thing in the world.

And people would be like, oh, my God, this is so embarrassing. The boys is embarrassing itself by just focusing so much on Trump. How can they do this? And then like six months later it would happen. Because you can't parody this reality. We live in an unparodial existence, which is, you know, that is in and of itself its own kind of problem. Does manga watch the boys and think that Homelander is the hero?

Yes. Yes. They, they're, and like, there's a part, there's an ironic like, oh, we're touring for Homelander sort of thing. They got very mad at the finale, which, in which Spoiler, Homelander is defeated and cries like a little girl. And they're like, he would never do that. And I'm sorry, if you, if you have fallen for Homelander stick through the entire series, if you don't realize that he is a giant man baby and the end of him would involve him

crying and begging for his own life, then you have not paid attention to either the boys or reality. I mean, it just is what it is. Well, it's great. I can't wait for our reality. I'm just counting down. We're only like, what, six weeks away? It's happening. Do you feel the excitement? I can't possibly imagine anything

I'm looking forward to more than the great American state fair. And I'm just sad that more stay on the time aren't going to be there, frankly. I was hoping they would be performing, you know, some of their stuff. Free idea for the president. I know she is now abroad as one of our great ambassadors, but I believe Kimberly Gilfoyle could step to the stage and do a little bit of crooning herself if there's a hole in the schedule.

The best is yet to come. Well, I just don't understand. I mean, we're making all these jokes, but like, where is Kid Rock? Why isn't Kid Rock coming in to save the day here? Where is Nikki Minaj? Well, we did see the Kid Rock. Like, didn't Kid Rock counterprogram the, Super Bowl recently and it was

it was an enormous hit. It did millions of views on YouTube. It was cute. Everyone watched it. JV.L. You watched it. I watched it. It was not good. And I like Kid Rock. It was not good. I remember the MTV Music Awards with the passing of the torch

where Kid Rock and Stephen Tyler did a mashup and they were throwing the microphones back and forth to each other and they brought the house down during the glory days of Ball with DeBah. And those days are gone. But you could imagine, you could imagine, you know, Kid Rock is very good friends with our Secretary

of Defense. Maybe this is all a ruse. He's going to come in on a helicopter on the last night and rappel rope drop down onto a stage. He'll speed rope down. He'll speed rope down onto a stage and he will do Bawa Daba and he will bring the house down. Could you imagine how we've all been mocking this? We've all been mocking this. And yet, the possibility exists of a great surprise, J.B. Look, on a. Honestly, if Kid Rock speed roped down from a Black Hawk into the UFC ring and then the twisted brown trucker band just did all around him kind of like that scene in Dark Night Rises when Bain and his people are roping down into the underground prison. And the ghost of Joe C appeared maybe via hologram. Hologram.

And they just started ripping out the classics. American badass, ball with the ball. I would kind of be there for that. All right, everybody, hey, hit like, hit subscribe. We're going to have more fun stuff as America marks its completion slash celebration. Series finale. The 250th anniversary. Yeah, you know, the series finale of America.

It's coming soon, sooner than you think. Good luck.