Before his remarks at the foot of Mount Rushmore to ring in America’s 250th anniversary celebrations, President Donald Trump appeared on Second Lady Usha Vance’s Storytime podcast where he flipped through a children’s book about the presidents and commented on each of them.
The president, who said he doesn’t get around to reading much these days, didn’t appear to actually read through Presidents Play! but instead commented on their appearances and achievements, or lack thereof.
Chaotic preparations for America’s 250th anniversary continue in the wake of another disaster that almost saw dancers hit by a piece of falling stage set during their rehearsals in Washington, D.C., Thursday.
No one was injured, but the incident marks the latest in a series of mishaps surrounding the administration’s plans for the nation’s celebrations, from the recently renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool turning green from algae to the “Great American State Fair” on the National Mall failing to draw crowds.
The president heads to South Dakota for the latest leg of the festivities at Mount Rushmore, an event environmentalists have warned could spark wildfires.
The president will then return to D.C. for Fourth of July festivities, at which he has pledged to deliver a “really long” speech late at night with sweltering temperatures. He has promised an even greater fireworks show to follow but has not explained who is paying for it.
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Full story: Trump talks about his weight, JFK’s looks and largely forgets to read as he joins Usha Vance for her podcast
President Donald Trump mused on his own reading habits, his waistline and John Kennedy’s good looks in a new interview with Second Lady Usha Vance.
The 80-year-old Republican sat down with Vance for her Storytime podcast — centered on promoting child literacy — in a conversation taped inside the Oval Office and released Friday.
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Just in: Great American State Fair shuts down, again
The Great American State Fair will be prematurely shutting down Friday after heat warnings in the nation’s capital.
Temperatures soared above 100 degrees Friday.
All visitors at the fair have been ordered to leave immediately. The fair is expected to re-open at 5 p.m., when temperatures are forecast to still hover around 100.
The fair had previously shut down over rain.
CNN’s Kaitlan Collins trolls Trump by reporting on the state fair in the middle of an empty National Mall
Standing on the National Mall Thursday among a sparse crowd, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins said “for a president who often fixates on crowd size, so far the fair on Washington’s National Mall hasn’t exactly lived up to the hype.”
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Full story: Mamdani slams Trump’s anti-immigration agenda during July 4 address from George Washington’s desk
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani delivered a 14-minute address while surrounded by a group of recently naturalized American citizens holding American flags.
Though he did not explicitly name the president in his remarks, Mamdani’s address commemorating the nation’s 250th anniversary amounted to a rebuke of the Trump administration’s anti-immigration agenda and the “forces of division” that undermine the nation’s founding principles.
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Trump's 'advice' for kids on why they should celebrate the Fourth of July
Asked by Second Lady Usha Vance whether he has “any advice for kids on why they should get out there and celebrate,” Trump said the country is on a “ledge.”
“We have a great country, Trump said.
“It’s on a little bit of a ledge. It could go one way or another, you have to understand that,” he warned. “But we’re going to make it go the other. We’re going to make America greater than ever before.”
Trump suggests inviting Obama and Biden to the White House to watch football
Speaking on Usha Vance’s Storytime series, Trump stopped on a picture-book illustration of a football game being shown inside the White House.
“Maybe I should invite Barack Hussein Obama, Joe Biden, the Bushes,” Trump said.
“Maybe I should invite some of those people to watch a football game together,” he added. “Wouldn’t that be a nice story? The press would go wild.”
Trump says he doesn't to get as heavy as Taft
While riffing on each of the presidents pictured in a children’s book, Trump stopped to muse about William Howard Taft, who weighed as much as 350 pounds during his presidency.
“William Taft was a large man. Very large,” Trump said.
“Loved the hot dogs at the baseball games,” he said.
“He was our heaviest president, and I have to be careful because I don’t want to supersede his record. That would be possible if I allowed it to happen.”
He told people to “keep yourself in good shape.”
Trump stops by Usha Vance's podcast to 'read' a children's book about the presidents — then riffs about each of them
Trump is the latest guest on Second Lady Usha Vance’s Storytime series, on which he ostensibly was reading from the children’s book Presidents Play!
Instead, he flipped through the book and riffed on each of the presidents, depicted in illustrations doing exercises or playing sports.
Asked if he was reading anything himself, Trump said, “I end up reading mostly newspapers. I usually read stories about myself.”
“We don’t play too much,” Trump said. “We used to have Run, Spot, Run … and every sentence was of that complexity … This is much more exciting.”
Watch in full: Mamdani's 14-minute speech commemorating 250th anniversary
From behind George Washington’s desk inside New York City Hall, Mayor Zohran Mamdani marked the nation’s 250th anniversary with an address that sought to redefine “American exceptionalism” and reclaim patriotism from Trump and his allies.
Mamdani did not explicitly mention Trump, but his address condemned ICE raids and the administration’s anti- immigration platform, including a reference to Trump’s 2015 remarks in which the president said countries are “not sending their best.”