Trump’s State Fair Was Ass In All The Ways I’d Been Warned

I went to the Great American State Fair figuring it would make me feel lousy about my country. I don't remember being so right about anything. I'd read all about how entertainers wouldn't take the stage, how states wouldn't staff the booths, and how nobody was showing up because the president had hijacked America's 250th birthday celebration and messed everything up. But with only a few days before this circus leaves town—the fair closes tomorrow—I wanted to see for myself if The Mess on the Mall could live down to its billing. And, sure, I wondered if Donald Trump's Stonehengian rendering of his proposed Arc de Failure looked as ridiculous in the flesh as online. (Yup and yup.) So I went. Turns out I was prepared for most of the awfulness. But not all the Jesus. So much Jesus. First, a summary of its pros and cons.