A Report from the Great American State Fair

Summary

It Could Happen Here

Episode: "A Report from the Great American State Fair"

Date: July 9, 2026
Host: Robert Evans
Guest: Laura Jadeid

---

Episode Overview

This episode centers on Laura Jadeid’s firsthand account of attending the “Great American State Fair” in Washington, D.C., a celebration of the country’s 250th anniversary. Through a mixture of humor, sharp observation, and cultural critique, Laura and Robert explore the empty spectacle, overt right-wing leanings, failed logistics, and atmosphere of listless decline that characterize both the event and, symbolically, contemporary America.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting and Expectations

• Laura attended the event after her prior plans wrapped up early (“I was there for a religious extremist conference…ended early…I should go to a fair.” [01:27])
• The fair is described as a hybrid between a Renaissance fair and a trade show, but with the “worst aspects of both.” ([02:42])
• Visuals and layout: Distorted “Temu Arch”, two long tent/buildings with canvas “optical illusion” columns—feels like "walking around in a badly rendered video game" but “touching grass at the same time.” ([03:00])

2. Crowd and Vibe

• The event leaned Republican but wasn’t overtly MAGA—rather, a more omnipresent, casual right-wing affinity, or “MAGA Lite.”
  • “Cheerfully rancid…like realizing their fantasy of all real Americans supporting Trump.” ([04:51])

3. Booths & Exhibits: A Spectrum from Apathetic to Absurd

• Some states phoned it in; others went corporate; a few tried:
  • Oregon: “Most ‘fuck you’ award…small booth…just a thing that said Oregon, The Beaver State, and a Columbia sports bag clipped to the wall.” ([05:04])
  • Puerto Rico: “Lush, populated entirely by hot Puerto Rican guys teaching middle America how to salsa.” ([06:11])
  • Georgia: “Completely about poultry…AI-generated images, sponsored by Purdue Chicken.” ([06:18])
• Federal agency booths:
  • Department of Justice: “Completely empty…card table, three folding chairs, battered backdrop…so heavy handed.” ([01:52])
  • Department of Education: “100% banners by far right organizations—PragerU, Patriot Academy…it was just like: racist homeschooling, cut school vouchers, teach kids Vietnam didn’t happen, gay people don’t exist.” ([07:46] and [08:02])
  • Patriot Academy: “I wrote about them in 2022…we learned how to shoot handguns and about the biblical origins of our Constitution.” ([08:12])
  • DC Metro: Offered a rare, apolitical, “almost normal” celebration of public achievement, “hidden behind one of the buildings and a 24/7 Christian Revival tent.” ([07:13])

4. Patriotic Art & The Culture War

• Main Hall centerpiece:
  • Massive, repetitive flag portraits by artist Scott LoBaido, including a giant cross draped in an American flag. Quote:
    • “I have flirted eye to eye with Mona Lisa in Paris. I have touched the thick, painful brushstrokes of Van Gogh...Yet still...my favorite work of art is the Star Spangled Banner.” ([09:01])
  • LoBaido’s relentless pursuit of patriotic kitsch, including middle finger artwork and a documentary titled "The Relentless Patriot." ([10:24])
    • “If America had to have an artist right now, a poorly drawn middle finger—you could do worse.” ([11:55])
• “The whole thing was so culture war oriented...couldn’t have anything Americans broadly could enjoy.” ([07:36])

---

5. The Rain—Logistics Fail and Crowd Management

• Rain was forecast for a week, yet no contingency planning.
• Laura charged her phone at the empty DOJ booth; then, fair was “temporarily postponed” for inclement weather.
• Instructions: leave and shelter elsewhere. But most people had no cars, and DC buildings were closed; “everyone decided to get wet inside rather than outside.” ([14:22])
• Increasing chaos:
  • Police gently, but insistently, forced people out, creating huge congestion outside in the rain.
  • “A great combination: soaking wet and dehydrated. People start dropping…ambulances coming through…blocking traffic for blocks…” ([15:12])
  • “Little, like, freaky lurches and shoves...on the verge of a stampede…they weren’t going home, it was ‘temporarily postponed.’” ([16:58])

6. The Trump Speech: Devotion and Disappointment

• As the crowd waited in rain:

  • Nationalistic chants (“USA!”), “God Bless America” sung.
  • Music (“God Bless the USA,” “Don’t Stop Believin’,” “Livin’ on a Prayer”) played as fireworks and speech delayed.
  • Trump’s speech: crowd outside couldn’t understand him—just “psychotic babble of nothing…Trumpian gibberish.” ([18:44])
    • “The boo that erupted when they realized they couldn’t hear their leader speak…it was just a primal, like—” ([19:12])

• Fireworks: Delayed until after midnight, almost entirely obscured from view. ([19:47])

  • “Even if we could have seen, it was…just an orange glow on the horizon…the crackling of bombs.” ([20:20])

---

7. Atmosphere: Emptiness, Irony, and the AI-Generated Feeling

• Laura and Robert agree the fair’s overriding sensation was “emptiness:”
  • “It was such an empty thing. Everything was so sad, so lazy and trashy and cheap.” ([22:48])
• Robert: “It all felt AI generated…an AI-generated version of reality. That’s really lazy.” ([23:02])
• Laura: “It was just like the ethos of AI infused this place…like if someone described what a building was and someone else guessed at it…” ([23:26])
• The event reflected “radically far right bullshit” and declining civic culture; “soulless, AI-esque, phoned-in.” ([24:27], [24:46])
• Reflection: “The people—I’ve caught myself doing this, too—‘this isn’t who we are.’ Like, yes, it is.” ([24:42])

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the event’s vibe:
  • “Cheerfully rancid…the vibes were kind of cheerfully rancid, I’d say.” — Laura ([04:51])
• On the art:
  • “If America had to have an artist right now, a poorly drawn middle finger…could do worse.” — Laura ([11:55])
• On the organizing:
  • “It was brilliant. Really, really brilliant stuff.” — Laura, sarcastically, on logistics ([17:23])
• On the Trump speech debacle:
  • “Just this, like, psychotic babble of nothing. Just washing over us.” — Laura ([18:57])
  • “The boo that erupted…was just a primal, like—” — Laura ([19:12])
• On the fireworks:
  • “The smoke is so thick—even if we could have seen, it was just an orange glow on the horizon. It was just…the crackling of bombs.” — Laura ([20:20])
  • “I have stopped believing.” — Laura, responding to Don’t Stop Believin’ ([20:19])
• On the overall impression:
  • “Everything was so sad, so lazy and lazy and trashy and cheap.” — Laura ([22:48])
  • “It all felt AI generated…my friend is trapped in, like, an AI generated version of reality.” — Robert ([23:02])
  • “It was just like the ethos of AI infused this place.” — Laura ([23:26])
  • “This isn’t who we are. Like, yes, it is.” — Laura ([24:46])

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:52] — DOJ booth and the bleakness of federal presence
• [03:00] — Event’s physical layout: the “Temu Arch” and “badly rendered video game” quality
• [04:09] — Audience profile and “MAGA Lite” vibe
• [05:04] — State booth reviews (Oregon, Puerto Rico, Georgia)
• [07:46] — Department of Education: overt right-wing propaganda
• [09:01] — Scott LoBaido’s “America’s Artist” flag exhibit and quote
• [14:22] — The rain begins, fair “postponed,” crowd seeks shelter, chaos ensues
• [15:12] — Police-led evacuation and the risk of stampede
• [18:44] — Trump delivers a barely intelligible speech; crowd dismayed
• [19:47] — Fireworks debacle: zero visibility, smoke, and disappointment
• [22:48] — The event’s deep sense of emptiness
• [23:02] — The “AI-generated” analogy for the entire fair
• [24:46] — Reflection on “this is who we are”

---

Final Reflections and Pluggables

• Laura: “You can check out my newsletter at firewalledmedia.com, and I am Laura Jadeid on social media platforms—mostly active on Bluesky. I am the only Laura Jadeid in the world, so easy to find.” ([25:41])

---

Tone

Wry, darkly comic, incisive—a blend of jaded journalistic observation and resigned amusement. The episode offers cathartic laughs, but serves as a pointed diagnosis of American public spectacle and political malaise at the nation’s quarter-millennium mark.

---

For anyone wanting a portrait of current American pageantry, its contradictions, and the mood of an era, this episode delivers a thoughtful, vivid, and bitingly funny dispatch from inside the spectacle.

Transcript

[Laura Jadeid]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Sam J]

Guaranteed Human.

[Ari Chambers]

What's up, fam? It's sports journalist Ari Chambers.

[Sam J]

Hey, what's up, y'? All? It's your girl, Sam J.

[Ari Chambers]

And we're the hosts of Everyone Watches Women's Sports, a new podcast from 2gether.

[Sam J]

We're breaking down the biggest headlines, the viral moments and the stories everyone's talking about across women's sports, from game changing

[Ari Chambers]

performances to culture shifting conversations. We'll give you our takes, our debates and a few laughs along the way

[Sam J]

because everyone watches women's sports. Listen to Everyone watches women's Sports on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

[Robert Evans]

Cool Zone Media. Welcome back to It Could Happen Here, a podcast about it continuing to happen here. I'm Robert Evans and today I've got a friend of the pod, Laura Jadid in the studio. Well, not literally in the studio. You know how things work with the Internet, folks. And last weekend, Laura traveled to the Great American State Fair in our nation's beautiful capital of Washington, D.C. where she witnessed a lovely celebration of America's 250th anniversary with no inclement weather whatsoever. Is that right, Laura?

[Laura Jadeid]

No. It was charming and beautiful and very professionally done and everyone had a lovely time.

[Robert Evans]

Awesome stuff, Laura. Yeah.

[Sam J]

Let's start.

[Robert Evans]

Was this just kind of as soon as he said he was doing this, you were like, well, I have to be there. This is just simply not an option for me to miss.

[Laura Jadeid]

I mean, I definitely wanted to go. I actually was in town for a different. I was there for a religious extremist conference, which is a whole different ball of wax. But it ended early and I was like, you know, I've got several hours before I need to return home. Why don't I go have a nice time at a fair. I haven't been to a fair in a while. I should go to a fair.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah. So how was it? Walk us through, like step by step, kind of your experiences at this Wonderful event celebrating 250 years as technically a country.

[Laura Jadeid]

Yes. Well, I would say the highlight, other than the weather, which we'll get into, was going into. There are. There's these little rooms where they've got booths for states and territories and departments of the government and random sponsors. And my favorite booth, I think was probably the Department of Justice because it was completely empty. And by empty, I don't mean there wasn't anybody there. I mean that there was a card table, three folding chairs, a battered backdrop and nothing else. Sure, yeah, yeah, it was Incredible and perfect. It was so heavy handed.

[Robert Evans]

That's great.

[Laura Jadeid]

You know, I know people who use subtext and they're all cowards and there are no cowards in this administration.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah, your photos of that were really funny. So I guess the layout is like, it almost sounds like a trade show or something where you've got like these booths for each of the states and a bunch of government agencies and then like what all is going on.

[Laura Jadeid]

Yeah, it's like if a Ren faire and a trade show had a baby and the baby had the worst aspects of both. It was incredible. Like you, you enter it. And I will say this. So you know people, you've probably seen pictures. Everyone's, I think, seen pictures of what this thing looks like.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah.

[Laura Jadeid]

And the fourth of July was different and that there were a lot of people there because that's the day people came from all over the country to celebrate the fourth of July in dc. So it was crowded, but everything else was somehow worse than it looked in the pictures because like, you know, you can see the pictures of like the Temu Arch and you see how bad it looks, but there's nothing like walking towards it. And from a distance it's like, oh, that's an odd thing in the middle of a field, but it looks fine. And then the closer you get, the worse it looks. And it's just this, this kind of slow dawning horror of this like uncanny valley object. There were the two long buildings that were just going by either side basically for like the length of the Washington Mall. Just little like tent slash trailer buildings with canvas stapled to them. And the canvas had this illusion of columns and bas reliefs and stuff like that. And we've seen, you know, that's in pictures, but yeah. Walking down the mall and seeing that optical illusion, not with your perspective, is just. It's like being in a really badly rendered video game. But it's real and you're touching grass at the same time. And it's just the whole thing is so eerie and strange. Yeah.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah. So what can you tell me about like the audience? Like what's the vibe like on the ground when you show up, at least for the first portion of this before the weather starts to change?

[Laura Jadeid]

Yeah. So I've been to a lot of right wing events. It's kind of what I do. I've been, you know, I go to a lot of these and this was less maga forward. I'm not saying there were no Trump hats or Trump shirts, but it was mostly just like America, hell, yeah, but everybody there was very clearly Republican. Everyone assumed everyone else was a Republican. The booth operators assumed everybody was a Republican. Pretty safe assumption. It was maga lite, I'd say. I mean, it was almost more horrifying in that way because it felt like it was kind of realizing their fantasy of like all real Americans supporting Trump. You know, these were all the real Americans out here celebrating America. Just regular folks who think Trump's doing a great job and aren't at all disgusted by this fair. So the vibes were kind of cheerfully rancid, I'd say.

[Robert Evans]

Cheerfully rancid, yeah. What a great term to describe the country as a whole right now. Do you have any kind of like top faves, like of the things you saw like on the ground? They're like, what stuff really stuck out to you.

[Laura Jadeid]

So initially, before the weather went to hell and my focus changed, I decided. Cause, you know, there's been a lot of articles about how absolutely God awful and dumb and silly this Sarah is. I decided to do something a little different. I was gonna go every single state and territory booth and rank them. And the variety in the state and territory booths I found interesting. You know, you had Oregon, actually, I gave out some like, fake awards when I wrote about this on my substack. And Oregon won the most fuck you award. It's close, but it was just this very small booth. Two of the walls, blank white canvas, kind of plasticky. And then there was just like a thing that said Oregon, the Beaver State. And there was kind of a, a little banner of some of the things that are in Oregon. And a Columbia sports like bag just kind of clipped to it with like, like just a, you know, a kitchen clip. And I was like, yeah, well that, that wins this.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah, that sounds like Oregon, baby.

[Laura Jadeid]

It was great. It was great. Yeah. And then you had like Puerto Rico, which was clearly sponsored by the businesses that want people to go to Puerto Rico for the tax breaks. And it was very lush and there were big screens and it was populated entirely by hot Puerto Rican guys who were teaching middle America how to salsa. And everyone enjoyed that very much so.

[Robert Evans]

Oh yeah, that sounds good.

[Laura Jadeid]

Yeah. Georgia's was completely about poultry. AI generated entirely pictures of poultry sponsored by Purdue Chicken.

[Robert Evans]

Uh huh. That's what I think of when I think of Georgia, of course.

[Laura Jadeid]

Poultry, obviously. Yeah, the infamous Georgia poultries. Yes. And so it was like some states went all out. Some states kind of were like, you should visit our state. Some states were like, we sold this booth to a company. And then some States were like, this is a booth. We are here.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah. We're legally required.

[Laura Jadeid]

Yes. We have fulfilled our requirement to have an object at this fair.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah.

[Laura Jadeid]

And then there were these like little flashes of normalcy in this otherwise very abnormal event. Those were almost more disconcerting because it was like a glimpse of what might have been. Like the DC Metro had a full scale subway car. Like three subway cars linked up, mock up railroad. And you go inside and it was like a museum of the history of the Metro and how it's helped D.C. and how it was built and fun facts about the Metro. And it's like kind of a boring exhibit. But it was an apolitical celebration of a real achievement.

[Robert Evans]

Oh yeah, yeah.

[Laura Jadeid]

Right. And so, you know, naturally Freedom250 hid that behind one of the long low buildings and also a 24, 7 Christian Revival tent just to be sure nobody accidentally stumbled on anything that wasn't just weird as hell just to make sure

[Robert Evans]

there wasn't anything that like Americans broadly could enjoy.

[Laura Jadeid]

Exactly. We can't have that. Like, yeah, it has to be here. But you don't have to put it out of the way. Don't worry about it.

[Robert Evans]

Everything's gotta be culture war oriented.

[Laura Jadeid]

Yeah, yeah. So that was kind of the most normal. If I had to pick a most abnormal. And it's tough. That's a crowded field.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah.

[Laura Jadeid]

The Department of Education booth was completely 100% banners by far right organizations.

[Robert Evans]

Awesome. Great. I love to see that. Yeah. So yeah, just purely the most like racist homeschooling, forward cut school funds, vouchers.

[Laura Jadeid]

Yay.

[Robert Evans]

Like teach kids Vietnam didn't happen, gay people don't exist kind of bullshit. Great. A lot of turning point. Yeah.

[Laura Jadeid]

Oh yeah, yeah, very much. America's a Christian nation.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah.

[Laura Jadeid]

Yeah. So weirdly I was, I was surprised TPUSA wasn't in there. One of the ones, Prageru, obviously, you know, the premier university of America. Prageru was in there. Also a thing called Patriot Academy, which I wrote an article about them in 2022, not realizing they would be part of our education system at the time. But I went to their constitutional self defense course at the Whittington center in New Mexico where we learned how to shoot handguns and also about the biblical origins of our constit.

[Robert Evans]

That's good.

[Laura Jadeid]

Yeah. It seems like a good thing to teach kids. It seems like a really good program to implement maybe, you know, in our school systems.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah. It's not like I'm not optimistic about the fact that that's the department of education's booth.

[Laura Jadeid]

Yeah, yeah. But it's not optimal.

[Robert Evans]

Not. Not great. Yeah. Any other, like, weird kind of culture war signifiers at the booths that are particularly noteworthy?

[Laura Jadeid]

I mean, so this has been discussed elsewhere, but it clearly can't be mentioned enough. It feels like very emblematic of the time we're in. There was like a. I think it was the American. I don't think it was the Innovators Hall. It was America Made in America Hall. It was a much larger building with a lot more exhibits and right in the center of it, taking up the majority of the real estate. Like the largest by far. Just portraits after portrait, large oil paint portraits of the American flag, including a cross draped in the American flag. Because why not? And the artist, whose name I guess is Scott Lobido, there's a quote by him above his beautiful works of exactly one subject, which says, and I quote, I have flirted eye to eye with Mona Lisa in Paris. I have touched the thick, painful brushstrokes of Van Gogh, and I gasped in awe at Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel. Yet still to this day, my favorite work of art is the Star Spangled Banner.

[Robert Evans]

Oh, my God. I'm on this guy's website right now and the first thing on the Scott Lobido website is sign my petition to install a giant permanent flag at ground zero. New York got 116,000 signatures. Yeah. That really matters.

[Laura Jadeid]

Yeah, yeah. No, and if there's one thing the ground zero needs, it's more American flag in the 911 museum. It's not very American. You would never know going down there about patriotism at all.

[Robert Evans]

He also has a documentary about him that I think is just an ad streaming on Amazon prime and Apple TV called the Relentless Patriot. Oh, God.

[Laura Jadeid]

This is a fair adjective. I found the paintings very relentless, personally.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah, his art is incredible stuff here. There's some very. For over 30 years, America's artist Scott Lobido and America's artist Scott Lobido. Every first letter in that is capitalized. Has respectfully painted thousands of renditions of old Glory on schools, homes, firehouses, police stations, cars and canvases. Scott's past is rather colorful. Okay, so he's some sort of criminal.

[Laura Jadeid]

Yeah.

[Robert Evans]

Amazing shit. I really want to know about his colorful life prior to this point.

[Laura Jadeid]

Oh, my God. I like to imagine it was some kind of, like, petty theft. And he's like, you know what would make me way more money? Yeah, he's just painting forever.

[Robert Evans]

How fucking shrewd. American flag drawings with Donald Trump in them. Or a Fist in one of his works of art.

[Laura Jadeid]

Oh, wow. Like. Like a BLM fist or just a fist?

[Robert Evans]

No, it's like a fist in a flag. And the fist is covered in like paint that's like flag colored.

[Laura Jadeid]

That makes sense.

[Robert Evans]

I'm on Facebook here. He's got a video of it. Let's wait for this fucking thing to start. But it looks like, yeah, he's unveiling a piece of art. I'm trying to click through to the unveiling because I don't care what this fucker has to say, but it looks like it's just a middle finger. Yeah, it's just a middle finger. Well, and I think it's a four fingered middle hand. No, no, there's a fifth. There's a fifth. But it's just not a very. Well, it's not like a good. Like the proportions are really bad on this. Anyway, I'm sorry, we're spending way too much time on Scott Lobato.

[Laura Jadeid]

I mean, I will say, if America had to have an artist right now, a poorly drawn middle finger, you could do worse. You can have a worse representation.

[Robert Evans]

Poorly sculpted middle finger. Yes.

[Laura Jadeid]

Oh, my God.

[Robert Evans]

Speaking of poorly sculpted middle fingers, maybe our advertisers sell that. I don't know. That's not my job.

[Ari Chambers]

What's up, fam? I'm sports journalist Ari Chambers.

[Sam J]

Hey, what's up, y'?

[Robert Evans]

All?

[Sam J]

It's your girl, Sam J.

[Ari Chambers]

And we're the hosts of Everyone Watches Women's Sports, a new podcast from Together and I heart women's sports because, let's

[Sam J]

be real, women's sports is giving us way too much to talk about these days.

[Ari Chambers]

The highlights, the rivalries, the breakout stars, the moments that take over your entire

[Sam J]

timeline, and the conversations that start during the game and somehow keep going all week.

[Ari Chambers]

Every week, we're breaking down the biggest stories across women's sports.

[Sam J]

We'll give you our takes, our debates, and probably a few disagreements.

[Ari Chambers]

We'll talk to athletes, celebrate big moments, and get into what's happening on and off the field, sport, track and beyond.

[Sam J]

Because we're not just interested in what happened, we're interested in why everyone's talking about it. Because everyone watches women's sports. So if you're already a fan or

[Ari Chambers]

you're just getting into the game, there's a seat for you right here.

[Sam J]

Listen to Everyone Watches Women's Sports on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

[Robert Evans]

And I'm back with Laura Bead. Laura, let's continue. What Next, do you want to tell us about the Great American State? Also, it's not a state fair. It's like the federal. It's like the national fair.

[Laura Jadeid]

So, yeah, like, the states were there, but kind of as guest stars.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah.

[Laura Jadeid]

So I don't know. I mean, the fair was just. It was. It was pretty boring. There was the Ferris wheel. The Merry God from the World Fair was probably the funnest thing there. That was from, you know, a time when America did things well. But yet, no, it was just kind of a lot of what I've just said, that is, until the rain started. And I think that might be a decent place to go because. Yeah, it seemed that despite this having been forecast for about a week, they had made no plans whatsoever for what would happen if it actually did rain at all.

[Robert Evans]

Sure. That sounds like the Trump administration. Yeah.

[Laura Jadeid]

Yeah.

[Robert Evans]

God wouldn't let that happen.

[Laura Jadeid]

No. God loves America. Why would he let it rain? Absolutely not. So at a certain point in the fair, my phone was dying. I had forgotten my charging brick at home, and I decided to charge it at the Department of Justice booth since no one was using it.

[Sam J]

Sure.

[Laura Jadeid]

So I stuck in there, and I, you know, plugged in my pay for

[Robert Evans]

the Department of Justice. You know, our tax dollars pay for that power, God damn it.

[Laura Jadeid]

My tax dollars. Yes. And no one, you know, so I occupy the Department of Justice plugged in my phone. And about five minutes after that, this announcement starts going out over the speakers on loop for, like, you know, at least an hour and a half. Just, you know, due to inclement weather, the fair has been, quote, temporarily postponed. Please make your way to the exits, and then we'll let you back in when the storm blows over. And, you know, I waited an hour to get in like most people, and it was very hot, and they'd taken my nice pen away, and I was kind of salty about that. I didn't want to wait in line again. And I'm like, I have electricity here. I have my backup pen. They didn't find. I have Sour Patch Kids, and I'm just gonna hang out. So I did that for a while until the fair people found me and kicked me out. And then when I went outside, I found that I was not alone in this logic, that a lot of fair goers were like, we'll just get wet here instead of getting wet out there.

[Robert Evans]

Right.

[Laura Jadeid]

Because they were telling us, you know, we'll go shelter in your cars or in the surrounding buildings. And, you know, we were encouraged not to bring cars because it's Washington, D.C. and there were a lot of people, and there's only so much parking, so people didn't have cars. And this is, you know, 7pm on a national holiday in the middle of D.C. so the buildings mostly weren't open either. You know, rather than go be wet outside, people decided to be wet inside. And this went on for about an hour until the cops showed up. And in a scene that I think would be recognizable to you as well, a line of cops just kind of trundling down the fair in motorcycles. The big difference between this and any other protest was that the cops were nice and not screaming or deploying tear gas and just kind of herded everyone out, you know, past the throngs of thousands already trying to get back in. Because there was nowhere else for people to go except for to block traffic for blocks and blocks and blocks, which is what they did in the rain. It was. Yeah. And so you've got a crowd of people who are both soaking wet and dehydrated, which is a great combination. And people start dropping as people are want to do. And so ambulances are coming through the crowd constantly. And you know, this line that we always hear about protests, how they're, you know, they're blocking traffic and what if an emergency vehicle needed to come in? Well, that was very much in play, but for some reason that was okay. In this case, they just put on their sirens and went 2 mph and got through for what, I want to say about an hour. This was just everyone standing around, waiting to get back in, getting out of the way for ambulances, Everyone getting more and more tightly packed until the crowd started doing those little, like, freaky lurches and shoves that, you know, it's like we're on the verge of a stampede here. Because they've planned this so well that what else was going to happen? They weren't going to go home. It was temporarily postponed.

[Robert Evans]

So you want to come back? Yeah. They said temporary.

[Sam J]

Yeah.

[Robert Evans]

It's a terrible idea, right?

[Laura Jadeid]

Yes. Like, don't go home. Hang out here, wait outside the gates and get soaking wet. Because this is safer than being inside the fair where you could, like, do things instead of just standing around and being angry.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah. It's both saying, like, we want you to stay out where you will be in danger, but also we want to put you into a situation where a lot of you have to move at once.

[Laura Jadeid]

Yes, yes. And you'll be upset and the security will be overwhelmed. Yeah, yeah. It was brilliant. Really, really brilliant stuff. And you know, the storm continued to get worse. It did not improve. It just got more and more rainy, and people were more and more determined to stay. I mean, there was a little bit of attrition, but mostly, you know, and I fell in with a group that was more determined than most. They were, you know, following the ambulances in because the ambulances were making space, and it was a good way to move up, to just be completely antisocial in this way. Eventually, this group got far enough down the street that it seemed like we were going to make it in, and we kept moving a little bit. And there were the chants of usa I believe God Bless America was sung at one point, but the progress slowed, and then it stopped. And then music began to play just beyond us, inside the fence, and the crowd became a bit more agitated, and God Bless the USA started playing. And that was a huge catastrophe because, you know, that means the speech is about to start, and we were going to miss Trump speaking, which was a problem. And then Trump started speaking, and this was the moment that I think that the crowd just completely broke their will and spirits broke because the reverberation from the poorly placed speakers was such that you could not understand him. It was kind of a nightmare world for me in a different way, because you could hear Trump's cadence and voice, but not his words. It was just this, like, psychotic babble of nothing. Just washing over us.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah. Reading transcripts of it, even. It was just like. Honestly, it's like. It's like asmr. Yeah, right. Like, it's just. He's creating, at this point, like, a soundscape for them to kind of exist inside for a little while.

[Laura Jadeid]

Yeah, yeah. And then amplified by the fact that it was coming at us, you know, from several directions, out of sync. So truly incomprehensible. Just this weird Trumpian gibberish washing over this crowd. And the boo that erupted when they realized they couldn't hear their leader speak. It was just like a primal, like.

[Robert Evans]

That's funny.

[Laura Jadeid]

It was great. I was having the. I mean, I was soaking wet, having the best time.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah, they're all in withdrawal. Yeah.

[Laura Jadeid]

Yeah. It's like. No. And so, you know, he speaks for a while, and midnight passes, and there have been no fireworks. So the Fourth of July, the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, has now passed in D.C. with zero fireworks whatsoever. But, you know, everyone was excited for 850,000 fireworks to go off, which they eventually started to do at around, you know, 1215, completely obscured by the Trees completely obscured.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah.

[Laura Jadeid]

Could not see them at all after all that waiting.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah, I saw your pictures and stuff from it. It's like you can in, like the top corner above a tree, you can see little bits of an explosion peeking out. Just the worst fireworks show. So frustrating.

[Laura Jadeid]

So bad. Oh, my God. So I'm walking out and they're playing Journey. You know, don't stop believing. Like, I have stopped believing. And then Bon Jovi's living on a prayer. I'm not really living on anything at this point. The smoke is so thick. Even if we could have seen it was just an orange glow on the horizon. It was just crackling of bombs.

[Robert Evans]

It was just awesome. Well, we will conclude this story and your experience at the Great American State Fair. But first, here's one last ad break.

[Ari Chambers]

What's up, fam? I'm sports journalist Ari Chambers.

[Sam J]

Hey, what's up, y'?

[Robert Evans]

All?

[Sam J]

It's your girl, Sam J.

[Ari Chambers]

And we're the host of Everyone Watches Women's Sports, a new podcast from Together. And I heart women's sports because, let's

[Sam J]

be real, women's sports is giving us way too much to talk about these days.

[Ari Chambers]

The highlights, the rivalries, the breakout stars, the moments that take over your entire

[Sam J]

timeline and the conversations that start during the game and somehow keep going all week.

[Ari Chambers]

Every week, we're breaking down the biggest stories across women's sports.

[Sam J]

We'll give you our takes, our debates, and probably a few disagreements.

[Ari Chambers]

We'll talk to athletes, celebrate big moments, and get into what's happening on and off the field, court, track and beyond.

[Sam J]

Because we're not just interested in what happened. We're interested in why everyone's talking about it. Because everyone watches women's sports. So if you're already a fan or

[Ari Chambers]

you're just getting into the game, there's a seat for you right here.

[Sam J]

Listen to Everyone watches women's Sports on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

[Robert Evans]

Okay, so how many times, I'm curious, would you estimate you heard Lee Greenwood's God Bless the USA during your time there?

[Laura Jadeid]

You know, believe it or not, just before Trump came out. Just the one. Which was.

[Robert Evans]

Oh, just one. That's good. That's good. That's not bad.

[Laura Jadeid]

I was surprised as well. I assumed it would be playing non stop, but I guess that's like Trump's theme song.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. They wanted to keep it, like, for him. It's like a WWF thing that's like what plays him on stage or whatever.

[Laura Jadeid]

Exactly.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah.

[Laura Jadeid]

You know, I feel like this was a small rebellion because there was music playing inside of the state fair, but what you had was like Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville. As I'm like, staring at the arch, just. I mean, they played Fortunate Son, which I guess isn't surprising.

[Robert Evans]

Not surprising. Not really proper.

[Laura Jadeid]

But not really proper. Katy Perry's Firework played several times because, I mean, of course, firework, fourth of July. So it wasn't really like a big patriotic music fest. It was just kind of like pop music that was barely related and. Or a little sad. It was. Yeah, yeah. Odd.

[Robert Evans]

Odd. Well, anything else about the event at all that you feel like is really worth getting into here at the end of our tale.

[Laura Jadeid]

I mean, the fact that there isn't, I feel like is in itself something. Like. It was so empty. It was such an empty thing. Everything was so sad, so lazy and lazy and trashy and cheap.

[Robert Evans]

The feeling I kept having was that. But it all felt AI generated. Even the stuff that, like, couldn't have been. Like, the arch looked like an AI generated image, just stuck in the real world. And like, a lot of the booths, I mean, there was a lot of AI art there, but it just. Everything. All of your pictures. I kept thinking, it's like my friend is trapped in, like, an AI generated version of reality. That's really lazy.

[Laura Jadeid]

It's exactly. That is such a good way to put it. It really did. It was just like the ethos of AI infused this place. Like, it's kind of like if you described. I mean, I feel like I'm comparing everything to the back rooms right now because I just watched it and I'm a little obsessed, but, like, what a backrooms, vibes.

[Robert Evans]

This person. Watch the back rooms.

[Laura Jadeid]

Yeah. And yet, I mean, it really was like if somebody described what a building was and then someone who'd never seen one before was like, oh, like this, right? Like, yeah, sure, like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just. No, it was so soulless. I mean, you know, whether or not you care for America, I personally, you know, like, I. Country's got a lot of problems. I would like a lot of them to be better. But, you know, I live here. I'd like it to be nice and it was just kind of embarrassing. It was sad that this. This is really what we are right now. We are just. Yeah, this, like, soulless. AI esque phoned in. Sad part is like, that part is not even the right word. Like, radically far right. Bullshit. Yeah, yeah. It's gross.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah, yeah, gross. It's like, funny in a cosmic sense, but mostly depressing, to be honest.

[Laura Jadeid]

Yeah. Yeah, I. I enjoyed my time there because I enjoy depressing, horrible things, but I can't. I can't say that, like, if I was giving a Yelp review, it feels

[Robert Evans]

right in this era of America to be, like, depressed and disappointed.

[Laura Jadeid]

Yeah, yeah. Like, the people. And I've caught myself doing this too. Like, you know, this isn't a representation of who we are. Like, yes, it is.

[Robert Evans]

No, this is a pretty good rep. Yeah, this is exactly who we are. I got the vibe more or.

[Laura Jadeid]

Yeah. 4.5 stars. Nailed it.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah, I say that a lot. Like, whenever someone's like, this isn't who we are. Isn't it? Have you been us?

[Laura Jadeid]

I have.

[Robert Evans]

And this feels like us to me. Yeah. Periodically during, like, the riots in 2020, I'd post some footage and one of the combos would be like, this isn't the America I grew up in.

[Ari Chambers]

It's like, I don't know.

[Robert Evans]

It's the one I grew up in.

[Laura Jadeid]

I mean, it wasn't the one I grew up in, but gu. That's because I lived in areas where the police weren't. So. Yeah, it was always there. I just wasn't visiting it, you know?

[Robert Evans]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, Laura, anything else pluggables to plug at the end here?

[Laura Jadeid]

Yeah, well, you can. You can check out. I've got a [e-mail]. i am Laura jadeed on basically every social media platform, mostly active on Blue sky right now, but theoretically on all the other ones as well. And, yeah, come check me out. I am the only Laura Jadeid in the world, so I'm very easy to find.

[Robert Evans]

Excellent. All right, well, thank you, Laura, and thank you all for listening. We'll be back at some point in the future. Well, actually, tomorrow. You know how this works.

[Laura Jadeid]

It Could Happen. Here is a production of Cool Zone Media. For more podcasts from Cool Zone Media, Visit our website, coolzonemedia.com or check us out on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts, you can now find sources for It Could Happen here, listed directly in episode descriptions. Thanks for listening.

[Ari Chambers]

What's up, fam? It's sports journalist Ari Chambers.

[Sam J]

Hey, what's up, y'?

[Robert Evans]

All?

[Sam J]

It's your girl, Sam J.

[Ari Chambers]

And we're the hosts of Everyone Watches Women's Sports, a new podcast from 2gether.

[Sam J]

We're breaking down the biggest headlines, the viral moments, and the stories everyone's talking about across women's sports from game changing

[Ari Chambers]

performances to culture shifting conversations. We'll give you our takes, our debates and a few last along the way

[Sam J]

because everyone watches women's sports. Listen to Everyone watches women's Sports on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

[Laura Jadeid]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Sam J]

Guaranteed Human.