President Donald Trump kicked off the White House’s Great American State Fair Wednesday night with a rally-style speech that echoed his campaign events by casting his second term as a success, attacking diversity initiatives and declaring victory in Iran despite ongoing negotiations.

“We’re in the golden age,” Trump told the cheering crowd on the National Mall. “There’s never been an age like this.”

Despite the fact that technical negotiations with Iran are still underway, Trump said his administration signed a “historic agreement” to “end” the war.

He also told the crowd that the Lincoln Reflecting Pool — which has experienced peeling paint and algal blooms despite a recent $14 billion renovation — was “gruesomely vandalized by thugs” but noted that “they largely have been caught and are being prosecuted.”

The president’s speech is the first of many events in the Trump administration’s Freedom 250 programming to celebrate the country’s 250th anniversary. A public-private partnership, the event will stretch over 16 days with exhibits in 56 states and territories, including a rodeo and games organized by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (That initiative is separate from America250, a congressionally authorized celebration.)

But Wednesday’s patriotic event got off to a bumpy start weeks before the night began.

Shortly after the fair was announced, several artists expected to headline the event backed out or said they never agreed to perform, including Morris Day and The Time, rapper Young MC, Jodie Rocco of Milli Vanilli, country singer Martina McBride, The Commodores and former Poison frontman Bret Michaels. McBride said in a statement on X in May that she “was presented with an opportunity to perform at a nonpartisan event but that turned out to be misleading.”

Young MC said that “the artists were never told about any political involvement with the event. And despite the claims by the organizers that the event is nonpartisan, SPIN magazine describes it as Trump-backed.”

Speaking before Trump took the stage, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy referred the musical artists who dropped out as “libtards.”

The event comes as Trump had juggled a host of challenges, including the ongoing and fragile talks with Iran, midterm primary elections and the algae-infested Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

Other Freedom 250 events include a July 4th event, which the president has said will be a “Trump rally,” and exhibits at the Great American State Fair, which opens to the public Thursday.

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