CNN Anchor Kaitlan Collins Exposes Donald Trump's Empty Fair: 'Hasn't Exactly Lived Up to the Hype'

CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins publicly criticized President Donald Trump's Great American State Fair after traveling to experience the struggling event firsthand.

Reporting from what was described as an empty field, Collins addressed the mounting "angst" surrounding the multi-day festival and the low attendance numbers that have reportedly left Trump deeply frustrated.

Collins highlighted the stark lack of crowds at the event, which is scheduled to run through July 10, despite its struggles to draw visitors.

“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,” Collins reported from the field.

“Trump is planning a grand finale air show, and enough fireworks to break a Guinness World Record,” Collins said. “But it remains to be seen if the heat, tightened security measures and fireworks that won't start before 10:30 p.m will produce the turnout the president is hoping for.”

The fair faces severe weather challenges, with temperatures forecasted to reach roughly 107 degrees Fahrenheit.

Despite the dangerous heat wave, Trump stated during a stop in North Dakota that he still intends to deliver a characteristically long speech on Saturday to "show that I can do anything.”

“On July Fourth, it’s going to be approximately 107 degrees out,” the defiant octogenarian said, “and I’m going to make a really long speech just to show that I can do anything. It’s gonna be 107!”

According to reports shared by Collins on her show The Source, the administration has been highly sensitive about the optics of the event.

Trump was reportedly "enraged" after seeing aerial photography that clearly captured the poor turnout.

In response to his anger, loyalists and officials swiftly moved to delete the revealing crowd photos.

This clash is the latest in a series of highly public, tense exchanges between Collins and Trump.

Beyond the empty fairgrounds, Collins has consistently questioned the heavy funding and taxpayer resources allocated to vanity projects — such as the fair and the controversial Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool renovations — even as federal safety-net programs like SNAP and Medicaid face steep cuts.

Trump has repeatedly targeted Collins personally during press gaggles, recently labeling her "stupid and nasty" and berating her in the Oval Office for "never smiling" and having "hatred in her eyes" when asking pointed questions.

Democratic congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman, who served on the America 250 campaign for seven years, blasted the event under Trump’s direction to CNN.

“Freedom 250 is his vanity project,” she said. “And the things that he‘s trying to implement, they‘re all about him. And it is because, unfortunately, the president has an insatiable ego. And so he has denigrated the essence of the celebration. It doesn’t seem to be well attended. It just looks very sedate to me.”