America 250

My Very Long Ride on the MAGA Ferris Wheel

The Great American State Fair promised a celebration of freedom. So why was I stuck in the air?

Billy Binion | 6.26.2026 4:19 PM

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(Billy Binion)

There's a scene in National Lampoon's European Vacation where our hero, Clark Griswold, takes his family on a very familiar tour as he struggles to exit a London roundabout. "Hey look, kids, there's Big Ben, and there's Parliament!" he says. "Again."

I did not know this cultural touchstone until yesterday, when someone I was stuck in a hot box with informed me we were living it. Except our experience was quintessentially American. Instead of the hulking clock tower, we had the Washington Monument. Instead of Parliament, there was the U.S. Capitol. And, most importantly, instead of a car with a right-hand-side driver's seat, we were passengers on the longest Ferris wheel ride of my life.

Such was my introduction to The Great American State Fair, the exposition erected on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to celebrate America's 250th birthday. After making my way through the queue and piling into a car with four others, we waited in suspension. It wasn't until several minutes later, when we began rotating with some speed, that I realized the ride had not technically begun until then. (Or had it?) Around we went. There was some moving, and some waiting, and some rocking in the wind, all typical Ferris wheel things. Until, during one such waiting period—by........

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