'Ouch': MS NOW's Mika cringes at Fox News coverage of Trump's thinly attended festival

President Donald Trump has boasted about the crowds flocking to the Great American State Fair, but photos show the semiquincentennial celebration has been thinly attended.

The 80-year-old president claimed last week that 45,000 people attended the fair's kickoff celebration, although independent reporting estimated a far smaller crowd, and MS NOW's Mika Brzezinski mocked the misleading coverage over the weekend on Fox News.

"President Trump is touting crowd size at the American State Fair, claiming at least 45,000 people attended his speech kicking off America's 250th anniversary festivities. In Washington, D.C.," Brzezinski said. "But reports from the ground tell a different story. NBC News puts the crowd closer to 1,000 people, writing, quote, 'based on,' there you go, 'estimates by our team on the ground, nowhere near. 45,000 people were present.' The Washington Post reports, quote, 'the crowd thinly covered an area about the length of the National Museum of American History, smaller than some summer outdoor movie screenings,' and the New Republic writes, quote, 'dozens of attendees Wednesday were seen flocking toward the exits in the middle of Trump's address,' which was meant to kick-start the two-week event."

"Despite the paltry crowd size, one news station insisted that there were more people attending that event than met the eye," she added.

Producers played a clip of Fox News hosts covering the event live insisting there were more attendees than what appeared to be dozens of people milling around behind them on the National Mall, with one broadcaster claiming "a wash of people" were present – presumably just out of frame.

"Oh my God," Brzezinski said, cringing. "Ouch."

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