Trumps to skip Kennedy Center Honors again rather than face very vocal critics [View all]

[babylonsister]

Trumps to skip Kennedy Center Honors again rather than face very vocal critics
Lin-Manuel Miranda said Trump was "going straight to hell." Cher compared him to Hitler. Any surprise that Trump isn't planning to cheer them on in December?
Jessica M. Goldstein
Nov 13, 2018, 4:37 pm


Since descending that escalator and ascending to the Oval Office, President Trump has broken with traditions literally more times than the average citizen can say, “wait, what?” For this and so many reasons, it is not all that surprising that Donald and Melania Trump are skipping the Kennedy Center Honors for the second year in a row.

Though the president and first lady typically attend the Honors, they are only hosts of a ceremonial sort: They do not have a hand in selecting the year’s five honorees. But they’re almost always there, barring some international catastrophe — the hostage crisis kept Jimmy Carter from attending in 1979 — or travel (George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton missed due to European trips in 1989 and 1994, respectively). Save for these absences, plus a late arrival by Obama in 2015, “every president has attended since 1978,” the Washington Post reports.

But not the Trumps. Per the Post:

Melania Trump’s spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, said Tuesday that “at this time” the couple are not planning to attend the annual fundraiser. The 2018 Honors will salute the lifetime achievements of four artists — composer Philip Glass, singer-actresses Cher and Reba McEntire, and jazz musician Wayne Shorter — as well as the creative team behind the groundbreaking musical Hamilton.

The 2018 honorees, who will be feted on December 2, were announced back in July. As soon as the names came out, speculation began about how exactly President Trump would clap politely while sitting beside a phalanx of performers who have expressed their disgust with him in caps-locked clarity.

After Trump reamed out San Juan mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz for accurately describing the devastation Hurricane Maria brought to Puerto Rico and imploring the president to send much-needed federal assistance, Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda tweeted that Trump was “going straight to hell.”

more...

https://thinkprogress.org/faced-with-prospect-of-applauding-very-vocal-critics-trumps-will-skip-kennedy-center-honors-again-9977294594dd/?fbclid=IwAR2XpoTJmAEWFY-nb5HDg8rfiwgXHxA-At0X37YITU0VtMjYuisLP3qUrHo