Famous Americans have always snubbed US presidents to make political points. But never before in the history of this republic have so many snubbed any president the way they are snubbing Donald Trump.
This trend began famously enough on the first day of his presidency. That’s when celebrities of every stripe boycotted his inauguration ceremonies. This meant that the celebrity-obsessed Trump had to settle for a smattering of Z-listers; whereas so many A-listers attended Obama’s inauguration ceremonies, it seemed like a mashup of the Oscars, Grammys, Emmys, Tonys, and ESPYs.
But Trump is breaking the norm in this respect not just by the number of snubs but by his reaction to them. He betrays an antic pining to be endorsed, admired, and even celebrated by famous Americans. This often leads to embarrassing stunts to give the impression that their snubs do not wound his pride as much as they clearly do.
Not to mention the boldfaced lies he continually tells to make himself seem far more popular than he is. Exhibit A: Trump is still insisting his that inauguration crowd was bigger than Obama’s, which is about as laughable at this point as Danny DeVito insisting that he’s taller than Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
In “Kneeling, the Flag, and the National Anthem,” September 25, 2017, I wrote at length about the unprecedented humiliation of having everyone from professional athletes to corporate CEOs snub Trump. But here in short are just a few of the more notorious snubs that are defining his presidency:
Britain
America’s closest ally canceled a state visit for the first time in history because it feared untenable protests would greet Trump throughout.
The decision averted the risk of public protests that had threatened to embarrass both Mr. Trump and Britain’s prime minister, Theresa May. …
While Britons may pride themselves on their ‘special relationship’ with the United States, that does not appear to extend to its president.
(The New York Times, January 12, 2018)
In fact, this thin-skinned kakistocrat whined that he would not visit unless the British government could guarantee Britons would show him nothing but love. In other words, Trump needs reassurances that people will cheer him at public appearances the way his supporters do at campaign rallies. This makes the pledge of loyalty he demands of top officials in his administration seem modest.
Media
Trump flouted the presidential norm for a second-consecutive year by refusing to attend Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. Like the British government, the organizers of this annual event could not guarantee he’d be shown nothing but love.
Unlike his predecessors, Trump could not sit there and take any joke at his expense. Instead, this imperious pussy sent his female press secretary to take the shots, which comedian Michelle Wolf rifled off with … er … Trumpian abandon. For example:
[Trump] loves white nationalists, which is a weird term for a Nazi. Calling a Nazi a white nationalist is like calling a pedophile a ‘kid friend.’ Or Harvey Weinstein a ‘ladies man.’
(The Washington Post, April 29, 2018)
Lawyers
Top lawyers refused solicitations to serve as his counsel, leaving Trump to settle for political hacks like Rudy Giuliani – who hasn’t practiced law in decades.
Athletes and CEOs
Top athletes refused to attend White House celebrations of their accomplishments. To be fair, there’s nothing new about athletes boycotting the White House. By the same token, though, there’s nothing new about a president lying to the American people. The difference is that, with Trump, the number of snubs, like the number of lies, has grown to unimaginable levels.
Top CEOs resigned en masse from his various business councils.
So many CEOs resigned from Trump’s manufacturing council that he just disbanded it. …
(Vox, August 17, 2017)
Kennedy Center Honorees
Kennedy Center honorees refused to attend the annual White House reception and top musicians rejected invitations to perform at the Kennedy Center ceremony – both to snub Trump.
The White House announced in August that the Trumps would not be attending the annual gala after several honorees said they would boycott a Trump-hosted reception at the White House. Trump responded by bowing out.
(The Washington Post, December 3, 2017)
Mind you, this event is usually held under the auspices of the president of the United States. Therefore, it speaks volumes that this president had to bow out because honorees made clear they would find his presence too odious to abide. There’s no overstating the historic nature of this snub.
Melania Trump
Even his wife has made a show of repeatedly snubbing him by refusing to hold his hand in public, despite his sorry-dog efforts to get her to do so.
Winter Olympians
Another White House ceremony dedicated to American athletes will be severely under-attended this week thanks to the guy occupying the main bedroom at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. …
Notable absences include [snowboarding phenoms Shaun White and Chloe Kim], alpine ski racing powerhouses Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin as well as the two first openly gay winter olympians, Gus Kenworthy and Adam Rippon.
(USA Today, April 25, 2018)
You can bet these superstar snubs annoyed Trump to no end. Not least because the relatively unknown faces of those who attended could not provide the high-wattage photo-op he wanted. On the other hand, he and his neo-Nazi supporters might have derived some consolation from the fact that those faces were all white.
In any event, the number of A-list athletes boycotting this ceremony vindicates the observation I made in “Sports Teams Snubbing Trump,” The iPINIONS Journal, Volume XIII, Commentaries on Global Events of 2017, p. 441:
Never before in the history of the United States has a president been so odious that whole sports teams did not want to be caught dead within miles of the White House. …
Trump is so unpopular that being invited to this White House is tantamount to being invited to a garden party by that proverbial skunk.
____________________
That said, I’ve written a lot about Trump’s habit of projecting his faults and shortcomings onto others (e.g., crooked Hillary, lyin’ Comey, dumb as a rock Mika, colluding Democrats) — as commentaries like “Forget the Clinton Foundation. Shut Down the Trump Organization!” August 26, 2016, attests. He often compounds this by heaping scorn on people whose admiration and attention he obviously craves (e.g., mainstream media, liberal elites, superstar athletes).
This textbook psychological profile compelled him to stage a rally on Saturday in Washington, Michigan, where he knew the ignorant masses would show him the love he craves. He declared, to their gullible delight, that he’d rather be there than in Washington, DC, where he knew the informed elites would show him the contempt he dreads.
He later tweeted that “the filthy comedian” – who told mean-spirited jokes about his female staffers – was an embarrassment to everyone associated with that White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. But this was just another case of projection. After all, this crude president – who gained infamy with his mean-spirited remarks about female journalists – knows that he is an embarrassment to everyone associated with the United States.
Never mind that anyone who knows anything about Trump knows that he’d prefer the elites who celebrated Obama to the masses who idolize him any day … except on Election Day.
Perhaps some of you recognize the ploy he pulled on Saturday from your days in middle school. You know, when the in-crowd made clear you didn’t belong and you reacted by telling anyone who would listen you didn’t want to hang with those losers anyway.
Yet, remarkably, this is the level of psychological maturity that governs much of what this president of United States says and does. God help us!
Related commentaries:
Kneeling, the flag…
Forget the Clinton Foundation…