Justin Gilliland/The New York Times
The White House announced early Saturday that President Trump and the first lady, Melania Trump, would not participate in this year’s Kennedy Center Honors, “to allow the honorees to celebrate without any political distraction.”
The decision was another episode in an already fraught week for the White House. Mr. Trump has become increasingly isolated after a series of comments about the white supremacist marches in Charlottesville, Va. Concerned about being aligned with Mr. Trump, business leaders on the Strategic and Policy Forum agreed to disband earlier this week. And on Friday, all 16 members of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities resigned in protest of Mr. Trump’s comments.
Also on Friday, the president’s chief strategist, Stephen K. Bannon, left the White House: the latest in a string of firings and departures that have left the White House in a regenerative phase.
Mr. and Mrs. Trump’s decision not to attend the Kennedy Center celebration means that it will be just the fourth time in the program’s 40-year history that a president will not be in attendance. In 1994, President Bill Clinton skipped the event while on his way to Budapest for a conference. In 1989, President George H.W. Bush was preoccupied with a summit in Malta with Mikhail S. Gorbachev. In 1979, Jimmy Carter did not attend because of the Iran hostage crisis.
“The president and first lady have decided not to participate in this year’s activities to allow the honorees to celebrate without any political distraction,” the White House statement said. “First lady Melania Trump, along with her husband President Donald J. Trump, extend their sincerest congratulations and well wishes to all of this year’s award recipients for their many accomplishments.”
A spokeswoman for the Kennedy Center, Michelle Pendoley, said that the Washington arts institution had been in “close contact” with the White House ahead of the decision and that she was alerted before the White House made its announcement.
Another spokeswoman, Eileen Andrews, said the Kennedy Center was “proactive in ongoing conversations” with the White House as recently as Friday.
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SOURCE: NY Times, Noah Weiland
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