Donald Trump added another job title — awards host — to his presidential portfolio when he took charge of the Kennedy Center Honors in Washington on Sunday, boasting that his show was getting “raving reviews” even before it ended.
The US President stayed away from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts during his first term. But since returning to office in January, he has become a campus lightning rod in a sweeping attack against what he labels a “woke” anti-American culture.
“This is the greatest evening in the history of the Kennedy Center – not even a competition,” Trump said with obvious joy from behind a presidential lectern at center stage. “That never happened and the show is already getting good reviews.
“Now I will say that I guarantee the fake news is going to give me the horrified look – ‘He was terrible as an MC. Don’t let that happen again’! But I guarantee one thing. We’re going to get big ratings today. This place is hot.”
The president jokingly renamed the “Trump-Kennedy Center” to laughter and applause, adding: “Well, we’re having a really good time tonight. I know a lot of people in this audience. Some good. Some bad. Some I really love and respect. Some I just hate.”
This honor is the country’s highest recognition for lifetime achievement in the performing arts. Trump’s determination to include himself in Sunday’s ceremony underlined his unprecedented effort over the past 10 months to dominate America’s cultural arena.
After gaining control of the Kennedy Center in February, he became the first sitting president to serve as host in the 47-year history of its prestigious honors ceremony, following in the footsteps of Walter Cronkite, Caroline Kennedy, Stephen Colbert, Glenn Close and Queen Latifah.
His duties included walking the red carpet with his wife Melania for 20 minutes, answering questions from reporters, then giving three speeches from the Opera House stage, as well as a series of pre-recorded videos from the Oval Office to introduce each honoree, which was played on the big screen.
Trump, a former host of the reality TV show The Apprentice, said he was deeply involved in choosing the recipients and that about 50 names were narrowed down to five.
The show reflected its nostalgia for late 20th-century culture with a heavy focus on film star Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky (1976), Michael Crawford’s performance in The Phantom of the Opera (1986), George Strait’s emergence as a country star in the 1980s, disco singer Gloria Gaynor’s hit single I Will Survive (1978), and the rock band Kiss’ live album Alive. Gone! (1975), which included the hit Rock and Roll All Night.
The night began with Trump’s Rocky theme music and cheers, applause and chants of “We love you!” It happened with the slogan of. From an audience that was markedly less racially diverse than in recent years.
Trump said that honorable people share the quality of perseverance. “Some of them had great failures, failures that you would read about in the newspapers because of their level of fame. But in the words of Rocky Balboa, he showed us that you have to keep moving forward, just keep moving forward.”
He said that many politicians, celebrities and other people in the audience also share this characteristic. “I know a lot of you, and you’re tenacious. A lot of you are sad, horrible people. But you’re tenacious, you never give up. Sometimes I want you to give up, but you don’t.”
Tributes to Stallone then came from actor Kurt Russell and others. Next was a tribute to British stage actor Crawford, who played the lead role in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical The Phantom of the Opera. That show’s title song and the ballad The Music of the Night were performed as a tribute.
Singers Vince Gill, Miranda Lambert and country duo Brooks & Dunn sang select songs in Strait’s honor, and Gaynor was celebrated with a version of her signature song, lit with disco lights around the theater.
The final tribute was to Kiss, whose members Paul Stanley, Simmons, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss rose to fame with hits like I Was Made for Lovin’ You. Frehley died in October. Singer Garth Brooks performed a spectacular rendition of Shout It Out Loud and rock band Cheap Trick closed the evening with a rendition of Rock and Roll All Night.
The audience included the US Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, the head of Medicare and Medicaid, Mehmet Oz, the leader of the US Agency for Global Media, Kari Lake, and the Governor of Virginia, Glenn Youngkin. Democrats were even more rare than usual.
Trump proved more disciplined in his comments than at some other high-profile events, but could not resist partisan point-scoring. “You know, they tried to convince (Joe) Biden to do this,” he fumed. “For four years straight, he tried to get her. He said, ‘I don’t think so.’ However, it must have been very interesting, right? I must have seen.” The audience roared with laughter.
Trump’s impact on the Kennedy Center has been dramatic. He removed its president, installed a new board with him as chairman, and ordered renovation of the building.
The center’s new president, Rick Grenell, who once served as Trump’s ambassador to Germany, is overseeing a multimillion-dollar renovation of the performing arts complex and revamping the organization’s events, including hosting the soccer World Cup draw last Friday.
Grenell’s tenure has been marked by staff turnover and discontent in the arts community about the direction of the center, leading to reports of declining ticket sales.
For the past decade, criticism of Trump has been dominated by his absence from the Kennedy Center Honors red carpet. But be careful to avoid taking honorable sides on Sunday.
Crawford, 83, said: “I’m apolitical. I’m just invited to come here and I’m here… We work for the audience. We don’t know who they are. We don’t know what color they are, how tall they are, how short they are, what they believe in or don’t believe in. They’re in the dark and we entertain you.”
Stanley of Kiss said: “To excessively politicize an arts festival is a distortion of intent and certainly over the years nominees and people who have won awards in the past have not been asked who they voted for or what their political beliefs were. At some point it’s important for people to open their minds and shut their mouths.”
Kiss singer Simmons, wearing python-skin boots, said: “Whether you’re a fan of the President or not, he’s never boring. The worst thing is some bloated guy coming in there and giving long speeches. No matter what he does, this President is going to be entertaining.”
For his part, Trump was asked how he had prepared for his debut hosting the Kennedy Center Honors. “I have a lot on my plate and I haven’t really done much preparation,” he admitted. “I read a little. I have a good memory so I can remember things, which was very lucky. But I just wanted to be me. You have to be yourself. Johnny Carson: He was himself.”
The Kennedy Center Honors Show will air on December 23 on the CBS Television Network
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