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Trump’s salutes to the honorees focused more on the jingle of the cash register than the beauty of their art.
If a famous actor does a dance, but no one recognizes the move … Should we all just move on?
Such was Jon Voight’s little maneuver, which made Donald J. Trump smirk, and many of the hundreds gathered at the White House go, huh? What was that from? Midnight Cowboy? A Chabad hokey-pokey? Yeah, that sounds right.
On a pleasant Thursday afternoon, the medal ceremony for arts and humanities awards in the East Room of the White House presented a peculiar scene. Two weeks into the impeachment showdown at the Capitol, it was Trump’s only public event for the day—and his first time awarding accolades for the arts and humanities in the three years of his presidency. Among the honorees were musician Alison Krauss and hit-novelist James Patterson. But no people of color received an arts medal this year, and there were far fewer laureates than were typically recognized by previous presidents. Which should be no surprise, coming from a president who has cut funding for cultural programs, education, and the humanities.
While not quite as garish as Trump’s casinos, the East Room gleamed with the accoutrements of wealth. Vice President Mike Pence and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos settled themselves in the front row, perched on gold chairs, in the gold-curtained room, with gold mirrors capped with gold eagles, and gold tassels on the programs, accentuating the gold trim on the military musicians’ dress uniforms.
An accordionist stood at the center of the 20-some piece military band playing show tunes. With Trump running late, they went into a rendition of “Memory,” from Cats. “Blue Gardenia” was followed by a West Side Story medley, as journalists clustered against the back wall listened to Fiona Hill’s impeachment testimony on their earbuds.
Once Trump arrived, his salutes to the honorees focused more on the jingle of the cash register than the beauty of their art. The president lauded Voight for “making some of the greatest movies of all time … starring in dozens of Hollywood blockbusters,” like Mission: Impossible and National Treasure.
Absent from the event was Voight’s daughter, Angelina Jolie, the international rights advocate and U.N. special envoy for refugees. Voight, of course, has been a lone pro-Trump voice in Hollywood.
Trump’s favorite Voight film turns out to be The Champ. “That was some great movie,” Trump said. “Everyone was crying at that movie. I tried not to, Jon, but [it] wasn’t easy. It wasn’t easy … We love having you here—especially since it’s someone I happen to really like.” (Translation: Especially since you’re someone who apparently likes me.)
As there are few people in the arts who fit that description, Trump also nominated Voight to the Kennedy Center’s board earlier this year.
Other awardees included the folk musician Alison Krauss (lending an opportunity for Trump to awkwardly sway to “Down to the River to Pray,” one-upping every surreal scene in every Coen brothers film to date), in addition to a Michelin-starred chef and few old-fashioned philanthropists. The Claremont Institute, the right-wing powerhouse, was given a national humanities medal, though Trump, while announcing the organization that has staffed some key posts in his administration, appeared to have no idea who they were and what they do.
Then there was James Patterson, the best-selling author of, by Trump’s calculations, some 277 books, giving the president another opportunity to celebrate the lasting glory of sales. “He’s outdone me by a lot,” Trump said. “He’s outdone me by a lot. You’ve sold a lot more books than me—and I guess you’ve sold a lot more books than anyone but maybe one. I don’t know, the Bible, I think, has you. Right, James? The Bible has you by a little bit, right?”
In the front row, Pence manfully suppressed his cringing.
Not all of Trump’s A Team was in attendance. Steve Mnuchin did find time to attend but seemed distracted. Senior advisers Jared and Ivanka weren’t there. It might be noted that they’ve become pariahs on the art scene, and the president’s daughter was also the subject of a scathing art installation in the District earlier this year called “Ivanka Vacuuming,” with an actress playing the president’s daughter hoovering crumbs.
Clearly, most artists in this age of Trump would refuse to accept an award from this president—and the president would never bestow an award on anyone critical of him, in any event. The trickier case is that of the board members on the National Council on the Humanities or the National Council on the Arts, who’ve had to calculate whether to hold on quietly to their appointments or resign and make a stink.
I spoke by phone to one council board member still hanging on, who put it to me as a duty to the arts. “The arts have historically engaged people in this country, especially people across various boundaries like race and gender … It’s an opportunity for shared experiences that elevate shared humanity.”
This was exactly the sunny take I needed after hearing President Trump speak of “the National Humanitaries Medal,” which is [sic], truly sick, and had to be stricken from the press release.
