Unpresidented

Twice a year CBS tries to recapture some of its long-ago cachet as the "Tiffany network" by carrying programs that showcase quality at the expense of numbers.  In June they bring the Tony Awards to the tiny audience outside New York City (and the relatively small one inside it) that cares about the Broadway theatre.  In December they present the Kennedy Center Honors, celebrating the lifetime achievements of people in the performing arts (and featuring the ugliest medallion since the men of the USS Reluctant gave Mr. Roberts the Order of the Palm -- but I digress.)  For as long as this has been done, the President and First Lady have hosted a White House reception for the five recipients and shared their box at the Kennedy Center opera house.  That's over.

It was just bad luck, I guess, that the honored this year are three people of color (Carmen De Lavallade, LL Cool J and Lionel Richie), a Latina (Gloria Estefan) and a Jew (Norman Lear).  This was not a Trump demographic even before he endorsed white nationalists and Confederate symbols.  Mr. Lear announced a month ago that he would skip the White House reception, and everyone but Ms. Estefan promised to boycott the ceremony/concert.  So it must have been a relief to everybody, including CBS, when the Trumps pulled out to avoid "political distraction."  In the midst of scandal (Clinton) or unpopular war (G.W. Bush), presidents always showed up, smiling gamely and leading the standing ovations. 

But they were adults.  As people resign from his window-dressing "councils" Trump's response has been to dissolve them, like the six-year-old who cancels his birthday party because no one likes him enough to come.  He couldn't throw out the Nationals first pitch on opening day because, although he's practically decathlon material (according to the Mooch), some fans might have booed.  He can't appear before any crowd that doesn't consist solely of admirers.  Reporters' questions at last Tuesday's "infrastructure" speech so infuriated him that his inner trump burst forth to stun even supporters.  Fake media!  Dishonest!  Scum!  Never must be heard a discouraging word, or a mildly dissenting one, so he was never going to take a chance even with the polite, well-dressed audience at the Kennedy Center.  (Expect a shit-shower of tweets:  "Lionel Richie very OVERRATED!"  "Lowest rated Show EVER!  Sad!")

But Trump is proud of his show business connections, even if they involve wrestling and "reality" TV.  This can't have been an easy choice.  Which explains today's reflexive lashing out at -- wait for it -- HILLARY!  No stamina.  Could never make America great, as he has.  Well, I'm watching the Nazis march through the streets of Boston, vastly outnumbered by anti-haters, and I see a lot of people giving up a summer Saturday to oppose an ideology most of us thought perished in the ruins of Berlin seventy-two years ago.  Maybe Trump is just what we need to remind us that we are and can be great.  If only he would go away.