“The latest Kennedy Center Honors should be cause for celebration, marking the event’s 40th anniversary, in the year that coincides with John F. Kennedy’s 100th birthday.
Yet this annual recognition of the arts — lauding luminaries from various fields, as they rub elbows with the Washington elite — comes with a sizable donut hole this year, as President Trump skipped the event, the first time a sitting president hasn’t attended in more than two decades.
“The president’s rationale was that by staying away, he would allow the attendees to celebrate without “political distraction.”
“But his absence from CBS’ telecast — which taped in early December — is itself something of a distraction, underscoring the toxic nature of the relationship between the current occupant of the White House and the arts community.”
Read more at CNN
