President Donald Trump’s Christmas week in office culminated with a cascade of headline-grabbing activities, including his television debut as host of an awards ceremony — among what preliminary hearings suggest are among the lowest-rated Kennedy Center Honors.
What followed was a series of posts on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in which the president turned his cheerful Christmas greetings into vicious political attacks, calling him “the scum of the radical left” and lambasting Democrats for their policies on immigration, gender and crime.
Before the Honors broadcast — taped Dec. 7 and broadcast Dec. 23 — Trump trumpeted his role as host with a message that he was the choice of his self-appointed board “and of almost everyone in America.”
“Tell me what you think of my abilities as ‘Master of Ceremonies’. If they are really good, would you like me to leave the Presidency and make ‘hosting’ a full-time job?” wrote the president.
Preliminary audiences for this year’s show were well below last year’s (2.65 million versus 4.1 million), although one insider warned that final figures, expected in the coming days, are expected to provide a higher total – although it will be enough to surpass last year’s low audiences.
Somewhat lost in the shuffle of this year’s awards show is the fact that CBS’ deal to televise the event has now ended, meaning the Center will market television and streaming rights in the coming months.
Normally these are numbers that wouldn’t attract many bidders, but this is no ordinary sight. While it’s unclear whether Trump plans to host the event again, the show will be another opportunity for a media company to strike a deal with Trump, and there is no shortage of companies that might be willing to sign on.
CBS’s window to renew the deal expired earlier this year, but that was a decision made by the previous owner. It’s entirely possible that Paramount CEO David Ellison is willing to sign a new deal to keep the series in-house. And then there’s Netflix, which owns the streaming rights to the Kennedy Center’s other big program: The Mark Twain Prize for American Humorwhich was awarded to Conan O’Brien earlier this year.
Netflix has reached a deal to acquire Warner Bros., and Paramount is also pursuing a bid. Both could face regulatory review and may find a deal for the issue more attractive in this environment. Still other companies, like Versant or Fox, might be interested in doing a deal, knowing they might want to pursue acquisitions in the future.
As crazy as it sounds, the idea that media mergers and acquisitions could be a driver for the TV rights to a niche awards show (winners selected by Trump this year included Gene Simmons of Kiss and the Broadway original) The Phantom of the Opera Michael Crawford), this has become surprisingly plausible in the current context.
Trump’s debut hosting an awards ceremony comes amid his highly controversial decision to rename the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts after himself.
The board, now made up of Trump allies, approved renaming the nation’s premier arts institution as Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Artsa decision that sparked intense legal and cultural criticism.
Opponents include members of the Kennedy family. Kerry Kennedy, sister of U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., pledged in a social media post to “take a pickax and remove these letters from this building.” His cousin, Maria Shriver, said in a message condemning the action: “Adding your name to a memorial already named for a great man does not make you a great man. Quite the contrary.”
Performers withdrew from holiday performances in protest, and CBS avoided the new name in its Kennedy Center Honors broadcast, highlighting the controversy.
Trump’s social media activity on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day added another layer of chaos.
On Christmas Day, he posted more than 100 messages and reposts targeting familiar foes, including election conspiracies around the 2020 vote, attacks on Somali immigrants and amplified grievances against the media and his political rivals.
Its posts recycled debunked claims about election fraud and promoted controversial videos of advisers and allies.
As if that wasn’t enough, the president also authorized military action abroad.
On Christmas Day, U.S. forces, acting at Trump’s direction, launched airstrikes against Islamic State-linked militants in northwest Nigeria, hitting targets the administration said were responsible for attacks on Christian communities.
Nigerian officials and outside analysts have warned that defining the conflict in strictly religious terms risks oversimplifying complex security dynamics.
