The Great Cancellation - How Trump\u2019s Anniversary Celebration Became a Problem<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nThe president responded according to a method uniquely his own. Rather than attempting to win back the departing artists, he proposed replacing them. With himself. On Truth Social he described the musicians as \u201chighly paid, third rate artists\u201d whose music bored people, who earned too much and remained endlessly dissatisfied. Instead, according to his own words, he preferred surrounding himself with \u201cHappy People, Smart People, Successful People, and People that know how to WIN,\u201d meaning people who understand winning, a quality that, in the present birthday planning, had not yet appeared in overwhelming abundance.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThen came the most remarkable passage of the entire weekend. Trump declared himself the \u201cNumber One Attraction anywhere in the World.\u201d He claimed to draw \u201cmuch larger audiences than Elvis in his prime,\u201d and added that he did so without even needing a guitar. Furthermore, some people, according to him, considered him the \u201cGreatest President in History (THE GOAT).\u201d His proposal therefore was to replace the concerts with a large \u201cAMERICA IS BACK\u201d rally at whose center, naturally, he himself would stand. At this point the episode almost touches the metaphysical. A man declares himself the greatest attraction on Earth while, in the same breath, one musician after another declines to appear. Reality and its description have separated and have since been living in different apartments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not everyone fled, however. Vanilla Ice publicly confirmed his participation and clarified that politics did not matter to him, he performs for the fans and, he added generously, he would also perform for Vladimir Putin or in Iran because music is not a political matter. Such pure indifference possesses something almost elevated. How the remaining announced names decide remains unclear. C+C Music Factory is still evaluating. Flo Rida remains silent. But the most curious twist belongs to Milli Vanilli, the duo once famous for building its career on lip syncing. Although officially announced as part of the program, singer Jodie Rocco stated that nobody had ever asked the group whether it even wanted to perform. Thus the circle closes almost too perfectly, a celebration of authenticity opened by a group nobody invited and that, at one point, was not even singing itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/video><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\nTrump gives Lara Trump a tour of the ballroom construction: \u201cThis is a massive complex very much related to the military.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
While the concert series was therefore falling apart piece by piece, Trump guided his daughter in law through another construction site, this time in the literal sense. A new ballroom is being built on the White House grounds with an estimated cost of around 400 million dollars. The president described the project as a gift to America, financed by himself, by Apple, and by additional companies and donors, and spoke about it with the undisturbed satisfaction of a man erecting a monument to himself while simultaneously considering it an act of selflessness. Future presidents, he said, would use this ballroom for another two hundred years, while he himself would only have a few months left to enjoy it, a form of modesty whose scale recalls the donor inscriptions of medieval churches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/video><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\nPresident Trump says his ballroom is a gift to America, from himself and from companies like Apple, and that it will become the most secure facility in America. Trump says the military is involved in the project and so is the Secret Service. \u201cWe doubled the capacity because they need more space.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n\u201cDescribing the project as an entirely private gift becomes politically vulnerable the moment state resources, security structures, or public follow on costs become part of the project. At that point, it is no longer only the donor paying, but also the public. The share of taxpayer money could reach as much as 400 million dollars.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
He appeared especially proud of the intended use. The next inauguration, he explained, should take place inside this ballroom. His own ceremony at the Capitol had been beautiful, but only 902 people could fit there. The new hall would be significantly larger and safer. According to him, both the military and the Secret Service are involved in planning. Lara Trump defended the project with the cheerful observation that left wing commentators were having a complete breakdown over the ballroom and were \u201cmelting down.\u201d Critics, meanwhile, point to the historical significance of the White House and note that major changes to the building inevitably trigger political debate, an objection that only makes the project more appealing to people who admire permanence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/video><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\nPresident Trump gives Lara Trump a tour of the UFC arena at the White House.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<\/video><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\nTrump on the planned UFC arena at the White House:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe\u2019s building an arena and doing a great job. Brand new cranes and everything is beautiful, and everything costs money, money, money.\u201d (That taxpayer funds may also be involved is something Mr. Trump prefers not to mention: Editorial note)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
The ballroom did not remain the only exhibit during the tour. Trump also showed his daughter in law preparations for a UFC event on the South Lawn, where an arena is planned for his 80th birthday. Cranes and construction equipment already shape the landscape. The president became enthusiastic. Someone was building an arena there and doing an outstanding job, everything was beautiful, cranes were everywhere, and everywhere, according to his repeated phrase, there was \u201cmoney, money, money.\u201d One is tempted to add that there is a certain ancient logic in celebrating one\u2019s eightieth year with fistfights in front of the seat of office. The Caesars would have nodded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/video><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\nTrump on Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart: \u201cHe\u2019s a young boy. He\u2019s got tremendous potential. If he stays healthy, he\u2019ll be great. I won the popular vote.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
At the same time, the president spoke extensively about football, especially about Jaxson Dart, quarterback of the New York Giants. At first, Trump admitted, he thought the young man was a male model. Dart, he said, was exceptionally handsome and had assured him, \u201cI love you, sir.\u201d It is telling that this president\u2019s admiration for an athlete appears directed less at his throwing arm than at his appearance and his admiration. Dart himself had previously made headlines after introducing Trump at an event, an appearance that even caused criticism inside his own team. His teammate Abdul Carter publicly argued that representing the Giants means representing more than oneself. Dart responded by pointing to his family\u2019s military service and argued that the office of the presidency deserves respect regardless of political affiliation. It is an honorable distinction, although it assumes there is still enough space left between the office and its current occupant for respect to fit through.<\/p>\n\n\n
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Eventually, even the president\u2019s physical stature once again became the subject of public discussion. In a promotional clip for the program, Lara Trump stood beside her father in law and appeared almost as tall as he did, even though Trump is officially listed at 6 feet 3 inches. The debate spread quickly. Lara Trump herself is just under 5 feet 11 inches tall and often wears high heels. Even so, many observers took the image as an opportunity to question the official measurements. Similar discussions had already emerged after photographs with Prince William, in which the British heir to the throne appeared visibly taller despite sharing the same official height. There were older references as well. A previously published copy of Trump\u2019s driver\u2019s license listed him at 6 feet 2 inches, while later health reports listed him at 6 feet 3 inches. In short, one is dealing with a man whose height appears almost as flexible as his relationship with Elvis Presley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From there, the familiar questions about age followed. Trump is the oldest president ever elected. The administration regularly assures the public that he remains in excellent mental and physical condition. Critics point instead to that very age, to his publicly known chronic venous insufficiency, and to other health related changes over recent years. It is the eternal tension between the image a person creates of himself and the body required to carry that image, a tension as old as vanity itself and one that no ballroom in the world can ultimately remove.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All of this, it is worth remembering, happened within just a few days. A president speaks with his daughter in law about a war, about football, about musicians walking away, about a ballroom for the next two centuries, about fistfights on the lawn of his official residence, and about his supposed superiority to Elvis. Meanwhile, the audience is left wondering whether it just watched a political interview or a family performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And then there was this:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nAnd This Man Is Supposedly Healthy According to His Medical Checkup?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/video><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\nPeople thought this man had already pushed the boundaries of the absurd beyond recognition - and yet he somehow finds another basement beneath every basement. This time he outdid himself so thoroughly that it almost deserves recognition as an Olympic discipline. For Mr. Trump, madness is essentially standard equipment, the base model. This weekend, however, he unveiled a special edition.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps that is where the real story lies, and it is philosophical in nature. Since antiquity, Western thought has known the idea of the world as a stage, the theatrum mundi, where each person plays an assigned role before exiting. What made that image comforting was always the belief that behind those roles there remained a stage, solid ground, an outside world. What we witnessed this weekend was the disappearance of that outside. The stage is no longer standing in front of the White House. The White House itself has become the stage, complete with ballroom, arena, family, and quarterback. And the man moving across it has stopped playing a role because he abandoned the final distinction separating performance from seriousness and image from reality. Narcissus, the myth tells us, was destroyed because he mistook his reflection for someone else. Here, someone simply turned the mirror into a governing program and the most astonishing part is how many people remain willing to nod while watching him look into it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n