# What's the deal with Trump's Inaguration Committee's inability to secure "A" list talent? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 3, 2017, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-inaguration-committees-inability-to-secure-a-list-talent/776192 "2017-01-03T02:03:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2017, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-inaguration-committees-inability-to-secure-a-list-talent/776192/181 "2017-01-19T04:43:57Z")
I for one rarely pay attention to these to-dos, which just look like a bunch of standing out in the cold in a crowd to me. But this year I may try to watch some of the performers live, if it’s broadcast or streamed. Sorry I can’t be there. Well, not that sorry. Lee Greenwood annoys me, and Toby Keith is an ornament. But I think this might be a trainwreck in a way y’all aren’t anticipating. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2017, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-inaguration-committees-inability-to-secure-a-list-talent/776192/182 "2017-01-19T15:11:04Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > … But I think this might be a trainwreck in a way y’all aren’t anticipating. My guess - a riot or fight is staged or started by Trump supporters fighting off silent peaceful democratic protesters. Trump is ushered away, ‘festivities’ with mediocre talent called off. Democrats blamed for wrecking what would have been the best show EVA. SAD! ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2017, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-inaguration-committees-inability-to-secure-a-list-talent/776192/183 "2017-01-19T15:35:12Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > My guess - a riot or fight is staged or started by Trump supporters fighting off silent peaceful democratic protesters. Trump is ushered away, ‘festivities’ with mediocre talent called off. > > Democrats blamed for wrecking what would have been the best show EVA. SAD! My guess - trump assassinated during inauguration by right wing cabal, [liberal scapegoat found](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Parallax_View), martial law declared, Pence installed as President, future elections cancelled. You heard it here first. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2017, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-inaguration-committees-inability-to-secure-a-list-talent/776192/184 "2017-01-19T15:41:12Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > So’s playing for “[brutal dictators](http://www.cracked.com/article_23862_6-brutal-dictators-you-didnt-know-had-celebrity-bffs.html)”, but it doesn’t do much for your reputation. > > If I were a famous musician, I wouldn’t play for trump, nor Putin, nor Idi Amin, or that pudgy dude in North Korea. And if, in the next four years I did something that got me the Presidential Medal of Freedom, I’d ask if they could just mail it to me. I agree with you, but, those are FOREIGN dictators. Most of those entertainers fans could give a crap about anything outside their view. Playing for trump would be on the American social sphere. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2017, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-inaguration-committees-inability-to-secure-a-list-talent/776192/185 "2017-01-19T16:39:24Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > I thought I heard Trump didn’t want Andrea Bocelli. Now the story is that Bocelli backed out because of death threats? How do I reconcile these stories? Maybe the death threats came from Trump. I mean, it’s unlikely but it certainly reconciles the two stories. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2017, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-inaguration-committees-inability-to-secure-a-list-talent/776192/186 "2017-01-19T18:42:43Z")
I truly hope he recovers because he seems like a tough old bird, but if GHWB is intended to shuffle off this mortal coil sooner than later, I hope it’s tomorrow morning, only so that it upstages the inauguration a little. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2017, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-inaguration-committees-inability-to-secure-a-list-talent/776192/187 "2017-01-19T19:56:54Z")
> [@Casey1505](#): > > I truly hope he recovers because he seems like a tough old bird, but if GHWB is intended to shuffle off this mortal coil sooner than later, I hope it’s tomorrow morning, only so that it upstages the inauguration a little. Or Betty White. She just turned 95. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2017, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-inaguration-committees-inability-to-secure-a-list-talent/776192/188 "2017-01-19T20:00:37Z")
You take that back. You take that back right now. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2017, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-inaguration-committees-inability-to-secure-a-list-talent/776192/189 "2017-01-19T20:29:00Z")
Looks like Trump has scored another yuuuge name for the inauguration. How else would you describe someone who has scored multiple number one hits and a TeeVee variety show except YUUUUGE? [Tony Orlando to perform at an inaugural ball](http://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/entertainmentnews/the-latest-tony-orlando-to-perform-at-an-inaugural-ball/ar-AAlWIiO?OCID=ansmsnnews11). No word on what Dawn is up to that day. I’m guessing the early shift at IHOP or something. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2017, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-inaguration-committees-inability-to-secure-a-list-talent/776192/190 "2017-01-19T20:41:54Z")
Remember Sam And Dave? They got Sam. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2017, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-inaguration-committees-inability-to-secure-a-list-talent/776192/191 "2017-01-19T20:44:53Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > Looks like Trump has scored another yuuuge name for the inauguration. How else would you describe someone who has scored multiple number one hits and a TeeVee variety show except YUUUUGE? > [Tony Orlando to perform at an inaugural ball](http://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/entertainmentnews/the-latest-tony-orlando-to-perform-at-an-inaugural-ball/ar-AAlWIiO?OCID=ansmsnnews11). No word on what Dawn is up to that day. I’m guessing the early shift at IHOP or something. Trump was attracted by the yellow ribbon. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2017, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-inaguration-committees-inability-to-secure-a-list-talent/776192/192 "2017-01-19T23:51:49Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > This disappoints me (the death threats, I mean). It’s the Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory writ large. People resort to death threats and demands that people be fired from their jobs way too quickly IMO these days. Nah. 20 years ago some nobody said to some other nobody “I’d like to kill that guy” and no one heard or had the opportunity to care. Now the same thing happens in writing in a form that gets re-transmitted everywhere and it gets taken seriously. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2017, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-inaguration-committees-inability-to-secure-a-list-talent/776192/193 "2017-01-20T03:05:03Z")
[Then And Now](https://www.buzzfeed.com/claudiakoerner/people-noticed-that-crowds-were-a-lot-smaller-for-trumps-ina?utm_term=.ocvRQMlQ4J#.tnPX98r9B1): Estimated Inauguration Eve concert crowd (2009): 400,000 Estimated Inauguration Eve concert crowd (2017): 10,000 ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2017, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-inaguration-committees-inability-to-secure-a-list-talent/776192/194 "2017-01-20T03:08:14Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > [Then And Now](https://www.buzzfeed.com/claudiakoerner/people-noticed-that-crowds-were-a-lot-smaller-for-trumps-ina?utm_term=.ocvRQMlQ4J#.tnPX98r9B1): > > Estimated Inauguration Eve concert crowd (2009): 400,000 > Estimated Inauguration Eve concert crowd (2017): 10,000 Dishonest media won’t report entire country turned away! Fire Marshall is a Democrat! Very disloyal! ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2017, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-inaguration-committees-inability-to-secure-a-list-talent/776192/195 "2017-01-20T03:10:28Z")
Tony Orlando? Didn’t he guest star on the Love Boat? ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2017, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-inaguration-committees-inability-to-secure-a-list-talent/776192/196 "2017-01-20T03:37:54Z")
Well now we know what happened with [Kanye](http://www.salon.com/2017/01/19/donald-trumps-inauguration-committee-thinks-kanye-west-isnt-traditionally-american-enough-to-perform/). > [@](#): > > a Trump team member told Erin Burnett on CNN Wednesday night: “He’s been great, he considers himself a friend of the president-elect, but it’s not the venue. The venue we have for entertainment is filled out. It’s perfect. It’s going to be typically and traditionally American. And Kanye is a guy, we just haven’t asked him to perform. If it’s so “typically and traditionally American” why were so many foreigners asked to perform? Much as I think Kanye is whack, this just seems wrong. That said, somehow I think I know the real reason. I’ll give you one guess. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2017, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-inaguration-committees-inability-to-secure-a-list-talent/776192/197 "2017-01-20T10:19:21Z")
> [@psychobunny](#): > > Well now we know what happened with [Kanye](http://www.salon.com/2017/01/19/donald-trumps-inauguration-committee-thinks-kanye-west-isnt-traditionally-american-enough-to-perform/). > > If it’s so “typically and traditionally American” why were so many foreigners asked to perform? Much as I think Kanye is whack, this just seems wrong. That said, somehow I think I know the real reason. I’ll give you one guess. I can think of various legitimate reasons they wouldn’t want Kanye to perform, up to and including concerns that he’d upstage The Donald, that they wouldn’t be able to pry him off the stage, and that he’s batshit crazy. None of these reasons are remotely covered by the statement “he’s not typically and traditionally American”. That said, Kanye interrupting the Oath of Office to announce “Imma let you finish but Teddy Roosevelt was the best President ever” would certainly liven things up. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2017, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-inaguration-committees-inability-to-secure-a-list-talent/776192/198 "2017-01-20T14:08:51Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > That said, Kanye interrupting the Oath of Office to announce “Imma let you finish but Teddy Roosevelt was the best President ever” would certainly liven things up. And make an awesome T-shirt, too. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2017, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-inaguration-committees-inability-to-secure-a-list-talent/776192/199 "2017-01-20T15:14:05Z")
> [@psychobunny](#): > > Well now we know what happened with [Kanye](http://www.salon.com/2017/01/19/donald-trumps-inauguration-committee-thinks-kanye-west-isnt-traditionally-american-enough-to-perform/). “And Kanye is a guy”?? Well, I’m glad that’s settled. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2017, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-inaguration-committees-inability-to-secure-a-list-talent/776192/200 "2017-01-20T15:47:22Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > Estimated Inauguration Eve concert crowd (2009): 400,000 > Estimated Inauguration Eve concert crowd (2017): 10,000 I think this shows a lot about people’s voting motivation - Obama had a lot of people who really believed strongly in him personally. Meanwhile a lot of Trump’s support is more of the ‘lets send a crazy outsider to Washington and shake them up’ or ‘anyone but Hillary’ or ‘things are bad, lets try SOMETHING that’s not establishment’. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-inaguration-committees-inability-to-secure-a-list-talent/776192.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-inaguration-committees-inability-to-secure-a-list-talent/776192.md?page=11)