# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2017, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-inaguration-committees-inability-to-secure-a-list-talent/776192/21 "2017-01-03T10:24:35Z")
Trump’s just being picky. He turned down Alec Baldwin, who volunteered to sing Meatloaf’s “Highway to Hell.” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Didactylos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@Didactylos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Didactylos)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2017, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-inaguration-committees-inability-to-secure-a-list-talent/776192/22 "2017-01-03T10:28:00Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Trump’s just being picky. He turned down Alec Baldwin, who volunteered to sing Meatloaf’s “Highway to Hell.” 😉 No, it was ac/dc’s “Bat out of hell.” 🆒😉 ---
**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 3, 2017, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-inaguration-committees-inability-to-secure-a-list-talent/776192/23 "2017-01-03T10:38:22Z")
Some quality trolling from television-talent-show runner-up Rebecca Ferguson, who says she was asked to perform at the inauguration and accepted…[on the condition that she gets to sing “Strange Fruit”.](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-4082882/Rebecca-Ferguson-graciously-accepts-invite-sing-Trump-s-inauguration.html) I admit I have deliberately ignored X Factor and its output of fame-desperate wannabes and thus have never really been aware of Ms Ferguson or her work, but this made me laugh. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2017, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-inaguration-committees-inability-to-secure-a-list-talent/776192/24 "2017-01-03T10:52:41Z")
Maybe Bill Clinton could get onstage and get play some sax? ---
**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 3, 2017, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-inaguration-committees-inability-to-secure-a-list-talent/776192/25 "2017-01-03T11:23:33Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > I’m not sure if entertainment at an inaugural even get paid. If they do, it’ll come out of some sort of fund, not from The Donald himself. That wouldn’t make any difference; The Donald would rather stick his short vulgarian fingers into “some sort of fund” and take the money himself rather than spend it on the inauguration. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2017, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-inaguration-committees-inability-to-secure-a-list-talent/776192/26 "2017-01-03T12:57:42Z")
Some of the hitherto most odious Republican politicians even hate him. Notoriously left-wing Hollywood? Loathe his very being. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2017, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-inaguration-committees-inability-to-secure-a-list-talent/776192/27 "2017-01-03T13:10:22Z")
> [@Didactylos](#): > > No, it was ac/dc’s “Bat out of hell.” 🆒😉 Bat – Highway – Hell It’s all connected. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2017, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-inaguration-committees-inability-to-secure-a-list-talent/776192/28 "2017-01-03T14:09:01Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > The entertainment industry leans very liberal and the very liberal hate Trump. Those that are apolitical may be afraid of ostracism. > > I’m not sure if entertainment at an inaugural even get paid. If they do, it’ll come out of some sort of fund, not from The Donald himself. While it is true that the entertainment industry tends to skew left, likely as a combination of geography, association marginalized minorities who have traditionally found success denied to them in more traditional industries, and a certain necessary celebration of the extreme in personal tastes and behaviors, there are plenty of people working in the entertainment industry who skew conservative. However, and this should not be ignored, _Donald Trump is not a conservative_. He is a demagogue who hijacked the conservative platform outlined two decades ago as spearheaded by Newt Gingrich and Dick Armey, taking the most xenophobic, misogynistic, and subtextually racist elements of it and amplifying them to the extreme, bringing out both the people who don’t ordinarily vote for a nominally “conservative” candidate and attracting billions of dollars in media coverage for free, making it the best deal Trump has ever actually made. Inauguration ceremonies are typically paid for out of the candidate’s election fund. If you think Trump is going to allow more than a token amount of that money to slip through his tiny digits then you haven’t read his _magnum mendacium_, _The Art of the Deal_, where he describes how to get the best of a deal by refusing to pay after receiving services. And everybody else knows it, too. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2017, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-inaguration-committees-inability-to-secure-a-list-talent/776192/29 "2017-01-03T15:57:26Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > While it is true that the entertainment industry tends to skew left, likely as a combination of geography, association marginalized minorities who have traditionally found success denied to them in more traditional industries, and a certain necessary celebration of the extreme in personal tastes and behaviors, there are plenty of people working in the entertainment industry who skew conservative. However, and this should not be ignored, _Donald Trump is not a conservative_. He is a demagogue who hijacked the conservative platform outlined two decades ago as spearheaded by Newt Gingrich and Dick Armey, taking the most xenophobic, misogynistic, and subtextually racist elements of it and amplifying them to the extreme, bringing out both the people who don’t ordinarily vote for a nominally “conservative” candidate and attracting billions of dollars in media coverage for free, making it the best deal Trump has ever actually made. > > Inauguration ceremonies are typically paid for out of the candidate’s election fund. If you think Trump is going to allow more than a token amount of that money to slip through his tiny digits then you haven’t read his _magnum mendacium_, _The Art of the Deal_, where he describes how to get the best of a deal by refusing to pay after receiving services. And everybody else knows it, too. > > Stranger You’re thinking small. How did he fund his six-foot self-portrait? By rerouting funds given to his charity. He’ll get other people to pay his expenses. And - like Mexico - they’ll be happy to do so! ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2017, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-inaguration-committees-inability-to-secure-a-list-talent/776192/30 "2017-01-03T17:07:25Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Some quality trolling from television-talent-show runner-up Rebecca Ferguson, who says she was asked to perform at the inauguration and accepted…[on the condition that she gets to sing “Strange Fruit”.](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-4082882/Rebecca-Ferguson-graciously-accepts-invite-sing-Trump-s-inauguration.html) From the same link… > [@](#): > > The site reports that Trump is now willing to pay the act who agrees to perform, in order to draw in a top musician. A fee has never been made to a musical performer before at a Presidential welcome. ---
**Author:** ![VanLandry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/eb9ed0/32.png) [@VanLandry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VanLandry)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2017, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-inaguration-committees-inability-to-secure-a-list-talent/776192/31 "2017-01-03T17:14:26Z")
Fear of death threats perhaps? Hell, The electoral delegates were getting them and they were just acting on behalf of the citizens. I cant imagine how bad it would be if someone willingly associated themselves with Trump. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2017, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-inaguration-committees-inability-to-secure-a-list-talent/776192/32 "2017-01-03T17:17:22Z")
I wonder if they’ve asked Ted Nugent? Anyway, I don’t find it surprising, and think it’s funny as hell. I hope performers stick to their guns and continue to refuse. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2017, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-inaguration-committees-inability-to-secure-a-list-talent/776192/33 "2017-01-03T17:46:21Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > I’m not sure if entertainment at an inaugural even get paid. If they do, it’ll come out of some sort of fund, not from The Donald himself. > [@Stranger On A Train](#): > > Inauguration ceremonies are typically paid for out of the candidate’s election fund. Strictly speaking, there’s a Presidential Inaugural Committee that uses leftover campaign funds as well as fundraising specifically for the inaugural events. The federal government itself generally contributes a sizeable chunk of the total (e.g., $49 million of an approximately $170 million budget for Obama’s 2009 ceremony). ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2017, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-inaguration-committees-inability-to-secure-a-list-talent/776192/34 "2017-01-03T18:13:20Z")
The committee foots the bill for the event but it sounds as though that’s more for renting the stage and lights and paying the caterers, etc. Performers show up out of respect for the president and the ceremony (and for the free promotion). ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2017, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-inaguration-committees-inability-to-secure-a-list-talent/776192/35 "2017-01-03T18:17:20Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Performers show up out of respect for the president… And there you have it. /closethread ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2017, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-inaguration-committees-inability-to-secure-a-list-talent/776192/36 "2017-01-03T19:05:24Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > All of us are supposed to be better off without stuff we don’t need, like the EPA, Department of Energy, etc. Can’t Trump’s inauguration get by without singers and a poetry reading? You’d think he’d be bragging about how he’s cut the waste and inefficiency from this business-as-usual, old-school example of Washington excess. The man loves a party and spectacle. He’s a showman. He’s not a shy, head-down, get right to work kind of guy. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2017, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-inaguration-committees-inability-to-secure-a-list-talent/776192/37 "2017-01-04T01:28:24Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > The committee foots the bill for the event but it sounds as though that’s more for renting the stage and lights and paying the caterers, etc. Performers show up out of respect for the president and the ceremony (and for the free promotion). Yet another norm broken. Perhaps he can find a Skrewdriver cover band to perform for him. And I’m pretty sure Kanye West would be open to performing in exchange for some modest favors. Of course, he might have an emotional breakdown in the middle of the ceremony, but whatever. > [@kittenblue](#): > > The man loves a party and spectacle. He’s a showman. He’s not a shy, head-down, get right to work kind of guy. Well, sort of: “I play it very loose. I don’t carry a briefcase. I try not to schedule too many meetings. I leave my door open. . . . I prefer to come to work each day and just see what develops.” Exactly the approach you want to see out of the chief executive of one of the world’s two largest nuclear aresenals and head of the largest military force in the world. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-inaguration-committees-inability-to-secure-a-list-talent/776192/38 "2017-01-05T03:14:55Z")
Am I the only one who noticed that this latest celebrity to turn him down is actually from the UK? So not only can’t he find American acts, but he is even being turned down by foreign talent who would probably love to get American exposure. And by the way, what happened to hiring Americans?Why is he outsourcing the inaugural talent? ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-inaguration-committees-inability-to-secure-a-list-talent/776192/39 "2017-01-05T03:21:54Z")
Speaking of foreign talent; he can always ask Vladimir Vladimirovich to send over some Russian pop stars. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-inaguration-committees-inability-to-secure-a-list-talent/776192/40 "2017-01-05T03:26:41Z")
I’m confused too. Keep in mind there are thousands of celebrities, probably tens of thousands, out there. Lots of musicians to pick from, and they can’t find any decent talent? 63 million people voted for the guy. A few had to be celebrities. In the convention they were using D list celebrities. Maybe they are afraid of being blacklisted for performing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-inaguration-committees-inability-to-secure-a-list-talent/776192.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-inaguration-committees-inability-to-secure-a-list-talent/776192.md?page=3)