Trump’s plans for his send-off hit a wall when hardly anyone wants to come
What if they threw a farewell party for an exiting president and no one wanted to show up?
Donald Trump is about to find out.
After breaking with tradition and refusing to attend the inauguration of his successor — a platform on which his presence could barely be tolerated given his seditious attempt to prevent it from ever taking place — Trump has decided to hold a private farewell ceremony in the early morning hours of his last partial day in office.
Right before the rejected president boards Air Force One for the last time as chief executive of the United States to take him and his family to his gaudy resort at Mar-a-Lago, Trump plans on holding a final farewell ceremony for his own time in the White House, the ultimate act of narcissism.
With invitations sent far and wide within politically-connected MAGA-land, the departing members of Trump’s staff, however, are now worried that the attendance at the misbegotten farewell party will be considerably more underwhelming than even the notoriously diminished crowds at his own inauguration day four years earlier.
Perhaps one could blame the early hour of the ceremony, 8 AM, for the unenthusiastic response to the R.S.V.P. requests.
Perhaps it is the inconvenient location, outside the beltway in suburban Maryland at the Air Force’s Joint Base Andrews that is causing invitees to have qualms about attending.
Perhaps it’s the fear of contracting COVID-19 amongst the likely crowd of maskless Trump supporters at a time when an even more contagious variant strain of the virus has begun to circulate, thanks to the honoree’s incompetent handling of the pandemic.
Or perhaps it is Trump’s recent instigation of a seditious assault on the U.S. Capitol and his subsequent second impeachment that has left a particularly augmented stench of loserdom surrounding the delusional departing president who refuses to acknowledge that his over 7 million vote loss constitutes a legitimate defeat.
Nevertheless, some people who have received invitations marveled at the fact that they were even considered for the guest list, given their estrangement from the Trump orbit, and cited their inclusion as a sure sign that the exiting administration was desperate to avoid the humiliation of an embarrassingly small crowd at the final send-off.
Among the unlikely invitees was Trump’s short-tenured Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci, who saw his invitation as a sign of how deep in their contact lists White House aides must be having to dig to find a sufficient quantity of positive R.S.V.P.s to bid farewell to this toxic president.
Anthony Scaramucci says he was invited to President Trump's farewell ceremony Wednesday, which he takes as a sign the White House is desperate to bulk up the guest list. "Trust me, that had to be a mass email if one of them got sent to me," he tells @InsideEdition.
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) January 18, 2021
The Wall Street Journal‘s Rebecca Ballhaus noted the further desperation indicated by the generous plus-fives the invitees were asked to bring along with them.
Another former Trump administration insider who would rather be spending this Wednesday morning doing something more useful than feting their former boss — rearranging his sock drawer, perhaps? — is former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, who told CNN‘s Jake Tapper that he had “other pressing commitments.”
Former White House Chief of Staff and retired Marine General John Kelly was invited to the Trump send-off but won’t be able to attend because he has other pressing commitments, he tells CNN.
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) January 19, 2021
One group likely to be well represented at Trump’s goodbye ceremony are the true die-hard loyalists and the recipients of his clemency largesse, with the latter group reportedly soon to be augmented by over 100 new pardonees later today.
You can watch a CNN segment on Trump’s last day in office and his farewell plans in the video below.
Trump plans farewell send-off for self, but source says RSVPs are low so far @kaitlancollins reports pic.twitter.com/YjfPKPQZcg
— The Lead CNN (@TheLeadCNN) January 18, 2021
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Vinnie Longobardo is the Managing Editor of Occupy Democrats. He's a 35-year veteran of the TV, mobile & internet industries, specializing in start-ups and the international media business. His passions are politics, music, and art.