STATE DINNER
ANATOMY OF A STATE DINNER The Trumps Welcome the Macrons BY ROLAND FLAMINI
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tate dinners are the most important social event hosted at the White House and an occasion to show off American hospitality at the highest level. The main ingredients are a visiting head of state and his entourage, their American opposites, an additional sprinkling of American and foreign notables, toasts (spoken, not eaten), and, of course, superb food and drink.Within its timehonored protocols every presidential couple adds their individual flavor. The Trumps’ first state dinner in April in honor of President Emmanuel Macron of France and his wife Brigitte was a surprisingly low key affair given Trump’s tendency towards flamboyance. But the White House went to some lengths to emphasize that the event had been organized by first lady Melania Trump and her personal staff, and it seems to fit her personality to have made a cautious start. Beginning with the numbers: The dinner was one of the smallest in recent years. The White House invited 123 guests. The Obama dinner for President Francois Hollande four years ago was a huge affair with a guest list of 280; and included among them Hollande’s special adviser – none other than Emmanuel Macron. If the evening had a flavor of déjà vu for the visiting French president, it was more so for another prominent guest — Christine Lagarde. The managing director of the International Monetary Fund, who hails from France and is a former French government minister, now counts being a guest at state dinners for three of her countrymen – Presidents Macron, Hollande, and Nicolas Sarkozy. The Trumps’ dinner scored a first in at least one respect. As long as anyone can remember,
WA S H I N G T O N L I F E
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Brigitte Macron, President Emmanuel Macron of France, Karen Pence, Vice President Mike Pence, President Donald Trump and Melania Trump, first lady of the United States, in the Blue Room at the White House ahead of the state dinner. (Official White House Photo by Andrea Hanks).
presidents have always invited a sprinkling of the White House press corps and other media guests to the event, but not this time. Given Donald Trump’s open contempt for the mainstream media, their exclusion was hardly surprising. True, media mogul and Trump supporter Rupert Murdoch was there, but he hardly qualifies as working press. Past state dinners have also been occasions to demonstrate political bi-partisanship, but not this time. No Democrats from either the Senate or House were invited. Gone too were the pop celebrities of the Obama era, like Beyonce, Gwen Stefani, and Stephen Colbert, who was seated next to Michelle Obama at the Hollande dinner. Instead, guests were entertained by performers from the Washington National Opera. One surprising absence among White House senior staffers was Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the president, although Chief-of Staff Gen. John Kelly was there as were Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner. Other Washington notables included David Rubenstein, cofounder of the Carlyle Group, megaphilanthropist and perennial president of such galactic institutions as the Smithsonian and the Kennedy Center. Stuart Holliday, president and CEO of Meridian International, and his wife Gwen made the cut as did Sarah Coulson and Douglas Bradburn, respectively regent of the Mount Vernon Ladies Association, and
president of Mount Vernon. Also spotted: Marillyn Hewson, CEO of Bethesda-based Lockheed Martin; Ronna McDaniel, chair of the Republican National Committee; and Mary Morton, curator of French paintings at the National Gallery of Art. In between courses there was the traditional exchange of verbal genuflections, ending with each leader proposing a toast to the other, and on this occasion the speeches couldn’t have been more different. Trump quoted Victor Hugo and Charles de Gaulle and recalled the sacrifice of American and French lives in shared conflicts from the American Revolution through World War II and beyond. In the run-up of the presidential visit, the French had pushed back against the “bestbuddy” talk coming out of Washington. And Macron used his remarks to put his relationship with Trump in perspective.Yes, he said, “many comment on our friendship,” but it serves a broader purpose of maintaining the bi-lateral dialogue, and what Macron called “the statute of universality” – stability and universal values, serving “both our countries and the rest of the world.” “I got to know you, you got to know me,” he noted. “We both know that neither of us easily changes his mind. But we will work together, and we have this ability to listen to one another.” It sounded even less chummy in French.
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