President Donald Trump ousted the leadership of the Kennedy Center and installed his own loyalists. He has said he wants to remake its show offerings and renovate its building.
And on Wednesday night, he came to hear the people sing.
Trump arrived in a box to watch one of his favorite musicals, in the venue that he has long avoided but is now trying to embrace after taking control.
His attendance was meant as a fundraiser to help the financially strapped arts center, which has seen a dramatic drop in ticket sales since the president got more involved. But his appearance in the president’s box of the Kennedy Center Opera House for opening night of one of his favorites, the award-winning “Les Misérables,” also marked his takeover of a Washington institution.
Ahead of showtime, the Kennedy Center was a festival of Trump officials. Attorney General Pam Bondi strolled down the hall in a bright red pantsuit, talking into her cellphone. A tuxedoed Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. walked arm in arm with his wife, actress Cheryl Hines. Far-right activist Laura Loomer ambled into a VIP area.
“Les Misérables,” based on the 1862 novel by Victor Hugo, is the first Broadway musical tour to arrive on the premises since Trump took over the Kennedy Center.
“I love the songs, I love the play,” Trump told last week. “I think it’s great.”
The story follows a convict on parole seeking redemption, and it is based on a youth-led revolt against the French monarchy and related injustices in the 19th century.
Trump sees himself as a champion of the populist masses. He played the “Do you hear the people sing?” anthem during his 2016 campaign, after Hillary Clinton referred to his supporters as “deplorables.”
Others see him as emblematic of the monarchy that the masses of “Les Mis” assemble against. This weekend, anti-Trump groups are staging rallies around the country they have labeled “No Kings” protests. And his appearance at the theater came just days after he called up the Marines and National Guard to help quash protests in Los Angeles over immigration raids.
The man whose order has led to the tearing down of barricades in Los Angeles watched on as the heroes of the musical sang, “Now we pledge ourselves to hold this barricade.”
Asked before the show whether he identified more with Jean Valjean, the humble protagonist and former convict trying to redeem himself, or Javert, the inspector who uses strict enforcement of the law to pursue Valjean, Trump responded, “Oh, that’s a tough one … I don’t know.”