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Empty seats at the tim President Trump and First Lady Melania light up the 2017 Christmas Tree
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VietPress USA (Dec. 1st, 2017): The Elite Daily reports that "Barack Obama's Christmas Tree Lighting 2016 was so much more Lit than Trump's First Attempt".
On Thursday, Nov. 30, President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump partook in another White House tradition, the annual National Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony. But it was hard to not notice a glaring difference from years prior. Former President Barack Obama's Christmas tree lighting in 2016 was way more exciting than Trump's first time around.
"The National Tree Lighting ceremony was beautiful this evening - but hard not to notice the empty seats," tweeted ABC correspondent Steve Rudin on Thursday evening about Trump's ceremony. A photo taken by Rudin showed a bank of empty chairs lined up not far back from the ceremonial stage. The event began at 4:30 p.m ET at the Ellipse in Washington D.C.
According to the National Parks Service (NPS), this year was the 95th year of the tradition, which began on Christmas Eve of 1923, when President Calvin Coolidge lit a tree in front of a crowd of 3,000 people. Every president since has carried on the tradition. Presidents have often used the occasion not just to ring in the holiday season, per the National Christmas Tree website, but to deliver a message to their citizens. Sharing Rudin's photo, ABC's Steve Sweeney wrote, "Traditionally the White House Christmas tree lighting is standing room only."
Though it would be all to easy to point to some factor such as poor weather to affect turnout, it didn't appear to be the case. Replying to a comment about how nice the weater was, Rudin wrote, "Two years ago, we had wind gusts up to 20 mph and wind chills around 40 degrees. No wind and temps in the lower 50s felt great this time around."
The National Tree Lighting ceremony was beautiful this evening - but hard not to notice the empty seats. #Christmas #DMV#USA
Obama's 2016 ceremony was a full-on party.
The lineup for Obama's 2016 ceremony was basically a red-carpet function, featuring Chance the Rapper, Kelly Clarkson, James Taylor, The Lumineers, Eva Longoria, and Marc Anthony, among others. Obama himself sang "Jingle Bells" with Santa, while Michelle read aloud from Twas The Night Before Christmas alongside Olympian Simone Manuel. (Is there anyone cool who wasn't there?)
The Alternative NOAA Twitter published a photo to compare the Christmas Tree lighting ceremony at the White House under Obama in 2016 and today event 2017 by Donald Trump:
"It was also 5 degrees colder for Obama's 2016 tree lighting ceremony And the wind was blowing from NW at 8-10 mph, while Trump ceremony the wind was at 3 mph from the SE. So, it felt much colder in 2016".
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| Image shows hundreds of empty seats at tree lighting festival: Twitter/SteveRudinABC7 |
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| Photos: Above was Obama's 2016 Christmas Tree Lighting with so crowded people. Under is 2017 Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony for Donald Trump's first year at the White House |
Hundreds of empty seats spotted at Donald Trump's first White House Christmas tree-lighting ceremony
Images appear to show hundreds of empty seats at Donald Trump’s first annual White House tree lighting ceremony.
The 71-year-old led an audience in a countdown at President’s Park late on Thursday afternoon, before First Lady Melania Trump pressed a button to light up a giant Christmas tree.
But social media users were quick to point out what appeared to be a sparse crowd during the traditional ceremony.
Steve Rudin, a weather forecaster for ABC7 News who was in attendance at the event, shared an image of the crowd size on Twitter.
“The National Tree Lighting ceremony was beautiful this evening - but hard not to notice the empty seats,” he wrote.
The National Tree Lighting ceremony was beautiful this evening - but hard not to notice the empty seats. #Christmas #DMV#USA
Mr Rudin said the photo was taken at 5.30pm, before Mr Trump began speaking, but claimed the seats “did not fill up once the show started”.
“Once the President and First Family arrived, I believe the entire place went on lock-down with very little if any movement from the outside in,” he added.
Some social media users claimed the crowd size appeared smaller than at Barack Obama’s final tree lighting ceremony in 2016.
Don’t retweet this National Tree Lighting comparison picture. @realDonaldTrump will be mad to see more came to @BarackObama’s ceremony.
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But some Trump supporters came to the defence of the President. One user said: "Trump's supporters don't live in the Swamp. How hard is that to understand? If he had done the ceremony in Missouri, we would pack the place."
The Independent contacted the Metropolitan DC Police the Public Information Office and the US Park Police, who were all unable to confirm attendance numbers.
Mr Trump, who has taken to calling himself “your favourite President” in recent months, was left furious after images showed the audience at his January inauguration ceremony was far smaller than Mr Obama’s 2008 swearing in.
Claiming the media reports were an effort to “demean” him, he said: “We had a massive crowd of people. We had a crowd… I looked over that sea of people, and I said to myself, ‘wow’, and I’ve seen crowds before.
“Big, big crowds. That was some crowd.”
The White House has been contacted for comment.
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