DEMS/MEDIA/MELANIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “As the first state dinner of the Trump era approaches, Melania Trump, a first lady of few public words who tends to let visuals do the talking, has repeatedly doled out a short bit of advice to her small East Wing staff: ‘Do not worry.’ Her instructions came in the midst of haggling over the guest list (no Democrats from Congress were invited), the selection of the cream-and-gold color scheme and decisions on the flowers, including cherry blossoms once — gasp — chosen by the Obamas…This year, the state dinner guest list was whittled to around 120 people, down from highs of 350 or so people who attended previous bipartisan and media-filled dinners featuring celebrities and pop icons like Beyoncé. (The Washington National Opera will perform this year instead, the White House said.) Typically the leadership of the opposing party is invited to a state dinner, but the Trumps threw out that tradition as they also shunned journalists, who in previous administrations received a handful of invitations — not surprising for a president who derides the ‘fake news’ media.”
-Katie Rogers, “Trumps Throw Out Tradition for Their First State Dinner,” The New York Times online, April 23, 2018