Wall Street Journal columnist and former Ronald Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan said the national media will likely be depressed covering President-elect Trump’s inauguration in two weeks, but that reporters should mask their feelings as much as possible.
In an op-ed published Thursday night, Noonan said the affair will be unusual and that reporters and media executives will have to capture the mood fairly.
“They are aware of their own antipathy and are not ashamed of it because they see it as connected to love of country,” she wrote. “They don’t want to celebrate a man they find deplorable and a victory they believe destructive. … Don’t make your coverage another scandal, another wedge dividing the people from their national media. If you can work up a decent passion for the traditions of the world’s greatest democracy, and show respect for the fact that America is always an astounding, confounding place, good. History isn’t boring, only bores are boring.”
It’s unclear what Washington can expect for Trump’s inauguration. Ahead of the event, there are already plans for protests and demonstrations and reports have said that it’s been difficult for the planning committee to book big celebrity performances.
Jackie Evancho, a 16-year-old who placed second on the reality show “America’s Got Talent,” is set to perform the national anthem.
At President Obama’s 2013 reinauguration, the song was performed by Beyonce.
