Media reports have claimed Trump is “very unhappy” with the inability of his staff to book talent, and what else would one expect from a man whose ego gets off on his name being put on the side of buildings. Trump pal Mark Burnett of Apprentice and allegedly hiding any ugly tapes of Trump fame has tasked a former booker of Dancing with the Stars with finding people to show up.

However, there are reports that even in places where Republicans have in the past been able to get reliable entertainment acts, they’re not interested. Country music has been a genre that’s been more favorable to the GOP in recent decades, given a significant part of the audience is in the Republican demo. But even Garth Brooks and others have turned down requests to appear.

"We've gotten calls that almost sound a little bit desperate: 'Does anybody want to perform?'" says Ken Levitan, a top music manager who represents liberal and conservative artists including Kings of Leon, Hank Williams Jr., Lynyrd Skynyrd and Emmylou Harris. "At this point, we haven't had anybody that has any desire to perform at the inauguration. "Even if you're a Trump supporter, you've got to look at how he plays the media [and] the public, in terms of how he attacks and twists things around. I've got to think there's a fear of talking about things and working with him," Levitan continues. "I do know some of the very conservative [artists] have no desire to do it. ... [They] just don't want to be involved in the circus — it's a media circus, and not necessarily in a good way." … "They want to be cool and they want to be hip, but the problem is, they're not, and no one's going to go along with the charade," says Simon Renshaw, a Trump opponent who manages the liberal Dixie Chicks. "And the stuff they could get, they're looking at it and going, 'We're going to have Ted Nugent and Kid Rock — oh my God, that doesn't look like an inauguration, that's going to look like a bar-room redneck brawl.'"

Since we now live in post-reality America, and the grand wizard of pissing in people’s hands and claiming it’s rain is about to assume office, of course Donald Trump’s public response has been to deny water is wet.

x The so-called "A" list celebrities are all wanting tixs to the inauguration, but look what they did for Hillary, NOTHING. I want the PEOPLE! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 23, 2016

Trump is attempting to play the usual conservative move of portraying the entertainment industry as elitist, and positioning himself as the put-upon public servant being bashed by intolerant out-of-touch rich Hollywood liberals. This is the defense of Trump already being deployed on Fox News.

The only problem is the “people” voted for the other candidate by about 3 million votes. And when one breaks it down, it’s simple economics. If I’m an agent or music label head, why in God’s name would I ever put my talent out in support of someone who alienates more than half the country?