For once, President Donald Trump is opting to go smaller.

The president who delights in bigness — of his buildings, his crowd sizes, his hands — is opting for a slimmed-down affair when he hosts French President Emmanuel Macron for his first state dinner on Tuesday.


Gone are the President Barack Obama-era days of outside event-planning firms and tents set up on the South Lawn to accommodate guest lists of more than 350. Like President George W. Bush, Trump will host the event in the State Dining Room, with a guest list close to 150.

But unlike his predecessors, Trump hasn’t invited any members of Congress from the opposing party. He’s also opted not to invite any members of the media, another departure from past state dinners.

“It is a break with tradition,” said Lea Berman, who was White House social secretary under Bush and wrote the etiquette guide “Treating People Well” with Obama social secretary Jeremy Bernard.

The last state dinner for a French president, to which Obama welcomed Macron’s predecessor, Francois Hollande, in February 2014, was a glittering, bipartisan affair headlined by Mary J. Blige.

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Actor Bradley Cooper, a fluent French speaker, was there. So were then-New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson, CNN chief Jeff Zucker and representatives of The Associated Press, Reuters, The Atlantic, Cosmopolitan and numerous French media outlets. Republican members of Congress were in attendance, led by then-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.

This year, the entire Democratic caucus was shut out, including Trump’s own home-state senator and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. Members of the media, too, have been left off the invite list, according to a White House official. Absent will be the Hollywood stars who regularly graced Obama events.

In total, only about 150 people are expected to attend next week’s dinner. Ryan; the two Republican senators from Louisiana, Bill Cassidy and John Kennedy; and House Foreign Affairs Chair Ed Royce will be the only members of Congress attending, according to a person familiar with the guest list. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was invited, but will not be able to attend, his office said.

Louisiana’s Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards will also be attending, according to a person familiar with his plans.

With Trump at his Mar-a-Lago retreat in Florida this week, some aides were concerned that he might extend invitations to friends and admirers he happened to see there, according to a person familiar with discussions.

Trump’s first state dinner comes 15 months into his administration. Obama held his first state dinner in November 2009, for India’s then-prime minister, Manmohan Singh. That dinner was crashed by a couple who were being filmed for “The Real Housewives of D.C.”

Instead of bringing in an outside event-planning firm, as many White Houses have done for major events, Trump’s first formal diplomatic dinner is being planned by first lady Melania Trump’s office.

“Mrs. Trump has been involved in every detail of the planning,” said Stephanie Grisham, the first lady’s press secretary. “Over the past few months, she has been very focused on guest experience, tradition and our country’s rich history with France.”

But this dinner will also showcase America’s bitter political divide, and the president’s willingness to flout well-worn norms, even for something as seemingly trivial as a dinner guest list.

“A lot of traditions are not being as closely honored as they have been in the past,” noted Obama social secretary Bernard.

“It seems to be opposite of tradition but that’s their prerogative,” said Bernard, who served in the Obama White House from 2011 to 2015. “It certainly doesn’t add any feeling of harmony, that’s for sure.”

