Twitter Ridicules Trump Over Empty Seats at National Tree Lighting Ceremony

Numerous pictures of the event show a sparse crowd at the Ellipse in President’s Park, Washington, where the 95th annual ceremony took place. The empty seats at the occasion have provoked a chain reaction on Twitter.

US President Donald Trump attended the National Tree Lighting ceremony in Washington on Thursday before a crowd, but for many on social media the scant number of people attending the ceremony seemed to leave much to be desired.

The poor attendance at the event has triggered a flood of comments on social media.

​ABS News journalist Steve Rudin, who attended the ceremony, remarked that it was "hard not to notice the empty seats."

The National Tree Lighting ceremony was beautiful this evening — but hard not to notice the empty seats. #Christmas #DMV #USA pic.twitter.com/oKMrnnBekG

— Steve Rudin ABC7 (@SteveRudinABC7) 30 ноября 2017 г.

​​Many others also took to Twitter, mostly mocking the president.

This is the largest crowd that has ever attended a National Tree Lighting in history. Period! https://t.co/vfo1UjcgGP

— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) 1 декабря 2017 г.

It’s a warm and pleasant night in DC https://t.co/KA2WdWiztB

— David Frum (@davidfrum) 1 декабря 2017 г.

Based on all the empty seats at the National Tree Lighting, it seems Trump tried to make good on his promise to bring Christmas back to Washington and Christmas said “no thanks”.

— andy lassner (@andylassner) 1 декабря 2017 г.

There was a bigger crowd at my son’s 4th grade chorus.

I am dead serious.

More people came to watch a room full of nine-year-olds singing off key holiday songs than came to watch Donald Trump at the #ChristmasTreeLighting #WashingtonDC pic.twitter.com/ZYZtZQpE9i

— Red 🌊 (@Redpainter1) 1 декабря 2017 г.

​​For some, parallels with Trump’s inauguration ceremony could not go unnoticed.

The National Tree Lighting ceremony in D.C. tonight.

Reminds me of some other events Trump has hosted.

(Thread) pic.twitter.com/n2yIBGeASc

— Holly O'Reilly (@AynRandPaulRyan) 30 ноября 2017 г.

The crowd for the National Christmas Tree lighting by Trump looks about the same size as for his inauguration. pic.twitter.com/HYBkKD9piX

— Terry J. Richard (@trichardpdx) 1 декабря 2017 г.

It’s the Trump Inauguration of Christmas tree lightings.

Went to a fun lighting ceremony at 8th & O NW last weekend. https://t.co/tXbywrIjMw

— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) 1 декабря 2017 г.

​Others compared this year’s ceremony with last year’s event when Barack Obama was president.

Don’t retweet this National Tree Lighting comparison picture. @realDonaldTrump will be mad to see more came to @BarackObama’s ceremony. pic.twitter.com/elVrlFEciD

— Jeremy Dickey (@JeremyDDickey) 30 ноября 2017 г.

Last year's crowd: pic.twitter.com/s57th0QBzD

— Matt McDaniel (@themattmcd) 30 ноября 2017 г.

​Despite the poor attendance, Trump continued with the ceremony.

The president counted down from ten and then his wife, Melania, pushed a button to light up the tree.

"Today is a day that I’ve been looking very much forward to ALL YEAR LONG. It is one that you have heard me speak about many times before. Now, as President of the United States, it is my tremendous honor to finally wish America and the world, a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!" Trump wrote on Twitter.

The Christmas Story begins 2,000 years ago with a mother, a father, their baby son and the most extraordinary gift of all—the gift of God’s love for all of humanity.

Whatever our beliefs, we know that the birth of Jesus Christ and the story of his life… pic.twitter.com/P94C3LjWlx

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 1 декабря 2017 г.