Donald Trump screened The Greatest Showman with lawmakers

Trump-Hugh-Jackman
Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images; Niko Tavernise/Twentieth Century Fox

It’s still unclear whether President Trump got around to watching Steven Spielberg’s The Post, but he did watch another film that he apparently enjoyed quite a bit: The Greatest Showman.

Hugh Jackman stars in the film, a musical about P.T. Barnum of Barnum & Bailey Circus. According to Reuters, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly told reporters at Camp David, Maryland that Trump screened The Greatest Showman with Republican lawmakers, who gathered to discuss the year’s legislative agenda.

As relayed by other reporters, Kelly said he thought he would “suffer through it” but ended up liking the movie musical.

Zac Efron, Zendaya, Michelle Williams, and Rebecca Ferguson also feature in The Greatest Showman, directed by Michael Gracey with music from La La Land songwriters Justin Paul and Benj Pasek.

Trump previously screened Finding Dory at the White House during his first year as president, though his team recently gained permission to screen The Post at the White House and Camp David, which is noteworthy for multiple reasons.

For one, the subject matter centers on The New York Times and The Washington Post‘s efforts to publish The Pentagon Papers at a time when the sitting president was placing gag orders on the media and dubbing journalists the enemy. Many critics, as well as the cast and crew, drew parallels between these events and Trump’s demonization of mainstream media.

Then there’s the cast itself. Meryl Streep, who denounced Trump during a speech at the 2017 Golden Globes awards ceremony, stars in The Post as Kay Graham, The Washington Post‘s first female publisher fighting sexism at her own business.

Her costar Tom Hanks, too, spoke out against Trump. He recently stated that he wouldn’t screen The Post for the president if given the chance.

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