'Desperate' Trump grasping for celebrity support as Hollywood caught in bind: expert

President Donald Trump is more desperate than ever to win the approval and friendship of celebrities and the pop culture sphere, NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik told MS NOW's Nicolle Wallace on "Deadline: White House" — and Hollywood is in a quandary about just how to respond to his cajoling and threats.

This comes as Trump does his utmost to cultivate rap star Nicki Minaj's new sharp turn into the MAGA world.

"My eyes still hurt from that Kid Rock workout that for some reason is all over my feed," said Wallace. "I mean, they are obsessed with — they're so obsessed with celebrities. They took over. There was a hostile takeover of the Kennedy Center until they had to shut it down, because all of the creatives and artists in the country loathe them. I mean, they're, they're — this is, this is, you know, this is the most one-sided thing where Trump is obsessed with celebrity, obsessed, and they're just not that into him."

"Nicolle, it's very much like his feeling about the press," said Folkenflik. "He trashes it. He tries to delegitimize it. He says it doesn't matter. He says it's irrelevant. And he is desperate for its affirmation."

Concerning pop culture, he continued, "I think that's the same. He feels the same way about celebrities, about Hollywood stars. Nicki Minaj has never been so important to him as when she, you know, gave him a warm ideological embrace. Right? So that's the dilemma for the Netflixes and the Paramounts of the world, even as the Ellisons are, have identified and planted themselves as in with the president and his camp. And you've seen changes that affect the news division as a result of that embrace. You know, you're also seeing them trying to reassure the creative community that they are welcome there."

"And that's going to be a tension because so much money is bound up for them in what people are buying movies and, and television shows and streaming and creatives, what they believe and where they come from," he added. "And those folks are going to have to make choices for themselves as well."

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