“Rent” actor Anthony Rapp said he had a “newfound respect” for Trump administration staffers after meeting several last week in Washington to discuss arts funding.
“I’ve heard about the people who have tried to make a change from the inside and that’s what it felt like. And I had a newfound respect for these people,” Rapp told The Post. “Again, I don’t think they were giving us lip service. Maybe they’re really good actors, but I don’t think so.”
Rapp was among the actors and actresses who flooded Capitol Hill Thursday to participate in the Creative Coalition’s advocacy day, where they met with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to push for continued funding for the National Endowment for the Arts.
On top of talking to members of Congress, Rapp said they met with people from the Trump administration. A spokeswoman for the Creative Coalition identified one of those individuals as Timothy Pataki, a director of the Office of Public Liaison.
“Members of the Coalition who’ve been here before said that was the most engaged White House staff meeting they’ve ever had,” said Rapp, who participated in the annual advocacy trip for the first time this year. “So I have this impression that there are people in his administration who are trying to do the right thing in certain ways.”
“I don’t know if he’ll ever listen or pay attention, but I was struck by what it must be like to work in an environment that might not always be willing to work with you,” the “Star Trek: Discovery” star added.
Each year that he’s been in office, President Trump has put out a proposed budget and zeroed out the NEA’s money every time.
But even Republicans told Creative Coalition members that’s not realistic and they supported keeping the NEA funded — especially since many of those dollars go to rural, red-state communities.
“Literally, there were a couple of them, Republicans, who said, ‘he will always zero it out, [but] we control the budget, you don’t have to worry about it,’” Rapp said of his experience in the meetings on Capitol Hill. “Maybe I’m a sucker, but I don’t think they were lying to us.”
Rapp was joined by other TV stars including Creative Coalition president Tim Daly — of “Madam Secretary” fame — along with “Breaking Bad’s” Dean Norris, “Mad Men’s” Harry Hamlin, “The Goldbergs” Wendi McLendon-Covey, “Barry’s” Anthony Carrigan, “unREAL’’s” Shiri Appleby, “Grey’s Anatomy’s” Caterina Scorsone and more.