Shortly before Christmas, Donald Trump’s handpicked allies, mindful of the president’s obsession with self-glorification, claimed to have unilaterally renamed the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, adding the Republican incumbent’s name to the venue.
Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty of Ohio, an ex officio member of the center’s board, quickly filed suit, arguing not only that the process was improper but that the entire gambit was illegal for the simplest of reasons: A name change requires congressional approval, and that has not happened.
With this in mind, few were surprised when U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Cooper ruled in late May that Team Trump’s gambit was obviously illegal.
In the days that followed, the president threw a predictable tantrum — Trump went so far as to call for the judge’s impeachment for reasons he struggled to explain — but the ordeal appeared to have run its course.
Those appearances proved deceptive.
The Trump loyalists on the Kennedy Center’s board looked for new ways to circumvent the court ruling, pursuing proposals to inscribe “renovated and restored by Donald J. Trump” on the main building, or possibly even renaming the arts center’s campus the “President Donald J. Trump Plaza.”
This prompted Beatty to go to court again — and win again. Cooper ruled Tuesday morning that the president’s allies “cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress’ blessing.”
Immediately thereafter, MS NOW reported that Trump loyalists on the Kennedy Center board voted to immediately and indefinitely close the performing arts building, citing safety and financial concerns.
The decision came as part of a board meeting in which the president himself participated. According to Beatty, Trump threw a “tantrum” during the discussion, engaging in unprofessional name-calling.
But it was a few hours later when the Republican decided to show his cards and make his priorities plain. From an item published to his social media platform:
The Board of The Kennedy Center today agreed, almost unanimously, to close the Building for Safety reasons, and so that it can begin the process of Reconstruction. The closing will take place immediately, however, the Renovation and Reconstruction, which is a very large and complex job, cannot begin until such time as the D.C. Circuit rules on the Board’s approved name. If the ruling is a negative one, which it should not be, and is not overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Reconstruction and the Renovation of The Kennedy Center will not take place.
As Trump sees it, the Kennedy Center is in such dire straits that it must be closed so that repair work can begin. According to the president, however, that work is directly dependent on the one thing he apparently cares about most: adding his name to the institution, at least in some capacity. (As an aside, one might note that the center was fine before the president and his allies took over.)
A recent draft resolution submitted to board members said Trump was prepared to help lead an effort to assist the Kennedy Center, but only if he were to receive “appropriate recognition.”
It’s a position rooted in breathtaking pettiness: Either cater to this man’s ego, or the closed Kennedy Center will face an uncertain future.
In a statement, Beatty said Trump is “holding the Kennedy Center hostage unless he can put his name on this sacred memorial.” In a related piece for The Atlantic, Tom Nichols added, when describing the president’s position, “That’s not an offer of help; it’s a shakedown — or, in more direct terms, political blackmail.”
In a separate online statement, published a few hours earlier, the president said of the Kennedy Center, “I am only there to help.”
He did not say who exactly he’s eager to “help.”
This post updates our related earlier coverage.
The post Why a key House Democrat said Trump is ‘holding the Kennedy Center hostage’ appeared first on MS NOW.
