Kerry Kennedy, the niece of former President John F. Kennedy Jr., hit back at President Donald Trump amid his legal battle to rename the center named for her late uncle.
“Focus on your job and leave the arts alone,” she told MS NOW’s Peter Alexander.
“This is the memorial to a slain president,” Kennedy said in an interview Friday morning. “Putting Trump’s name on it would be like saying it’s the Trump Lincoln Memorial or it’s the Trump Jefferson Memorial or it’s the Trump Memorial for the Unknown Soldier. No, that doesn’t happen. This is his memorial to our president, beloved President John F. Kennedy. Leave it alone.”
The former president’s niece, the daughter of the late Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, said Trump’s policies run completely counter to her late uncle’s legacy.
“My uncle really asked people to serve our country. He believed that government was there to help those who are most in need and to bring freedom to the widest possible number of people in our country and around the world,” she said. “And I don’t think that’s what President Trump is all about.”
Kennedy said Trump’s focus should not be on the Kennedy Center when “we’re in a place in our country now where people can’t afford gas, they can’t afford food, they can’t afford healthcare, they can’t afford childcare.”
“President Trump, please focus on your job and leave the arts alone,” she added.
Earlier this week, the Kennedy Center board voted to immediately shutter the iconic performing arts center, citing structural issues and a “dire” financial situation. But, according to Kennedy, any financial issues would be solved immediately if Trump stopped interfering.
“In terms of money going forward to run the center, there are three places that comes from: that comes from government funding, it comes from philanthropy, and it comes from ticket sales. Well, philanthropy and ticket sales disappeared as soon as Trump plastered his name on the center. So all it has to do is back off, and those will come sweeping back in,” she said.
Kennedy told Alexander she hopes the president will abide by the latest court order, which requires the administration to notify the plaintiffs in the case challenging his efforts more than 30 days before carrying out any new construction or demolishing parts of the building, but she said, “We know he’s somebody who has been convicted of numerous felonies. So we don’t know if he will follow it or not.”
You can watch Kennedy’s full interview in the clip at the top of the page.
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