Donald Trump Takes Over the Kennedy Center- Page 2

[MasterThespian 2]

Posted: 2/7/25 at 7:41pm

Assume this is payback for all the artists and elites who have never taken him seriously. Has never had the class, intelligence or style to fit in. 

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 2/7/25 at 7:42pm

PipingHotPiccolo said: "disbanding a bipartisan board because you dont like their art and installing yourself as the new chairman is something a silly petty dictator would so, and has now done.

if you didnt enthusiastically vote for kamala (and thats 70% of the country), you voted for this, and its only going to get worse and worse."

 

[Zeppie2022]

Posted: 2/7/25 at 7:46pm

"I imagine Laura Osnes will become an artist in residence or some shît at the Kennedy Center"

Talented actress with two Tony nominations and beautiful voice. Attractive woman who has been happily married since 2007.  She refused to get COVID vaccine shot (her choice), so did many other people. BTW - did COVID vaccine and booster stop people from getting COVID, the answer is no. Count me as one of the people who got vaccine and booster and still got COVID.  She says she is a Christian conservative so that is enough for BWW to hate her -lol. By all accounts, she is quite happy in Nashville and doubt she would want anything to do with Washington DC so don't worry. 

Sure, it is nice to honor the arts with big ceremony every year. Some years, the telecast is actually good. That being said, TV ratings suck (4-5 million) year after year. In other words, most people don't give a darn about it. 

 

[MasterThespian 2]

Posted: 2/7/25 at 8:02pm

Keeping a cultural institution alive shouldn’t hinge on the whims of the unwashed masses. 

Zeppie2022 said: ""I imagine Laura Osnes will become an artist in residence or some shît at the Kennedy Center"

Talented actress with two Tony nominations and beautiful voice. Attractive woman who has been happily married since 2007. She refused to get COVID vaccine shot (her choice), so did many other people. BTW - did COVID vaccine and boosterstop people from getting COVID, the answer is no. Count me as one of the people who got vaccine and booster and still got COVID. She says she is a Christian conservative so that is enough for BWW to hate her -lol. By all accounts, she is quite happy in Nashvilleand doubt she would want anything to do with Washington DC so don't worry.

Sure, it is nice to honor the arts with big ceremony every year. Some years, the telecast is actually good. That being said, TV ratings suck (4-5 million) year after year. In other words, most people don't give a darn about it.

"

 

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 2/7/25 at 8:08pm

Zeppie2022 said: "Sure, it is nice to honor the arts with big ceremony every year. Some years, the telecast is actually good. That being said, TV ratings suck (4-5 million) year after year. In other words, most people don't give a darn about it."

You do know the Kennedy Center does more than just presenting the Kennedy Center Honors, right? This will have devastating effects on the art and culture of theatre across the nation. 

[ggersten]

Posted: 2/7/25 at 8:34pm

I wonder if Equity (for actors) and other performing unions will respond if and when Trump follows through on determining what gets performed. 

[Kad]

Posted: 2/7/25 at 8:48pm

The union really has no power in this situation. 

[James885]

Posted: 2/7/25 at 9:12pm

Elections have consequences. 

As somewhat of an eternal optimist, I believe we'll survive this second Trump administration, but not without a lot of damage to the already-fragile foundations of our democracy. My hope is that those in the opposition party (and really all of us who oppose him) will drill down on slowing down and frustrating his initiatives as much as possible long enough for Democrats to flip Congress in a year and a half.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 2/7/25 at 9:33pm

We (the Dems) actually have a chance to take back the House in less than two months with three special elections. In 7 weeks there are two in Florida in a special election and then hopefully that same day or shortly thereafter there’s another in NY. These are going to be HARD to win but goddamnit we need to put EVERYTHING WE HAVE into helping these three people win. 

[RUkiddingme]

Posted: 2/7/25 at 9:42pm

Who is gonna choreograph the Scott Baio salute when he becomes an honoree?

 

[ACL2006]

Posted: 2/7/25 at 9:46pm

and performers should happily decline performing there for the next four years. maybe a Kid Rock biomusical is in the works?

[greensgreens]

Posted: 2/7/25 at 9:56pm

“The President hasn’t learned the lines you’d like to hear, he won’t join your clubs… he’ll simply take control as you disappear.” These paraphrased lines from Evita are just ringing through my head right now. Scary times, friends. I’m so sorry for all at the Kennedy Center caught up in this madness. 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 2/7/25 at 10:00pm

^Well let’s hope that like Eva, he suddenly seems to lose interest and grow tired. 

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 2/7/25 at 10:03pm

So, the President doesn’t actually have the legal authority to fire all the trustees, en masse. It’s a bipartisan board and every trustee serves for 6 year terms; there’s no “at the pleasure of the President” stipulated. This is just another one of Trumps stunts to distract us from Elon Musks raid on the federal government.

[KevinKlawitter]

Posted: 2/7/25 at 10:23pm

Call_me_jorge said: "So, the President doesn’t actually have the legal authority to fire all the trustees, en masse. It’s a bipartisan board and every trustee serves for 6 year terms; there’s no “at the pleasure of the President” stipulated. This is just another one of Trumps stunts to distract us from Elon Musks raid on the federal government."

It's never a distraction. Assuming a strategy ignores the stupidity. Everything is as stupid as it appears.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 2/7/25 at 10:25pm

Kad said: "If I were running an arts nonprofit relying on federal grants, I would be preparing for the worst as President Musk and Supreme Leader Trump tighten their grasp."

The silver lining is that the NEA only funds projects that are already happening, won't fund more than 50% of a project, orgs must demonstrate fiscal responsibility, and a lot of the grants are relatively small. The smart companies already operate with the "never expect anything from the NEA" philosophy. A loss of $50K shouldn't kill any company.

1,369 days till election day 2028...........

[greensgreens]

Posted: 2/7/25 at 10:38pm

It’s easy to call something a distraction and assume legalities will correct everything until it affects whether you take home a paycheck. It may not hurt some of these board members, but I’m so sorry for any employees at the KC who  can’t sleep tonight because they don’t know if they’ll have a job in a week. These “distractions” have direct and traumatic  effects that shouldn’t be minimized. 

[akhoya87]

Posted: 2/7/25 at 11:11pm

Call_me_jorge said: "So, the President doesn’t actually have the legal authority to fire all the trustees, en masse. It’s a bipartisan board and every trustee serves for 6 year terms; there’s no “at the pleasure of the President” stipulated. This is just another one of Trumps stunts to distract us from Elon Musks raid on the federal government."

The statute doesn't need to say board members serve at the pleasure of the President; Seila Law recognizes the President's plenary authority to dismiss individuals exercising executive power.  (And the KC board isn't legislating or exercising judicial power, so its quasi-governmental functions must be executive in nature.)  The only exception is requiring for-cause dismissal for independent commissions per Humphrey's Executor, and that's probably on its way out soon.  

I find Trump's intrusion into the artistic independence of the KC repulsive, but this is probably one of the least problematic things he's done, from a legal standpoint.  Even Deborah Rutter recognized as much.  Per the Washington Post:

“Per the Center’s governance established by Congress in 1958, the chair of the board of trustees is appointed by the Center’s board members,” Rutter wrote. “There is nothing in the Center’s statute that would prevent a new administration from replacing board members; however, this would be the first time such an action has been taken with Kennedy Center’s board.”

https://wapo.st/40NQjJC

[DanS3]

Posted: 2/8/25 at 12:49am

I hate this man so much and will never forgive the people of this country for giving us another 4 years of this craziness.  He seems more deranged this time.  Who fires a whole board and appoints THEMSELVES the chairman?  Someone on a power trip.....and that is Donald Trump.  I'm waiting for someone in the Dem party to stand up to him and take leadership of the party.  I'm not sure how this move, or the executive order regarding transgender people, or the plan to take over Gaza does ANYTHING to lower the price of groceries.  I mean, that's all we heard throughout October and November from people planning on voting for him ("but, the price of my eggs and bread").  Elections have consequences.  Hopefully we as a country have learned that lesson.

[MezzoDiva47]

Posted: 2/8/25 at 4:06am

not sure we learned the correct lesson

we live in a country where we have a maga cult and we cant wish away its existence

they are intractable

so we need the political center to swing our way in order to win elections and set reasonable policy

and what did we offer them for this election?

defund the police

college campus chaos

latinx

cancel culture

sign these ‘we see you’ petitions ~ or else

learn 200 new pronouns ~ or else

rampant tolerated anti-semitism

zero acknowledgement about inflation and the hardship its been causing working class families

 

these all drove normally reasonable voters away and into trump world

if only 1.14 million voters had changed their minds and voted harris instead of trump we wouldnt be in this nightmare

or maybe some of the 3.18 million voters who sat out entirely in protest might have made the difference but hey ‘genocide joe’ was apparently the worst possible president when it came to gaza

instead the pendulum was pushed too hard and swung decisively in the other direction

how bad do you have to be as a party for voters to think that trump was going to be the better option

and lets not kid ourselves

pretty much every minority group and every county in every state moved further right this past election

especially in the latino / latina communities

ppl on this board dont like hearing it but

as the saying goes

go woke go broke

 

MezzoDiva47 has spoken

bow down accordingly

 

[SingingEachtoEach]

Posted: 2/8/25 at 5:59am

greensgreens said: "It’s easy to call something a distraction and assume legalities will correct everything until it affects whether you take home a paycheck. It may not hurt some of these board members, but I’m so sorry for any employees at the KC who can’t sleep tonight because they don’t know if they’ll have a job in a week. These “distractions” have direct and traumatic effects that shouldn’t be minimized."

It's also just another thing in their campaign against DC and DMV residents.  Wreck our jobs, create havoc in commutes, impose stuff on the city through congress, make us their punching bag, force shutdowns and shutter the museums.

Now they're going to wreck something else, just because they can.

[MasterThespian 2]

Posted: 2/8/25 at 6:53am

If you’re expecting ‘muricans to learn a lesson, you’re in for a very long wait. There’s a reason the rest of the world believes this country is packed with proudly ignorant, loud, classless slobs. Because it is. 

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 2/8/25 at 7:20am

JSquared2 said: "dramamama611 said: "What the actual F?"

The word you’re looking for is F-U-C-K

MODS delete away. This is the LEAST offensive thing about this thread."

What is offensive about any of the replies before yours?

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 2/8/25 at 7:23am

Zeppie2022 said: ""I imagine Laura Osnes will become an artist in residence or some shît at the Kennedy Center"

Talented actress with two Tony nominations and beautiful voice. Attractive woman who has been happily married since 2007. She refused to get COVID vaccine shot (her choice), so did many other people. BTW - did COVID vaccine and boosterstop people from getting COVID, the answer is no. Count me as one of the people who got vaccine and booster and still got COVID. She says she is a Christian conservative so that is enough for BWW to hate her -lol. By all accounts, she is quite happy in Nashvilleand doubt she would want anything to do with Washington DC so don't worry.

Sure, it is nice to honor the arts with big ceremony every year. Some years, the telecast is actually good. That being said, TV ratings suck (4-5 million) year after year. In other words, most people don't give a darn about it.

"

She is a selfish imbecile who turned her back on her colleagues, and continues to do so by supporting lawmakers who vote to strip them of their rights. Spare us your BS.

[kdogg36]

Posted: 2/8/25 at 9:09am

MezzoDiva47 said: "these all drove normally reasonable voters away and into trump world"

Stop blaming Trump on those who did not support him. The fault lies solely with those who, knowing all they do about him from the past ten (or more) years, cast a vote for him. They are garbage (I used to say "human garbage," but I don't recognize them as humans anymore). Every single one deserves a swift but miserable death.