Transcription
The Kennedy Center in D.C. because a federal judge has rejected a last-minute bid to keep Donald Trump's name on that building. We don't know when those letters may be coming down. We do know scaffolding is up there, and the deadline to remove his name is today. It matters to Donald Trump, though, who has battled publicly with the Kennedy Center for years, and his focus in his second term on efforts to cement his legacy at the institution. And yet, he is losing the legal battle, though through an appeal is still pending. And the Kennedy Center has already moved some of his name from some of its branding, like on the website and in communications to members, because, as U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper said today, "Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it."
Joining us now, Hofstra University law professor James Sample, who focuses on constitutional law and democracy, director of the Center for Effective Public Management and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, Elaine Kamark, author of the Substack newsletter "To the Contrary," Charlie Sykes, and Ms. Now, political analyst and Democratic strategist Basil Smichel. It's great to have all of you guys. Um, what an incredible panel I have. Uh, so I'll start with you, James. Um, how much of this do you think is about, uh, Trump's culture war, his battle with the courts, uh, or just simply his desire to be respected in the world of media, of entertainment, and culture?
If you really were respected, would you need to build monuments to yourself and to override statutory prescriptions that say that a building is in honor of a past president, a president to whom he does not compare? You wouldn't need to do that. This is about vanity, and it's not about the American people. With respect to the judicial ruling, the ruling today is a basic application of a simple principle called irreparable harm. If the government's position, if the Trump administration's position ultimately prevails in this, they can put his name back. But taking it down is the rule for now. And if he wins, there's no irreparable harm, because it's not, frankly, that difficult to put the name back. He's not ultimately going to win on this one.
Do you think he has a shot via appeal, though? I mean, these days, I never say he... I never say that he doesn't have a shot. That being said, the statute here is clear, and the statute says that Congress controls the Kennedy Center and that the Kennedy Center is named after President Kennedy. It is the idea, the chutzpah, the audacity of this, and the smallness of it. On one hand, the audacity is massive, and the smallness of the ask is just as small.
So, Basil, do you think Trump is embarrassed by this? Embarrassed? Is it hard for him to watch? I imagine he has some cameras up. He watches TV kind of all day long. He does. So he must see that they're preparing. Watches TV all day long and tweets all night. And so, talk about embarrassed in an era of no shame. I don't think it's embarrassment. I think it's, "Why aren't they doing what I want them to do?"
Before I go any further, I want to shout out Congresswoman Joyce Beatty from Ohio, because she's been leading the charge in trying to get━get the courts and get everybody else to recognize that Congress has a real responsibility here, and that should be recognized, an authority to put names on buildings and take names off. So she really led the charge in that. I want to sort of acknowledge her in that, because one thing that should come from all of this is that Congress has authority. Congress has rights and responsibilities, and what the president has done, whether it's this or most other things he's done in his administration, is to undermine the will of and role of Congress. Now, he's had help with people in Congress, and a lot of Republicans that have basically abdicated their responsibility. But there are many who have been pushing back. I don't know that in every instance they're going to win in the courts, which is kind of what you were alluding to, but the fact is you have to do it. You have to try, you have to get it done. And again, this isn't about his respect. This is about his vanity, to use your words, because it's not just the name on a building. It's sneakers, it's cell phones, it's banners hanging down from buildings in Washington. It's America 250 coins that have his face on them. And passports, right? It's everything. I don't know a living person that wants to see their name in lights that much and think that at the end of the day, this is about respect as opposed to raw use of power. What Basil?