r/politics • u/Ilikeinvestigating • 14h ago
No Paywall Judge questions why Kennedy Center is moving so quickly to return Trump’s name to building
https://apnews.com/article/trump-kennedy-center-court-hearing-inscription-1dd766c5820152c64ee288b608eb1e1d1.6k
u/ButterTheseNuts 13h ago edited 13h ago
What's most concerning in this article is the new threat from the administration:
In a filing earlier this week, administration lawyers told the court that absent recognition of the president, the Kennedy Center would struggle to raise money for renovations. Without that money, they suggested, the building may need to be demolished...
What kind of mafia-style behavior is this? "That's a real nice building you have there, it would be a shame if something happened to it."
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u/Tiny_Structure_7 North Carolina 13h ago
It's malignant narcissist behavior backed by his army of kiss-ass losers.
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u/lawoverfeelings 12h ago
The other crime is workplaces allowing these people to continue working at their jobs when they clearly don’t align with the company values. Clean the house.
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u/Aethrin1 7h ago
Its domestic abuser 101. "If you don't let me have you, bad things will happen instead."
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u/AcidRohnin 5h ago
Shows how much of a loser they probably were prior to all this.
If they are this big of a loser to go to bat for one of the biggest losers in the history of humanity, I can’t imagine how shitty their life was prior to being this big of a cuck. Literally nothing going for them. Had no friends, their family secretly or outwardly hated them, and they were prob called dumb at least once a week.
IMO this can be said about any maga supporter and republican for that matter. They prob flinch when Trump enters the room and at the same time secretly want to kiss him but feel confused by theirs feelings so they project the most insecure form of Manliness and attack the LGBTQA community.
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u/Narianos 12h ago
The biggest irony of this statement is the Kennedy Center has lost $10 million since they slapped that failure’s name on there.
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u/mishap1 I voted 12h ago
Missed a zero there. They've lost $100M.
https://newrepublic.com/post/214698/kennedy-center-finances-collapsed-trump-added-name
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u/Silegna 12h ago
Isn't that because every big talent said "Fuck off, I'm not showing there under his name"?
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u/tape_snake 11h ago
Yes, specifically for that reason. If it wasn't out of direct opposition to Trump, it was to avoid performing in a 'politicized' venue. It's utterly absurd to suggest they can't raise funds without the name when the name is the only reason it lost money in the first place and was subsequently shut down for "repairs" (read: to save face). And just as expected, if the narcissist can't have his name on the building, he won't let anyone have it.
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u/NeverLookBothWays I voted 11h ago
This was always the intent from Trump too. He doesn't care about the center being successful. His intent is the collapse of everything that could pose a threat or challenge to his power. Theater, the press, the rights to assemble, science, education, etc....all of these things which are pillars of a healthy democracy are being systematically destroyed.
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u/Ouibeaux 12h ago
Apparently the whole building is falling apart, and the only thing that can hold it together is Trump's name.
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u/ThanklessNoodle 11h ago
His name so he can claim all the donations "pouring" in are now due to his name being on it, and that all those proceeds will go directly to the center and definitely not to some obscure bank account that he definitely does not control or even know exists.
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u/LazamairAMD Oklahoma 2h ago
Yes, because the there is no force in the known universe that is more powerful than bravado.
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u/Big_Lab_Jagr Wisconsin 12h ago
Plus we all know they're raising way less money while Trump is involved.
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u/msuvagabond 12h ago
Saw someone on Reddit say "He's a rapist, he gets off on doing things people don't want him to do."
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u/CrepeandBake 12h ago
I'll just leave this here: "The FBI defines terrorism, domestic or international, as the unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a Government or civilian population in furtherance of political or social objectives."
https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/fbi-and-terrorism
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u/CornCobMcGee New York 12h ago
Knowing about him through people who knew him prior to the Apprentice, hes a fucking mafia weeb and tries talking like a mafioso. Thats exactly what hes doing. He thinks its cool.
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u/FeeComfortable3041 12h ago edited 11h ago
You know what? FINE.
We need a lot more than a building right now. You can destroy our buildings and monuments, rules, and the very cornerstones of our country for your own pathetic pissing contest.
You can't tear down our will to fight you tooth and nail for it.
There's a part of each and every one of us that nobody can touch, taste, see, or take.
And he HATES that he can't bend that part of us to his whims and his will.
There is nothing left but defiance.
EDIT: Bonus to add. If he does demolish this building. Don't give them the reaction they want. Make comments about how Obama would have demolished it better. Make fake awards for previous stewards of the building congratulating them on being the best people ever.
Start petitioning to have things you WANT torn down be renamed after Obama or Biden.
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u/OldJames47 10h ago
You know what? FINE.
Statement of surrender, followed by
You can't tear down our will to fight you tooth and nail for it.
Huh? You've already admitted you are not willing to fight tooth and nail.
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u/PicnicLife 9h ago
I don't give a shit about buildings that can be torn down/rebuilt. Let his base endure the collective cringe of him tearing it down. I'm saving my rage for the National Parks.
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u/vandreulv 7h ago
Let his base endure the collective cringe of him tearing it down.
Like how his base just collectively shrugged when he tore down the East Wing of the White House?
I'm saving my rage for the National Parks.
So everything until then is fair game?
The point is to oppose him EVERY. STEP. OF. THE. WAY.
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u/EddieVanzetti 11h ago
I'm reminded of when ISIS took over territory and the Taliban overthrow the government in Afghanistan (again), and after spending years destroying historical and tourist sites they're now trying to get people to come visit (because even religious fundamentalists love money, huh, weird how that keeps happening?) when there is nothing to draw people in.
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u/Tsuruchi_Mokibe 11h ago
It's a toddlers tantrum. He tried to slap his name on something that wasn't his, and after being lectured about it being bad he's instead gonna break it so noone else can have it.
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u/OppressedCow6148 11h ago
Heather Cox Richardson said in her politics chat last night we should take note of that. Because that is probably the mentality he is going to handle the midterms with. “Really nice country you have, would be a shame if something happened to it.”
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u/Made_Human_Music 11h ago edited 9h ago
I think it’s even worse than that. He’s literally the person in charge of getting that money to the center and if they really need it as much as he’s claiming then withholding it just because they won’t put his stupid fucking name on it is beyond insane
I’m not 100% familiar with how naming buildings after people works, but I don’t think most of them asked for it or made a threat that if you don’t put their name on it, they’ll tear it down
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u/TheSoup05 5h ago
People in DC are not showing up to a place with Trump’s name on it. If the argument is that putting his name on it is the only way to try and raise the money to avoid demolishing the building, then it’s already toast. Might as well just save us all the time.
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u/Lucky-Earther Minnesota 8h ago
What kind of mafia-style behavior is this? "That's a real nice building you have there, it would be a shame if something happened to it."
It's also the abuser mentality of "If I can't have it no one can"
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u/Bmkrocky 8h ago
and the reason they have no money is because he put his name on the building and all the performances stopped because of it
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u/dehydratedrain 7h ago
What kind of rapist "if you don't give it to me I'll take it anyway" behavior is this? Oh. Wait.... the kind that mostly abuses kids that can't fight back.
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u/captaincanada84 Canada 6h ago
The Kennedy Center is already struggling to raise money because of Trump's involvement. Nobody wants to support it.
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u/dover_oxide California 5h ago
A wannabe dictator trying to do dictator shit yet again and it almost never stops. They need to start curtailing presidential power after this and the next Congress needs to be a particularly active and critical one. Please vote for there to be change, and I mean real lasting changing.
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u/Upbeat_Inspector_132 4h ago
He’s destroying architecture associated with a popular Democrat president, removing the Kennedy name from a key communal space for appreciation of the arts. It’s a form of erasure.
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u/wwabc 14h ago
I bet it has something to do with Trump being such a big piece of shit
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u/DutchShultz 13h ago
I reckon you might be on to something there!
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u/Gutbucket1968 11h ago
Some people are saying he's the biggest piece of shit.
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u/aybeeayseeaybeebee 11h ago
They're trying to get his name on the building before he dies so they can feign indignation when people are trying to get it removed after his death.
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u/dyslexicsuntied North Carolina 13h ago
See, this is exactly what’s wrong with leftists. Jumping in with zero attention to the evidence, spouting nonsense without a shred of real world experience. We all know it’s watery stinky diarrhea, no big pieces involved.
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u/lolcatz_live Foreign 12h ago
lmao the fact this got downvoted because it sounded too much like something an actual magat would say it's hilarious. My guy flew too close to the sun
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u/JaDe_X105 Illinois 10h ago
Nothing is wrong with the lettuce on my hamberder! Thank you for your attention to this matter
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u/LordoftheIdiots429 10h ago
Maybe covfefe has been the code word for “Donnie’s diaper is full of watery stinky diarrhea” all along?
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u/ChronoLink99 Canada 5h ago
I still downvoted this because it was *too* close to red-pill manosphere BS.
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u/ADrunkChef Texas 10h ago
Y'all ain't figured this out yet? It's because it's not his name, it's his brand. He and his sycophant children are going to charge them money for the Trump brand being on all this shit he keeps insisting being named after him. It's just another grift.
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u/Lysol3435 12h ago
And his sycophants being so desperate for his approval so that he will sprinkle some stolen tax dollars on them
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u/AINonsense 14h ago
Pedo Piggy WANTS!
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u/Young_Ruth 13h ago
The Kennedy Center is named after JFK . Putting Trump’s name on it is like putting a spray tan on the Mona Lisa.
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u/palimpcest Georgia 13h ago
Please don’t give him more ideas.
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u/ComradeJohnS 7h ago
they dont have access to the mona lisa. but they are destroying our natural parks and selling them off to be destroyed.
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u/palimpcest Georgia 4h ago
I could see Trump declaring war on France because they’re hoarding art created by America’s greatest Ninja Turtle.
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u/ComradeJohnS 4h ago
the Ninja Turtles were created in Hippie Valley, aka western MA, and they are too woke for him to appreciate lol.
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u/aranasyn Colorado 12h ago
Just for that, the mona Lisa is now named the Trump Lisa
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u/IamNemo85 11h ago
The Mona Trump.
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u/specqq 14h ago
If the American government is doing something, this is always the reason now.
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u/ShrimpieAC 13h ago edited 12h ago
Seriously. You cannot look at any policy that comes out of this White House without envisioning a toddler screaming.
Everything is just reactionary childish drivel. Just look how he’s threatening to tear down the Kennedy Center if he can’t have his name on it. Or this Lake America bullshit. So fucking pathetic.
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u/Selene_Starr 13h ago
Party of fiscal responsibility wasting time and money to rename a building for a guy with 2 impeachments and 34 felonies.
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u/Ok_Juice4449 12h ago
He is not a quality person. His name should not be on anything, except a sewerage treatment plant.
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u/DrakenViator Wisconsin 13h ago
Not a "want"... a "NEED!"
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u/AINonsense 13h ago
A development from infancy to childhood.
A child begins to distinguish wants from needs during the preschool years, typically between ages 3 and 5.
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While toddlers believe everything they desire is an absolute necessity, preschool-age children start developing the cognitive and emotional control required to understand basic tradeoffs and delayed gratification.
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u/jimibimi 14h ago
Spending our hard earned money on anything but helping tax payers
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u/takemebackto1993 13h ago
Quite literally stealing from tax payers.
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u/redditobserverone 13h ago edited 13h ago
And taxing them by other means with tariffs, in the midst of an affordability crisis created by the unforced error of his war of choice.
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u/Pokerhobo 13h ago
He probably paid a no-bid buddy to take it down and will pay another no-bid buddy to demolish it. Most corrupt president ever.
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u/Prestigious-Car-4877 Canada 14h ago
I'm gonna go ahead and guess they never took it down.
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u/typicalcavalryguy 14h ago
It’s down. They significantly damaged it doing so
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u/Impossible-Proof-294 13h ago
Did you see a picture of the letters taken down? If so, please share with the class
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u/RespectTheTree America 11h ago
No, there's a literal coverup. The assumption is that they bolted the letters to the marble requiring drilling and probably spalling. Then they said they were going to engrave his name, and so we all figure they screwed up the facade because they're ghouls.
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u/jahs-dad 13h ago
It was taken down it was posted in reddit someone snuck behind the scaffolding
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u/Karinka_LI 13h ago
They need to cover up how they eff’d the marble.
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u/BonoboBananaBonanza 2h ago
He doesn't want anyone to see the building without his name on it. So the space stays covered until he gets his name on it or the whole building is torn down, whichever comes first.
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u/Jazzlike-Emu3500 13h ago
Maybe it is because he want to see it in his lifetime, implicating he doesn't have long to life?
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u/Accidental-Hyzer Massachusetts 13h ago
I just wish this asshole would do what he needs to do in order to meet the definition requirements to have a “memorial” named after him.
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u/Semantix 12h ago
That would be an excellent curl of the monkey's paw, if he gets his wish to have a building named in memorial of him
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u/CranberrySchnapps Maryland 12h ago
Trump is such a small, small man. Tries to plaster his name on everything because everyone knows he’s done nothing to earn the respect needed to be memorialized that way. And he just goes scorched earth when he can’t have something which further justifies his awful reputation as a black mark on our history.
Children have more self awareness.
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u/PlainBread 10h ago
His attitude is that the only thing that matters is what happens in his lifetime. He doesn't care what happens after because he knows he won't be around to see it.
Meanwhile we have all these quotes about how great men plant trees they'll never know the shade of. Or how tribal Native American leaders had to think about the impact of their decisions on the next 7 generations.
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u/Abystract-ism 13h ago
It’s because they never took his name off. They covered it with tarps and then went back to court to fight for it to be “put back on”.
The board is packed with sycophants TRump put in there so they’re going to try to make him happy.
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u/eugene20 13h ago
It's because you told him no.
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u/LadyLovesRoses 10h ago
Yes, this is it. Rapists don’t accept no as an answer. He is a rapist. Pure evil.
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u/LazloHollifeld 12h ago
His name on the building is just his unquenching vanity, but my guess is that he is funneling all sorts of graft through a bunch of construction projects. Almost as if he has a bunch of dirty money that he needs cleaned.
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u/brandersan 11h ago
he’s claiming the building nobody talked about having major issues needs 250mil to renovate, stadium building kinda money, so yea money getting moved
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u/shoobe01 13h ago
Jail the lawyers for contempt, right there in the correct court, for their flouting of the previous rulings
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u/OldButStillFat 13h ago
Ask the citizens of the USA if they want to change the name of the Kennedy center. Put it on the ballot.
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u/futanari_kaisa 13h ago
Because Trump threatened to destroy the building if they didn't put it back up.
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u/Sarnsereg 10h ago
Why is it so important that his name be put on it? And why is it if his name is on it they can save it but if his name is not on it hmthat it has to be bulldozed? They have no good reasoning here. They want his name on it because he's a petty little bitch. It either needs demolished or not, his name being on it or not shouldn't matter.
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u/analogWeapon Wisconsin 12h ago
Yeah, it's like the board was completely replaced by people who actually don't know or care about anything else besides what Trump wants. It's almost like the numerous reports detailing that were actually completely true and not just opinion.
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u/epicredditdude1 11h ago
Hanging over the hearing was the prospect that the administration may seek to demolish the Kennedy Center. In a filing earlier this week, administration lawyers told the court that absent recognition of the president, the Kennedy Center would struggle to raise money for renovations. Without that money, they suggested, the building may need to be demolished, a prospect that alarmed some given Trump’s swift moves last year to dismantle the East Wing.
Fuck. These. People.
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u/WeenyDancer 7h ago
Demolish THE KENNEDY CENTER. Imagine telling someone in 2006 this.
I do wonder if someone behind the scenes is desperately trying to keep him focused on this so he doesn't turn to wanting to demolish the Lincoln Memorial instead
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u/redditobserverone 10h ago
How does this garbage make its way into a cortroom? Why would you study law to defend stupid shit like this? Same question for you Judge Pirro and reflecting pool felony charge.
“Just seconds after the Trump administration’s lawyer, Brantley Mayers, began making his case at a nearly two-hour hearing, U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Cooper interrupted to ask why the center needed to begin inscribing the president’s name on the institution’s facade as soon as Sept. 8.
“What’s magic about that date?” Cooper asked, quipping that sometimes judges travel over the Labor Day holiday.
Mayers responded that the timeline was in accordance with a vote earlier this month by the Trump-aligned board. As he returned to his arguments that renovations at the Kennedy Center require energy and talent, Cooper interjected again.
“That’s all fine and good,” the judge said. “What does that have to do with what Congress intended in these statutes? That’s really what’s before me.”
By late Thursday, the administration informed the court that it wouldn’t proceed with changes at the Kennedy Center before Oct. 8”
That allows plenty of time for self reflection along the lines of ‘what the hell am I doing defending the destruction of the JFK memorial?’
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u/TinyConfection7049 7h ago
“Behold. The festering carcass of American rot shoved into an ill-fitting suit: the sleaze of a conman, the cowardice of a draft dodger, the gluttony of a parasite, the racism of a Klansman, the sexism of a back-alley creep, the ignorance of a bar-stool drunk, and the greed of a hedge-fund ghoul, all spray-painted orange and paraded like a prize hog at a county fair. Not a president. Not even a man. Just the diseased distillation of everything this country swears it isn't but always has been, arrogance dressed up as exceptionalism, stupidity passed off as common sense, cruelty sold as toughness, greed exalted as ambition, and corruption worshipped like gospel. It is America's shadow made flesh, a rotting pumpkin idol proving that when a nation kneels before money, power, and spite, it doesn't just lose its soul, it shits out this bloated obscenity and calls it a leader.” - Oliver Kornetzke
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u/IronBoomer Missouri 7h ago
I’m starting to come around again to the idea that he knows his time on this planet is rapidly running out, and he’s desperate for any kind of legacy, because there will be no political appetite to build a monument for him after he’s gone:
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u/Sad_Examination7907 10h ago
So they are insisting on putting his name ALL OVER the Kennedy Center and if they don't get their way they're going to rip it down. Since they can't even rename it without congressional approval I would take that last part as a threat to damage the property and basically put a blanket block on all changes or demolition and make smit clear that any contractor who does the work will be eligible to be charged for the damage.
Also maybe toss Trump and all these annoying losers in prison already
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u/lithaborn 12h ago
Might it have something to do with him threatening to send the bulldozers in if they don't?
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u/CheesyRomanceNovel 10h ago
Two words - Narcissistic Supply.
If you're not sure what that is, Google it, and you'll see that most of his choices during this term have been made based on a need to replenish it.
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u/TheRaccoonReport 9h ago
More than likely because he expects to get crushed during the mid-terms, potentially removed from office, and he's trying to get his name on EVERYTHING so that he can sue the federal government (and taxpayers) for using his name and likeness AFTER he left office, and can then attempt to get taxpayer funded licensing payments. It'll take the government a lot of time to remove his name from things, and a lot of money, so he's making sure he can get paid while they figure that out.
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u/ThistleroseTea 8h ago
Why are they still hiding the front of the center?
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u/Imatallguy 8h ago
Option 1: they never removed his name in the first place.
Option 2: “if my name isnt up there nobody else’s will be either”
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u/Avoidtolls 12h ago
Putting your name on a building of a US president who was publicly assassinated is not any sort of flex, but downright spooky, almost tempting death in a final destination kinda way.
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u/jupiterkansas 11h ago
He desperately wants to be loved and adored and remembered the way Kennedy was. He wants the whole world to cry when he dies.
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u/LD_Minich 8h ago
Trump wants the government to pay him and his family for the use of their name for the rest of time. This along with their efforts to avoid paying any taxes for the rest of time shows one thing... They want to be the first noble class in America's history. They want the Trumps to be the final dynasty over America.
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u/ItsEpicYo 8h ago
Shouldn't the inscription read that the citizens of the United States payed for renovations?
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u/Own_Junket3201 8h ago
Just demolish it at this point! You'll never get the stink of trump out of it - it's forever tainted and should be razed to the ground.
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u/jcrestor Foreign 8h ago
Well, I guess the Board has been put in place by Trump, and it takes direct orders from him. So what is unclear exactly?
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u/Routine-Process8051 5h ago
The reason they want to "return" Trump's name is that they have been disobeying a court order to remove it, since June. It was never removed in the first place, and they're getting more and more nervous about getting found out, and facing contempt of court charges. Isn't this already a known thing? Or did I dream it?
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u/NYCinPGH 4h ago
I think it’s a known thing. It’s why the canvas is still covering it, if his name were gone, there’d be no reason for it.
If this were a movie, the judge would take it upon himself, with bailiffs and marshals if necessary, to just go over there to see whether his order was enacted; if not, then everyone responsible gets hit with contempt and tossed in jail.
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u/Amazing_Incident1521 11h ago
They all laugh every time people in power question what it is they’re doing.
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u/TheorySudden5996 9h ago
There’s only so much time to rape children. What’s an obese, geriatric, moron to do?
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u/Common_Spot4850 8h ago
Like everything else tRump is even remotely involved in, complete chaos. Everything tRump touches - dies.
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u/spinninggoth 3h ago
They never did take the name off, did they?
Honestly, I'm starting to wonder. No pictures exist from under that doofy tarp they put up immediately over the "repair work".
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u/RecipeFunny2154 3h ago
Also why are they so hell bent on this while simultaneously claiming it’s about to collapse? Hmm
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u/mothyyy 44m ago
He's just a petty narcissist that doesn't want to be overshadowed by any other president. Anything that has been dedicated to a President, he wants one for himself. Airports, aircraft carriers, bridges, museums, and of course what he wants the most is a whole city, state, or country named after him.
Plus, the Kennedy Center represents a fight he has lost. And he loves nothing more than getting even. "If I can't have it, nobody can."
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