Trump is fighting through Kennedy Center & ballroom setbacks

[0:00] President Trump now suggesting he plans to continue renovating the Kennedy Center despite [0:04] a federal judge ruling the planned renovations must stop and his name must be removed. After [0:11] the ruling last week, President Trump said he had no interest in continuing what could only be a [0:15] hopeless journey into Never Never Land. Yesterday, the Kennedy Center's General Counsel ordered staff [0:21] to remove President Donald Trump's name from the building by June 12th, complying with the judge's [0:26] ruling. Earlier today, the Trump administration was in court trying to get permission to continue with [0:31] the ballroom construction. The DOJ argued that no court would have the power to order Trump to tear [0:37] down the ballroom. When did it become impossible for courts to stop this project? I think it would [0:47] have been improper to enjoin it even on day one. So this is really something that can't be stopped [0:50] in courts. It can only be stopped by Congress. I think that's right. All right, my panel is back. [0:57] Elliot Williams. That's ludicrous. I don't know what the question was, but I will tell you the answer [1:02] is that is ludicrous. That is incorrect. It just, you know, one can support the idea of the White House [1:09] having a ballroom. It can be something that is a welcome addition to the East. Fine. However, [1:15] the courts have the power to enjoin actions by Congress and the president. That is how our courts [1:20] have worked from the beginning. That's not about the activism of courts or anything else. The idea [1:25] that somehow the president has unilateral authority that cannot be checked by the federal courts is [1:30] just, it's just incorrect. And it's not, I'm not stating an opinion here. This is not a feeling or [1:37] a vibe. That is simply how the separation of powers work in the country. That is incorrect. [1:42] So just to take this like one step farther, the judge pressed the Trump administration lawyer about [1:49] what would happen if they decided like tomorrow that they wanted to bulldoze the Statue of Liberty. [1:53] Here's what she asked and what the lawyer said back. [1:57] The government decided to move very quickly and bulldoze the Statue of Liberty, the people who, [2:05] ancestors, that was the first thing they saw coming to this country. But the government moved too fast. [2:15] Nothing can be done. I think, I think that's right. It is. [2:19] That is the, no, this is a fun exercise to have. That's the definition of what you would call a [2:23] constitutional crisis where, um, one branch of government decides to do something that they [2:29] wish to do. Perhaps they think it is in the public interest to bulldoze the Statue of Liberty. [2:33] Okay, fine. That's what they want to do. A court, parties would sue and a court would tell them not [2:38] to do it. And if they don't follow that court order, we are in a crisis as a nation. You have an [2:43] obligation as the executive branch of the government to follow what courts say. I'm so, like, I, I know this [2:48] is, I'm sorry to go back to 10th grade history or 11th grade history here, but these are just such [2:53] basic facts and we're in the upside down right now having to explain something so painfully simple [3:00] that has become normalized in this country that's not healthy. So that's the legal view, uh, that [3:06] Elliot holds very strongly. I know he also, if we start to talk about the fact that the Kennedy Center [3:10] was named as a memorial, he'll also get going on that. But since you're the historian that's sitting [3:14] here, I'm going to give that one to you. Uh, I mean, it is Congress that named the Kennedy Center [3:18] Center. And can you sort of speak to the historical significance of it and why that matters here? [3:25] Absolutely. So we don't lay name monuments or, you know, any of these things after living [3:29] individuals. We certainly don't name them after living presidents. The way that the Kennedy Center [3:33] was endowed was as a monument essentially to the cultural and the artistic, uh, benefits in honor of [3:40] a deceased president, right? And the family has been very open about this. The family was among the [3:45] first to speak out after the president decided he was going to put his name up. And I have to say [3:49] that the courts, you know, agreed with this. This is part and parcel of, you know, how these things [3:54] operate. But one thing I think that is worth pointing out here is that history hasn't, particularly [4:00] modern history, hasn't had a way of really dealing with these ideas of constitutional crises [4:04] because we've had good faith actors for so long. Even our, you know, corrupt people, I mentioned [4:10] Nixon earlier today, but even our corrupt actors still with acted within the boundaries of relatively [4:15] the constitution. What Trump has decided and what the department of justice, knowing lawyers from the [4:20] department of justice, knowing the concept, they know the constitution, they know the law, they have [4:24] decided that they want a different reality, that they are fine kind of putting a constitutional crisis [4:30] forward. And I think one of the things that happens with the Kennedy Center is Trump has decided he [4:35] wants his name on it. And so his name will be on it. And so this is, you know, part of what sparks [4:40] the backlash is that the director instructs the staff to take down the name yesterday. And Trump says, [4:45] absolutely not. But then the other part is that it's very clear when you look at the construction [4:49] of the ballroom, and when you look at the construction of the security apparatus underneath the [4:53] ballroom, that that is a long-term plan. And that Trump has no plans on stopping that, right? [5:00] That it's going to go forward irrespective of what the constitution or the law says. [5:03] One quick thing. And I don't throw the term crisis around lightly. I know we get into sort of [5:08] crisis hysteria in this country. And of course not. We're not constantly in a state of crisis. [5:14] But what was being described there of a branch of government deciding not to follow the orders [5:20] of another one is literally the historical and legal textbook definition of a country in crisis. [5:26] That's what happens when they don't follow each other. [5:27] Trump doesn't care at this point. And I think that we are, the more we get go, [5:32] are in his administration, the longer he is serving as president, the more he does not care. [5:37] And he only cares about himself. I truly believe that people within the White House [5:42] seem to tell him, well, what will happen if you don't listen? What will, what occurs? [5:47] You are the president. No one is going to tell you no. He has an expansive view of the presidency. [5:52] And it's now reflected in how he is acting towards the courts. And I don't think that this is going to be the last time. [6:00] I think that this is just the beginning of Trump not, you know, not listening to the courts whenever they've made a decision. [6:07] There's a lot of threats not to listen to the courts, though. [6:09] I mean, again, I don't want to alarm people unnecessarily about the president taking actions that actually haven't been taken yet. [6:15] They've been threatened. They haven't been taken. [6:17] I think the president's a maximalist. He'll go as far as he can. But I don't think there's as many evidence of violating the court orders. [6:22] But I think he'd be in the best interest of the country and for Republicans this midterms if the president focused on defeating Iran and beating back inflation. [6:31] That would be great. [6:32] I don't know if you heard that, but to me it seems like Donald Trump not only does not care about the midterms, but he's actively sabotaging it. [6:44] I didn't say it. I believe as long as he's not on the ballot, he doesn't care as much. [6:48] But I'm telling you, it would be better interest for the country and for Republicans if his focus was there. [6:52] Mark has said a lot by not saying a lot. I'll put it that way. All right. [6:56] Well, you had said that you were going to grab a pickaxe to take Trump's name off of the building once he left the White House. [7:02] I guess you will not be doing that. It's your reaction to this court decision. [7:05] It sounds like I won't be needing to because it's going to be done for me. [7:12] But I thank all the people who offered to come and hold the ladder for me. [7:18] But, you know, imagine the Trump Lincoln Memorial or the Trump Washington Monument or the Trump Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. [7:28] Like all those, the Kennedy Center was established by Congress in 1964 as a national memorial to an assassinated president, John F. Kennedy, my uncle. [7:43] And renaming it would effectively erase or diminish that memorial designation, a solemn act of national mourning and remembrance. [7:54] And so I think this is the right order from the judge. [7:59] I'm incredibly grateful and I'm looking forward to it, to its return, to its original name. [8:05] I wonder how you expect President Trump to be involved moving forward because he did, as we heard moments ago, stress he is the chairman. [8:14] And he talked about spending money to renovate the Kennedy Center and, you know, to do some work on it. [8:22] It is a big building. Of course, a big building does require maintenance, no doubt. [8:27] But I wonder, since last week, he signaled that he would transfer control of the Kennedy Center to Congress, [8:32] saying that while he was being treated unfairly and he had no interest in continuing unless he was free to do what he wanted to do, [8:39] how are you how are you comparing kind of these two things that he's said and what are you expecting out of it? [8:45] I mean, I think it's very difficult to predict what Trump will do or say at any moment because he flip-flops so often. [8:55] But I do note this, the Kennedy Center's artistic mission is nonpartisan by design. [9:03] And as a federally chartered institution, the Kennedy Center exists to serve all Americans through the arts, [9:12] across party lines, across generations. [9:15] And attaching a living politician's name to it or even his day-to-day imprint on it politicizes a cultural institution [9:27] that has deliberately remained above the fray. [9:31] So I don't think it should be renamed after the president, [9:34] whose policies are inconsistent with millions of Americans [9:40] and would undermine public trust in its independent and accessibility. [9:46] By the same token, I don't think that he should be taking time out of his important work at the White House, [9:56] stopping this crazy war in Iran to oversee the minutia of running the Kennedy Center. [10:04] Let's leave that up to the experts and allow him to do the job that we elected him to do.