President Donald Trump did not hold back in disparaging the world-famous John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Monday, where he attended his first board meeting as new chair.
In February, Trump announced that he would “immediately terminate multiple individuals from the Board of Trustees, including the Chairman, who do not share our Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture. We will soon announce a new Board, with an amazing Chairman, DONALD J. TRUMP.”
"It's in tremendous disrepair," Trump said while touring the facility this week. "As is a lot of the rest of our country. Most of it, is because of bad management. This is a shame what I've watched and witnessed. They spent a fortune, $250 million, and they've built these rooms that nobody's gonna use. Rooms underground. And I've often wondered, what are the big cubes that they have outside that block the view? They're cubes with a door in them so they can get down to rooms that nobody's going to use. And it's a shame. It's a shame."
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Trump then hinted he was considering getting rid of some employees over a snafu with Lee Greenwood, who wanted to sing his Trump rally anthem, "God Bless the U.S.A."
"The other thing is we're going to have a little problem with some people that work here," Trump continued. "We had Lee Greenwood, wanted to sing a little song today, and because of the cost and the union structure, for him to sing a song just for the board, just the board meeting, it was going to cost $30,000. That doesn't sound too good. They wanted $30,000 to move a piano. So, you can't have that."
Trump continued to talk about the structure, calling it "emblematic of our country."
"But the Kennedy Center, you look at the columns outside, you look at the, I mean they're supposed to be covered by something. Whether it's marble or whatever, granite. They were never covered, they were painted. But, bringing it into modern times, a lot of money has been given to it, and the money has not been properly spent. They built rooms underground with no windows, no nothing, that will not be used ever. You're not going to have people use them. It's such a waste of money. Such a terrible waste."
Trump concluded that the facility "is so much like what I'm witnessing in other places. We have open borders. We have men playing in women's sports -- it's all the same thing. It's all the same mentality and thinking. So, I'm very disappointed when I look around."
Reaction to Trump's taking over the Kennedy Center hasn't been positive. Ticket sales and subscriptions have reportedly slumped, and Vice President J.D. Vance was loudly booed for 30 seconds when attending a recent performance.
Watch the clip below via C-SPAN.