Adam Nichols

Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has accused prominent Republican figures of publicly praising him — while privately trashing him to close associates.

During an appearance on HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher," highlighted by the Daily Beast, Christie was asked what Republicans say about current events when cameras are off.

He described a pattern of backstage behavior that contradicts public statements.

Christie, an outspoken opponent of Trump's, said, "Look, so many of my fellow party members, especially, come up to me because I say all this stuff out loud, and they — in the green room at ABC, they'll say, 'You're so brave. That's so great. I totally agree with you. [Trump's] nuts.'

"And then they go out on camera to be interviewed, and they go, 'The greatest president since Abraham Lincoln.' And then they come back in the green room, and they say to me, 'You know, I have to do that, but like I don't really mean it.'"

When pressed to identify specific Republicans exhibiting this behavior, Christie named Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

Graham's relationship with Trump has been notably turbulent. During the 2016 primary campaign, Graham sharply attacked Trump, calling him a "jackass" unfit for the presidency after Trump insulted Senator John McCain, a close Graham ally. Trump retaliated by mocking Graham at rallies and publicly reading his personal cellphone number aloud.

Following Trump's 2016 election victory, Graham reversed course dramatically. He stated he felt "an obligation" to support a Republican president and became one of Trump's closest Senate allies and frequent golf companions. This strategic alignment enhanced Graham's standing with GOP voters and secured his 2020 reelection.

However, the relationship fractured over Trump's January 6 pardons. Graham criticized the clemency decisions as "a mistake" and delivered a rare public rebuke in the Senate chamber, stating: "Trump and I, we've had a hell of a journey. I hate it to end this way. Oh my God, I hate it. From my point of view, he's been a consequential president, but today, first thing you'll see. All I can say is count me out, enough is enough."

Despite this public distancing, Graham ultimately remained loyal through Trump's criminal indictments and 2024 presidential campaign. By 2025, the relationship appeared restored. Trump endorsed Graham's reelection bid, and the two were recently photographed together at Mar-a-Lago's Super Bowl watch party and on the golf course.

Christie's own relationship with Trump deteriorated after Trump's 2020 election refusal to concede. When Christie ran for the 2024 Republican nomination, he highlighted his willingness to publicly criticize Trump, declaring: "Some people say I should drop out of this race. Really? I'm the only one saying Donald Trump is a liar."

President Donald Trump's uncontrolled outbursts have made him a "one man wrecking ball" for Republicans in contested seats — and they have no idea how to handle him, an strategist said Monday.

After a decade of almost unhindered fealty, Trump's cheerleaders are now sweating that their association with him — and his wild swings in policy and behavior — could be what destroys their political careers, analysts told the Washington Post.

He's “a one-man wrecking ball” who “guarantees that Republicans running for office can’t talk about what they need to talk about to win,” said Republican strategist Doug Heye.

'He can't help himself."

The Post wrote that Republicans have maintained a decade-long implicit agreement with President Trump — that they would tolerate his inflammatory rhetoric and controversial behavior in exchange for policy victories and judicial appointments.

But in recent months — culminating in a wild ride last week — that arrangement is under increasing strain as Trump creates mounting distractions and liabilities for a party growing anxious about 2026 midterm prospects, the report stated.

Economic disruption from Trump's tariff policies challenged Republican messaging. Deaths of two Americans during a Trump administration immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis further undermined Republican advantages on immigration policy.

Then Friday brought Trump's racist social media post.

A video on Trump's Truth Social account depicted former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as primates, drawing rare bipartisan condemnation. The White House initially defended the content as part of a "Lion King" spoof — a film that does not feature apes. Following Republican criticism including from Senator Tim Scott (SC), the only Black Republican senator, the video was removed.

Trump declined to apologize, stating: "I didn't make a mistake."

The episode coincided with the Dow Jones reaching 50,000 for the first time, the Post noted. Trump celebrated the milestone, telling reporters, "The stock market, the Dow, just hit 50,000, three years ahead of schedule. They said it probably couldn't be done in the four-year period. We did it in one year."

However, Republicans in competitive 2026 races spent the day having to address Trump's racist post rather than touting economic gains. Representative Mike Lawler (R-NY) stated, "The President's post is wrong and incredibly offensive—whether intentional or a mistake—and should be deleted immediately with an apology offered." Senator Dan Sullivan (R-AK) said, "The post was offensive. I'm glad the White House took it down." Representative John James (R-MI) wrote: "I'm glad to see that trash has been taken down."

Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, facing her most vulnerable reelection campaign, exemplifies the tension between vulnerable Republicans and Trump. Earlier in the week, Collins appeared at a White House bill-signing ceremony, holding a red hat resembling Trump's campaign merchandise. Her spokesperson framed the appearance as recognition of bipartisan legislative work. Collins condemned Trump's racist post, stating, "Tim is right. This was appalling."

Democratic candidates immediately seized on Collins's White House appearance. Maine Governor Janet Mills commented, "Looks like @SenSusanCollins has moved on from clutching her pearls to clutching her new hat." Democratic primary candidate Graham Platner stated,"Maine didn't vote for this."

Collins's condemnation of Trump's post provided distance from the president but highlighted the week's broader challenge, the Post wrote — Trump's capacity to overshadow Republican electoral strategies and complicate candidates' positioning heading into midterm contests.

FBI Director Kash Patel's country singer girlfriend was swamped with anger late Sunday as she reacted to a Democratic Party post lauding Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime performance.

Responding to the social media post featuring a stars-and-stripes rendering of the Puerto Rican rapper with the caption "All-American Halftime with Bad Bunny," Alexis Wilkins, 27, wrote, "Unpopular: Republicans need to unite and get on better messaging because this branding is fantastic and allows all dems to get behind it. Also - super aesthetic."

Bad Bunny, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, has been a vocal Trump critic and deportation opponent. At last week's Grammy Awards, he stated, "Before I say 'Thank God' I want to say, 'ICE out!'"

His performance Sunday consisted primarily of Spanish-language material, provoking significant anger from the Trump administration and its supporters.

MAGA supporters attacked Wilkins' post, characterizing her comments as a "bad take," "disgusting," and "phony bulls--t." One user wrote: "Nothing American about the halftime. Spanish is not our national language. Flying other countries [sic] flags is ridiculous and is treasonous! Bad Bunny does not represent America!"

Another accused Wilkins of being a "leftist" destroying the country and urged her departure, the Daily Beast reported.

Wilkins responded by clarifying that she had not watched the performance. She stated, "I'm not saying it's good at all, I'm not watching it. This branding targets youth and is cosplaying as if it's celebrating America. And basically as a whole the right needs to unite." In a separate response, she added: "I offer 0 commentary on the show itself. The dems were smart with public branding and cosplaying as America fans, which means they're trying to gain moderate ground again."

Wilkins is a U.S. citizen of Armenian descent born in America. She has been dating Patel, 45, since 2023.

Trump had previously attacked Bad Bunny's selection. He wrote on Truth Social: "The Super Bowl Halftime Show is absolutely terrible, one of the worst, EVER! It makes no sense, is an affront to the Greatness of America, and doesn't represent our standards of Success, Creativity, or Excellence. Nobody understands a word this guy is saying, and the dancing is disgusting, especially for young children that are watching from throughout the U.S.A., and all over the World."

Trump characterized the performance as a "slap in the face" to his administration's stated achievements: "the Best Stock Market and 401(k)s in History!"

Despite Trump's criticism—delivered despite his stated boycott of the event—Bad Bunny's performance drew an estimated 135 million viewers. An alternative halftime show produced by Charlie Kirk's Turning Point USA organization attracted approximately 5 million viewers. The Bad Bunny viewership may constitute the most-watched NFL halftime show in history.

President Donald Trump issued a Black History Month proclamation on Tuesday, calling "upon public officials, educators, librarians, and all the people of the United States to observe this month with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities," wrote the Guardian's Arwa Mahdawi.

Two days later, he posted a video on Truth Social that was so appallingly racist it should have destroyed.

It didn't, however. Instead, it was deleted by Trump and then largely shrugged off.

"It would be wrong to call this a mask-off moment because there is no mask with Trump," the columnist wrote.

She went on, "By rights, the Trump administration deleting the post wouldn’t be the end of this story. By rights, the outrage over this would mount and Trump would face serious consequences for his actions. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you this, but for the benefit of press secretary Leavitt, I’m going to spell it out: Trump’s stupid memes and social media posts matter. They matter because the president helps set the parameters of acceptable discourse. They matter because his bigotry emboldens others. Most of all, they matter because they reflect his policies.

"But while Trump’s racist video should impact his presidency, it won’t, will it? This is, after all, a convicted felon and adjudicated sexual predator we are talking about. A man who appears to be successfully shrugging off his connections with Jeffrey Epstein, a child rapist. Give it a few days and nobody will remember this story. It will have been eclipsed by another scandal and then another scandal and then another scandal. And, if we’re not careful, we will grow ever more desensitized to these scandals."

The minute-long video depicted Barack and Michelle Obama as primates in a jungle setting, with their heads superimposed on animal bodies bobbing to "The Lion Sleeps Tonight." The video accompanied false claims about the 2020 election.

The video generated bipartisan criticism despite Trump's typical immunity from consequences. Senator Tim Scott, the only Black Republican senator and former Trump vice-presidential prospect, called it "the most racist thing" he had witnessed from the Trump White House. Representative Mike Lawler (R-NY) and other Republicans also denounced the post. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries called Trump "a vile, unhinged and malignant bottom feeder."

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt initially deployed a defensive reframing, "This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from the Lion King. Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public."

But the administration eventually buckled. The video was removed, and officials attributed the post to a White House staffer who "erroneously made" it.

However, consequences remain unlikely, Mahdawi wrote. Trump is a convicted felon with civil judgments against him and documented connections to Jeffrey Epstein. The continuous cycle of scandals produces desensitization. Each controversy is eclipsed by subsequent ones, creating an environment where accountability dissipates.

"It’s not just democracy that is dying in the US right now; it is common decency," the columnist wrote.

"Every day when I look at the news I wonder what on earth I am supposed to tell my four-year-old about how to succeed in a world where kindness and compassion seem to be hindrances to getting ahead. A world where it is the scum that rises to the top. The idea that we live in a meritocracy (a word coined by a man who used it satirically) has long been demonstrably false. Now, however, we seem to live in a malice-ocracy: the nastier, the crueler, the more self-serving you are, the better your chances of success.

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation has warned that thousands of active-duty military personnel may have been coerced into attending screenings of the Melania documentary.

The $75 million Amazon film generated $7 million during its opening week despite receiving universally negative critical reviews. But the foundation claims the box office figures were artificially inflated through pressure from officers aligned with the Trump administration who told troops to purchase tickets, Business Insider reported.

Mikey Weinstein, the group's president and founder, stated, "People are scared. They were pressured to see the movie. Your military superior, that's not your shift manager at Taco Bell or Starbucks. They have complete and total control over you."

The foundation has received complaints from service members at eight military facilities worldwide. One soldier wrote, "Nobody that I know wanted to go except for those that did not want to get jacked up by our unit commander for not attending."

The commander in question allegedly wore red MAGA hats and "made it very clear" his position regarding those who do not support the administration. He reportedly designated the documentary screening as one of three mandatory monthly unit activity events designed to strengthen military unit cohesion.

According to the service member's account, "When he said 'advised,' we know what that meant. We feel helpless to try to fight against what he is doing here."

Weinstein characterized the practice as destructive to military effectiveness. "It tears it down," she said. "It's like injecting cancer into the body of the military unit."

The Department of Defense responded to Insider, "There is no Department of War directive requiring service members to see this film, though the film is fantastic."

Amazon's investment totaled $75 million for production and distribution. Marketing consumed $35 million, while $40 million was paid to Melania Trump's production company for image rights. Melania personally receives approximately $27 million from the arrangement, prompting assertions that the project constitutes a substantial bribe from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to maintain favor with the Trump administration.

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee indicated that President Donald Trump's Board of Peace could become his primary post-presidency focus, giving him an indefinite position of power.

In an interview with the New York Post, Huckabee stated that Trump intends to remain influential following his departure from office in 2028. Huckabee said, "Anybody that knows him knows this is not a guy he's ever going to retire. He's not going to sit on a rocking chair on a front porch and just play golf once a week. He's incapable of settling down like that."

The Board of Peace, Trump claims, was built to assemble world leaders and international power brokers to address global conflicts. It requires a $1 billion contribution for membership, and was shunned by western leaders at an induction ceremony at the World Economic Forum in Davos last month.

But Huckabee said it could transition into a long-term personal initiative once Trump leaves the White House. Trump has already designated himself as the board's indefinite chairman and indicated his preference for locating the organization's headquarters in Washington.

Drawing on religious doctrine, Huckabee referenced biblical teachings about peacemaking. He stated: "There's a scripture in the New Testament that says, 'Blessed are the peacemakers.' And unfortunately, a lot of people think that means, 'Blessed are the peace-lovers.' Well, everybody loves peace, but the people who love peace don't necessarily make it."

Huckabee continued, "You can give the peace sign, and you can wear symbols, and you get a tattoo on your arm saying, I love peace. That doesn't make peace."

"On the other hand, Trump wants to be a peacemaker."

Huckabee credited Trump with resolving or reducing tensions in multiple international conflicts — though those claims have been doubted by multiple fact-checkers.

A frequent Trump critic wrote Saturday that she believed Donald Trump could not debase himself any further than he already had since returning to the White House.

But his acts in recent days have proven her way off point.

"It seems etymologically, metaphysically, geologically and ethically impossible that President Trump could reach a new low," columnist Maureen Dowd wrote for the New York Times Saturday.

"But he has."

Top of Dowd's list of actions that left her incredulous was Friday's posting by the president of an extremely racist video showing Barack and Michelle Obama as apes. Trump took it down after massive outcry, including from some in his own party.

But on Friday night, he refused to apologize and admitted he was the one who posted it.

"The man who pushed the despicable 'birther' conspiracy is still at it, using a racist meme from a far-right Pepe-the-frog-loving acolyte," Dowd wrote.

"Like many of Trump’s actions, it was both shocking and predictable. President Trump continues to establish new standards for inappropriate conduct. Every week reveals fresh evidence of his unfitness for office, from crude attacks on adversaries to attempts to brand every institution with his name."

As Trump's spokesperson Karoline Leavitt responded, "Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public," Dowd hit back.

"Well, Karoline, I think Americans do care that your boss is a racist and off his rocker."

The assertion, she said, was backed up by the other actions Trump took in the last week.

At the National Prayer Breakfast, Trump made a revealing admission about his 2020 election response. He stated: "You know, they rigged the second election. I had to win it, had to win it. I needed it for my own ego. I would have had a bad ego for the rest of my life. Now I really have a big ego, though."

Strategist David Axelrod interpreted this as an acknowledgment, Dowd wrote. "His ego could not handle the fact that he lost, so he had to pretend there was a voting crisis. The world is still paying for that."

Trump also shocked with a spiky reaction to Speaker Mike Johnson's request to say a prayer — at a prayer breakfast. Trump said, 'Excuse me? We're having lunch in the Oval.'"

Trump's pattern extends beyond rhetoric. He has applied his name to numerous federal properties and is attempting to leverage congressional funding to rename additional institutions. The administration threatened to withhold billions for federal projects unless Democrats in New York and Washington, D.C. helped rename Penn Station and Dulles Airport after him.

And when CNN's Kaitlan Collins asked about Trump's connections to Jeffrey Epstein following file releases, Trump criticized her demeanor rather than addressing the substance, telling her "it was time to move on."

“'His presidency is enclosed in a bubble wrap of darkness and hatred and resentment,' Rahm Emanuel, who served as Obama’s chief of staff, told me," Dowd said.

FBI Director Kash Patel personally ordered local prosecutors to cease investigating the death of Renee Good because he feared it would contradict President Donald Trump's version of the killing, a New York Times report claimed Saturday.

The order came from Patel and other senior officials who worried that pursuing a civil rights investigation — by using a warrant obtained on that basis — would contradict Trump’s claim that Good “violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer” who fired at her as she drove her vehicle.

The details were shared with the Times by several people with knowledge of the events who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

They said a senior federal prosecutor in Minnesota, Joseph H. Thompson, sought a warrant to search the Good's car for evidence. Thompson anticipated a standard civil rights investigation into agent Jonathan Ross's use of force.

In an email to colleagues, Thompson stated that the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, a state agency specializing in police shooting investigations, would work with the FBI to determine whether the shooting was justified and lawful.

But as the team, including FBI agents, prepared to document blood spatter and bullet holes with their signed warrant, they were ordered to halt operations.

Department of Justice officials proposed that, instead of looking at Ross, the investigators focus instead on the victim, the Times reported. They suggested prosecutors obtain a new warrant predicated on a criminal investigation into whether Ross had been assaulted by Good. Later, they urged prosecutors to investigate Good's partner instead, who had been present during the incident.

Career federal prosecutors in Minnesota, including Thompson, rejected these approaches, viewing them as legally questionable and inflammatory during a period of escalating public anger over federal immigration enforcement.

Thompson and five others resigned in protest, triggering a broader exodus that severely depleted Minnesota's U.S. attorney's office, the Times reported.

From an office of approximately 25 criminal litigators, the departures removed top prosecutors overseeing investigations into fraud in Minnesota's social services programs—investigations the White House previously cited as justification for the immigration crackdown.

The Times' account derives from interviews with approximately a dozen individuals in Minnesota and Washington, D.C.

F.B.I. spokeswoman Cindy Burnham and U.S. Attorney Daniel N. Rosen declined to comment to the Times. Department of Justice spokeswoman Emily Covington did not respond to requests for comment.

President Donald Trump's advisers stopped him from ripping John F. Kennedy's name off the Kennedy Center altogether, leaving the cultural hub simply called the Trump Center, his biographer said.

“Why does this have to be Kennedy?" the president apparently argued. "That was such a long time ago.”

Trump, 79, has substantially remade the Washington, D.C. performing arts institution in his image, taking control of its board, renaming it "The Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts" without congressional approval, and announcing plans to close it for extensive renovations.

But writer Michael Wolff, who spent months inside the first Trump White House, told the Daily Beast that Trump's original proposal was far more ambitious. Wolff stated, "His first idea was to call this the Trump Center."

"I was almost assassinated," he said, according to Wolff. "Therefore, it should be me." Trump experienced two assassination attempts in 2024.

Trump's inner circle was able to persuade him away from the plan. Wolff said, "You can't say, 'This is a terrible idea. This is a megalomaniacal idea. This is not good politics.' You just cannot say any of that stuff to Trump. So instead, they said, 'Well, why don't we call it the Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Center?'"

"It's a perfect Trump setup. He goes for the absurd, and he settles for the outlandish."

On December 18, Trump's handpicked board voted to rename the center. Trump claimed he was "surprised" by the board's vote, though he controlled its composition. While congressional action is required for formal changes, the center added Trump's name to its signage and updated its website to read "The Trump Kennedy Center."

The center has seen plunging ticket sales and cancelled performances since Trump's takeover. Last weekend, the president announced it would close for two years, claiming it was for renovations.

President Trump promoted a New York Post opinion piece attacking Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson on Thursday morning via Truth Social.

Writer by Miranda Devine criticized Jackson's attendance at the Grammy Awards ceremony, where multiple artists used their platforms to protest Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations.

Devine wrote, "The 55-year-old Biden DEI candidate was nominated for a Grammy for narrating the audiobook of her memoir Lovely One, which she unashamedly believes herself to be. But she should have stayed home rather than laughing and clapping in the audience with a bunch of virtue-signaling luvvies ranting 'f--- ICE' every time they got on stage."

Devine questioned Jackson's impartiality, stating: "It should have been obvious to Jackson that the event would be politically charged. She has to sit in judgment on various Trump administration immigration enforcement cases. How can she be seen as impartial?"

Multiple artists protested ICE operations during the Grammy Awards. Billie Eilish wore an "ICE out" pin and declared during her acceptance speech, "No one is illegal on stolen land." Bad Bunny used his platform to criticize Trump's immigration tactics. Justin Bieber, Hailey Bieber, and Joni Mitchell also wore "ICE out" pins during the ceremony and on the red carpet.

Jackson attended the ceremony as a nominee for best audiobook but ultimately lost to the Dalai Lama. She made no political statements during the awards show.

Despite Jackson's silence, Devine called for her recusal from immigration cases, citing her presence at what she characterized as an "anti-ICE" event.

Devine defended conservative justices facing similar criticism, writing, "After all, the left has waged a years-long campaign to get Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito thrown off the court for such sins as holidaying with a friend who happens to be wealthy, in Thomas' case, or, in Alito's case, having a wife who flew a patriotic flag outside their home."

Trump's promotion of this criticism came one day after the Supreme Court ruled that California could proceed with a congressionally redrawn map favoring Democrats in the 2026 midterms. The map, led by Governor Gavin Newsom, was designed to counter similar gerrymandering efforts in Texas that would provide Republicans five additional seats.

The Supreme Court is scheduled to decide multiple cases affecting Trump's presidency, including the legality of his sweeping global tariff implementation.

This morning, The Washington Post ceased to exist as the paper of record we once knew.

In a move that can only be described as a gutting of a national institution, more than 300 journalists were shown the door. The sports section is gone. The books section is gone. The international bureaus—the eyes and ears that brought us news from the world’s most dangerous conflict zones—have been shuttered. The local news coverage has been decimated.

This is what happens when we entrust the guardianship of our democracy to billionaires.

Jeff Bezos, a man worth a quarter of a trillion dollars, did not have to do this. This wasn't a decision made by "market forces." It was a choice. It was a choice to prioritize other interests over the integrity of the free press.

Since 2023, we have watched publisher Will Lewis—a man with a controversial past in the British tabloid hacking scandals—systematically dismantle the paper’s credibility. From the pivot to appease political strongmen to the catastrophic "restructuring" we saw this morning, the pattern is clear: Corporate media is buckling under the pressure of authoritarianism.

They are retreating. We are not.

This is a moment we have been warning about. When the oligarchs decide that owning a news outlet is too risky or too expensive, they pull the plug. They leave the public in the dark.

Raw Story is different for one simple reason: We don't have a billionaire owner.

• We don't have a corporate board telling us to soften our coverage of the White House.
• We don't have a parent company worried about government contracts.
• We answer only to you, our readers.

The Washington Post is retreating, and independent journalism must fill the void. We are building the institutions that will take their place, but we cannot do it on our own. We need you to stand with us now.

If you have ever considered supporting independent news, this is the day to do it. Help us raise the democracy signal while others are going dark.

Donate to Raw Story

We cannot rely on the wealthy to save the news. We have to save it ourselves.

Thank you for being the backbone of this newsroom.

Adam Nichols

Editor-in-chief Raw Story

In a knee-jerk reaction compared to that of a "jealous wife-beater," an unguarded utterance by President Donald Trump has onlookers alarmed he plans to tear the Kennedy Center to the ground.

The alarm was raised by Salon writer Amanda Marcotte on Wednesday, as she wrote about Trump's announcement that the Washington, D.C. hub of culture would be shuttered for two years for "renovations."

The true reason for the closure, Marcotte argued, was that Trump's attempt to put himself at the head of national culture has backfired dramatically. Ticket sales have plummeted as multiple artists refused to perform after the center was so closely associated with the president.

Instead of stepping away from the institution, he reacted by shutting it down, Marcotte wrote. And she warned Trump signaled there'll be worse to come.

"He has shifted into the same logic as a jealous wife-beater, threatening to destroy the object of his obsession rather than allow her to leave," she wrote.

"On Monday, the president said he’s not 'ripping it down.' No one asked him a question that prompted such a response, so the only reasonable conclusion is that he, in fact, has every intention of bulldozing the Kennedy Center just to spite everyone who actually cares about the place.

"This was basically confirmed by the president’s other comments, about how the building will be 'fully exposed' to its steel beams and worse, that he’ll be tearing out the marble and steel for his 'renovations.'

"It’s worth remembering a similar promise he made recently — that the construction of his White House ballroom would do no damage to the existing building — that came right before he demolished the entire East Wing without warning."

The last comment pointed to the construction of a massive new ballroom at the White House that Trump said wouldn't damage the existing building, before he shocked by demolishing the historic East Wing.

Trump's Kennedy Center takeover exemplifies broader MAGA cultural resentment, Marcotte wrote. She described an inability to create coupled with a determination to destroy what others value. When artists declined participation, rather than accept this rejection, Trump chose destruction.

And she added this pattern extends across his administration — from censoring comedians to banning books to targeting drag performances. The common thread, she wrote, was an ideological movement incapable of generating authentic cultural production attempting coercively to eliminate alternatives.

President Donald Trump's closure of the Kennedy Center proved he lost a "bad bet" — and was the result of an error that he can't stop making, an Atlantic writer warned.

A year ago, Trump assumed control of Washington, D.C.'s premier performing-arts institution. Despite never attending a show there, he expressed confidence in his singular ability to determine the venue's direction, wrote David A. Graham.

Instead, he announced over the weekend that the center will go dark on July 4 for two years — an implicit, even if covered up, acknowledgment of failure, Graham wrote. And Trump's dealings with the arts center reflected a consistent pattern — believing his judgment supersedes expert opinion and that a "silent majority" supports his interventions.

"It turns out, though, that a 79-year-old New York–born billionaire whose tastes run to gilded accents and kitschy musicals isn’t a good proxy for either the general population or arts patrons in Washington," Graham wrote.

Trump stated on Truth Social: "I have determined that The Trump Kennedy Center, if temporarily closed for Construction, Revitalization, and Complete Rebuilding, can be, without question, the finest Performing Arts Facility of its kind, anywhere in the World. The temporary closure will produce a much faster and higher quality result!"

But the explanation contradicts Trump's previous statements, Graham wrote. In October, he posted that "Many major improvements" were underway, including marble armrests on chairs, but declared: "We are remaining fully open during construction, renovation, and beautification."

In December, after adding his name to the building's facade, Trump boasted: "We saved the building. The building was in such bad shape, both physically, financially and every other way. And now it's very solid, very strong." One month later, he claimed: "A year ago it was in a state of financial and physical collapse. Wait until you see it a year from now!!! Like our Country, itself, it will rise from the ashes."

Now Trump declares the center will be closed and dark for two years. His contradictory statements, combined with the absence of independent board oversight or Congressional notification, render these repair claims largely unverifiable, Graham wrote.

"A more plausible reason for the closing is that under Trump, the Kennedy Center can’t hold on to staff, artists, or audiences," he added.

Trump fired respected president Deborah Rutter and replaced her with Richard Grenell, a political operative with no arts experience. According to The Washington Post, "Almost every head of programming has resigned or been dismissed."

Kevin Couch, the new programming head, quit less than two weeks after his hiring was announced. Prominent artists have withdrawn: composer Philip Glass canceled a commissioned symphony, opera singer Renée Fleming canceled performances, and the Washington National Opera announced its departure. Jazz musician Chuck Redd canceled his long-running Christmas Eve concert after Grenell threatened $1 million in legal action.

Grenell attributed artist departures to politics, posting on X: "The left is boycotting the Arts because Trump is supporting the Arts. The Arts are for everyone—and the Left is mad about it." However, Trump initiated the politicization by asserting unprecedented presidential control over programming.

Folk guitarist Yasmin Williams reported that an organized group attended her performance to heckle her.

Ticket sales have collapsed dramatically. The Washington Post found, "43 percent of tickets remained unsold for the typical production. That means that, at most, 57 percent of tickets were sold for the typical production." This compares unfavorably to fall 2024, when 93 percent of tickets were sold or given away. Despite Grenell's directive that only profitable shows be booked, the center is driving patrons away. CNN reported the Kennedy Center could not book performances for next season.

Trump believed his personal taste would make the venue wildly popular," Graham wrote. Instead, his taste proved disconnected from Washington arts patrons' preferences. Popular culture has remained "stubbornly indifferent to MAGA aesthetics."

"Trump keeps making a version of this error," Graham wrote. "His first term was a series of overreaches, all confidently executed in the belief that the silent majority would back him. Instead, he lost in 2020. His second-term win renewed his overconfidence. Now he believes that because many Americans wanted tighter border security, they will also support violent crackdowns in the streets of American cities; instead, his immigration approval keeps sinking.

"He believes that because he won the election in part on his promises to fix the economy, Americans are willing to tolerate high inflation; instead, polls show that voters’ confidence in the future is declining."

Trump demonstrated this pattern explicitly, writing, "I am doing the same thing to the United States of America, but only on a 'slightly' larger scale!"

"This time around, his harshest critics might be the first ones to agree," Graham concluided.