Hey, there are folks. It is Friday, December nineteenth, twenty twenty five. It is the Kennedy Center. No more. Next time you're in DC, take a swing by the Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts Center. With that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Just tell me how you felt seeing construction workers putting Donald J. Trump's name in front of JFK's on this memorial center.
I have to tell you, I felt sick to my stomach, and then I saw the finished product and it just made me feel really uneasy. It feels wrong, it feels disgusting, it feels indulgent. I don't like it.
And it also might be illegal. We'll explain that in a second. But folks, this has been a story and a lot of you been following, and President Trump hasn't been shy about trying to no, not wink wink, like he's joking that he wants his name on it. But yes yesterday the board that he put in place of the Kennedy Center, the board of which he is the chairman, voted unanimously. This was yesterday. I actually was trying to
check myself this just happened. They voted yesterday to change the name of the center.
Yes, and now one day later, on Friday, his name is up on the Kennedy Center.
And I'm not great that you can't.
I just called it the wrong name. My apologies.
No, you got it right. There's no way they could have done this. This was planned way ahead.
Clearly, he had the letters, the metal letters already ready to go. You would have had to have ordered that. I mean, I know how long it takes to get anything custom I know, he's the president of the United States. But he was planning for this. He knew exactly how the board was going to vote, because he put the board in place.
And look, folks, yes, So that vote was just just yesterday and today they showed up some construction workers did and began work on it and robes. It took only a matter of hours. But as they were doing this, they had some coverings up, some blue some tarps or something. They kind of covered a lot of the work from what I was seeing as they were doing it. But it took a matter of hours. And his name is in front of JFK's on top of it. It's it's in front of John F.
Kennedy's name, and there's a lot of reaction to that, specifically from the Kennedy family. But I know a lot of people feel a certain way, but we are hearing from the Kennedy's about what has taken place.
That's that's actually the when we saw that again, Maria Shriver jfk her uncle, the reason we ended up saying, wait, you know what, let's hop on because we saw her statement and yeah, it was I es I struggled to find people who support it, who will publicly come out and say, yeah, this was the right thing to do. I struggled to fine. I would love for somebody to explain that to me, but I struggle to I'm trying
to find lotche and I can't. And I don't want to just bash and everybody who's bashing this guy for a whole bunch of stuff he's done. This is over the top, it's gross, this is over the and it's I don't know how much more we we stomach. We're scared of them, all of us in the country. Nobody will, the media is can' He's gonna sue, He's gonna win. It's too much of a headache and nobody will speak the Republicans won't speak up and challenge him in a
significant way. Who can now lead us through this thing to where this imagine? I want to call it the Obama Lincoln Memorial imagine because I didn't realize I said this to you. Yes, I've been to the Kennedy Center. I know the Kennedy Center. We all know the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The Kennedy Center is actually the equivalent of.
The Lincoln Memorial.
It is by law designated as the only memorial within Washington d C Allowed for John F. Kennedy. It is specifically a memorial to this one man.
It's like the Jefferson Memorial. It is akin to that. Think about that they're on the title basin. It's the same exact designation. So can you imagine if suddenly it's the Trump Jefferson Memorial. I mean, where does this end? Or are we just going to do it to democrats or people who he believes he should be in front of.
And you give you credit here. You brought this home as you often do, in a way that I was like, wow, that's it. What just took place was you're almost desecrating someone's memorial, their burial place. You compared it to a tombstone.
I said, it was like writing your name on someone else's tombstone. That's what it feels like to me. It feels so wrong. And look as if Trump's name isn't everywhere already, we really now have to put it in in front of on top of a memorial designated four and two another president.
And again certainly there's folklore around this guy. Yeah. I'm not going to debate and don't know it well enough to debate John F. Kennedy's legacy in terms of policies, but I understand and understand the legacy of what he inspired in this country. We all have our in agreement about the greatness of Kennedy, not family, don't let's just talk about jfk right, right, there's a general understanding of his legacy general. Yes, Yes, he was a flawed man like everybody else.
Ask not yes, what your country can do for you, Ask what you can do for your country? Yes, think about the orator that he was, and we actually had to look it up just two years in office, and the impact he left. And I know when people obviously are assassinated, they are glorified in many ways and perhaps remembered more than those who are not. But in is two years in office, his was a presidency of service, of helping each other, uniting one another. He had some
first he was the first Catholic. You know, he suffered losses, you know it, he he actually he was just such a huge part of our country during those times. And to think that now Donald Trump is putting his name on top of his it feels sacrilegious. I mean, is that going too far? I don't know, but that's how it feels. That's the best way to describe it.
There's so much that's taking place, and people shake their heads being disappointed in some of the things Trump has done in terms of behavior, but also in terms of policy. You can take all kinds of issues. Where is the line that anybody will draw that he's gone too far? And we all collectively need to look at it and say, no, that's enough. Aware is that in line? I just don't know how big I don't care how big of a fan you are of Donald Trump, and we want to
vote for him for a third and fourth term. Would you still look at this and say this is proper and this is okay, and this is who we are and this is what should take place. I don't I'm struggling. You cannot justify this.
These are the actions of what I feel like. I studied about other countries, dictators dictatorships where they put their faces everywhere, put their names everywhere. It's so eerily similar to that. It's frightening to me.
And it's tough. You don't want to make those types of comparisons. But the only ones we have are from other places, from things we've studied in history over time, something like this military being sent into the streets to beat down protesters in cities where your opposition is in power. That's not something we see here, But I've heard about that. I've heard about tanks rolling through streets for parades and
display nevn haven't heard about it here. I've heard about some other places putting your name everywhere, putting your image and your likeness all over. Don't know about it here, but I've heard about that stuff before. Rose this when do we finally say no?
It's scary? And then I've heard about other countries not allowing certain members of the press who weren't favorably talking about them into and have access to the leadership of our country. That doesn't happen here. No, that would never happen at the Pentagon. That would never happen in the Oval Office, where another leader, another dictator from another country, would prohibit the free press from covering them. That's happening here in this country.
We're not talking politics at all here. This is basic decency.
This is the basic respect you could give to somebody who meant something to so many and who died in front of all of us.
This is a weird one. But Maria Shriver, and again she was the one. We saw her statement, and I guess Robes, we certainly need to read this in full because I just I was very impressed with it, and to the point that I said, hey, we should hop on this is a very important story today.
She was amazing. So this was Maria Schrever's statement. The Kennedy Center was named after my uncle, President John F. Kennedy. It was named in his honor. He was a man who was interested in the arts, interested in culture, interested in education, language history. He brought the arts into the White House, and he and my aunt Jackie amplified the arts, celebrated the arts, stood up for the arts and artists. It is beyond comprehension that this sitting has sought to
rename this great memorial dedicated to President Kennedy. It is beyond wild that he would think adding his name in front of President Kennedy's name is acceptable. It is not next thing. Perhaps he will want to rename JFK. Airport, rename the Lincoln Memorial, the Trump Lincoln Memorial, the Trump Jefferson Memorial, the Trump Smithsonian. The list goes on. Can we not see what is happening here? Come on, my fellow Americans, wake up. This is not dignified, This is
not funny. This is way beneath the stature of the job. It's downright weird. It's obsessive in a weird way. Just when you think someone can't stoop any lower down, they go.
Obsessive, she said, weird and obsessive in a weird way. If you had anybody in your circle that behaved in some of these ways, you would be concerned about them. You would you would not like them, and you would find it odd that these things are happening. Those plaques that went up at the White House insulting, These are plaques that were ordered, and these things are not normal. And I'm sorry, this is not ever politics. You all to anybody playing folks who voted for him might be listening.
And I just wonder, how on this one, let's just stick with this one, how you would go, yes, this should happen, and I believe it should fill that out for me. I haven't seen it anywhere.
I haven't heard anyone give any genuine explanation or defense as to why this would be appropriate, why this would be actually good for this country. It serves no one but Trump himself, it serves no one else.
And as stunning as it was, I was sitting here with you, and I kept screaming across the table, like, oh my god, it's getting worse. Oh my god, it's getting worse. Because you look into the history of the Kennedy Center and you go, oh, damn, this is what's happening to this place. Nineteen fifty five. You have to go to Eisenhower at the time established a commission because they wanted a national cultural stage, if you will, in the Capitol signed a bill in fifty eight establishing the
Natural Cultural Center. JFK gets in the office in the nineteen sixty two, he leads this big thirty million dollar fundraising campaign with Yes Jackie, who was a co chair at the time of that, in raising money. Now he died nineteen sixty three. A couple of months after that,
Congress dedicated the thing to him in law. They dedicated it to him now Rose, I said, this keeps getting worse because I was looking through at the top of it speaks to this man, it speaks to JFK, saying, whereas JFK served with distinction as President of the United States, whereaf JFK dedicated his life to the advancement of the welfare of mankind, whereas JFK devoted to the advancement of arts. Ultimately his death of the nation and world suffered a
great loss. They set this up, Congress, and you're starting to listen and read to at the time at least what they thought this should be, which is a memorial, and you are not. It is the only one by law that's permitted in Washington, DC. Is it his anymore?
No? Donald J. Trump has now stolen it. He absolutely has.
Stolen a cultural arts center. You've been you've lived in DC. I assume you've been there plenty times over the years. When you look at it, it's it's not that impressive of a looking building.
It's got a very plain facade. It's total nineteen sixties architecture, kind of a Frank Lloyd Wright minimalist, blend into the background type of center. But I remember always because I would when I lived in Alexandria and I worked in DC. I would always be going over the Memorial Bridge and I would see the I would see the Smithsonian Center at Christmas time. There's a big red bow that's wrapped around it and around the Kennedy Center. Excuse me, And yeah,
it's just a huge part of DC. It's a huge part of It's the cultural center of the nation's capital. It's the heart of the capitol. I was so unimpressed when I saw it, Yeah, exactly.
And then you get chills when you walk in and you realize where you are and what has happened in this place. Random is hell. The only time I've been there was to interview Fantasia because she was doing the color purple.
That's funny.
That's my memory of the Kennedy Center. And I remember being on the stage and just getting those chills we speak about, like wow, this is cool to be in this place dedicated to this guy. And it was and it's gone. But here's the thing. As much as we're talking about and people are talking about this, there is a very good reason why the official new name ain't official at all. There are plenty of people who will tell you this is an illegal move and doesn't matter
what you put on the front of the building. The name has not changed. We'll explain. Stay here, all right, folks, We continue here on the Trump, Amy and TJ Show, because this is the thing now. It's going everywhere. Wow, put the name on anything, slap it on anything.
I mean he has though as a businessman, okay, you own the building, you can put Trump wherever you want, and he has. That's kind of been his signature.
We walked by one on Wall Street almost every day.
We see his name on buildings every day here in Manhattan. Yes, but those are your buildings and that's your brand, and it's just it's look. I have to say again, this isn't about politics, isn't about being a Republican or a Democrat. This this has been such a bizarre experience to watch him act and conduct himself so non presidential. It is unpresidential to take a State of the Union or an address to the nation and be radically partisan and start
blaming your predecessors for all the problems you've inherited. When you are there as the president of the United.
States, some speech knock yourself out in the campaign, Trioll No.
Just saw that this week, and then you have him now putting his name on top of a memorial to one of the greatest presidents. I think a lot of people would say this country has ever seen or witnessed, certainly in this century, in a century. But it's remarkable. Where does it end? What I do wonder what Maria Shriver suggested, Where does it and what happens next? This isn't going to stop. We haven't even circled a full year with President Trump at office yet.
Wow, you put it that way. It hasn't been a year.
It has not been a year a year yet, and he's getting away with everything.
You know. I don't know what needs to happen. I don't know who can step up and be the challenge. I don't know someone that we all universally trust enough to be that figure. Because everything is politics and everybody is political, and we can do we we look up to anyone? Are we guided by anyone? Like just generally that we will listen to and look up to.
And when you say we, you mean both side Americans.
See even see? Is that crazy? That's how we think of ourselves as Americans? Now, yes, side, that's red glue.
Yes, I know it is awful. I agree.
Well, folks, this legal experts are telling us this is no. The name hasn't changed, even though there's a new name in the front. And I wonder if they care, right are they trying to go through a legal process, but the legislation is written in such a way that it has to be referred to always as the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Well, I wonder how much this is similar to the Gulf of America versus the Golf of Mexico. You know, you can change the name on maps, but people are still going to say the Golf of Mexico. They're still going to consider it the Golf of Mexico, regardless of what you might put out on certain maps. And I was just reminding me of that.
I would laugh if he'd have gone if he'd gone through and done this in official channels, if he wanted to go to Congress and say, hey, I want my name on that center, and I know we need to change the law. So I'm trying to ramp up support here in Congress to get this thing changed. If he'd have gone about, we'd laughed, we said no way in hell, and we say, wow, I wonder if any Republicans are going to vote. That's what we'd have said. But to
do this is particularly insulting. Yeah, just he might as well going out with a black marker and just graffiti the thing. This is almost the equivalent.
And the fact that he had it waiting. Think about that they only voted yesterday. There was absolutely zero chance that the perfect size and font and big huge metal matching my letters that spell out his name. Yes, that match the John F. Kennedy name. There's how far in advance did he have those made?
I don't know. Hobby Lobby probably had those laying around right.
This was probably months in the making. He knew he was going, he was ready, He had a complete construction team ready to go.
They knew that. They knew this assignment like two weeks.
Yes, they were hired. I'm going with months ago.
Oh, folks, I don't even know why I'm laughing. This ain't funny in the least bit, just hopping on and again if you get a chance. I thought Maria Shreiver's statement was well done today without being so partisan his own way. You can't just attack. This is a family member, and this is a hallowed, sacred place. This is a place. If folks go to DC for vacation, what are the
things they would take off their list? They would go by the Capitol of the White House and Lincoln Memorial, though Jefferson Memorial, right, probably maybe the Okay, yes, the Kenity centers on the list.
Absolutely.
It's a memorial to a president, and today another president decided to put his name in front of it. Folks, wherever you may be tonight, I hope you are doing well. Hope your Christmas shopping is going well as well well shopping it should be done by now.
It should be, but it isn't always all right.
Folks, wherever you may be, we always appreciate you spend some time with us. For my dear Amy Robot, I'm TJ. Holmes, talk to you also,