Kennedy family on Trump name linked to center

Yeah, except that-- so two things that I was thinking about, Nancy. One is Maria Shriver's heartfelt message that she posted on social media about just why this memorial was named the Kennedy Center because her uncle, the assassinated president, and his wife, Jackie Kennedy, were so involved in bringing-- before Kennedy, before Camelot, as they call it, the White House could be sort of a boring place, and they made it a point to bring new artists and authors. They really supported the arts. And of course, Jackie Kennedy, after her husband was assassinated, continued to do so. And so I didn't know that this was like the Lincoln Memorial or the Washington Memorial or the Jefferson Memorial, that this is the memorial to President John F. Kennedy. So that was news to me when this news broke yesterday. But the other thing that I wonder is something that Major Garrett told me yesterday when we were talking about those plaques that are in the Presidential, supposedly, Wall of Fame, which is that the next president is just going to come around and most likely change everything back to what it is meant to be. Does the president or his advisors or the people who are advising him on this not aware that this could become a tit-for-tat thing down the line? I think they're fully aware, and they're certainly fully aware of the history of John F. Kennedy and how his name came to be on that building. But President Trump has been focused on this name change for months. It was just a few weeks into his presidency, Vlad, that he fired all the Democratic members of the board of the Kennedy Center, something that was very unusual. And not only did he appoint then people very loyal to himself to the board but he took the additional step of naming himself the chair of the board. And he has made jokes periodically-- which were clearly more than jokes-- where he would sort of slip and say the Trump-Kennedy Center. And then he would say, oh, ha, ha, ha. No, just the Kennedy Center. He made it very clear that he wanted this name change. And Joe Kennedy told me yesterday he thinks it's great that Trump loves the Kennedy Center, loves the arts, appreciates the arts. He just thinks that this is the wrong way to show that appreciation. And, Nancy, quickly, before you go, I just want to clear something up. When the press statement went out, when Karoline Leavitt, the press secretary, trumpeted this change, they said it was a unanimous decision by the Kennedy Center board. Is that accurate? Yes, it doesn't appear to be accurate because at least one ex officio member of the board who says she has voting rights, Joyce Beatty, a congresswoman, Democratic congresswoman, said that she tried to vote and that she was on Zoom. And her microphone was muted, and she was not allowed to express her objection. She didn't even know that this was going to be on the agenda to be voted on at the meeting yesterday. So there is some dispute about who exactly was allowed to vote and whether this really was a unanimous decision. But if it wasn't unanimous, it was close to it because the president has appointed people like Second Lady Usha Vance and his chief of staff, Susie Wiles, the country singer Lee Greenwood to the board, all people who would be likely to support what the president wants here.

Yeah, Congresswoman Beatty saying this was not consensus. She called it censorship. Nancy Cordes for us at the White House. Nancy, my friend, if I don't see you, have a happy holiday, although I'm working next week, Nancy. I might suspect that you are as well. Thank you very much. I'm not.

You're not. OK. [LAUGHTER] Well, Happy Hanukkah, and-- I'm taking a break.

Yeah, you deserve it, my friend. You deserve it. It's nice to be here with you today, though. Thank you very much. Happy Hanukkah. You got it.