Dem
47
GOP
53
Take a look at the group picture of last year's Kennedy Center honorees:
Now take a look at the group picture of the Kennedy Center honorees who were recognized last night:
Notice a difference? The rainbow ribbons are a longstanding tradition, and were chosen to represent unity, and the broad diversity of the creative arts. Of course, the current presidential administration doesn't do unity, doesn't do diversity, and is suspicious that any rainbow is secretly a message about "the gays." So, the ribbons are now blue—apparently nobody noticed that's the color of the Democratic Party. At least it's not yet the Trump-Kennedy Honors (though keep reading). We presume that, and red ribbons, will be on tap next year.
Anyhow, the ceremony was televised on CBS last night, and it was, perhaps, the finest 2 hours of television programming in the history of the medium. Better than the other 47 Kennedy Center Honors. Better than any sporting event could ever be. Better than any final episode of a scripted program—The Sopranos, M*A*S*H, The Fugitive, Breaking Bad, Cheers, etc., were all left in the dust. In fact, we are not sure why we are limiting ourselves to television programming, as it really was the finest bit of filmed entertainment, regardless of medium, that the world has yet seen. It was more innovative than Citizen Kane, more gripping than The Godfather, more exciting than Star Wars, more moving than Casablanca. Needless to say, the lion's share of the credit for this—nay, ALL the credit—goes to the host, since they are the glue that makes the show work.
Why, specifically, do we have such high praise for the broadcast and its host? Well, it might have something to do with this:
We would say that, if he's going to create that kind of magic, it is Trump's patriotic duty to change jobs, and to make hosting this ceremony his full-time vocation. Imagine the heights of greatness that will be achieved if he spends a whole year preparing! And we are absolutely certain that we would not change one word we have written here if we had actually watched the broadcast.
And as long as we are on the general subject, the latest Economist/YouGov poll is out, and they think they have identified the single most unpopular thing Trump has done during his second term in office. It's not the tariffs, or the undeclared war on Venezuela, or even the snotty message about Rob Reiner. Nope, it's the hubris of arranging for the Kennedy Center to be renamed as the Trump Kennedy Center. Among respondents, only 18% approved of that choice, while 66% disapproved, which puts the renaming 48 points under water.
Undoubtedly, those kinds of numbers are a product of some of the wonky aspects of this particular situation. First of all, JFK is still a pretty popular fellow, and stepping on his toes is not a good look. Further, presidents slapping their names on things isn't a partisan issue like, say, foreign policy or abortion or economic policy, and so even MAGA voters might feel OK freestyling a bit. It's also not a particularly consequential issue, so pro-Trump voters can express their disapproval without having to worry that they will help prompt a wave of "Trump is in trouble" stories. All of this said, when we first wrote about the renaming, we proposed that this could be a few of the thousand cuts that will bring down Trumpism. The Economist poll makes us think we might have been on to something, and that for some (small) number of Trump voters, this might have been the bridge too far.
Meanwhile, given the smashing success of last night's telecast, and the absolutely mesmerizing performance of the host and master of ceremonies, the White House (and its lackeys on the board of the Kennedy Center), will have to get to work on next year's ceremony. The list of available MAGA artists is not too long, but you can't be too surprised if James Woods, Kid Rock, Lee Greenwood, Scott Baio and/or Dean Cain makes the cut. These folks are all legends in their fields. Yep, absolute legends. (Z)