2010 National HS PE TOY | SHAPE America BOD | Past-Pres.-SHAPECD | Past-Pres. of CO Gov. Council for Active and Healthy Lifestyles | Past-Pres.-SHAPECO
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, June 1972, on her first visit to the Kennedy Center, which had been voted by Congress in 1964 to be the "sole national memorial" to the late President who gave his life while serving his country. (Leonard Bernstein at right)
Adding your name to a memorial already named in honor of a great man doesn’t make you a great man. Quite the contrary. Putting your name on top of someone else’s doesn’t mean that people will speak of you in the same breath as the other man. Putting your name above another man’s name on his existing memorial… What is that about? Truly? What’s that about? Do you want people to speak the names as one? Dig down deep. What are you trying to say? I’m really interested. There is no other president who would do this. None. Zero. In fact, it’s not even legal. Congress named the performing arts center as a living memorial in 1964, and only congress can change that law.
This will always be the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Art. A great man would have said to his hand picked board, “Thank you, but the building already has its name. Let it stand. Let it be. I don’t need that.” But then again…
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 president 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? C’mon, 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 somone can’t stoop any lower, down they go…
1/ One of President Trump’s first acts was to pardon those convicted in connection with January 6th.
Here are some of the convicted felons he set free:
2/ Steven Cappuccio was convicted of six felonies including assaulting a police officer.
Cappuccio ripped off Metro Police officer Daniel Hodges’ gas mask, and at one point during the assault he said: “How do you like me now, mother f---er?"
3/ Riley Kasper, a felon who assaulted a police officer, bragged on social media:
"there is definitely something satisfying about pepper spraying cops in riot gear and watching them run from you like a b--- even though they have face masks, billy clubs and full f---ing body armor.”
4/ David Dempsey, pleaded guilty to two felony counts of assaulting an officer.
Dempsey, stomped on police officers’ heads, swung poles at officers, struck an officer in the head with a metal crutch and attacked police with pepper spray and broken pieces of furniture.
5/ Edwin Rodriguez, pleaded guilty to felony assault of an officer.
An officer who was sprayed by Rodriguez said her eyes burnt for about a week, and she gets migraines all the time that can last for days or for weeks. She also has nightmares and PTSD from January 6th.
7/ President Trump commuted sentences of members of far-right extremist groups like the Proud Boys, including Enrique Tarrio, who was convicted of seditious conspiracy and violent acts.
After the attack, he said: “Make no mistake . . . we did this.”
8/ These are some of the violent criminals and felons who assaulted police officers and attacked our democracy on January 6th.
President Trump claims to be a president of law and order, but then lets cop beaters and killers walk free.
It’s disgusting and wrong