Trump announces Kennedy Center honorees amidst DC federal takeover
Trump announces Kennedy Center Honorees; talks DC Federal Control
President Donald Trump announces the Kennedy Center honorees and details his plan on keeping DC safe, including his plan to extend the 30-day federal control.
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that he would be hosting the 2025 Kennedy Center Honors.
"It's going to be, a big evening. I've been asked to host. I said, I'm the President of the United States. Are you fools asking me to do that? Sure. You'll get much higher ratings. I said I don't care. I'm President of the United States. I won't do it. They said, please," said Trump. "They're going to say he insisted. I did not insist, but I think it will be quite successful. Actually, it's been a long time. I used to host the Apprentice finales, and we did rather well with that. So I think we're going to do very well because we have some great honorees, some really great ones."
Who are the 2025 Kennedy Center honorees?
Trump announced the following artists as this year’s Kennedy Center Honorees:
- George Strait
- Michael Crawford
- Sylvester Stallone
- Gloria Gaynor
- Kiss
Trump made mention of his own desire to be a Kennedy Center Honoree.
"Since 1978, the Kennedy Center Honors have been among the most prestigious awards in the performing arts. I wanted one. I was never able to get one," said Trump.
This year’s Kennedy Center honors will be the first since Trump became chairman of the Kennedy Center.
"A few short months ago, I became chairman of the Kennedy Center, and we completely reversed it. We reversed what was happening. We ended the woke political programming, and we're restoring the Kennedy Center as the premiere venue for performing arts. Anywhere in the country. Anywhere in the world," said Trump.
Trump says he'll ask for extension on DC takeover
Trump’s announcement at the Kennedy Center comes amidst a federal takeover of the D.C. police and deployment of the National Guard.
"You're going to see a big change in Washington crime stats very soon. Oh, they're not the stats that they gave because they turned out to be a total fraud. The real stats, the stats went through the roof," said Trump. "Crime is the worst it's ever been. But it's it started as of about yesterday. It started, you see a big change and people are feeling safe already, having so many calls."
The federal takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department is only for 30 days, per Section 740 of D.C. Home Rule. Trump on Wednesday told reporters he'd be able to extend beyond the 30 days without Congress "if it's a national emergency."
"But we expect to be before Congress very quickly. And again, we think the Democrats will not do anything to stop crime, but we think the Republicans will do it almost unanimously," said Trump.
"We're going to be asking for extensions on that, long-term extensions, because you can't have 30 days."
Trump on DC statehood
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has continued to advocate for statehood for D.C. – which Trump on Wednesday called "ridiculous."
"It's unacceptable. The Democrats want it because the Democrats have, you know, about 95% in this little area," said Trump. "They want to pick up two senators. And that's not going to happen."
Trump focused on Wednesday not only on crime, but on the beautification of the District.
"We're going to make it so beautiful again. We're going to be redoing the parks, redoing the grass. You know, grass is a lifetime. Like people have a lifetime and a lifetime of this grass has long been gone. When you look at the parks where the grass is,, old, tired, exhausted, we're going to redo the grass with the finest grasses," said Trump. "I know a lot about grass because I own a lot of golf courses. And if you don't have good grass, you're not in business very long."
Trump asserted that D.C. would see roads, medians and pavers throughout the city redone, graffiti removed and homeless people removed from parks.
"We're going to be going to Congress for a relatively small amount of money," said Trump. "Lindsey [Graham] and the Republicans are going to be approving it. I don't know about the Democrats."