Political Glance
That’s the tactic they use,” said Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island senator, pondering whether Donald Trump might attach his name to the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. “You float stuff and you float stuff and you float stuff until people get inured to what a stupid or outrageous thing it is that has been floated and then you pull the trigger.”
Whitehouse was sitting in his Senate office and speaking to the Guardian at 11am on Thursday 18 December. Two hours later, his word
In November Whitehouse, the top Democrat on the Senate environment and public works (EPW) committee, launched a formal investigation into allegations of widespread cronyism, financial mismanagement and corruption at what he describes as a “secular temple to the arts”.
Democrats on the committee said they obtained documents that suggest the national cultural centre is being operated as a “slush fund and private club for Trump’s friends and political allies”, resulting in millions of dollars in losses and a significant deviation from its statutory mission.
s proved prophetic. Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, announced on X that the Kennedy Center board had “voted unanimously” to rename it the Trump-Kennedy Center.
By Friday workmen on scissor lifts were adding metal lettering to the building’s facade, before dropping a blue tarpaulin to reveal a sign saying “The Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center For the Performing Arts”. Family members of Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963, conhttps://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/01/trump-kennedy-center-canceled-programsdemned the move as “beyond wild” and pointed out that an act of Congress is needed to alter its name.
The takeover of the national cultural centre began in February when, in what many critics regard as a case study in institutional capture, Trump ousted members of the Kennedy Center board appointed by former president Joe Biden, took over as chairman and installed Richard Grenell, a longtime ally and former ambassador to Germany, as its president.
In November Whitehouse, the top Democrat on the Senate environment and public works (EPW) committee, launched a formal investigation into allegations of widespread cronyism, financial mismanagement and corruption at what he describes as a “secular temple to the arts”.
Democrats on the committee said they obtained documents that suggest the national cultural centre is being operated as a “slush fund and private club for Trump’s friends and political allies”, resulting in millions of dollars in losses and a significant deviation from its statutory mission.
Donald Trump has denied falling asleep while attending public meetings and robustly defended his health after the first year of his second term in office raised growing questions.
Speculation over former President Donald Trump’s health surged over the weekend after a viral video from his latest golf outing appeared to show him struggling with mobility. The footage, which quickly gained traction on social media, has prompted a wave of theories and discussions about the 78-year-old’s physical condition, with particular attention paid to his right leg.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s four-year term leading the nation’s largest city began Thursday with a seven-block long street party and guest appearances at his inaugural ceremony from the leading lights of the left.
New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani will be sworn in, not inside City Hall on New Year's Day, but dozens of feet below it.
US senator Bernie Sanders amplified his recent criticism of artificial intelligence on Sunday, explicitly linking the financial ambition of “the richest people in the world” to economic insecurity for millions of Americans – and calling for a potential moratorium on new datacenters.
The FBI has deployed additional personnel and investigative resources to Minnesota to “dismantle large-scale fraud schemes exploiting federal programs”, director Kash Patel said on social media on Sunday.
