Historically, honorees have been picked by a bipartisan committee. In a press conference announcing this year’s group, Trump said he was “about 98% involved” in the selection process and that he “turned down plenty” of candidates for being “too woke.”
Trump :
(fired) the center’s previous chairman (David Rubenstein) and members of its board of trustees who, he said, “do not share our Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture.”
Rubenstein knows about the Gilded Age, back in force for billionaire PEUs and their new TechGod/CryptoBro brethren.
Trump knows about the Golden Arches Age with his love of fast food.
U.S. Arts and Culture are back to the Dark, Dank Ages. I'm still cheering for an Epstein exhibit and maybe the Trump/Kennedy Centers can offer new Jeffrey Epstein Awards.
Update 9-3-25: Trump's calling the Epstein case "a hoax" is not aging well as calls for revealing the government's files by the young women abused by Jeffrey Epstein grows into a roar and calls to reveal Epstein's financiers amplifies the cry.
Update 9-4-25: James O'Keefe has "Just Us" Department senior official Joseph Schnitt on tape saying:
“They’ll redact every Republican or conservative person in those files, leave all the liberal, Democratic people in those files,” the official said over lunch.
He also noted that Maxwell was “transferred to a minimum-security prison too recently, which is against [Federal Bureau of Prisons] policy because she’s a convicted sex offender.” He added, “They’re offering her something to keep her mouth shut.”
Trump is remarkably consistent in his depravity, as are his henchmen and henchwomen. It's a Schnitt show.