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Jim Acosta wants work crew and the board JAILED over Trump’s name returning to Kennedy Center

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BS BULLETIN

  • The Kennedy Center board voted to add “Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump” beneath the center’s official name and rename the grounds Trump Plaza.
  • Jim Acosta responded with “Somebody needs to go to jail!” and called the board’s move “insanity.”
  • A federal judge previously ruled the center could not simply be renamed for Trump without congressional approval, which is why the new wording is being presented as a commemorative inscription rather than a replacement name.

Jim Acosta has found his new beat.

The former CNN correspondent was beside himself this week after the Kennedy Center board voted to put President Donald Trump’s name back on the building in a different form — and Acosta went considerably further than simply criticizing the move.

“SOMEBODY NEEDS TO GO TO JAIL!”

That was Acosta’s reaction as he blasted the latest attempt to honor Trump on the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Acosta also posted the New York Times story announcing the board’s decision with a one-word assessment:

“Insanity…”

Apparently we have moved from I object to this plaque directly to prepare the indictments.

The Kennedy Center board voted Thursday to add an inscription to the building that would read:

“The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump.”

The board also voted to name the grounds in front of the arts complex:

“President Donald J. Trump Plaza.”

And it reaffirmed plans for the main building to close for approximately two years while major renovations are carried out. This is not quite the same thing as the earlier attempt to rename the institution itself.

A federal judge ruled in May that the Kennedy Center’s official statutory name honoring President John F. Kennedy could not simply be changed by its board without congressional authorization. Trump’s name was subsequently removed from the building. The latest board action takes a different route.

The center remains the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Trump’s name would instead appear underneath as the president credited with restoring and renovating it. Whether that maneuver survives the continuing court battle remains to be seen.

But politically?

You can practically hear Trump saying: Fine. You said I can’t rename it. You didn’t say I can’t put my name underneath it.

This latest reaction becomes more amusing if you remember Acosta’s coverage in June. When workers removed Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center after the court ruling, Acosta treated the event as something considerably more consequential than a facilities crew taking letters off a building.

He compared the moment to the fall of the Berlin Wall. Seriously.

Acosta stood outside the Kennedy Center documenting the removal and described it as:

“one of those moments in history.”

He invoked his father’s service during the Cold War and suggested the taking down of Trump’s name reminded him of images of Berliners tearing down the wall dividing East and West Germany.

The Berlin Wall. A concrete barrier separating millions of people under communist dictatorship. Hundreds of people died trying to escape across it.

And then there was Donald Trump’s name on an arts center. Same general neighborhood of historical significance, apparently.

Now Trump’s name may be returning, and suddenly Acosta has gone from Checkpoint Charlie to: Somebody call the jailer.

There is a legitimate legal fight here.

Reuters reports that the Trump-controlled board is moving ahead despite an earlier federal ruling barring the center from changing its official name without Congress. Democratic board members and lawmakers accuse Trump’s allies of trying to evade that order. Critics view the new inscription and renewed closure plan as an attempt to get around restrictions already imposed by the court.

Fine.

Let the lawyers fight about it.

The courts can determine whether the inscription violates the existing order.

Congress can decide whether legislation is required. But Acosta jumped directly to:

“Somebody needs to go to jail!”

Which raises a question. For what crime? Putting up letters? Voting at a board meeting? Ordering marble?

Acosta may believe officials are defying a court order. If so, there are legal procedures for contempt and enforcement. But “I think the board found a loophole I hate” isn’t generally an offense carrying hard time. At least not yet.

Lost underneath the Trump-name drama is the fact that the Kennedy Center really is preparing for a major overhaul. The board approved plans for roughly two years of closure so contractors can address structural, mechanical and cosmetic work.

Axios obtained a 180-page renovation proposal that included work on the Carrara marble exterior, Grand Foyer, theaters, flooring, furnishings and other infrastructure. The board approved a renovation plan costing about $257 million.

Trump argues the building badly needs the work. His opponents argue that Trump has turned a national cultural institution created as a memorial to John F. Kennedy into another stage for personal branding.

That’s the real political argument. And reasonable people can debate it without demanding orange jumpsuits.

MY QUICK TAKE:

Jim.

Buddy.

It’s a sign.

I understand you don’t like Donald Trump.

This is not exactly classified information.

For years, Acosta and Trump had one of the most famously antagonistic relationships in American media.

Fine.

Trump loved attacking Acosta.

Acosta clearly loved battling Trump.

Everybody knew the show.

But at some point, a man has to ask himself:

Am I covering Donald Trump, or is Donald Trump now living rent-free in the penthouse suite of my brain?

Because we are now at the point where Trump’s name comes off a building and Acosta compares it to the Berlin Wall coming down.

Trump’s name might go back onto the building and: SOMEBODY NEEDS TO GO TO JAIL!

There is an actual legal issue here.

A court said the institution could not simply be renamed without Congress.

The board has now chosen language that leaves Kennedy’s official name intact while adding:

“Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump.”

Maybe the judge says that’s permissible.

Maybe the judge says nice try, take it down.

That’s what courts are for.

But jail?

We used to reserve that demand for people who committed identifiable crimes.

This is also classic Trump.

Tell him he cannot put his name on something one way, and he will spend the next 48 hours finding seven other ways to put his name on it.

You tell Trump:

You cannot call it the Trump Kennedy Center.

Trump hears:

Challenge accepted.

And now Jim Acosta is giving the entire episode ten times more publicity than the Kennedy Center board could have bought with an advertising budget.

Which is perhaps the funniest part.

If Acosta truly doesn’t want Trump’s name associated with the Kennedy Center, he might consider not doing breaking-news standups every time somebody approaches the facade with a screwdriver.

But please, Jim.

Keep us posted.

If the “Restored and Renovated” letters arrive by truck, America needs you there.

The republic may depend on it.

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