Hands Off the Arts: Fired Kennedy Center Artist Marc Bamuthi Joseph Speaks Out as Trump Name Removed
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President Donald Trump’s name has been removed from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., after a judge ruled its addition was illegal. The Kennedy Center’s board, which was handpicked by Trump, voted to add Trump’s name to the center late last year. The battle over the Kennedy Center’s name comes during a broader push by Trump to overhaul the institution, which is closed for “renovations” amid mass cancellations by artists.
“We, the American people, have rarely been afforded the decency of a public conversation or process,” says Marc Bamuthi Joseph, who was fired from his role as vice president and artistic director of the Kennedy Center’s Social Impact initiative in March 2025. “There were no procedural protocols in the affixing of this person’s name on a national memorial, and so … this does feel like a small victory for the rule of law.”
The removal of Trump’s name “really does mean something. We have been fighting for it since it went up in December,” says Mallory Miller, who was fired from her job as assistant manager of dance programming at the Kennedy Center in August 2025. Miller is the co-founder of Hands Off the Arts, which has been rallying outside the Kennedy Center every week. “This is just the first step in rebuilding the trust that has been lost,” says Miller, pointing out that Trump “is still the boss” at the Kennedy Center and that workers at the center are still being fired.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is backing two gubernatorial candidates who don’t have President Trump’s endorsement in the Georgia and South Carolina GOP primary runoffs. Cruz endorsed Georgia billionaire Rick Jackson over Lt. Gov. Burt Jones (R-Ga.) in the governor’s race for the Peach State while supporting South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson over Lt. Gov.…
The Senate narrowly rejected a war powers resolution on Iran as President Trump touts a framework agreement with Tehran to end the monthslong conflict.
According to an ex-presidential aide, President Donald Trump’s fishing expedition against one of the Democrats’ presumed 2028 election front-runners, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, proves “no one is safe” from the Republican president and his politicized DOJ.“Federal agents abusing the powers that they had when surveilling civil rights leaders have taken off after the governor of California, which means, unless you're not too bright, if they can do it to Gavin Newsom, they can do it to anybody,” warned Steve Schmidt, who advised Republican president, George W. Bush. “And thinking about that, how close is it that we came to the US military being deployed on the streets, an ICE army behind them or in front of them, commanded by Stephen Miller, with the power to detain whomever they wanted, wherever they wished?”Adding that Trump has reportedly talked about eliminating the writ of habeas corpus, which guarantees the government “can't just lock you up without reason or cause and has existed in English common law for a thousand years,” Schmidt added that Trump aspires to transform America “from a republic to a police state.” Comparing Trump’s order to investigators to find something about Newsom and/or his family members, Schmidt added that this is like Russia under its dictator, Vladimir Putin.“It is unacceptable, and it must not be stood for,” Schmidt declared. “This is why, in the months ahead, as the contours of the debate take shape, there can be no compromise on this simple, fundamental, absolutely important principle” — namely that, unlike the forgiving approach of President Joe Biden’s Attorney General Merrick Garland, after Trump there should be “no more appeasing this lawless evil. Here, in these United States, there will be accountability for every federal agent, every corrupt federal official, from Trump on down, who has made the rule of law in this country a mockery and has trampled on the liberties of the American people, including the governor of California and his lovely wife Jennifer, who deserve better from their president, and better from their country, than to be persecuted for speaking out and participating and leading and standing up.”In a Monday appearance on MS NOW senior investigative correspondent Carol Leonnig revealed that a fellow reporter, Erum Salam, learned Trump’s Department of Justice is trying to find any case it can to use against him."First off, I want to say that we have from sources two really important nuggets," Leonnig said. "One is that the central district of California, the U.S. district attorney's office in the central district, has been pressing the line prosecutors to come up with a case against Gavin Newsom."Schmidt has also warned more broadly about the loss of faith in American political institutions that has occurred during Trump’s presidency.“There was a time in America when public disgrace meant something,” Schmidt said. “A man caught lying to the public would resign. A politician caught in corruption would retreat from public life. A leader who dishonored his office would feel the sting of judgment from neighbors, colleagues, family members and strangers.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom accused President Donald Trump Monday of having his family investigated by the Department of Justice. Newsom released a video statement saying he’d been added to Trump’s “hit list,” claiming that federal investigators had launched a probe into him because he was considering a presidential run in 2028.“In recent days, federal agents have knocked on the doors of family, friends, and former employees. Not because they found a crime. Because they are simply trying to find one,” Newsom said. “They’re demanding records. They are abusing the grand jury process. Digging through years and years of random documents,” Newsom said. “Donald Trump isn’t just coming after me because of my mean tweets. He’s coming after me because I am considering running for president.”Newsom claimed that federal investigators were also investigating his wife, actress and activist Jennifer Siebel Newsom, “who has done nothing wrong, other than having the temerity to advocate for what she believes in.”There are actually several ongoing investigations related to Newsom, a source familiar with the situation told Semafor’s Shelby Talcott. The investigations reportedly involve his wife’s taxes and his chief of staff Nathan Barankin. Those did not originate from the main DOJ but stem from Sacramento, involving whistleblowers, according to the source. This revelation comes a year after Trump threatened to have Newsom arrested, amid an escalating feud about the president’s illegal deployment of National Guard troops in Los Angeles.Trump has bragged about his supposed “right” to weaponize the Department of Justice, and openly directed the DOJ to investigate his political enemies New York Attorney General Letitia James, Senator Adam Schiff, and former FBI Director James Comey. All of those cases crashed and burned. Trump had also been investigating former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, although he dropped the case in order to get Powell’s replacement approved by the Senate. It’s not clear that the administration won’t resume targeting Powell.And just a week ago, Vice President JD Vance referred Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to the DOJ for a criminal investigation into allegations of fraud.This story has been updated.
President Trump has taken further steps to dismantle the Department of Education, moving offices for special education and civil rights to other departments. The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services will be moved to the Department of Health and Human Services, while the Department of Justice will take over civil rights issues, the Trump administration announced Tuesday.The moves are worrying, especially considering Trump’s campaign to dismantle the Department of Education as well as who he has appointed to HHS and the DOJ. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has made worrying comments about autism, making outlandish claims and changing policies on vaccines to fit his medically inaccurate views.Kennedy’s views have also been criticized as incorporating eugenics, which should not be anywhere near special education in America. It raises fears that students with special needs could be marginalized or worse.When it comes to civil rights, the DOJ has been ground zero for the Trump administration’s attacks on “wokeness,” undermining its own Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and targeting one of America’s leading civil rights organizations, the Southern Poverty Law Center. The person in charge of the Civil Rights Division at the DOJ, Harmeet Dhillon, is a loyal foot soldier to Trump.Now, the Department of Education will be weakened further, and students will lose valuable resources as these offices are moved into departments without education experts. Combating discrimination and increasing special education resources used to be a priority in America, but no longer.
