Trump Punishes Kennedy Center After Tour Guide Said He Ruined It

The Kennedy Center has paused its free tours program for the first time in 50 years.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has stopped offering free tours, after a tour guide claimed President Donald Trump had killed the nation’s prestigious national theater.

In a Thursday memo review by The New York Times, Brooks Broeke, the director of the volunteer program, announced a “temporary pause” on the tour program for the first time in five decades.

The move follows a Times interview with Sandy Weiswasser, an 87-year-old volunteer tour guide who spoke candidly about Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center.

“This place used to be really thriving and busy and crowded,” Weiswasser said in the interview published Monday. “Now it’s a black hole.”

Before the memo announcing the pause was circulated, three volunteers expressed concerns that the Kennedy Center would target the tour program in retribution for Weiswasser’s interview.

The Kennedy Center has become an outlet for the Trump administration’s shocking pettiness. Trump previously tried to close the Kennedy Center for two years for “renovations” after multiple artists canceled their performances in response to his proposed name change. After Trump’s name was scraped off the wall, the building’s facade has remained concealed by a massive tarp.

Republican Governor Warns Against Trump Attempt to Take Over Elections

Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt didn’t mention the president by name—but he’s sending a clear message about Trump’s quest to “federalize” elections.

At least one Republican governor is pushing back against President Trump’s plan to take over elections, saying they should continue to be run by states.

Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt told the Associated Press in an interview published Friday, “I don’t think that we should federalize the elections at all.

“I believe that is a state issue. The states should control their own elections. Should we make sure they’re done fairly and U.S. citizens are voting? 100%. I think there’s broad agreement with that,” Stitt said, ahead of the National Governors Association meeting in his state this weekend, where he will turn over leadership of the organization to Maryland Governor Wes Moore, a Democrat.

Stitt noted, “It is weird that in a swing state, in a certain county, it takes them a month to count the votes. So rightly, you should be questioning some of these things.” However, he also said he trusted the leaders of those states “100 percent.”

“I don’t think we should federalize that. Because then you’ve got a pendulum swing. What about the next guy gets in office and the........

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