WE THE PEOPLE DON’T WANT A CARNIVAL. WE WANT COMPETENT LEADERSHIP

If we ever needed an analogy for how the Trump administration works its magic, we got to see it in the much-anticipated removal of his failed rebranding of the Kennedy Center yesterday. Or not see it as the case may be. Seriously. We have the most technologically advanced country in the world, but we watched a handful of workers laboriously construct scaffolding to remove signage that went up in a matter of hours originally. America finally gave up and went to bed when the deadline came and went, and nothing happened. Just more BS legal wrangling, more delay, more nonsensical arguments as to why TRUMP removal would destroy the country, and finally concern for worker safety because the clouds looked iffy. Like one legal observer noted, it was ‘bonkity bonkers’ in the level of WTF. Plus it was the worst Panda Cam ever. Meanwhile more investigative reporting shows just how good Trump is at using other people’s money to make all his golden dreams come true. According to a lawsuit filed this week by the Washington National Opera, about $17M of the money Trump appears to be claiming from the Kennedy Center belongs to them. For 15 years, the suit says, the opera and the Kennedy Center had a contractual relationship, in which the center managed donations to the Washington National Opera for the opera’s benefit. But the Trump-installed Kennedy Center board terminated that arrangement and refused to return the WNO’s money, instead using it as collateral for its own line of credit. Trump and his allies also seized the funds Congress appropriated for celebrations to honor OUR 250th anniversary and have “awarded nearly $103 million in federal contracts and grants…to politicized entities under the control of Trump administration officials and political allies”—nearly 80% of the $126M of funding for the celebrations. WaPo reported on Wednesday that the administration is hoping to complete Trump’s 250-foot-tall triumphal arch before he leaves office. To do so, they are anticipating keeping work going 20 hours a day. They say they do not need congressional approval. Senator Blumenthal has asked the National Park Service to explain and to justify why they are ignoring normal rules for federal contracting and instead handing out no-bid contracts, saying the project is “urgent.” Private funding from corporations with issues in front of the administration have also poured money into Trump’s events. And their names are slapped on every surface possible in celebration. The Hill reported that federal agencies and the UFC are putting at least $60M toward the White House cage fight for Trump’s 80th birthday Sunday. That money has paid for the fighting arena on the South Lawn of the White House, as well as paying up to 900 workers since May 20. And to cap things off, the Financial Times showed us how former Hungarian prime minister Orbán also used architecture to reinforce the idea that his government was rebuilding former glories. While the new prime minister is now contrasting the palaces Orbán built to the crumbling hospitals and children’s homes around the country, where there was no money for toilet paper. Bonkity bonkers doesn’t begin to say it all.