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Protesters form human chain to save Kennedy Center after Trump's threats · INSIGHT TODAY

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  Speaker 1: Protests outside the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. tonight where
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  Speaker 1: protesters formed a human chain holding hands around the building
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  Speaker 1: days after its Trump-appointed board voted to close it. And
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  Speaker 1: after Trump said the whole thing could actually be ripped down, decimated, demolished.
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  Speaker 1: It comes as CNN learns the Kennedy Center today laid
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  Speaker 1: off about a dozen employees, gutting an already skeleton staff.
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  Speaker 1: As Trump today tied the future of the Kennedy Center
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  Speaker 1: and his help raising money for it, to receiving recognition
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  Speaker 1: for his role in trying to save it.
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  Speaker 2: Have you looked at any plans to demolish the Kennedy Center?
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  Speaker 2: There was an image of you from Air Force One.
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  Speaker 3: Well, look, here's the problem with the Kennedy Center. I
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  Speaker 3: should be very careful because Bobby's standing right behind me.
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  Speaker 3: As I understand it, he gave us the right to
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  Speaker 3: go and do the job finally. I think the Trump
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  Speaker 3: administration should be recognized for as having saved the Kennedy
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  Speaker 3: Center because nobody else can do it.
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  Speaker 2: This is largely the aftermath of what was a very
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  Speaker 2: boisterous and large protest outside the Kennedy Center. Many hundreds
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  Speaker 2: of people gathered here. I'll take you through some of
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  Speaker 2: the people who are remaining. Many musicians, as you can see,
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  Speaker 2: many people carrying their instruments. There was a lot of
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  Speaker 2: artists singing. There was a piano out here. There are
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  Speaker 2: many people dressed up in costumes. A lot of signs, obviously,
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  Speaker 2: against what's happening at the President's Center and specifically focused
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  Speaker 2: on President Trump, directing their ire on President Trump, saying,
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  Speaker 2: do not demolish the Kennedy Center, demolish Mar-a-Lago, no King's.
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  Speaker 2: You are no JFK. So the message here from these
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  Speaker 2: protesters is really loud and clear. They are worried about
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  Speaker 2: the destruction of the building. They are worried about the
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  Speaker 2: deterioration of the reputation of this building in the future.
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  Speaker 2: Many people out here are people who used to work
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  Speaker 2: at the Kennedy Center just a few moments ago. I
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  Speaker 2: saw a woman now in her 60s. She worked at
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  Speaker 2: the Kennedy Center when she was about 25 years old.
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  Speaker 2: And she brought her ID from when she was at
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  Speaker 2: the Kennedy Center. And she looked at the building and
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  Speaker 2: she started crying. She had tissues wiped away, tears, Anderson,
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  Speaker 2: because she said it's just horrible and heartbreaking what has happened.
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  Speaker 2: This building has largely become a symbol in President Trump's
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  Speaker 2: second administration for his imprint that he wants to make
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  Speaker 2: on D.C. And many people out here protesting tonight do
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  Speaker 2: not want to be in that argument anymore. They want
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  Speaker 2: this to be remedied. Of course, this is making its
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  Speaker 2: way through the court. And I want to point out
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  Speaker 2: just today, you know, you can see all these protesters here.
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  Speaker 2: Many of them have gone home tonight. On the other side,
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  Speaker 2: you have visual reminders that this is a building really...
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  Speaker 2: hanging in the balance, frozen. You have the tarps up
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  Speaker 2: from when they removed the name Donald Trump off the
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  Speaker 2: side in the summer. You have security guards now wearing
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  Speaker 2: construction hats, white construction hats with Kennedy Center on the side.
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  Speaker 2: That is because this building has been closed for one
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  Speaker 2: week that the officials here say is temporary. And they
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  Speaker 2: say it is because of the safety of the building
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  Speaker 2: and the renovations and the maintenance that they want to fix.
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  Speaker 4: How do you think historians are going to look at
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  Speaker 4: back at this Nishigas?
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  Speaker 5: You know, I think this is a perfect metaphor for
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  Speaker 5: the relationship that Donald Trump has with America. That, in fact,
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  Speaker 5: they'll look at it as kind of the rantings and
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  Speaker 5: the ravings and the behaviors of a would-be king who
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  Speaker 5: decided that if he can't have his way, that nobody
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  Speaker 5: can have their way, that everything has to come down
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  Speaker 5: to destroy it. And so it's not just the Kennedy
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  Speaker 5: Center that It's also all of Washington, D.C., but it's
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  Speaker 5: also all of the country. So we're seeing this over
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  Speaker 5: and over again. And I think historians, but I also
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  Speaker 5: think other scholars and really the people, the public, are
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  Speaker 5: going to look back at this and say, this is
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  Speaker 5: Trump's real legacy, tearing things down because he can't have
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  Speaker 5: his own way.
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  Speaker 4: I mean, it seems such a petty thing to want
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  Speaker 4: your small name on a big building and to want
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  Speaker 4: your name on everything. I mean, obviously from a, you know, Yeah,
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  Speaker 4: he used to be called a great branding, you know,
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  Speaker 4: marketing person and put his names on buildings. And many
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  Speaker 4: of those buildings took those names off. But, I mean,
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  Speaker 4: whether it's on money or on phones or now it's
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  Speaker 4: on the Kennedy Center, it just seems such a strange obsession.
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  Speaker 5: It is an obsession. It is the obsession. And it
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  Speaker 5: probably dates back to feeling kind of, you know, Trump
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  Speaker 5: has had experiences with the Kennedy Center where he's talked
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  Speaker 5: about not feeling welcomed, not feeling like it's his space.
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  Speaker 5: And so wanting to market. But one of the things
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  Speaker 5: that we see with Donald Trump is that it's not
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  Speaker 5: small for him. that he wants to put his name
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  Speaker 5: on everything. The Institute for Peace right now is going
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  Speaker 5: through a whole legal issue with the president because he
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  Speaker 5: wants to put his name on that. He wants to
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  Speaker 5: put his name on the arch. He wants to put
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  Speaker 5: his name on stakes, on books.
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  Speaker 4: I think you also bring up an interesting point, which
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  Speaker 4: is he wanted to be embraced by that community of
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  Speaker 4: the Kennedy Center. He wanted to put on shows and
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  Speaker 4: have touring productions there And be lauded from the stage.
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  Speaker 4: And that didn't happen. In fact, people were refused to perform.
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  Speaker 4: There does seem a certain like peak about it, a
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  Speaker 4: certain just anger he has about it or embarrassment.
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  Speaker 5: Well, I think it's a little bit of both. And
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  Speaker 5: so there's this idea, I think, originally when Trump comes
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  Speaker 5: in and he reestablishes the board, right? He fires all
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  Speaker 5: the board members. He fires half the staff of the
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  Speaker 5: Kennedy Center. He appoints his own people. He then kind
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  Speaker 5: of lavishes praise upon himself where he says, you know, oh,
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  Speaker 5: I'm being generous. I'm being a patron of the arts.
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  Speaker 5: But then he begins to say, these are the kinds
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  Speaker 5: of arts that I want to see. I don't want
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  Speaker 5: to see that woke nonsense. I don't want to see
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  Speaker 5: that diversity stuff. And it completely sidesteps the actual mission
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  Speaker 5: of the Kennedy Center.
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  Speaker 4: The protests that we've been seeing activists speaking out in
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  Speaker 4: support of it, do you think.
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  Speaker 2: It makes a difference?
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  Speaker 5: I think it makes a really important difference in a
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  Speaker 5: couple of different ways. The first is that one of
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  Speaker 5: the protests is being led by Kerry Kennedy, or she's
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  Speaker 5: actively involved at least in advertising it. And that's important
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  Speaker 5: because she is of the Kennedys. She has made a
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  Speaker 5: statement about, on behalf of the Kennedy family, actually many
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  Speaker 5: people from the Kennedy family have made statements about, But
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  Speaker 5: she is leading the charge, really, and saying this cannot
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  Speaker 5: be allowed to happen. But the other thing is that
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  Speaker 5: we've seen that legal judgments, illegal decisions in this case,
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  Speaker 5: haven't actually stopped Donald Trump. His name has still gone
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  Speaker 5: up in the building. The scaffolding has still gone up.
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  Speaker 5: The building has been shut down. And so the protesters
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  Speaker 5: actually play a role in physically protecting the building. And
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  Speaker 5: so it's not just about drawing attention, but It's also
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  Speaker 5: true that the president is not beyond going in the
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  Speaker 5: middle of the night and knocking the entire Kennedy Center down.
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  Speaker 5: He's done it with the East Wing. You know, we've
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  Speaker 5: seen it with the reflecting pool. So there may come
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  Speaker 5: a point where the president of the United States decides
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  Speaker 5: enough is enough. I'm going to tear down the Kennedy
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  Speaker 5: Center and there's nothing anyone can do to stop me.
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  Speaker 5: That's the role that protesters actually play in protecting the
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  Speaker 5: space and that ground.
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  Speaker 6: Yeah, on the Kennedy Center, I will say on a
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  Speaker 6: personal note, I mean, I was one of those young
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  Speaker 6: people who was inspired by the memory of John F.
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  Speaker 6: Kennedy to public service. This Kennedy Center was dedicated by
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  Speaker 6: the United States Congress as a living memorial to John F.
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  Speaker 2: Kennedy.
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  Speaker 6: This would be like taking a wrecking ball to the
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  Speaker 6: Washington Monument or the Lincoln Memorial or the Jefferson Memorial.
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  Speaker 6: And I don't think the courts are going to allow
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  Speaker 6: that to happen, as surely they're not going to allow
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  Speaker 6: CNN and the other news organizations to be banned from
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  Speaker 6: the White House. So he is creating fake news in
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  Speaker 6: order to keep us or distract us from talking about
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  Speaker 6: the news that is really, really hurting him and his
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  Speaker 6: party as these midterm elections approach.