The moment of tenderness went largely unnoticed, as Bill and Hillary Clinton were dancing on stage at the Kennedy Center at their first inaugural ball. San Francisco venture capitalist Richard Blum was tickling the neck of his wife, newly elected Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, victorious in the 1992 Democratic wave. “Di-Fi” had a look of supreme pleasure at her surroundings.
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts was my Washington, D.C., neighbor for four years, while I was reporting on national politics for The Seattle Post-Intelligencer. It hosted gorgeous National Symphony performances under the baton of renowned cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, as well as avant-garde stuff.
The K Center, a national treasure, is now being trashed by a wannabe dictator with bad taste. Donald Trump has installed himself as its board president, installed toadies on the board, crimped creativity by driving off star performers and audiences, and put his name atop JFK’s. Attendance has crashed and now Trump is closing the Center for two years, ostensibly to “rebuild” it. The Orchestra and Washington Opera were already seeking new venues.
Trump consulted no one in making these moves. Not representatives of the American people who own the Center, nor the family of the assassinated President Kennedy for whom it is named. Such is the behavior of an authoritarian. Trump has also literally trashed the East Wing of the people’s house so as to install a gaudy ballroom to accommodate oligarch pals.
The Washington Post was a must-read during my tenure. It featured Woodstein investigative pieces, Herblock cartoons, Style profiles, and a Redskins-centric sports page. The Graham family were benevolent owners who’d helped bring down a president.
A few years ago the troubled Post was bought by a cash-rich oligarch. The “rescue” is proving worse than a drowning. Fresh on the heels of his $30 million wedding, Jeff Bezos is laying off 300 employees. The editorial page had been neutered, sports is gone, and the once-mighty Post now talks submission to power.
This is the state of our nation’s capital — superficial, gaudy, submissive. Congress is out to lunch. Competent people are bailing. Senators Michael Bennet, D‑Colorado and Amy Klobuchar, D‑Minnesota, are running for governor of their respective states. Even two Republican dunces, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, are pursuing statehouse jobs.
This is our country, but it is being taken from us. Even the Washington of Ronald and Nancy Reagan was an enlightened place compared to the present. As Pulitzer Prize-winning pundit David Maraniss put it in a post on Bezos: “Billionaires suck.”
The overriding questions: Will we let the Republicans-turned-Authoritarians destroy our democracy? Will we be like frogs in water, not responding as the temperature rises? The midterm elections will tell us a lot. But the real question is whether our citizenry will reengage in the civic life of the country. Early signs are encouraging — consider the results of gubernatorial results in Virginia and New Jersey.
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