In-town pool report #11 — Kennedy Center Board dinner

Shortly after 7 p.m., the pool was escorted into the State Dining Room for the Kennedy Center Board dinner, and President Trump began speaking around 7:15 p.m. (Otter audio here: https://otter.ai/u/XQoqqIoAl5gOQrHVarmawtE6cgs?utm_source=copy_url).

No major news, but some color, and Trump spoke for about 30 minutes.

Seven round table, with approximately nine people seated around each one, filled the room. Three tall white candles, all lit, decorated each table, as well as a white and pink flower display at the center of each.

Trump began by telling his guests that was going to regale them with tales from his day, recounting his "good conversation with a nice gentleman named Vladimir Putin." "I think that progress is being made," he said, referring to the Ukraine-Russia war.

Trump, who fired the board of the Kennedy Center upon taking office and made himself chair, repeatedly joked about what he said was the poor condition of the Washington cultural institution. "When I said, I'll do this, I hadn't been there," Trump said. "It's the last time I'll take a job without looking at." (He later said he was given advice that anything on Broadway will be successful, adding, "So we're signing Phantom of the Opera.")

He went on long riffs singling out and praising his various guests, including Commerce Sec. Howard Lutnick and Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, who he called "the most powerful woman in the world." ("I'm a big believer in the genes," he continued, as he lauded Wiles, noting her father was the famed sportscaster Pat Summerall).

Later, Trump began talking about securing both the Olympics and the World Cup for the United States, before digressing into his false claims that the 2020 election was rigged. He added that he decided: “You know what I’ll do? I’ll run again and shove it up their ass."

"So if they would have left us alone and wouldn't have cheated on the election and wouldn't have rigged it, I would have been retired right now," Trump continued. "I would have been happily doing something else, and instead, they have me for four more years."

At one point, as he continued to speak, Trump urged the White House staff to begin quietly serving the meal. He then turned the microphone over to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who spoke, followed by Sergio Gor and Ric Grenell.

Other attendees include: Maria Bartiromo, Pam Bondi, Ric Grenell, Jeff Landry, and Bob Kraft.

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Ashley Parker

Staff Writer | The Atlantic

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