Posting will be brief today due to the necessities of holiday travel. As always, this is one thing Trump did today—not the only thing, nor necessarily the most important or outrageous thing. For example, he also once again attempted to bigfoot Ukraine into essentially surrendering to the Putin regime, tried desperately to shift the blame for his own intimate ties to Epstein onto other people, and gloated over a Christmas attack—that did no actual damage—on a terrorist organization he'd already falsely claimed he'd destroyed.  But today's chosen thing lends itself to brevity. It's enough to say that the President of the United States is devoting any part of what remains of his mental energy and focus to marble armrests at what is still, under the law, called the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

 

What did Donald Trump do today?

He returned to his main personal focus during his second term: interior design. 

Since returning to office, Trump has assumed person control of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He's appointed himself the chairman of its board, fired most of its leadership and replaced them with loyalists, physically installed his own name on its facade (even though it can't actually be renamed without an act of Congress), and gave himself the job of hosting its awards ceremony earlier this month.

As a result, acts are canceling their shows, ticket sales have plummeted, and the awards ceremony got its lowest ratings ever.

Today, he unveiled his plan to turn it all around: marble armrests on the seats.  

Why does this matter?

• Even by Trump's standards, this is out of touch with what matters to Americans or the business of government.