Tag: first lady
'Nothing Is Sacred': Trump Vandalizes White House Rose Garden

'Nothing Is Sacred': Trump Vandalizes White House Rose Garden

First Lady Melania Trump’s renovation of Jackie Kennedy’s iconic Rose Garden during Donald Trump’s first term drew widespread criticism. Now, President Trump is renovating that space once again—this time transforming it into a Mar-a-Lago-style patio—sparking a fresh wave of backlash from critics.

President Trump defended what Newsweek described as “bulldozing” part of the Rose Garden, saying the change was intended to make the space more accessible for women wearing high heels, according to The Daily Beast. The renovations also involve removing several trees, including a saucer magnolia reportedly planted to honor President John F. Kennedy.

“It’s supposed to have events,” Trump said of the Rose Garden. “Every event you have it’s soaking wet,” he complained.

“The women with the high heels, it’s just too much… the grass, it doesn’t work. We use it for press conferences. It doesn’t work.”

The White House has done little to inform the American people about the construction, leaving critics to ask questions including who is paying for the construction, and is there a federal agency or commission that approves changes to the White House, given its centuries-long history.

“The White House is a national symbol and not the personal property of any president. Permanent changes should be reviewed by preservation experts and consider public sentiment, not be made unilaterally for vanity or political messaging,” wrote Molly Ploofkins, a social media user whose bio says she is a retired Army medic.

“We’ve got money to bulldoze the White House Rose Garden and turn it into a Mar-a-Lago-style patio, but we can’t pay for cancer research for kids or make sure veterans aren’t living off food stamps,” remarked Democratic strategist and former Harris senior advisor Mike Nellis.

“I love how people keep pointing out that private donations paid for it—not the government. I don’t give a s—,” Nellis added later. “The issue is this administration’s priorities. Trump thinks it’s fine to bulldoze the Rose Garden to build a patio so he can relax outside, while doing nothing to improve your life. That’s the criticism. He’s enriching himself, screwing everyone else, and not lifting a g------ finger to help you. That’s the problem.”

Journalist Jane Coaston remarked, “I am increasingly of the view that Trump wants to ‘be president’ so he can watch musicals and manage the rose garden and he just lets other people be co-president for periods of time so he has more time for musicals and rose garden management.”

“RIP to the White House Rose Garden,” observed former Obama White House photographer Pete Souza. “Today the Rose Garden is being ripped apart as construction begins to pave over the entire grass area. A sad, and unnecessary, day for what used to be the People’s House.”

“The White House rose garden was established in 1913,” noted WAMU’s Esther Ciammachilli, before lamenting, “Trump has just paved paradise and put up a parking lot. This is not his house. It belongs to the American people. He is just a tenant. Nothing is sacred anymore.”

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Trump And Melania Booed 'Mercilessly' At Kennedy Center Opening Night

Trump And Melania Booed 'Mercilessly' At Kennedy Center Opening Night

Just before the Kennedy Center's opening night performance of the musical "Les Miserables," President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump stood to be recognized. They were met with a loud chorus of boos.

Video of the moment shows the boos mixed with some cheering, with Reuters White House correspondent Jeff Mason observing that some Trump supporters in the audience shouted "USA" chants in an attempt to drown out the booing. In addition to the First Couple, both Vice President JD Vance and Second Lady Usha Vance were also in attendance.

"In an absolutely embarrassing moment, Donald Trump was just booed mercilessly at the Kennedy Center," former Lawrence County, Tennessee commissioner Chris D. Jackson tweeted.

The president and vice president were at the Kennedy Center — which is led by Trump after he appointed himself chairman earlier this year — for the opening night performance of the musical "Les Miserables," which is about a populist rebellion against a tyrannical king. The performance is on the same night of the official arrival of approximately 700 U.S. Marines Trump deployed to Los Angeles to quell protests in the second-largest U.S. city.

Prior to Trump's arrival, New York Times White House correspondent Shawn McCreesh tweeted video of a group of drag queens entering the theater, who were met with cheers from the crowd. The drag queens told the Independent that they were there not only to see "Les Miserables," but to also protest Trump banning drag performances at the Kennedy Center after he put himself in charge (the Kennedy Center went on to schedule multiple shows featuring characters in drag, like "Mrs. Doubtfire").

"Theater is supposed to be a place of community, a place of storytelling, a place of celebration, joy, catharsis and it should be open and available to all," drag performer Vagenisis told the Independent.

Others in attendance also protested Trump's presence at the show. Former Capitol Hill staffer Jason Tufele Carl Johnson tweeted a photo of himself and his date wearing t-shirts that read "democracy has no kings" and "abolish ICE," with the caption: "When you can't change your Kennedy Center tickets cause Trump turned it into a fundraiser for his fascist friends, you make a statement out of it."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Texas Governor Sends 'Condolences' To Rosalynn Carter (Who Died In 2023)

Texas Governor Sends 'Condolences' To Rosalynn Carter (Who Died In 2023)

On Sunday, December 29, former President Jimmy Carter passed away at 100.

Carter was a widower. His wife, former First Lady Rosalynn Smith Carter, died on November 19, 2023.

But Texas Gov. Greg Abbott responded to the former president's death by giving Mrs. Carter his condolences.

According to the Daily Beast's Grace Harrington, "The Republican governor released a statement Sunday saying he and his wife 'send our prayers and deepest condolences to First Lady Rosalynn Carter and the entire Carter family.' Abbott also lauded Carter for his 'selfless service to the American people.'"

Abbott, Harrington notes, was "neglecting to take into account that she died last year."

Two hours later, Harrington reports, Abbott "amended the statement on X to remove any mention of the former first lady."

Both of the Carters lived long lives. Although Rosalynn Smith Carter didn't live quite as long as the former president, she was 96 when she passed away.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter Dead At 100; President Biden Will Deliver Eulogy

The 39th president of the United States, James Earl Carter Jr., died yesterday after receiving care at his home in Plains, Georgia, where he resided with his wife, Rosalynn Carter, until she passed on Sunday, November 19, 2023. On that day, the former President refused hospital care, saying he wanted to go out holding Rosalynn's hand, according to historian Michael Beschloss

"Number one, this was one of the great marriages in American history, even if they weren't president and first lady," said Beschloss. "Not only the length of this marriage, (77 years) but the closeness of it — that partnership. And you know, everyone who has said this in the last two minutes is absolutely right. They love most of all being with each other. I am told by someone who is very close to both Carters, that last winter, when Jimmy Carter was told that he was very sick and there was not very much that could be done for him, he was told, probably the best thing is for you to go into the hospital where you can get the best care. And I am told that President Carter said, no, I want to get home, and be in bed with Rosalynn, and just sit holding hands, and that's the way I'd like to close my life. And that's really the way it happened."

Last May, one of Jimmy Carter’s grandsons said that the former president's life is “coming to the end.

He's "doing OK. He has been in hospice, as you know, for almost a year and a half now, and he really is, I think, coming to the end that, as I’ve said before, there’s a part of this faith journey that is so important to him, and there’s a part of that faith journey that you only can live at the very end and I think he has been there in that space," Jason Carter said.

According to earlier reports, President Joe Biden will deliver Carter's eulogy.

In recent years, Carter had received various hospital treatments, including when he revealed in August 2015 that he had brain cancer and was undergoing radiation treatment — an illness he recovered from, seemingly against the odds.

In addition to being president, the 100-year-old was a U.S. Navy submarine officer, a farmer, a diplomat, a Nobel laureate, a Sunday school teacher and one of the world’s most well-known humanitarians.

Carter won the presidency in 1976, following the Nixon and Ford administrations, at a time of grave political and social tumult not unlike our own. During his tenure, the Democrat prioritized human rights and social justice, enjoying a solid first two years, which included brokering a peace deal between Israel and Egypt dubbed the Camp David Accords.

But his administration hit numerous snags — the most serious being the taking of U.S. hostages in Iran and the disastrous failed attempt to rescue the 52 captive Americans in 1980.

The blowback from the U.S. boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics, held in the former Soviet Union in response to that country’s invasion of Afghanistan, may have also hurt Carter.

Richard Moe, who served from 1977 to 1981 as chief of staff to Vice President Walter Mondale, offered an alternative view of Carter’s presidency in 2015, citing numerous achievements.

As worthy as Jimmy Carter’s post-presidency has been, it shouldn’t overshadow his time in office, which has been too often overlooked, and which stands in sharp contrast to what we see in the [Trump administration],” Moe said.

In November 1980, Republican challenger Ronald Reagan beat Carter, relegating him to a single term of office on a wave of staunch conservatism.

“We told the truth, we obeyed the law, and we kept the peace,” said Vice President Walter Mondale at the end of Carter’s term.

In the introduction of his 2015 book, A Full Life, Carter repeated the Mondale quote, adding, “We championed human rights.”

As the years passed, a more nuanced image of Carter emerged, taking into account his post-presidential activities and reassessing his achievements.

He founded the Carter Center in 1982 to pursue his vision of world diplomacy and received the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to promote social and economic justice.

Carter said basic Christian tenets such as justice and love served as the bedrock of his presidency, and the ex-president taught Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist, his church in Plains, well into his 90s.

Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia, who is also a senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church where Martin Luther King, Jr. preached, wished the Carter family comfort as the former president entered hospice.

"Across life's seasons, President Jimmy Carter, a man of great faith, has walked with God," Warnock tweeted. "In this tender time of transitioning, God is surely walking with him."

Both Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter made plans to be buried at their family home in Plains, near “a willow tree at the pond’s edge, on a gentle sloping lawn, where they will be buried in graves marked by simple stones.”

The Carters’ property has already been deeded to the National Park Service.

With additional reporting from AFP.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

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