On Donald Trump, Xi Jinping, the Justice Department, the Kennedy Center, our domestic Gulf war, Saturday Night Live, and more
In October 2020, as President Trump’s first term wound down, I wrote a piece called “Trump and Dictators: A review.” About Xi Jinping, the Chinese dictator, he had said many gushy things. I will provide a few examples.
“A great leader. He’s a very talented man. I think he’s a very good man. He loves China, I can tell you. He loves China. He wants to do what’s right for China.”
“President Xi is a terrific guy. I like being with him a lot, and he’s a very special person.”
And so on and so forth.
Trump has not changed (and neither has Xi Jinping). Recently, talking with Bret Baier of Fox News, Trump said, “I happen to like him a lot, President Xi.” Baier asked, “Do you talk to him?” Trump answered yes. “I love talking to him.”
Let me say something elementary: I do not like Xi Jinping. He imprisons, tortures, and murders some of the best people in China. According to the U.S. State Department, he is committing genocide against the Uyghur people. The Chinese Communist Party is a curse upon the earth.
Presidents of the United States, and leaders of other democracies, have to deal with dictators. It’s part of statecraft. It’s routine in foreign policy. But they do not have to gush over dictators.
• As of this writing, U.S. officials are in Saudi Arabia for talks with Russian officials. Between them, Saudi Arabia and Russia hold many political prisoners. Day after day, these people are tortured. Is this a concern of the United States? There is a longstanding debate over that. In my opinion: yes.
• President Trump and his new administration have worked fast. Gone are two key units of the Justice Department. One is — was — the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative. It was set up in 2010, to locate money stolen by kleptocrats and return it to their victims. The other is — was — a unit dubbed “Task Force KleptoCapture.” It was set up in 2022, after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Its purpose was to enforce sanctions on Putin’s oligarchs.
These units boasted some of the finest experts in the world: experts on kleptocracy and how to combat it. And now they are gone, abolished by the administration.
Across the land, there are many thoughtful, or relatively thoughtful, Trump defenders. I wish they could tell me: How is this not Christmas morning for the Kremlin?
• The president made an announcement on his social-media network, Truth Social:
At my direction, we are going to make the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., GREAT AGAIN. I have decided to immediately terminate multiple individuals from the Board of Trustees, including the Chairman, who do not share our Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture. We will soon announce a new Board, with an amazing Chairman, DONALD J. TRUMP!
If you are the president, can you make yourself chairman of the Kennedy Center? Apparently, you can.
Later, Trump circulated a picture of himself, which made it look like he was conducting an orchestra. “Welcome to the New Kennedy Center!” he wrote.
That new board of his includes his chief of staff, his chief of staff’s mother, his vice president’s wife, his commerce secretary’s wife, and his aide Dan Scavino. Another aide, Ric Grenell, is the new executive director of the Kennedy Center. “RIC, WELCOME TO SHOW BUSINESS!” the president wrote.
The Kennedy Center is a significant national institution, home to the National Symphony Orchestra, the Washington National Opera, and the Washington Ballet. It has never been a political football. The “KenCen” is a public-private partnership whose board has always been bipartisan.
If you detect a whiff of the autocratic about all this, your nose is not wrong. Will Chairman Trump usher in a “Golden Age in Arts and Culture”? We’ll see. The Kennedy Center was named after the 35th president, assassinated in 1963. Could Trump rename the center after himself? I suppose he could. Millions would applaud the renaming, wouldn’t they?
(Insert your own jokes about Kid Rock, Kanye West, and the J6 Choir.)
• About Trump’s renaming of the Gulf of Mexico, I have already written: here. I would like to say a few more words in light of this news story, which is from the Associated Press — and about the AP itself. The story begins,
The White House blocked an Associated Press journalist from covering a news conference with two major world leaders Thursday, upping the stakes in a disagreement between the news agency and the Trump administration over the AP’s style decision to stick with the name “Gulf of Mexico” for the body of water that the president rechristened the “Gulf of America.”
(The news conference was between Trump and India’s Modi.)
Listen to the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, who said,
I was very up front in my briefing on Day One that if we feel that there are lies being pushed by outlets in this room, we are going to hold those lies accountable. And it is a fact that the body of water off the coast of Louisiana is called the “Gulf of America.”
I wonder whether some Republicans are embarrassed by this, even if it is risky to say so out loud. The United States is a great and good power. To rename the Gulf of Mexico is so petty — unworthy of our greatness as a nation. To bar the Associated Press is petty. Embarrassing. Beneath the dignity of the United States. Also a form of political correctness.
Are we a petulant little fiefdom or — America?
The head of one branch of the federal government has decided that, henceforward, the Gulf of Mexico shall be called the “Gulf of America.” You don’t have to comply, you know. If you’re Trump’s press secretary, sure. Otherwise, no. We are not a nation of heel-clickers. We are Americans.
Sure, if you lived in Santo Domingo, you had to switch to “Trujillo City” (because the dictator named the capital after himself). If you lived in the Congo, you had to switch to “Zaire” (because Mobutu said so). If you lived in Cambodia — you were lucky to live at all! — you had to switch to “Democratic Kampuchea” (because the Khmer Rouge said so).
But here, in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave? No.
A question: If the president renamed the Gulf of Mexico, or Gulf of America, the “Gulf of Trump,” how many millions would follow suit? I hesitate to guess.
• “Congresswoman Tenney Moves to Make President Trump’s Birthday a Federal Holiday.” That is the heading of a press release from the congresswoman. To read it, go here.
• Funny thing about self-described free-speech absolutists in our country. They often call for the imprisonment of journalists.
• Did you see this?
A humpback whale briefly swallowed a kayaker off Chilean Patagonia before quickly releasing him unharmed. The incident, caught on camera, quickly went viral.
To read the full story, go here. Jonah-like, almost.
• This delightful video made me think of a National Review cruise passenger:
Mission impossible..
It’s the combat roll for me.. 😂 pic.twitter.com/zZC7nNz1jz
— Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden) February 16, 2025
Who wrote the music, i.e., the theme to Mission: Impossible? Lalo Schifrin, who was indeed a passenger aboard an NR cruise. What a treat that was.
• The longevity of Saturday Night Live is rather amazing. M*A*S*H lasted about ten years. Seinfeld, nine. All in the Family, eight. SNL has now celebrated its 50th anniversary. It is part of the American furniture. It is practically synonymous with our comedy. SNL has launched Bill Murray, Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy, Adam Sandler, Mike Myers, Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig, Jimmy Fallon, and on and on.
I went for many years without watching Saturday Night Live. My reasons were several: I didn’t want to stay up that late. I didn’t like its political tone. I was usually at odds with the popular culture (which SNL reflects, and shapes). I didn’t like the music, or most of it. Etc.
Then came YouTube — the greatest invention since the wheel. You can watch segments, sketches, of SNL, whenever you want. If you don’t like a segment, you can turn it off and try another one. You can “curate” your own Saturday Night Live.
A joy, IMO.
• Last week, a friend of mine wrote me from Lyon, where he was working for a few days. I always balk at the spelling. When I was growing up, we wrote “Lyons,” in English. “Lyon” was for French. We, in English, had that final “s.” At some point, “Lyons” stopped and “Lyon” was de rigueur — for everybody. Why? I don’t know, TBH.
The code for Lyon’s airport is “LYS.” Is that a holdover from the “Lyons” spelling? My friend thought it might be, and so did I. But the airport is named after Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (who was born in Lyon). So the “S,” in all likelihood, stands for the author’s last name.
He is best known, surely, for The Little Prince. When I was in college, I loved Terre des hommes and Pilote de guerre. Those books are known in English as “Wind, Sand and Stars” and “Flight to Arras.” I would love to sit down and talk with Saint-Exupéry. But then, I would like to interview thousands, past and present (and future).
Thank you for joining me today, dear readers. Catch you soon.
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