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Trump, 79, Has Deranged Rant About ‘Grass’ at Kennedy Center

The president’s comments come as he asserts federal control in Washington D.C.

President Donald Trump embarked on a bizarre rant about grass as he spruiked plans to renovate the Kennedy Center and beautify the nation’s capital.

Speaking at the performing arts precinct on Wednesday, the 79-year-old suddenly pivoted from announcing recipients of the Kennedy Center’s annual awards, to musing about “fixing up” Washington, D.C.

“We’re going to make it so beautiful again,” the former real estate mogul told reporters and guests.

“We’re going to be redoing the parks, redoing the grass. You know, grass is a lifetime, like people have a lifetime, and the lifetime of this grass has long been gone. When you look at the parks where the grass is: all tired, exhausted.

“We’re going to redo the grass with the finest grasses. I know a lot about grass because I own a lot of golf courses—and if you don’t have good grass, you’re not in business very long.”

Trump’s meandering reflections on the importance of grass came as he paid homage to some of his 1980s heroes, nominating several for this year’s Kennedy Center awards.

Among them were Hollywood actor and Trump supporter Sylvester Stallone; Phantom of the Opera star Michael Crawford; disco queen Gloria Gaynor; and country crooner George Strait.

Legendary rock band KISS was also nominated—despite lead singer Paul Stanley once slamming Trump’s efforts to subvert the 2020 election in Georgia as “abhorrent”; “mob boss behavior” and “a true danger to our democracy.”

However, Trump described the band as “incredible people” before veering to the topic of the renovations he helped progress as the newly appointed chairman of the center’s board.

“Look at the quality of the marble,” Trump said mid-speech as he looked up at the ceiling and surveyed the room.

“These columns, when you see them the next time, they’ll be magnificent… The bones are so good. The bones of a building, if you don’t have the bones, you might as well forget it.”

Trump has long viewed the Kennedy Center to be a storied institution in “tremendous despair” due to what he claimed was bad management.

This is also how he has viewed Washington D.C. more broadly, fueling his desire to assert control of the nation’s capital, both physically and politically.

Plans unveiled this week include deploying the National Guard, federalizing the metropolitan police and threatening to remove homeless people—particularly along streets that Trump’s motorcade passes to and from the White House.

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The president has also put his personal stamp on the White House itself, paving over the Rose Garden with stone tiles and yellow umbrellas, adding gold embellishments to the Oval Office, and announcing plans for a $200m ballroom reminiscent of his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

“We’re fixing it up so beautifully,” Trump said of his White House revamp on Wednesday.

“It needed it. It’s been many, many years since it’s been properly taken care of. It’s incredible—one of the great places of the world.”

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Farrah TomazinPolitical Correspondent

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