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Obamacare Subsidies on Life Support & Transforming the Kennedy Center w Rick Grenell · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

0:01
Speaker 1: The Senate is staring down healthcare in a major battle,
0:06
Speaker 1: with Obamacare subsidies set to expire on purpose. Why are
0:12
Speaker 1: they set to expire because Democrats designed it that way. Now,
0:17
Speaker 1: you may ask yourself a question, why would they design
0:20
Speaker 1: a program to expire on purpose? It's pretty simple. Democrats
0:25
Speaker 1: were playing politics. They wanted this to be a political
0:31
Speaker 1: issue that if you don't vote for them, the Democratic Party,
0:35
Speaker 1: that then you can't afford your Obamacare, also known as
0:39
Speaker 1: the Affordable Care Act, which is anything but affordable. They
0:45
Speaker 1: created a crisis out of thin air, a crisis so
0:49
Speaker 1: that then when the midterms came around, they could say,
0:53
Speaker 1: you better stick with us, because otherwise you will lose
0:56
Speaker 1: the healthcare that we told you we were going to
0:59
Speaker 1: give you forever. It was a designed crisis. That's how
1:02
Speaker 1: evil the Democratic Party was with health care, and specifically
1:07
Speaker 1: with the subsidies around Obamacare. They also knew that Obamacare,
1:12
Speaker 1: the quote Affordable Care Act, was never going to be affordable.
1:14
Speaker 1: They knew from the very beginning. But what's happened since
1:18
Speaker 1: then is even worse. Democrats had figured out that their
1:22
Speaker 1: best donors could be the health care industry, insurance companies, hospitals,
1:27
Speaker 1: those that get paid with these guaranteed subsidies of Obamacare,
1:32
Speaker 1: and they would fill their campaign coffers with cash. Why
1:36
Speaker 1: because the Democratic Party was filling their bank accounts with
1:40
Speaker 1: guaranteed government payments at levels that even the insurance companies
1:45
Speaker 1: could have never imagined. So here we are with a
1:50
Speaker 1: crisis that was created by the Democrats on purpose, a
1:54
Speaker 1: crisis that was made for political reasons only and for
1:58
Speaker 1: reelection camps. And now we're dealing with a fallout. Senate
2:04
Speaker 1: negotiators are set for a high wire act this week
2:08
Speaker 1: on healthcare, and this is all happening. Wow. Many of
2:12
Speaker 1: them are leaving Washington for the holidays without a resolution
2:16
Speaker 1: on the expiring and hand subsidies, With lawmakers increasingly shifting
2:21
Speaker 1: into campaign mode as the calendar flips to the new year,
2:25
Speaker 1: it's an election year. The Chamber has been consumed for
2:28
Speaker 1: months by a fight over the future of expiring Affordable
2:31
Speaker 1: Care Act subsidies, which were at the center of that
2:35
Speaker 1: record breaking government shutdown. It was the Schumer shutdown. We
2:39
Speaker 1: all know that, with the subject of multiple votes and
2:43
Speaker 1: extensive negotiations in the week since, so that we don't
2:47
Speaker 1: have another government shutdown, in the new year. Now, the
2:51
Speaker 1: December thirty first deadline is set to come and go.
2:55
Speaker 1: A Bi Parson group of lawmakers is trying to keep
2:57
Speaker 1: those hopes alive that a deal could come together, but
3:01
Speaker 1: they're now facing numerous problems, chief among them bringing the
3:06
Speaker 1: fraud that has now been exposed under control, as well
3:11
Speaker 1: as the rhetoric from the left and those on the
3:14
Speaker 1: right that say we should never have done this in
3:16
Speaker 1: the first place. Quote, since the Obamacare passage, any conversation
3:23
Speaker 1: about anything on healthcare has been a big lift. That
3:27
Speaker 1: is what Senator James Langfort, a Republican from Oklahoma, said, saying, quote,
3:31
Speaker 1: everybody sees the problems, and at times my Democratic colleagues
3:35
Speaker 1: will admit, okay, yeah, that's a problem, but trying to
3:39
Speaker 1: vote on it has been tougher. So no matter what
3:42
Speaker 1: we do tweaking this thing, it's going to be hard. Now.
3:46
Speaker 1: The Senate voted on two competing healthcare proposals on December
3:51
Speaker 1: the eleventh. Both failed. Four Republicans even crossed the aisle
3:56
Speaker 1: to vote in favor of a Democratic bill to extend
3:58
Speaker 1: the subseas for three years, and centers on both sides
4:02
Speaker 1: of the aisle have spent the days since trying to
4:05
Speaker 1: pick up the pieces and find a new deal. Now
4:09
Speaker 1: there is a group now of nearly two dozen members
4:13
Speaker 1: occupying various political lanes across each party, that is convened
4:19
Speaker 1: with an eye towards, as they describe it, unveiling a
4:22
Speaker 1: possible deal, with some even indicating that hopes of a
4:25
Speaker 1: framework agreement could come by the end of the holiday
4:27
Speaker 1: work period and could be in theory past next month.
4:32
Speaker 1: Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, and then he would
4:36
Speaker 1: say a Republican in name only, and Bernie Marino, a
4:40
Speaker 1: Republican from Ohio. We're among the organizers of the big meeting. Now.
4:44
Speaker 1: Their bill is calling for just a two year extension
4:48
Speaker 1: of the Obamacare subsidies paired with conservative leaning reforms served
4:53
Speaker 1: as the basis of the discussion to get rid of
4:56
Speaker 1: some of the waste, fraud, and abuse that Democrats do
4:58
Speaker 1: not want to touch. Why because when there is fraud
5:02
Speaker 1: in the health care industry, it goes directly to the
5:04
Speaker 1: bottom line of the healthcare providers who are their biggest
5:07
Speaker 1: donors of the candidates and the Democratic Party running in
5:11
Speaker 1: these midterms. Now on Wednesday, and this went very much unreported.
5:17
Speaker 1: There was actually a group of House GOP centrists, so
5:21
Speaker 1: they're not really hardcore conservative, they're not Maga Conservatives who
5:25
Speaker 1: bucked their leadership of the Speaker Mike Johnson by signing
5:29
Speaker 1: into a Democratic effort to force a vote on extending
5:33
Speaker 1: the subsidies. Also met with a group of centers that
5:36
Speaker 1: tried to chart a path to a deal that could
5:38
Speaker 1: pass in both chambers, because that's part of the problem.
5:42
Speaker 1: If you get it down the Senate, you still have
5:43
Speaker 1: to get it done in the House. Now. Democrats in
5:46
Speaker 1: the Senate have also shied away from trying from tying,
5:50
Speaker 1: i should say, the healthcare battle to the looming government
5:54
Speaker 1: funding deadline at the end of January, giving talks a
5:57
Speaker 1: major boost. Now when it adjourned without reaching a healthcare
6:02
Speaker 1: framework for Christmas, that is problematic. Democrats present the first
6:08
Speaker 1: they described it bipartisan meeting last week. They knew that
6:12
Speaker 1: people were leaving town, so it was pretty much meaningless
6:16
Speaker 1: and it was a political stunt. And they said they
6:18
Speaker 1: were initially encouraged, as they described it, by the discussions,
6:22
Speaker 1: but they indicated that complications made striking a deal increasingly
6:27
Speaker 1: quote problematic. Quote There was a simple concept on the table.
6:32
Speaker 1: When we walked in, it was within the range of reason,
6:36
Speaker 1: but then it got more complicated. There was conceptionally might
6:40
Speaker 1: be well okay, but maybe or might not. That's how
6:43
Speaker 1: Senator Tim Caine, the Democrat from Virginia, said, labeling the
6:46
Speaker 1: meeting a quote productive discussion. He also said there was
6:50
Speaker 1: quote complicators in the room now. Attendees said that they
6:55
Speaker 1: expected future meetings, but whether they continued to push the
6:59
Speaker 1: ball up the field and keep talking during the two
7:02
Speaker 1: week holiday break remains an open question. Both sides also
7:08
Speaker 1: have political considerations that could scuttle discussions at any time.
7:12
Speaker 1: And then you've got numerous Republicans that have signaled that
7:15
Speaker 1: they have little to no appetite to vote for any
7:18
Speaker 1: type of extension of the enhanced subsidies, no matter the
7:22
Speaker 1: reforms that could make the package more palatable. Why it's
7:26
Speaker 1: a campaign issue, There's a lot to think Obamacare is
7:29
Speaker 1: well a total lie, and it's filled with fraud, and
7:33
Speaker 1: they're not going to keep paying for that level of fraud.
7:37
Speaker 1: They have also indicated that language concerning the High Amendment,
7:41
Speaker 1: which bars federal funds from going towards abortion and any
7:44
Speaker 1: healthcare package, also remains a major sticking point. Democrats are
7:51
Speaker 1: also quick to note that Republicans have, as they described it,
7:55
Speaker 1: continuously opposed the Affordable Care Act. Well, it's not affordable.
7:59
Speaker 1: That's one reason to appose it. And the Minority Party
8:02
Speaker 1: has indicated they plan to pen the blame because this
8:05
Speaker 1: is really all about politics, not about helping you on
8:09
Speaker 1: the GOP. For the premium hikes that millions of Americans
8:11
Speaker 1: are set to experience in the lead up to the midterms. Now,
8:15
Speaker 1: let me be clear, if you have a massive hike
8:18
Speaker 1: in the premiums going into the midterms, it will be
8:21
Speaker 1: blamed on the Republicans because people don't pay attention. We
8:28
Speaker 1: have a lot of idiots in this country that just
8:31
Speaker 1: love free stuff. They don't realize how much that free
8:35
Speaker 1: stuff costs, because nothing is free in healthcare. So here
8:40
Speaker 1: we are at a crossroads what Republicans do, and the
8:44
Speaker 1: President of United States of America has got to figure
8:46
Speaker 1: out a way to bring them all together. Now, before
8:51
Speaker 1: we get to the end of the story here with
8:55
Speaker 1: Donald Trump and what he has to figure out and
8:58
Speaker 1: really overcome, also think there's another aspect of this that
9:02
Speaker 1: you need to understand, and that is this part how
9:05
Speaker 1: broken it actually is. And this is why there are
9:09
Speaker 1: Republicans that do not want to just in essence, auto
9:13
Speaker 1: renew this thing, because the argument is, why would we
9:18
Speaker 1: reward waste, massive fraud and your tax dollar is going
9:25
Speaker 1: to insurance companies that are literally, as I would describe it,
9:30
Speaker 1: stealing from you. Let me give you some data that
9:33
Speaker 1: you're not going to hear anywhere else, and you should
9:35
Speaker 1: know this data. But you should also take this data
9:37
Speaker 1: and take the podcast and share it so other people
9:40
Speaker 1: hear this. Not only is Obamacare or the I'm going
9:44
Speaker 1: to probably call it more the Affordable Care Act because
9:46
Speaker 1: it's so insane that that's what they actually called it,
9:48
Speaker 1: the Affordable carect Like it's just lunacy. It is heavily subsidized.
9:55
Speaker 1: This thing is being propped up by your tax dollars
9:57
Speaker 1: at numbers you can't even get your head around. Now,
9:59
Speaker 1: Donald Trump wants the money to go directly to you,
10:02
Speaker 1: so that then you can spend the money on healthcare
10:04
Speaker 1: the way that you believe it should be done, so
10:06
Speaker 1: that these insurance companies don't keep screwing us through all
10:11
Speaker 1: the fraud and the fake accounts and the payments that
10:13
Speaker 1: are going right, that's that's the number one thing, all right.
10:18
Speaker 1: So let me give you some data here. Twenty four
10:21
Speaker 1: point three million people selected right or were auto re
10:26
Speaker 1: enrolled in the marketplace coverage in twenty twenty five. Now
10:31
Speaker 1: a big driver in the Advanced Premium Tax Credit known
10:35
Speaker 1: as the APTC. The report notes that twelve point eight
10:39
Speaker 1: million or more receive that subsidy in twenty twenty five
10:46
Speaker 1: compared to twenty twenty. People are asking the question where
10:50
Speaker 1: do these twelve point eight million people come from? Now?
10:54
Speaker 1: These enhanced subsidies are a massive budget item, all right,
10:57
Speaker 1: and their expiration is a clip. The Enhanced Premium Tax Credit.
11:03
Speaker 1: It was expanded under COVID, Right, it's no longer around.
11:07
Speaker 1: COVID's not around like it was. It was all done
11:10
Speaker 1: during the COVID era legislation and it was extended and
11:13
Speaker 1: they're scheduled to run out. They will expire at the
11:16
Speaker 1: end of this year. That's why there is this like
11:18
Speaker 1: the house is on fire moment. One major budget estimate,
11:22
Speaker 1: by the way, says that permanently extending the enhanced substis
11:26
Speaker 1: for COVID, which we don't have anymore. That's how broken
11:28
Speaker 1: the affordable carec They need subties for COVID, even though
11:31
Speaker 1: we're not dealing with COVID all right, could cost up
11:34
Speaker 1: to three hundred and fifty billion dollars through twenty thirty five.
11:39
Speaker 1: That is insanity. And the analysts also note that well
11:43
Speaker 1: over fifty billion of that cost flow two households above
11:48
Speaker 1: five x the poverty level. Let me give you an example.
11:52
Speaker 1: Some of these substies are going to families that make
11:54
Speaker 1: one hundred and sixty thousand dollars a year for a
11:56
Speaker 1: family of four this year. Is that where we're and
12:00
Speaker 1: this is how you get closer and closer to just
12:02
Speaker 1: straight up socialized medicine. You subsidize people at one hundred
12:07
Speaker 1: and sixty k with a family of four. They then
12:10
Speaker 1: learn to just rely on it, depend on it, They
12:12
Speaker 1: vote on it because they don't want to pay for
12:13
Speaker 1: their healthcare because it's going through the taxes. And then
12:16
Speaker 1: you have this big grand divide and you get very
12:18
Speaker 1: close to what I just described, which is socialized medicine.
12:22
Speaker 1: And we're on the verge of that just being the reality,
12:24
Speaker 1: which was the whole design of Obamacare. That's part of
12:28
Speaker 1: what you really need to understand, Like this was all
12:31
Speaker 1: a part of the design it was designed to fail
12:36
Speaker 1: so that the government would just take over the entire system. Now,
12:40
Speaker 1: without the enhanced subsidies, the affordability math worsens really fast. Okay,
12:47
Speaker 1: twenty twenty six premiums modeling finds that the marketplace premium
12:51
Speaker 1: payments would rise by one hundred and fourteen percent on average,
12:55
Speaker 1: meaning that fifty percent are above that level if the
12:58
Speaker 1: credits expired. That's about one thoy sixteen dollars a year.
13:03
Speaker 1: So the Coressional Budget Office says, look, the expiration not
13:08
Speaker 1: only would reduce substas in the enrollment, but it would
13:11
Speaker 1: raise the uninsured rate, which then would be blamed they
13:14
Speaker 1: believe on Donald Trump. That's why Democrats are willing to
13:17
Speaker 1: play this game of Russian roulette. They also said that
13:21
Speaker 1: not only would that happen, but literally millions could lose
13:23
Speaker 1: coverage because if Congress says nothing, then the money dries up,
13:28
Speaker 1: and then they're like, why can't afford it? And then
13:29
Speaker 1: the rates have gone through the roof because the rates
13:33
Speaker 1: that the insurance companies are charging have skyrocketed since the
13:38
Speaker 1: subseas came in, because they're like, well, we need to
13:40
Speaker 1: get our hands on more of this money. So now
13:43
Speaker 1: you're actually paying a rate that is egregious, that is
13:48
Speaker 1: unrealistic for the marketplace without the government subsidies. You following
13:54
Speaker 1: me here, the insurance company said, hey, we can grab
13:58
Speaker 1: billions of dollars. Let's keep raising the rates every year.
14:02
Speaker 1: The government will pay the rate increase guaranteed. We'll also
14:06
Speaker 1: have a bunch of dead people that are enrolling and
14:08
Speaker 1: people that have died that are still being enrolled in
14:10
Speaker 1: a bunch of fraudulent enrollment. That's all a fact. We
14:13
Speaker 1: know that as well. We are getting paid for people
14:16
Speaker 1: that never use their insurance. We're getting paid for people
14:19
Speaker 1: that don't even know they're actually enrolled in Obamacare, and
14:22
Speaker 1: so they never come into the hospital. And we get
14:25
Speaker 1: all that money without having to offer any coverage or
14:29
Speaker 1: actual service. And now you understand exactly why Democrats want
14:36
Speaker 1: this to keep going, because the insurance companies have basically said,
14:40
Speaker 1: we have a blank check for you. We will write
14:43
Speaker 1: you a check for you to get elected and get
14:45
Speaker 1: re elected, and we will write it for you forever
14:49
Speaker 1: as long as you let us keep getting the billions
14:52
Speaker 1: of dollars in government aid. These insurance companies are not
14:56
Speaker 1: running a business anymore. I want to be clear about that.
15:00
Speaker 1: They're running a full blown, shady as hell, corrupt business
15:08
Speaker 1: with a government check that keeps showing up. It's bribery.
15:13
Speaker 1: That's the best way I can describe it is it
15:15
Speaker 1: is bribery. Let me give you another example. The programs
15:20
Speaker 1: quote integrity and fraud vulnerabilities have been documented now for
15:26
Speaker 1: the first time. How bad is it. I'm going to
15:29
Speaker 1: quote for you the Liberal Washington Post. Okay, are you ready?
15:35
Speaker 1: This is the I'll say it again, the Liberal Washington Post.
15:43
Speaker 1: The Washington Post reported at broker scheme has now been
15:46
Speaker 1: tied to at least one hundred and eighty million and
15:49
Speaker 1: in proper federal subsidies, alongside findings including a GOA test
15:54
Speaker 1: showing weak verification controls in many cases. Now, this is
15:57
Speaker 1: just full blown fraud. How many people gone to jail
16:00
Speaker 1: so far that we know of? I don't think any.
16:03
Speaker 1: Usually when we find this level of fraud, what usually
16:05
Speaker 1: happens we don't get any Okay, body that actually goes
16:10
Speaker 1: to jail. This reminds me a lot of the housing
16:12
Speaker 1: crisis and the fraud that we found out was going
16:14
Speaker 1: on in the housing market, in the loan market, and
16:19
Speaker 1: what happened when there was the big crash in eight
16:21
Speaker 1: One guy went to jail because all of these bankers
16:27
Speaker 1: and all of these mortgage lenders that were in on
16:30
Speaker 1: this scheme. This just massive level of corruption, of waste, fraud,
16:37
Speaker 1: and abuse all got away with it. So is there
16:40
Speaker 1: any incentive to not do it again? No, there is
16:47
Speaker 1: zero incentive to not do it again. This is what
16:53
Speaker 1: President Trump is having to deal with. And the question
16:55
Speaker 1: that he's going to have to ask is how much
16:57
Speaker 1: money should go to subsidize them? Right, Like, there's two
17:02
Speaker 1: big buckets that are at the center of this subscy debate,
17:05
Speaker 1: right the premium tax credits, the monthly subsidies, that's the
17:08
Speaker 1: main affordability engine for the marketplace premiums, which if skyrocketed.
17:13
Speaker 1: And then the enhancement sub subsy expansion, the temporary larger
17:17
Speaker 1: credits that were done in the name of COVID that
17:19
Speaker 1: is three hundred and fifty billion we're talking about right
17:22
Speaker 1: now through twenty thirty five. I'm going to say it again,
17:25
Speaker 1: we can't afford this. We can't afford any of it.
17:29
Speaker 1: So how do you pull back? Okay, how do you
17:35
Speaker 1: pull back on this? That's the question that everybody needs
17:39
Speaker 1: to ask, and how do you do it without losing
17:42
Speaker 1: a midterm election is the bigger question on this. So
17:49
Speaker 1: Rick Gernell is a dear friend of mine. He is
17:52
Speaker 1: an American diplomat. You know him as a service to
17:55
Speaker 1: President Donald Trump and he served as an ambassador. He
17:59
Speaker 1: is now doing something that's truly incredible, and that is
18:03
Speaker 1: be the president the executive director of the Now Trump
18:07
Speaker 1: and John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Rick,
18:10
Speaker 1: you and I were trading messages and I said, this
18:13
Speaker 1: is the perfect time to have you on because many
18:15
Speaker 1: people are gonna get to see an incredible night this
18:18
Speaker 1: week on CBS from the Kennedy Center the Awards. It
18:21
Speaker 1: happens once a year. It's a great night. The presidents there,
18:25
Speaker 1: we get to honor Americans have done incredible things in
18:28
Speaker 1: the arts. And there's been a controversy beforehand as Democrats
18:34
Speaker 1: are trying to undermine what the President has done with
18:37
Speaker 1: the Kenney Center. And I thought, let's just tell the
18:39
Speaker 1: story of just how bad things were at the Kenney Center,
18:44
Speaker 1: all how much had been deferred in basic upkeep of
18:48
Speaker 1: that building. Why the President said I'm going to be
18:50
Speaker 1: on the board and have great board members and put
18:53
Speaker 1: you to be in charge because he wanted to bring
18:57
Speaker 1: it back to greatness. And now they're all losing their
18:59
Speaker 1: minds after we brought it back to greatness. But talk
19:02
Speaker 1: about what you inherited before we even get to the
19:04
Speaker 1: added name of Donald Trump on the building.
19:06
Speaker 2: Okay, great, well, Ben, thanks for having me. First of all,
19:08
Speaker 2: Tuesday night eight o'clock, you have to watch the Kennedy
19:13
Speaker 2: Center Honors, which is now the Trump Kennedy Center. So
19:16
Speaker 2: Tuesday at eight o'clock on CBS, it's going to be
19:18
Speaker 2: an amazing show. Look, Ben, when President Trump asked me
19:22
Speaker 2: to come in and help save the Kennedy Center, I
19:28
Speaker 2: arrived at the Kennedy Center at the time and we
19:32
Speaker 2: had no money in the bank. We were paying staff
19:36
Speaker 2: with debt reserves that we were saving up for a
19:39
Speaker 2: bond payment. In twenty thirty we had ninety four people
19:43
Speaker 2: in one department, the fundraising department, and it was truly bloated. Remember,
19:50
Speaker 2: the woman who had the job before me was getting
19:53
Speaker 2: paid one point four million dollars a year, and yet
19:58
Speaker 2: they couldn't keep up with the maintenance.
20:01
Speaker 1: So four million a year, who, like, how does that
20:05
Speaker 1: even happen?
20:06
Speaker 2: It's crazy. Look, Congress gives a little bit of money
20:11
Speaker 2: around thirty five million, sometimes up to forty million a
20:14
Speaker 2: year to maintain the building because it's a memorial to
20:19
Speaker 2: John F. Kennedy. So there's two things that happened. There's
20:23
Speaker 2: a huge staff that's paid through fundraising, and then there's
20:27
Speaker 2: a very small staff that just care takes the building
20:30
Speaker 2: and the memorial part, and they get somewhere between thirty
20:35
Speaker 2: five and forty million a year from Congress for that.
20:39
Speaker 2: They were not using that money to keep the building up.
20:43
Speaker 2: When I arrived, the roof was leaking, the pipes were
20:48
Speaker 2: bursting below. We constantly had floods. Most of the elevators
20:54
Speaker 2: did not work. The water fountains out front did not work.
20:59
Speaker 2: The seats were collapsing. We literally had infrastructure falling on cars.
21:04
Speaker 2: When you drive underneath the Kennedy Center, the safetts and
21:08
Speaker 2: the concrete were falling on cars. The building people actually
21:12
Speaker 2: suggested that we tear the building down and start over,
21:16
Speaker 2: that the deferred maintenance was so bad for so long
21:21
Speaker 2: that we should start over. So I brought President Trump
21:23
Speaker 2: over as the great builder and took him through the
21:27
Speaker 2: whole building. We went to the bottom of the building.
21:29
Speaker 2: We saw the pipes, we saw the infrastructure, and looked
21:35
Speaker 2: at the roof, and he said, this is bad, but
21:38
Speaker 2: it can be fixed. We don't have to tear the
21:39
Speaker 2: building down. And by the time he left the Kennedy
21:42
Speaker 2: Center and went driving back to the White House, he
21:45
Speaker 2: had called multiple members of Congress to say, I want
21:49
Speaker 2: two hundred and fifty million dollars to save the Kennedy Center. Now,
21:52
Speaker 2: look at that point, I think Democrats should have celebrated
21:55
Speaker 2: a Republican trying to save an arts institution, but they did.
22:01
Speaker 2: President Trump then launched the fundraising portion for staff and programming,
22:07
Speaker 2: which you cannot use any of that two hundred and
22:09
Speaker 2: fifty million for anything but the building. It would be
22:12
Speaker 2: a moral to do that. It would be what the
22:14
Speaker 2: Democrats did of trying to take their little bit of
22:18
Speaker 2: money that was supposed to be for the building and
22:20
Speaker 2: not use it for the building. So we wanted to
22:23
Speaker 2: commit to bringing the building back to a beautiful place.
22:27
Speaker 2: We've already been doing that in the ten months that
22:30
Speaker 2: I've been there. We now have more money being raised
22:34
Speaker 2: for programming, a huge amount of money for the building renovation.
22:39
Speaker 2: We've started on the renovations We've already done a tonnel painting.
22:43
Speaker 2: The water fountains are working, the elevators are working. We're
22:46
Speaker 2: redoing the marble, redoing the seats, redoing all of the
22:50
Speaker 2: things that should have been done. One of the things
22:53
Speaker 2: that is crazy to me is that the Kennedy family,
22:57
Speaker 2: who is complaining now about the money being poured in
23:01
Speaker 2: from Donald Trump, they're not thanking him. They're complaining that
23:05
Speaker 2: a Republican has come in and is getting credit, and
23:08
Speaker 2: the board is giving Donald Trump credit for all of this.
23:12
Speaker 2: They were nowhere to be found. I don't want to
23:14
Speaker 2: call anybody out specifically, but I can tell who's given
23:19
Speaker 2: money to the Kennedy Center, and it's not coming from
23:22
Speaker 2: the Kennedy family. And so this outrage is unbelievable in
23:28
Speaker 2: that they should be thanking Donald Trump for saving the
23:33
Speaker 2: former Kennedy Center, and when the board says, let's make
23:36
Speaker 2: it the Trump Kennedy Center because now it's bipartisan. Now
23:40
Speaker 2: it's a recognition that Republicans and Democrats should both be
23:46
Speaker 2: making this a priority. They should celebrate this, they should
23:50
Speaker 2: totally celebrate, but instead they're.
23:52
Speaker 1: You mentioned bipartisan. That's the part. When I was on
23:55
Speaker 1: TV the other night on CNN about this, like and
23:57
Speaker 1: they're losing their minds. I just laugh because I'm like,
24:00
Speaker 1: this is used to be The Kenny Center used to
24:02
Speaker 1: be the hottest ticket in town. When I was there
24:04
Speaker 1: at the Bush administration, it was. It was a hot ticket.
24:07
Speaker 1: It slowly started to lose its luster. I mean, I
24:11
Speaker 1: go back to Charlie Wilson's War if you've ever seen
24:13
Speaker 1: the movie true story, he just wanted to be on
24:15
Speaker 1: the board of the Candy Center because he won the
24:17
Speaker 1: tickets because it was such a hot item. And then
24:19
Speaker 1: it had become an afterthought and forgotten. And that's part
24:22
Speaker 1: of what you guys have done at the Kenny Center
24:24
Speaker 1: is turned it into the hottest ticket in town. By
24:28
Speaker 1: bringing in people that that people want to a go
24:32
Speaker 1: and see. You're also having people that want to have
24:34
Speaker 1: their events at the venue, which is so important. It's
24:37
Speaker 1: an incredible venue. It's right there on the on the river.
24:40
Speaker 1: It's unbelievable to walk out on that balcony and just
24:44
Speaker 1: c DC. It's an amazing a.
24:48
Speaker 2: Truly, it's an underutilized space. Yes, underutilized, because look, one
24:54
Speaker 2: thing to be clear, when when I arrived, the programming
24:59
Speaker 2: was really bad. The ticket sales were in the tank.
25:03
Speaker 2: Every single arts institution across this country is struggling with
25:07
Speaker 2: ticket sales. As matter of fact, two months ago the
25:09
Speaker 2: New York Times, which I seldom quote, The New York
25:12
Speaker 2: Times had a front page paper that said Broadway is dying.
25:14
Speaker 2: Nobody's buying Broadway tickets. This is a phenomenon that's been
25:18
Speaker 2: happening across arts institutions. But what they don't realize is
25:22
Speaker 2: that the reason why arts institutions are struggling is because
25:26
Speaker 2: the programming is so far left and woke that it
25:30
Speaker 2: doesn't capture the public's mind or corporate America, who should
25:35
Speaker 2: be funding these things.
25:36
Speaker 1: I do love, by the way, before you get back
25:38
Speaker 1: to the ticket sales, Rick that they were like. The
25:42
Speaker 1: question they asked me on CNN was, well, I mean,
25:44
Speaker 1: what's next, You're going to put his name on the
25:46
Speaker 1: Lincoln Memorial or the Jefferson Memorial or the Washington Monument,
25:49
Speaker 1: name of the Trump money. The level of Trump arrangement
25:53
Speaker 1: syndrome over this is truly impressive. Yeah.
25:56
Speaker 2: Look, my reaction when I get that is well, I
26:00
Speaker 2: think the Jefferson and the Lincoln and the Washington have
26:03
Speaker 2: been maintained and so nobody needs to save them.
26:07
Speaker 1: That's a that's a great point. So you get there
26:11
Speaker 1: and were I want to go back to ticket sales.
26:13
Speaker 1: That was one of the big problems. The building had
26:15
Speaker 1: gone down, The ticket sales had gone down. You guys
26:18
Speaker 1: inherited a disaster and deferred maintenance had never been done correct.
26:23
Speaker 2: And look, arts institutions are struggling with ticket sales, every
26:26
Speaker 2: single one across them the country, and it's because most
26:30
Speaker 2: of the arts institutions push programming that corporate America and
26:35
Speaker 2: donors don't want to participate in. And so what we
26:39
Speaker 2: did is we said to corporate America and to our donors,
26:42
Speaker 2: you're never going to be embarrassed by what we're bringing.
26:46
Speaker 2: It's going to be big, common sense programming we're bringing.
26:49
Speaker 2: We brought in Stuttgart Ballet, We're bringing in the Vienna Philharmonic.
26:54
Speaker 2: We've got Chicago the Musical coming, we had Ley miz
26:58
Speaker 2: We're doing the big Commons programming. We do have a
27:02
Speaker 2: problem in that the left and Democrats are boycotting it
27:06
Speaker 2: right now, which is unbelievable when you think about boycotting
27:10
Speaker 2: an arts institution, because Republicans are putting money into it.
27:13
Speaker 2: But we're not going to go backwards. We're not going
27:15
Speaker 2: to go back to the days where we can't pay
27:17
Speaker 2: our bills. And what I've decided to do is not
27:21
Speaker 2: only look at ticket sales, because you can't pay for
27:23
Speaker 2: programming with just ticket sales. We have nineteen unions at
27:27
Speaker 2: the Trump Kennedy Center, and that makes every programming extremely expensive.
27:32
Speaker 2: And so what I say is, between donors, Corporate America
27:38
Speaker 2: and ticket sales, you got to get me to revenue
27:41
Speaker 2: neutral in order to do these programs because we can't
27:44
Speaker 2: go in debt by doing these things. Now. I believe
27:47
Speaker 2: in arts education, and when we get a little bit
27:49
Speaker 2: of money, we can do the niche programming that educates
27:53
Speaker 2: people about the arts, new forms of art that they
27:56
Speaker 2: haven't quite been accustomed to. But when you have niche programming,
28:01
Speaker 2: then you get big donors who say, I believe in this,
28:05
Speaker 2: and I'm going to write you a check.
28:07
Speaker 1: Right. That's my passion, right, that's my passion project. And
28:10
Speaker 1: this is the saying is so important to me. I
28:12
Speaker 1: want to write a check because I think this should
28:14
Speaker 1: be expanded and introduced to others. And that's exactly again,
28:17
Speaker 1: how you run an essence and nonprofit. You find people
28:20
Speaker 1: that are passionate about it, which is something that I
28:22
Speaker 1: had died at the Kenney Center with their funding.
28:25
Speaker 2: You can't pay someone one point four million dollars who
28:29
Speaker 2: then tries to come up with some crazy programming like
28:32
Speaker 2: an all lesbian cast of a Fellow. You can't do
28:36
Speaker 2: programming like that because Corporate America says they're not coming.
28:39
Speaker 2: But since we've been there and we've promised corporate America
28:42
Speaker 2: that it's big, common sense programming, we have seen fundraising
28:47
Speaker 2: shoot through the roof. Again. We still have Democrats who
28:51
Speaker 2: say we're boycotting with ticket sales, but an arts reporter
28:57
Speaker 2: that covers you know, arts programming in Washington, d C.
29:01
Speaker 2: They've never ever done a story about plummeting ticket sales
29:06
Speaker 2: ever until we came. And then suddenly they are saying, oh, well,
29:11
Speaker 2: ticket sales aren't doing well. Well, correct, but ticket sales
29:15
Speaker 2: have been really dying, as the New York Times pointed out,
29:18
Speaker 2: with Broadway and all arts institutions, they've been struggling. What
29:23
Speaker 2: we have shown is that when you fix the programming,
29:25
Speaker 2: corporate America comes with really big checks, and then financially
29:30
Speaker 2: you can if you're responsible with staffing, you can do
29:34
Speaker 2: the big programming, and arts institutions can work. I think
29:37
Speaker 2: this is an example. President Trump has given arts institutions
29:41
Speaker 2: across the country an example be bipartisan fix the programming
29:46
Speaker 2: so that you invite corporate America in and that is
29:49
Speaker 2: how you're going to be able to have good theater
29:51
Speaker 2: and good programming.
29:52
Speaker 1: Well, let's talk about that quickly, the by person aspect
29:55
Speaker 1: of this, because I do think that's the part that's
29:57
Speaker 1: really incredible. You're bringing in amazing acts that are nonpartisan
30:01
Speaker 1: acts and the Democrats are refusing to show it because
30:03
Speaker 1: they want this to fail. The same people that demand
30:06
Speaker 1: more money for the arts. This is the biggest stage
30:09
Speaker 1: for the arts, and they're saying no all because a
30:12
Speaker 1: Republican is the one doing it. If that isn't the
30:15
Speaker 1: definition of insanity and hypocrisy, I don't know what is.
30:19
Speaker 2: Well, I'll tell you one thing. This is a test
30:21
Speaker 2: for Democrats because if they try and kill a bipartisan
30:26
Speaker 2: arts institution like this by refusing to participate and refusing
30:30
Speaker 2: to do ticket sales and refusing to do a long
30:34
Speaker 2: term buying of tickets like through sponsorships, then they are
30:39
Speaker 2: going to send the message to Republicans, you're not welcome
30:42
Speaker 2: at arts institutions. They then will when Democrats take over Washington,
30:47
Speaker 2: whenever that may be, they are going to make it
30:50
Speaker 2: far left end and disinvite the Republicans, and we will
30:55
Speaker 2: be back to arts institutions that pay one point four
30:59
Speaker 2: million dollars in a say salary, with bloated bureaucracy and
31:03
Speaker 2: then deferred maintenance problems. And look, when I arrived in
31:08
Speaker 2: we have no money in the bank zero. Today we're
31:11
Speaker 2: financially doing really well, and we're paying back all of
31:16
Speaker 2: that debt reserve and all of the monies that we
31:19
Speaker 2: digged in that we dug in and spent that we
31:21
Speaker 2: shouldn't have been spending on Rick.
31:23
Speaker 1: It's an incredible success story. Congratulations. I look forward to
31:26
Speaker 1: being at the Kennedy Center soon and what you guys
31:29
Speaker 1: are doing is amazing and I can't wait take my
31:31
Speaker 1: picture in front of a bipartisan sign with the last
31:33
Speaker 1: name Trump and Kennedy on it. It's incredible, it really is.
31:37
Speaker 1: And I hope everybody will grab this interview shared on
31:40
Speaker 1: social media. You know the background now of the Trump
31:43
Speaker 1: Kennedy Center. Don't forget share this podcast wherever you can
31:47
Speaker 1: with your family and your friends, and I'll see you
31:49
Speaker 1: back here tomorrow