Trump BLINDSIDED as PERFORMER QUITS and WINS IN COURT!!!

Another major loss for Donald Trump as. I'm sure you know as numerous musical. acts were quitting. on Donald Trump after he unlawfully. seized control of the Kennedy Center and. then unlawfully renamed it the Trump. Kennedy Center. Well, Trump took very. vindictive action and started to sue a. lot of these acts including musicians. who were providing free concerts like. free jazz shows to the community and. said you better play your free jazz.

show. So, a very well-known jazz. musician, Chuck Redd, who's been doing. free concerts at the Kennedy Center. since 2006, said I ain't playing at something called. the Trump Kennedy Center that you're. like unlawfully taking over. So, I'm not. going to do that. And then, even though. this guy was not making money on it, was. like a free concert, then the Trump. regime like sued them. Like the Kennedy. Center sued Chuck Redd and said no, we're forcing you to play. And Chuck.

Redd is like, well, I'm going to file an. anti-SLAPP motion to dismiss. Like, I. don't You can't force me to to do music. for free. I don't have a contract with. you either. I've just been playing since. 2006 on a recurring basis. There's no. contract that was signed. Like, what. what the heck are you doing? So, Trump. tried to use the Kennedy Center. Just. think about this. This place of joy, of. music, of art, of. cultural celebration now becomes a Trump. litigant suing jazz musicians and others.

for basically performing for free. Not. everyone performed for free, but Chuck. Redd happened to be doing free jazz. performances since 2006. Sued the guy. And so, and so Chuck Redd had to hire a. lawyer. In June, Chuck Redd won a motion to. dismiss and under what's called an. anti-SLAPP statute, the lawsuit that was. filed against him by the Kennedy Center. was dismissed. And now, over the past. day or so,

uh Charles Red, Chuck Red, just won. $250,000. in attorney's fees for prevailing in the. lawsuit that was a improper lawsuit. So, just the very idea that you have the. John F. Kennedy Center for the. Performing Arts versus Charles Red, a. guy providing free jazz concerts since. 2006 to force him to play. And their. response was, "You can't force me to. sing. You can't I don't have a contract. with you. And even if I did have a.

contract with you, there's no. consideration. I'm I'm playing for free. If I don't want to play, I'm not going. to play. What are you talking about?". And so, the judge granted the motion to. dismiss, then said, "File a motion for. attorney's fees." So, not only is the. Kennedy Center losing here, but now they. owe Charles Red attorney's fees. It's. just more losing over and over again. I. want to bring in Harry Litman from the. Talking Feds YouTube channel. And so, Harry, we were covering a lot of. especially the states back to February.

of 2025. One of Trump's first acts. of the authoritarian is take over the. cultural center. I remember back in. February I had Ben Folds, the musician. who led one of the main orchestra. Yeah. And so, he was telling me why he quit. right away. And then we saw numerous. other musical acts and performers and. Hamilton. There were so many different. acts that were saying, "We're not we're. not performing here. If you're going to. turn this into like a political.

authoritarian fascist thing." But what. we didn't really follow, which we we've. been following it, but we should get the. updates on is then Trump used the. Kennedy Center to start suing all of. these people. And some of them were. doing free concerts like this guy do. He's like, "You're suing me for doing. free you know." And just a perversion of. the arts. by Trump into this not just, you know, fascist thing, but then suing it for a. guy who was just who was giving back to. the community. It's actually deeply.

sick. Who even thinks about doing a lawsuit. like that? To see JFK versus Charles. Red, but the right outcome happened and. yet it's another loss for Trump. You. stand up to Trump, you win. You don't. get bullied by this guy. You can't be. forced to play your jazz music. It's. sick. >> Well, that's true, but I am First, I. really like the way you frame this, Ben. It's, you know, a place. It really has been from its start a. leading national theater and place of.

art and movies. It's a jewel in the. overall national landscape, not. Republican, not Democrat. You've. probably been to events there. They're. really thoughtful. And he just came in. and inevitably just pisses all over it. and ruins the whole thing. Even if had. he been successful, just everything. Trump touches dies. And that's the sort. of. kind of first, I think, lesson here.

Then after that, of course, the. meritless suits start and he now he has. enemies and he wants to harm his enemies. even though he doesn't have a legal leg. to stand on and they, you know, I'm. playing a free concert. I I was. I wrote a piece about Philip Glass's. decision to pull out, you know, I'm. doing this thing about Lincoln and the. Civil War. The Trump Kennedy Center just.

That is not the kind of. framing I want to give it. It really. changes things. And of That's the very. reason he's doing it, to somehow. partake and especially, you know, Kennedy, I think, has this sort of. patina of sophistication. and aristocracy, and exactly the kind of. thing that Trump has never been able to. penetrate. And it's just been so.

petty and tawdry and antithetical to. what the place is there for. And plus, you had there were there would have been. good reason he had he even not put his. name on things. You had testimony after. testimony how he freaking ruined the. place from the time it's a little bit. like dodge comes to the Kennedy Center. He they get rid of certain programming, and they try to bring in others and just.

dumb down and Trump down the whole. thing. And now, so on this one, suing a. guy who plays free jazz, as you say. And. anti-SLAPP, that's a really pretty tough. medicine that the judge here doled out. You use it, and it gives a whole. series of quick remedies, including. defense. fees, legal fees, when someone you.

the court determines has brought an. action basically just to retaliate for. First Amendment speech, for protected. speech. So, he's he's making this point, and it really is a classic kind of I. don't This is not I don't want my. performance to be linked with this. president, whose policies I oppose, etc. Here comes lawsuit, and it and it was. really meant to humiliate, make grovel, cough up money, and the like. And so, it.

was a fitting instance for it. And. you're right. People who stand up to. them, we've seen it again and again, they tend to prevail. And it's almost always the right move. But, I you know, this one to me, I think. of even outside the legal system, just. American is it's a little bit like say. the East Wing and the arc, the way he. wants to just, you know, completely.

demolish. the American spirit and architecture, art, and the like, and make it some kind. of gaudy billboard and permanent. artifact for Donald Trump, you know? The. the notion from Washington that. presidents are temporary occupants of. the White House, not and then kings are. the ones who stay there permanently. So, it's part of that piece, and I find it.

especially despicable that he would do. it while, you know, just completely This. is a really important national. institution bringing great artistic. stuff and putting for free to the the. people, and here comes Donald Trump to. just, you know, completely. ruin it. And who knows now, right, when. it'll. Finally, his his name's been wiped off, although they still didn't want the.

people to see it. The whole damn thing. is Trump at his sort of bad taste, third-grade, pusillanimous, uh worst, in addition to being, you. know, legally bankrupt. >> Just seeing John F. Kennedy Center for. Performing Arts against a jazz artist. who performed for free to the community. to bring joy to people who didn't have a. written contract, either. And even if he.

did, it was a free concert where under any. normal situation. If you don't want to. play the free concert, I'm not going to. force you to play. What are you going to. have? Specific fascist performances. because specific performance for you. must play your jazz or or or else. So, one of the things that I argued early. on, too, for a lot of these artists, these artists believed they were playing. at the JFK Center, not the Trump JFK. Center. And, you know, it's it's to me.

it's like even if you lend your musical. talents to that perversion, you could be. endorsing something that was eventually. adjudicated to be illegal, you know, by. by by by being there. So, even the. people who had written contracts, to me, there was an easy contractual out, you. know, after all of these things took. place. But, um. just shows you what terror I mean, this.

is just like it's it's a small story, but it exemplifies every it it has. really big ramifications. And for Chuck. Reed, it was a big story. It impacted. his life. You know, he was in a. litigation. He had to hire lawyers. He. had to deal with all of this. You know, this crap from this you know, from this. JFK from this perversion of the JFK. Center that I think still has the it's. still being covered up by the Trump. >> Yeah, I think that's right. Yeah, I. mean, look, that's it. exactly. The small story, but so,

you know, emblematic. And, you you just. think of what it kind of demonstrates to. the American people. You know, he's. always at his most pitiful when he's. trying to recruit musicians or artists. to Now, I think it's true that artists. might lean left, but I don't think. that's the only thing going on. They. don't want to they'll show up, but they. don't want to be made to be little. dancing monkeys in support of any.

presidential candidate and that's what. Trump tries to do and that's why you. know you see him you know scrounging for. the likes of you know I forget the two. or three fourth rate. I'll take back the fourth rate but the. two or three artists he's able to to. bring in. when these things happen you know it's. because who the hell wants to work for a. PT Barnum dishonest figure like this it.

just demeans the artist as well as the. event. >> Everybody subscribe to Harry Litman's. YouTube channel it's called Talking. Feds. So just search on YouTube Talking. Feds go watch one of the Harry videos. and tell him that Ben said hello. You. can even say WTF America. That's the. name of the book with my brothers but. make sure you subscribe to Harry's. YouTube channel. Thanks Harry. >> Thank you Ben. >> Hey, if you want the full story how. democracy got here and how we take it. back pre-order our new book WTF America.

today. Just scan the QR code or click. the link in the description. Let's do. this. >> [music]. [music].