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President Donald Trump presents Gene Simmons, a member of the band Kiss, with his Kennedy Center Honors medal in the Oval Office on Dec. 6, 2025. | Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP | EMCEE-IN-CHIEF: President Donald Trump has gone to great lengths to remake Washington in his image during his second presidency — often in historic and unprecedented fashion. Tonight, Trump is set to break yet another norm when he plays host at the 48th Kennedy Center Honors, marking the first time a president has presided over the event. The emcee duties typically have fallen to a more traditional media figure, like Walter Cronkite, or a celebrity like Stephen Colbert or Queen Latifah. It is also a break from Trump’s previous posture toward the event, which he did not attend at any point during his first term. At a dinner for the honorees held by the State Department last night, Trump said he was hosting “at the request of a certain television network.” (The broadcast is set to air on CBS and Paramount+ on Dec. 23.) The honorees: This year, the crop of celebrities being christened comprises Sylvester Stallone, George Strait, Gloria Gaynor, Michael Crawford and the band KISS. The inductees received their medallions (which have a brand-new design this year courtesy of Tiffany & Co.) during an Oval Office ceremony last night, where Trump heaped praise on the “incredible” honorees. “These are among the greatest artists, actors and performers of their generation. The greatest that we’ve seen,” Trump said. “We can hardly imagine the country music phenomena without its king of country, or American disco without its first lady, or Broadway without its phantom — and that was a phantom, let me tell you — or rock and roll without its hottest band in the world, and that’s what they are, or Hollywood without one of its greatest visionaries.” But even the selection process was upended this year by Trump. In the past, the honorees have been chosen by the Kennedy Center board over a period of months. But Trump — who elevated himself to chair of the Kennedy Center and installed a group of loyalists on the board — said in August that he was “about 98% involved” in putting this group together. He claimed that he denied “a couple of wokesters” that were proposed by the board and praised Stallone as a friend. As for the other honorees, it’s unclear where exactly they fall on the political spectrum. “Strait and Gaynor have said little about their politics, although Federal Election Commission records show that Gaynor has given money to Republican organizations in recent years,” AP’s Darlene Superville and Hillel Italie write. “Kiss co-founder Gene Simmons spoke favorably of Trump when Trump ran for president in 2016,” they add, while noting that he had choice words for Trump in 2022. In keeping with long-running tradition, the names of those who will deliver performances in honor of the awardees is being kept secret until the program tonight. But the Trump-led “upheaval at the Kennedy Center has led to questions about who will be there this year,” NPR’s Elizabeth Blair writes. “Historically, even when artists have disagreed with past administrations, they've in large part showed up. Some make it a point to come every year.” The event tonight will cap off a weekend during which Trump has put the Kennedy Center on display following the FIFA World Cup 2026 draw held there on Friday that brought delegations in from across the globe and saw Trump receive the organization’s inaugural peace prize from FIFA President Gianni Infantino. Tonight offers Trump a chance to revel in the pomp — and the former TV star’s confident that his stage presence will deliver. “It’s going to be something that I believe, and I’m going to make a prediction: This will be the highest-rated show that they’ve ever done and they’ve gotten some pretty good ratings, but there’s nothing like what’s going to happen,” Trump said yesterday. And it’s safe to say that he won’t be taking cues from some Hollywood host types. “I’ve watched some of the people that host. Jimmy Kimmel was horrible,” Trump said. “If I can’t beat out Jimmy Kimmel in terms of talent, then I don’t think I should be president.” (Kimmel has never hosted the Kennedy Center Honors, though he’s emceed events like the Oscars and the AMAs.) — SPOTTED at yesterday’s Kennedy Center Honors Medallion Reception hosted at the State Department: Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, U.S. Ambassador to India Sergio Gor, Ambassador and Chief of Protocol Monica Crowley, Richard Grenell, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, George Strait, Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Peter Criss, Gloria Gaynor, Michael Crawford, Sylvester Stallone, Tiffany Trump, Kelsey Grammer, Stephen and Katie Miller, Robert Kraft and Norah O’Donnell. NOT BY THE BOOK: “Trump’s Presidential Library Will Be an ‘Icon.’ But Will It Be a Library?” by Luke Mullins for POLITICO Magazine: “Forget glamor-free presidential libraries in towns like Little Rock or Grand Rapids. Sometime after 2029, enthusiasts might be able to take in a facility whose possible elements include a 47-story tower, a hotel, a rooftop restaurant, and a prime perch in the Miami skyline. Donald Trump’s presidential library, like Donald Trump’s presidency, is already breaking molds — and it hasn’t even been commissioned yet. “The hype around the building gathered force back in September, when Trump’s son Eric — a trustee of The Donald J. Trump Presidential Library Foundation — announced the location, proclaiming the library would be ‘one of the most beautiful buildings ever built’ and ‘an Icon on the Miami skyline.’ No official plans have been released, but in conversations with Florida power players, local activists, real estate pros and Trump insiders familiar with the discussions, it appears that the project is shaping up to be a lot more glamorous, a lot pricier, and a whole lot more lucrative than the libraries of his predecessors.”
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Learn more. | | | | SUNDAY BEST … — Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) on the Affordable Care Act subsidies fight on “Fox News Sunday”: “[I]f we do continue the subsidies, you can put that over here, 100 percent going to the patient, and put it into a health savings account. … Off the bat, that's a better thing. Let's give the American people the choice ... We've got to do it by next year. We can do this by next year. So, I've been talking to Democrats. There's absolute interest.” On the vaccine advisory board’s recent vote to alter Hep B vaccine requirements for newborns: “If the system is that every mother is offered this vaccine, and every child is offered this vaccine, not a mandate, it's a recommendation, then the insurance company pays for it, it's recommended, and she can elect to have it. By the way, it is safe … there's no side effects, and it's effective. Let's give the mama the ability to give the gift to her child of protection against hepatitis B. She may not know her hepatitis B status, and the doctors may not know. But if they're all offered, it works.” — White House border czar Tom Homan on ICE detainments of legal citizens on CNN’s “State of the Union”: “I think there's been zero U.S. citizens that have been detained for questioning because reasonable suspicion said they may be in the country illegally. They may have an issue with that, but as soon as that questioning is over, if they're a U.S. citizen, they will be released.” More from POLITICO’s Cheyanne Daniels — Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah) on Trump’s immigration crackdown on CNN’s “State of the Union”: “If I were mayor, the very first thing I would do is, I'd sit down with ICE and I say, I want the bad guys out of my city and I want my citizens to feel safe. Now let's do that. And too much of that isn't happening. … I think, to the extent that ICE is not transparent, it brings this fear into a community, and we have got to get rid of that fear. We have got to get rid of the bad guys and to be compassionate at the same time. We can do it.” TOP-EDS: A roundup of the week’s must-read opinion pieces.
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The unusually small group includes Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. | Yuri Gripas/ABACA | 9 THINGS FOR YOUR RADAR 1. THE CIRCLE OF TRUST: In a year that has seen an intense focus on foreign affairs for the White House, Trump “has entrusted only a handful of his closest advisers to tackle his most important foreign policy priorities from Russia to the Middle East. Even as their portfolio expands – now including a possible strike on Venezuela – the group remains small,” POLITICO’s Diana Nerozzi and Eli Stokols report. “It’s a mark of the president’s unyielding belief in his inner circle made up of old friends, family and confidants, and underscores his deep distrust of the broader national security and State Department apparatus that has served as the backbone of foreign relations for decades. The unusually small group includes Trump’s long-time real estate friend Steve Witkoff, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and chief of staff Susie Wiles.” 2. CARLSON IN QATAR: Conservative media host Tucker Carlson said today that he’s buying a place in Qatar. The announcement, made onstage at the Doha Forum as Carlson interviewed Qatar’s prime minister, comes as Carlson has faced withering criticism from MAGA stalwart Laura Loomer for his ties to the Arab state, POLITICO’s Nahal Toosi writes in from the forum. Carlson said he’s buying property in Doha “because I like the city. I think it’s beautiful, but also to make the statement that I’m an American and a free man, and I’ll be wherever I want to be.” Carlson pressed the Qatari leader, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, about his country’s links to Hamas. It’s an old but sensitive subject. Al Thani stressed that Qatar has hosted Hamas leaders for years at the request of Israel and the U.S., and that doing so helped mediate a ceasefire in Gaza. Carlson, who is skeptical of U.S. ties with Israel, pointed out that Israel recently bombed Doha (targeting Hamas). He also questioned why wealthy Arab states such as Qatar should be asked to pay to rebuild Gaza given that Israel destroyed much of the enclave. Loomer has used her influential social media accounts to blast Carlson and others in conservative circles for showing up in Doha. Loomer’s attacks on Carlson have gotten some back-up from GOP Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. Donald Trump Jr. also attended the forum, but has drawn a more sympathetic reaction from Loomer: “I worry about the Trump family being exploited by anti-American Muslims who seek to destroy Western civilization,” she wrote. 3. RUSSIA-UKRAINE LATEST: At the Doha Forum, Trump Jr. “criticized corruption in Ukraine and suggested Sunday that his father may walk away from the country if it doesn’t make peace with Russia,” Nahal reports from Doha. “Trump Jr. stressed that Ukraine has long been hamstrung by corruption in its official ranks and argued that such graft is fueling the war in both Moscow and Kyiv.” What he said: “When asked if the U.S. president could walk away from Ukraine, the younger Trump said, ‘I think he may,’” per Nahal. ‘What’s good about my father, and what’s unique about my father, is you don’t know what he’s going to do,’ he added. ‘The fact that he’s not predictable … forces everyone to actually deal in an intellectually honest capacity.’” The view from Moscow: The Kremlin lauded Trump’s new national security strategy today, saying the new directive to stop calling Russia a direct threat was a “positive step,” per Reuters. On the ground, Russia launched a wave of missile and drone attacks over the weekend, targeting power stations and energy centers in Ukraine, per Al Jazeera.
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The event will be in-person and streamed live, and participants can request to join here. | | | | | 4. SCOTUS WATCH: “Trump’s plans to shatter the bureaucracy have a green light at the Supreme Court,” by POLITICO’s Josh Gerstein: “The Supreme Court will debate Monday whether to finally finish off a teetering, 90-year-old precedent that limited presidents’ power over many federal agencies. But lurking in the wings is a far more radical bid by the Trump administration to remake the federal government from top to bottom by ending the concept of the civil service. Indeed, some legal experts say that as a practical matter, the administration — emboldened by the justices — has already managed to eliminate job protections that have been on the books for nearly 150 years.” 5. ON THE MONEY: Behind the scenes in the West Wing, Trump’s aides and advisers have been pressing him for weeks to reconfigure his messaging around voters’ affordability concerns, showing him polling numbers and social media posts on economy, WSJ’s Josh Dawsey and Meridith McGraw report. “Almost every senior White House official is involved in the effort,” though Trump has continued to dismiss aides' concerns, arguing affordability is a “trap set by Democrats.” Still, “White House aides are reorienting some of Trump’s public events to focus on costs” as some allies have “have encouraged the White House to focus less on issues abroad and turn their gaze back to the U.S.” 6. DEEP IN THE HEART: Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) is prepared to make a decision tomorrow over whether she is jumping into the Lone Star State’s Senate primary or opting to run for reelection. The Dallas-Fort Worth area lawmaker told CNN’s Edward-Isaac Dovere that she has “two cashier’s checks made out” for tomorrow, one for reelection and another for a Senate bid: “Her down-to-the-wire indecision, she knows, is driving even her staff crazy. She’s invited hundreds of people to an announcement event Monday that’s scheduled 90 minutes before she needs to submit one of the checks.” Over a 45-minute conversation, Crockett “expressed annoyance at accusations that she’s just barreling into the race,” Dovere writes. “I’m not crazy,” Crockett said. “It’s weird that people believe that I could win the races that I won and I’m just like out here willy-nilly. But OK. I am very self-aware, right? Even when I go in to help candidates in other states, I ask them, have you polled for me?” Pardoner’s remorse: Trump lashed out at Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), whom he pardoned last week, over his decision to run for reelection as a Democrat. In a post on Truth Social this morning, the president decried “vicious” Democrats, who he claimed had targeted Cuellar. Trump said Cuellar running as a Democrat would mean “continuing to work with the same Radical Left Scum that just weeks before wanted him and his wife to spend the rest of their lives in Prison - And probably still do! Such a lack of LOYALTY, something that Texas Voters, and Henry’s daughters, will not like. Oh’ well, next time, no more Mr. Nice guy!”
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| | | | 7. IMMIGRATION FILES: Nearly 75,000 people with no criminal records have been detained by ICE between January and October as part of Trump’s sweeping immigration crackdown, according to new data obtained by University of California, Berkeley’s Deportation Data Project, NBC’s Laura Strickler and Julia Ainsley report. The numbers “provide the most revealing look to date into the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown,” though for “arrestees with criminal histories, the data doesn’t distinguish between those with a history of minor offenses and those who have committed more serious crimes, like rape and murder, whom the administration has said it is targeting. And the figures do not include arrests made by Border Patrol.” The details: “ICE agents have made an average daily total of 824 arrests since Jan. 20, according to the data. Those figures are still more than double the average daily arrest total under the Biden administration in 2024, when ICE arrested 312 people per day. The data also reveals that about 90% of the people ICE arrested through mid-October were male. Mexican nationals accounted for the largest share of the overall arrests, with about 85,000, followed by nationals of Guatemala at 31,000 and Honduras at 24,000. More than 60% of those who were arrested were between the ages of 25 and 45.” Related reads: “The U.S. citizens getting caught in Trump’s immigration crackdown,” by WaPo’s Robert Klemko … “This Nebraska Prison Rehabilitated Inmates. Until ICE Paid to Fill It With Immigrants,” by NYT’s Allison McCann … “Mom of Karoline Leavitt’s nephew rejects White House narrative of her ICE arrest,” by WaPo 8. STUCK IN THE MUD: Employees at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are stuck in limbo. After Trump’s push for mass layoffs was halted by courts months ago, the watchdog bureau is spending “hundreds of millions” to pay workers who are largely idle awaiting the outcome of the case, WSJ’s Dylan Tokar reports. OMB Director Russ Vought “appears to be planning to shrink the agency to a skeleton staff of 200 from about 1,700.” Head count “has dwindled to about 1,300, with some voluntarily leaving the agency for more stable ground. … Many of the limited number of CFPB employees who are actively working are engaged in rolling back the agency’s existing regulations and policy positions.” 9. INVESTIGATION STATION: DOJ’s push to re-indict former FBI Director James Comey was dealt another blow yesterday after a judge blocked prosecutors’ access to email accounts and communications of close Comey friend and attorney Daniel Richman, POLITICO’s Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney report. “U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly granted a temporary restraining order sought by Richman’s lawyers, requiring that the evidence be sequestered pending a ruling on Richman’s claim that the government illegally retained his emails and other data. … Richman’s communications are a central aspect of the case prosecutors are attempting to bring against Comey.”
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➡️ Learn more about Pro Briefings | | | | | | | TALK OF THE TOWN | | OUT AND ABOUT — The British Embassy hosted a brunch reception yesterday to close out FIFA-mania week in Washington. Charge d’ Affaires James Roscoe gave opening remarks and was even heard using the term “soccer.” FIFA’s Ross McCall and Ian Maxwell, the CEO of Scottish Football Association, also took to the mic. SPOTTED: Second lady Usha Vance, U.S. Ambassador to India Sergio Gor, Seb Gorka, Todd Lyons, Andrew Giuliani, Jared Borg, Alex Flemister, Lynne Patton, Wesam Hassanein, Reps. Darin LaHood (R-Ill.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Lucy Ferguson, Kirsty McIver, Ed Roman, Colin Moneymaker, Elizabeth Onibokun, James Harris, Clemmie Burton-Hill, Michael Block, Mark Glauser, Julian Ramirez, Alex Sopko, Meg Spencer, Nezly Silva, Yemisi Egbewole, Raheem Kassam, Martin Rosen, Steve Hartell, Alex Burgos, Jane Dawber, Chloe Autio, William Lewis, Michael Falcone, Daniel Mickelson, Betsy Fischer Martin, Vinoda Basnayake, Jane Harman, Harry Cole, Ben Leo, Bev Turner, Sumi Somaskanda, Rachel Horn and Caroline Valvardi. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) … Bloomberg’s Bennett Roth … Noam Chomsky … Molly (Block) Vaseliou of the EPA … Dafna Tapiero … Anne MacMillan … Sam Runyon … POLITICO’s Sam Sutton, Katelyn Cordero and Caroline McCarthy … Sarah Mucha … International Trade Administration’s Sam Schofield … Bonnie Glick … Suhail Khan … Roma Daravi of the Kennedy Center … Kate Tummarello … Kyle Noyes … NYT’s Dean Chang … Mary Heitman … Christina Freundlich … Carole Simpson … Michael Punke … Candy Glazer … Mike Klein … Kathryn McQuade … Nicolás Rosero Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com or text us on Signal here. Playbook couldn’t happen without our deputy editor Garrett Ross and Playbook Podcast producer Callan Tansill-Suddath.
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