Carville: Trump ‘wants to destroy’ Washington, DC

Democratic strategist James Carville said Wednesday that President Trump’s attempts to reshape and rename multiple landmarks throughout and just outside Washington, D.C., as well as create new ones, point to his “particular hatred” for the nation’s capital.

Carville discussed on his podcast “ Politics War Room ” the MS NOW report that Trump pushed to have his name added in some way to Ford’s Theatre , the historic site where Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth assassinated former President Abraham Lincoln in 1865.

The report follows the repeated efforts of the Trump-appointed Kennedy Center board to add his name to that performing arts center.

“Trump has a particular hatred for Washington, D.C.,” Carville said. “Why do you think he is trying to defile everything he can, from the Lincoln Memorial to Arlington National Cemetery to the Reflecting Pool to the White House to every gauche thing he could think of?”

He later added that Trump “wants to destroy Washington, and I lived there for a long time … It’s a beautiful city.” The reported suggestion of Trump adding his name to Ford’s Theatre was “just one more thing he” could do.

The onetime campaign strategist to former President Clinton said he was reminded of remarks made to him years ago by former Sen. Russell Long (D-La.).

“He said, you know, ‘It looks like a major world capital,’ when you go to Washington and the buildings, and it screams republican, small ‘R’ republican,” Carville continued. “We’re not an empire, we don’t do that. I think Trump hates all of that. I think he hates what Washington is, what Washington stands for.”

More than 90 percent of D.C. residents voted against Trump in the 2024 election.

Carville accused Trump of not liking the city’s architecture and the “inherent modesty that comes with being part of a Constitution that was written and went into effect in 1789.” He added that people who can afford it should visit the city “to find out it’s one f‑‑‑ing impressive place.”

Trump dismissed MS NOW’s reporting Wednesday as “a ridiculous lie,” “FAKE NEWS” and “just another one of their never-ending, malicious falsehoods to try to discredit and demean.”

The report stated that former and current White House officials said there were discussions to rename the landmark, with some of the president’s close allies pitching his name as a contender in an effort to please him.

Ford’s Theatre and the Petersen House across the street, where Lincoln died the morning after he was shot, were collectively designated by the National Park Service as a National Historic Site.

The Trump administration has attempted to change Washington’s landmarks with several proposed, in-development or completed projects, including a triumphal arch between Washington and Arlington National Cemetery, as well as changes to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and the Kennedy Center.

Changes made to the Kennedy Center, including the president’s hand-picked board voting to add his name to the building, have resulted in an ongoing legal dispute over Trump’s name on the building and the administration’s insistence that the performing arts center is in dire need of renovations.