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The grand terrace of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts overlooks the river, where you can catch a breeze and mingle at intermission. The first April symphony is a sweet Mozart and Mendelssohn concert.

Please tell me the center will still be open.

Along with the skilled federal workforce, the 47th president is murdering a precious piece of our national memory: John F. Kennedy's thousand days.

Yes, Donald Trump is usurping the Kennedy legacy and Camelot legend -- grace, charm, wit and a love of governing wisely -- as fast as he can. Right in plain sight.

The capital is so numb from the Trump onslaught, there's nary a peep of protest to this attack -- yet.

Trump's first move: to name Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Health and Human Services secretary. Here we have JFK's nephew, a quack without an M.D., who preaches and promulgates against vaccines, doing zero about a measles outbreak.

His cousin, Caroline Kennedy, told senators that Bobby's reckless character makes him a "predator." But Trump liked defying the Democratic family dynasty by picking its outcast.

As we know, Jack Kennedy had unswerving faith in the genius of America's government scientists. He set the goal of going to the moon by the end of the '60s.

"We choose to go to the moon ... and do the other things, not because they are easy but because they are hard," he declared in his Boston cadence.

The second blow came swiftly upon Trump taking office. He shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development. USAID employed 10,000 people doing good works around the world, like food and humanitarian relief.

Jack Kennedy created USAID in 1961. For 64 years, it spread global goodwill. So much for friendly foreign policy. Trump sent no thank-you note. He delights in destroying the best in us.

Trump felt compelled to open the JFK assassination files, as if to rub salt in the scars of that darkest day.

That reveals his own obsession and jealousy of the dead: the young president, with "vigah," ideas and an inquiring intellect, especially in history.

Poet Robert Frost wrote that JFK's presidency would be "a golden age of poetry and power." Kennedy invited Frost to recite the poem at his 1961 inauguration, where the fresh snow sparkled.

Compare that to Trump's "American carnage" in his first inaugural. Note that now Trump is ripping off the "golden age" line from the enchanted Kennedy era.

JFK wasn't perfect but was as cool as cool can get. He stated -- as inscribed on the Kennedy Center facade -- that great nations produced great art and literature, like ancient Athens and Elizabethan England.

Jackie Kennedy oversaw the 1961 redesign of the Rose Garden, which the Trumps plan to pave over.

Melania, you're no Jackie Kennedy.

On Eleanor Roosevelt's advice, JFK started the first commission on the status of women and began the march toward civil rights. Trump chilled the practice of diversity in companies, universities, the military and other government bodies.

Under the thumb of billionaires Trump and Elon Musk, white male supremacy is in. History's tide is moving backward.

For the record, Trump never went to one symphony, play, opera or ballet at the vibrant Kennedy Center. Yet he fired the board in an overnight purge, even chairman David Rubenstein and the blue-chip president, Deborah F. Rutter. Just like that. Again, with no acknowledgment.

Trump then appointed a new partisan board, breaking the custom of having Republicans and Democrats join together. Since he has few culture horizons, don't expect much. Maybe a musical as old as "Cats." Trump made himself chairman.

Here's the thing: The board should have resisted obeying the order. They didn't have to cede their power and place.

Rubenstein, the billionaire who spends money on burnishing history, monuments and his hometown team (the Baltimore Orioles) was likely too stunned to react.

We the people hope the very rich will speak out in these times. It may make all the difference.

And let us pray for the center's big bronze bust of JFK: Stay to see another spring day.

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The author may be reached at JamieStiehm.com. To find out more about Jamie Stiehm and other Creators Syndicate columnists and cartoonists, please visit creators.com.

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