President Trump and the First Lady Arrive at the Kennedy Center Honors

Mr. President, why did you select KISS to be honored this evening? Do you have a favorite KISS song?

Well I like them as people, I've listened to their music over the years, they are characters too, really are. I don't know if you saw last night, the speeches, they were great, they really made some great speeches last night. And they're very popular. A lot of people, you know a lot of people write in and ask us to select. So like think of it, Sylvester Stallone was not picked for any of this stuff. He's one of the greatest movie stars of all time based on revenue, based on you know Rocky and Rambo and the numbers, no I doubt maybe there's a couple of stars that have done something equal but really there's nothing like it. So we're going to have a very exciting night. But KISS is terrific.

Mr. President, two questions. What are you looking forward to most about hosting tonight? And number two, Secretary Duffey says you are the master of the playlist out on the Rose Garden club. What's your favorite song to listen to on the Rose Garden?

Well I have so many different songs, and I mean look Lee Greenwood really hit big with that. From day one that was we put it on the first rally and we never took it off and he's great. But I have a lot of favorites and I can tell you that we both love Elton John, special man, special guy. He's really talent. We like a lot of different, I like a lot of different songs a lot of different types of music. I have a good playlist. Thank you.

What would you like to see for America 250 here at the Kennedy center?

Well we're going to have a lot of events. You know one of the things you're going to have here is some of the UFC press. You're going to have the fighters coming over talking about the fights, it's a big deal. The UFC on June 14th, it's going to be June 14th next year. They're building an arena, the great Dana White's building an arena, and they're going to have eight or nine championship fights, the biggest fights they've ever had. Everyone's a championship fight, and everyone's a legendary type of fight. He's actually holding back fights right now for six months so he can do it for this the 250. I think 250 is going to be amazing. I think the arena's going to be five or six thousand seats right in front of the front door of the White House and a hundred thousand people in the back where they're putting up eight or ten very big screens. That's going to be an exciting night. So many people are asking for tickets, the UFC. Thank you.

Mr. President, did you meet Ted Sarandos? Did you talk to him?

I did, I met with Ted. I think he's fantastic. I think he's in the history of Hollywood has really been almost you could say nothing like what he's done. You'd go back to Louis B. Mayer, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer MGM, Ted has done an incredible job. I mean he had a company that was very troubled seven or eight years ago and he took it over and he's really done a legendary job.

Should they be allowed to buy Warner Brothers? Should Netflix?

Well that's the question. They have a very big market share. And when they have Warner Brothers, you know that share goes up a lot. So I don't know, that's going to be for some economists to tell and also and I'll be involved in that decision too. But they have a very big market share. It could be a problem.

Did he make any guarantees to you about the merger if they do merge?

No, not at all. He came up, he was in the Oval Office last week. I have a lot of respect for him, he's a great person. But he's done one of the greatest jobs in the history of movies and other things, he's and he's got a lot of interesting things happening aside from what you're talking about. But it is a big market share, there's no question about it. It could be a problem.

Mr. President, you mentioned some of your favorite songs, in your opinion of what makes a song great?

Well it's something that has to be soft and soothing to your ear. I like some songs that other people don't like, you know. Have you ever hear the expression: that's why they have menus in restaurants. We're all different and we all order different things otherwise you'd just serve one meal and that would be it. But I like I love country music, and we have hey we have the king of country music tonight. So that's another one.

President Trump, will you rename the Kennedy Center the Trump Center?

It's not up to me. We have a board of 40 people that are really the most prestigious people in the United States. We have the Honorary Chairwoman on the board, right, as the First Lady, she's Honorary Chairwoman. But we have it's a really prestigious board and that's up to them. I don't know what they're doing about that.

Rename the Opera House after Melania?

Look we are saving the Kennedy Center. And can you tell us how did you choose the nominees today, the winners today? Yeah we went through probably 50 different names, we were politicked by a lot of people, some of them the stars themselves, but we went through 50 names and we picked the five and we're very happy with them. They're very different, very different audiences, but as I said just down the line they're different audiences but when you add them up it's 100% of the public. Thank you.

What would the Opera House be renamed after Melania? Could you talk about with Prime Minister Carney and Mexican President Sheinbaum when you were here just a few days earlier?

Mexico and Canada, we met with the as you know I mean it was pretty well a lot of people were here right here we met and the Prime Minister of Canada, President of Mexico, and we spoke for half hour, very good, very productive. Talked mostly trade.

Will you restart negotiations with Canada?

Oh I'll look, I have a great relationship with Canada. They're very tough traders, but I have a very good relationship with the Prime Minister and with Canada.

And you had said you would halt those negotiations earlier after the tariffs, so will you restart them?

Yeah well see, I mean you know the problem is Canada makes a lot of things that we don't need because we make them also. But we'll work it out. Canada's a special place, and they really are good at ice hockey, aren't they?

Mr. President, one question. What is more difficult Mr. President, hosting the Kennedy Center honors or preparing for the State of the Union?

Well could I answer that question after the show's over? If you give it to me absolutely I'll give it to you after the show's over. This is a little bit different, but you know I hosted The Apprentice when it was the number one show on television. We did 42.5 million people that night. It was a little different television than it is now. We had more people watching in those days.

What are you expecting Mr. President in terms of ratings for this year's Kennedy Center?

I think it'll be great, I think it's going to do great. Ratings are complicated now because you have streaming added on and everything else, but I think it'll do very big. I mean just look, I mean just based on what you see right here, if you if you came here last year you saw a line that was about 1/10th this size. You weren't even here last year, right?

How do you prepare for hosting this year's Kennedy center? You have so much on your plate, what do you do?

I do, I have a lot on my plate, and I didn't really prepare very much. I read a little bit. I have a good memory so I can remember things, which is very fortunate. But I just I want to just be myself and so you have to be yourself. Johnny Carson, he was himself. Thank you everybody. Enjoy the show.

After your first time you stayed away from the awards, do you think the Kennedy Center is now better serving all Americans?

I think it is. I think it's been it's been really enhanced very greatly over the last 10 months, meaning since we've been here. And we're making it great, we're going to make it physically great as a building, so well you won't even believe how beautiful it'll be. And we saved the Kennedy Center, it's a big thing. Thank you.