U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty slammed President Donald Trump on Jan. 19 during the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast in Columbus, saying he is disregarding democracy.
Beatty, who was introducing keynote speaker the Rev. Otis Moss III, urged those in attendance to “make sure everyone we know is voting to correct the wrongs of this administration.” She said Trump is disregarding democracy, Congress and the rule of law.
“(Trump) is misogynistic, narcissistic, corrupt, sycophantic, racist, warmongering,” Beatty said. “Not political, my friends, just facts.”
Beatty, a Democrat representing Ohio’s 3rd Congressional District, also referred to her lawsuit against Trump and members of his administration over the renaming of the Kennedy Center, saying he was “illegally putting his name” on the center.
Beatty filed the lawsuit on Dec. 22 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The filing came after the Kennedy Center board, of which Beatty is an ex-officio member, voted to rename the center and add Trump’s name. Beatty is asking the federal court to step in and find the renaming of the center unlawful and to issue an order requiring the new signage already placed on the building to have Trump’s name removed.
Leaders with the center have called the move to add Trump’s name a show of bipartisanship and credited the Republican president for raising money to support the center.
Following the Dec. 18 vote, Beatty said in a video posted to social media that she was repeatedly muted and prevented from speaking during the board’s meeting. The description of the board’s vote to change the center’s name as unanimous was inaccurate, she said.
Moss, the keynote speaker, also referenced the situation in Minneapolis. The city has been the site of widespread protests and unrest since federal agents shot and killed a woman on Jan. 7 amid an influx of Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations. Protests over the killing have also spread to Columbus and other Ohio cities.
Moss said that Minneapolis is “struggling in terms of what is happening,” but that Brass Solidarity, a group that formed in the wake George Floyd’s killing, has been attending recent anti-ICE protests. The group plays Gospel music at demonstrations.
“And the officers didn’t know what to do with them because there was a sonic wall that was turning something that should have been dangerous into something that was joyous,” Moss said. “Using creativity that is within the human spirit to be able to transform what is happening is what is being called for in these moments.”
Cole Behrens covers K-12 education and school districts in central Ohio. Have a tip? Contact Cole at cbehrens@dispatch.com or connect with him on X at @Colebehr_report.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Beatty slams Trump at MLK breakfast, cites lawsuit over Kennedy Center renaming
Reporting by Cole Behrens, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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