Welcome to the beat. I'm Melissa Murray in for Ari Melbur. We begin tonight with a major problem

that could cost Donald Trump and the Republicans the midterm elections. At the Kennedy Center,

the traditional New Year's Eve concert has been canceled. As you know, the administration

unilaterally renamed the Kennedy Center to include Donald Trump's name, a move that lawmakers say was

patently illegal. And some musicians have taken the president's actions to heart, refusing to perform

at the storied venue. For some, it is a matter of principle over profit. As one musician put it,

quote, losing my integrity would cost me more than any paycheck.

Self-indulgent vanity projects, though, have preoccupied this president in his second term,

and the Kennedy Center is merely the latest example of the president's edifice complex.

His obsession with the trappings of autocratic grandeur extends to various White House

projects, ranging from the mundane, like gilding the oval office and remodeling the Lincoln

bathroom and marble, to the absolutely outrageous, like paving over the Rose Garden and demolishing

the East Wing to make way for a $400 million ballroom.

And the president's DIY tendencies haven't been confined to the White House.

Trump has festooned multiple government buildings with enormous banners bearing the image of his own face.

And in his free time, Trump golfs or attends lavish parties at his Florida

Beach Club Mar-a-Lago. And that tone-deaf behavior is setting off alarm bells. Take a listen.

His obsession with those kinds of issues actually are a political problem for him. I mean,

people are sitting around and

thinking about how they're going to pay their bills, and he seems obsessed with gold and putting

his name on things and remodeling buildings and rebuilding monuments to himself. And I think this is a huge political problem for him. It's a symbol of his distraction.

It's the Marie Antoinette thing that he's got going. He's not on the ballot in next November,

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