Why does it seem that the American left is in a constant competition to be the biggest turd in the punchbowl? They live to take the fun out of things, presume ill-intent where there is none, and offer their oft-misguided opinions when no one asked for them.
The punchbowl turd in question this time around is Katie Couric. You remember her -- she was the perky co-host of "The Today Show" back in the day who went on to be the evening anchor for CBS News. It looks like she's now a podcaster. In other words, she's spent her entire adult life in the corporate media bubble and has come to believe that the world somehow values her opinion.
Ric Grenell disabused her of that notion real quick.
Grenell, who serves the Trump administration as both Special Presidential Envoy for Special Missions and Acting President and Executive Director of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, took to social media to celebrate following the conclusion of a successful Kennedy Center project called Opera in the Outfield. Opera in the Outfield allows families to sit on the field at Nationals Park and enjoy a showing of an opera on the stadium's Jumbotron; this year, they showed Gershwin's "Porgy & Bess."
Sounds like a fun evening, right?
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Well, Grenell made the grievous mistake of posting a photo of him and his team to the Kennedy Center Instagram account, along with the caption, "Our Kennedy Center family had a wonderful time at Opera In The Outfield tonight. We’re so thankful to everyone who brought their families to the ballpark and experienced it too."
All the wholesomeness was apparently too much for Katie Couric, who, for some unknown reason, felt compelled to comment on the photo: "This is so sad. I grew up going to the Kennedy Center which was about 20 minutes from our house in Arlington. What they’ve done to it is a disgrace."
Grenell wasn't having any of it, and set her straight:
"[W]e didn’t cancel a single show. Your team couldn’t perform for Republicans. They cancelled. It is this exact intolerance that we fight against. Everyone is welcome to the Kennedy Center….even you!"
The @kencen team posted a group picture at the Opera in the Outfield event and @katiecouric attacked us.
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) August 24, 2025
So I responded to Katie. pic.twitter.com/IPvLtWgI6s
Boom goes the truth bomb. Grenell is 100 percent correct here -- the Trump administration hasn't canceled any shows, but leftists like Lin-Manuel Miranda sure did when he petulantly canceled a run of his show "Hamilton" scheduled for 2026. The left's in an extended pout because they had assumed they owned the world of entertainment and places like The Kennedy Center; their hostile takeover has been rejected, and they are in a free fall.
To be honest, I'm fascinated by Katie Couric's comment. Like her, I grew up in the Northern Virginia area and had easy access to shows at The Kennedy Center (I take my musical theater-mad teenager there all the time); unlike her, I never once thought I had the right to dictate which shows could or could not be staged there. That's next level delusion right there, but that's the left for you.
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