Tamara Keith

And Odette, we've now seen millions of dollars spent on campaign ads that include discussion of Sharia law.

Can you put this moment into some context for us, this rhetoric about Sharia law?

Yeah.

And even if all of these end up being sort of lone wolf attacks, they add up to a feeling of instability in the country.

This does take me back to a very different time after the 9-11 attacks.

President Bush, a Republican, the president at the time, less than a week after that attack, went to a mosque in Washington, D.C.

to send a signal that going after Muslim Americans wasn't the answer.

And I think we could also draw back to the conversation about social media and the fact that we are all sort of existing in tight bubbles and are seeing very specific information.

And there isn't the same sort of collective conscience in the United States that there was 10 years ago, 25 years ago.

And we're going to leave it there for today.

I'm Tamara Keith.

I cover the White House.

And thank you for listening to the NPR Politics Podcast.

In a post on social media, Trump thanked the center's outgoing president, Richard Grenell.

a loyalist with no real performing arts experience who is also Trump's envoy for special missions.

Trump is planning to close the center for what he calls a complete reconstruction after July 4th.

He has said the project will take two years and cost more than $250 million.

Matt Flocka, who had previously been in charge of facilities, is being elevated by Trump to be chief operating officer and executive director.

Under Trump and Grinnell's leadership, the center has hemorrhaged both patrons and performers.

Tamara Keith, NPR News, the White House.