AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.
We turn now to Yemen, where the Trump administration has vowed to continue military strikes against the Houthis, which controls large parts of Yemen. Since Saturday, U.S. warplanes have launched dozens of large-scale military attacks on multiple towns across Yemen. The Trump administration ordered the strikes after the Houthis threatened to resume attacks on Israeli-linked ships in the Red Sea in response to Israel’s ongoing blockade of the Gaza Strip.
On Monday, President Trump said the U.S. will hold Iran responsible for any further attacks by the Houthis, and threatened the Iranian government with dire consequences. Trump wrote on Truth Social, “Every shot fired by the Houthis will be looked upon, from this point forward, as being a shot fired from the weapons and leadership of IRAN, and IRAN will be held responsible, and suffer the consequences, and those consequences will be dire!” Trump said.
Iran’s ambassador to the U.S. expressed his deep concern and strong condemnation of the statements in a letter to the U.N. Security Council.
At a press briefing later on Monday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt underscored President Trump’s warnings.
PRESS SECRETARY KAROLINE LEAVITT: Our message to Iran is: You better take this president seriously. And I think the Houthis learned that the hard way this past weekend. As I said in my opening remarks, there’s a new sheriff in town, and this president is not just going to sit on his hands and allow terrorists to launch attacks on commercial vessels and U.S. naval ships. Those actions will not be tolerated.
AMY GOODMAN: The Houthis, meanwhile, are vowing to continue attacks against all, quote, “hostile targets” in the Red Sea until the attacks on Yemen stop. They also claim to have attacked three U.S. warships in the Red Sea.
Yemen’s Health Ministry says at least 53 people have been killed in U.S. strikes, the majority of them women and children. UNICEF has confirmed at least two children were killed in U.S. strikes, contradicting claims by Pentagon officials Monday that no civilians have been harmed in the bombing of Yemen.
LT. GEN. ALEXUS GRYNKEWICH: On the civilian casualty side, no indications of any civilian casualties. We, of course, have seen some of the accusations by the Houthis. We look at those closely when they do come in, but we have no credible indications of any civilian casualties.
AMY GOODMAN: For more on Yemen, we’re joined now by a guest who’s spent years reporting on Yemen’s civil war and the Houthis, journalist Safa Al Ahmad. She is the award-winning director of the Frontline documentaries Yemen Under Siege and The Fight for Yemen. Her last piece for Frontline, Targeting Yemen, investigated the last major attack by the Trump administration on Yemen back in 2017. Safa joins us now from Menlo Park, California.
Welcome to Democracy Now! We just have a few minutes, and I’m wondering if you can talk about the significance of these major strikes on Yemen this weekend, Safa, that are ongoing.
SAFA AL AHMAD: Yes. I mean, this is quite significant, but, unfortunately, this has been happening in Yemen through across many administrations, since George W. Bush. But now the reasoning is different. And unfortunately, Biden had been doing that in Yemen for the same excuse, for the freedom of movement of vessels in the Red Sea, but not to this number of casualties. This is quite a shocking number.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Safa, on social media, President Trump vowed to use overwhelming lethal force like nothing you’ve seen before against Yemen. What is your sense? And also, his attempt to blame Iran and threaten Iran for any further attacks, your response to those comments of the president?
SAFA AL AHMAD: I think those comments are misleading and indicating that the relationship between Iran and the Houthis, or Ansar Allah, are similar to that of, say, Hezbollah and Lebanon. They are not the same. They don’t adhere necessarily to what Iran says. Yes, they do have a very close relationship, but not to the same extent. And so, this is disingenuous in saying that everything that the Houthi does is under the direct command of the Iranians, and this is not true.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And initially, the Houthis had paused their attacks against Israeli vessels but said they would renew them last week after Israel halted entry of humanitarian aid to Gaza. Are there any reports that they actually attacked Israeli vessels?
SAFA AL AHMAD: Not to my knowledge. And they did not keep to their word of not attacking any vessels during the ceasefire. But clearly, now all bets are off, especially with, unfortunately, what’s been happening in the last few hours with over 400 dead in Gaza. So, God knows what will be the Houthi response at this point.
But I don’t think that the Americans’ attack on Yemen this time was in response to attack, but rather because the Houthis had announced that they will start attacking again if the ceasefire doesn’t hold and if they don’t lift the embargo on all the aid that was coming into Gaza, which has stopped a few weeks ago.
AMY GOODMAN: On Sunday, the head of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard insisted Iran is not involved with the Houthi attacks, saying Iran, quote, “plays no role in setting the national or operational policies of the Houthis.” As we wrap up, Safa, do you believe this?
SAFA AL AHMAD: To a certain degree, yes. But they do have a relationship, so I don’t know what kind of pressure the Iranians are on to stop the Houthis from attacking. But that’s no guarantee that the Houthis would stop the attacks.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And also, has the solidarity of the Houthis with the Palestinians increased their popularity across the Middle East?
SAFA AL AHMAD: Immensely. Immensely. Even people who are against them inside Yemen and those within the Yemeni government in Aden, for example, all — everyone says that what the Houthis have done, none of the other Arab countries have shown the courage in an impactful way on what’s happening in Gaza. They’re the only ones who have really impacted financially the commerce in the Red Sea. And so, to many, many people, not just in the Arab world, that increased their credibility, even though they’re accused of their own human rights violations inside Yemen. But from an outsider perspective, but also inside Yemen itself, supporting the Palestinians in Gaza and Palestine in general has incredibly increased Houthi popularity and lessened the critique on the Houthis themselves in what they’re doing domestically.
AMY GOODMAN: Safa Al Ahmad, I want to thank you so much for being with us, Saudi journalist who’s been reporting on Yemen since 2010. She’s the award-winning director of the Frontline documentaries Yemen Under Siege and The Fight for Yemen.
Coming up, Donald Trump went over to the Kennedy Center for the Arts. He’s taken it over. We’ll speak to folk musicians Nora Brown and Stephanie Coleman, who performed last week at the center and unfurled protest banners on stage. Stay with us.
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AMY GOODMAN: Folk musicians Nora Brown and Stephanie Coleman singing “The Unicorn” at the Kennedy Center last week.
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AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.
President Trump visited the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Monday to preside over a meeting of the famed art institution’s new board. In his first weeks in office, Trump fired the president of the Kennedy Center, replaced the bipartisan board of trustees and named himself as chair of the Kennedy Center. New members of the board include his chief of staff, Susie Wiles, and her mother; second lady Usha Vance; and two hosts on Fox News, Laura Ingraham and Maria Bartiromo.
Last week, Vice President JD Vance and Usha Vance were met with a chorus of disapproval as they attended a concert Thurday night at the Kennedy Center. The audience loudly booed as they took their seats for a performance of the National Symphony Orchestra.
AUDIENCE: [booing]
AMY GOODMAN: Trump’s move to take over the Kennedy Center has been met with widespread condemnation from the artistic world. Earlier this month, the producers of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway hit Hamilton pulled out of plans to bring the production to the Kennedy Center next year. In a statement, producer Jeffrey Seller said, quote, “Our show simply cannot, in good conscience, participate and be a part of this new culture that is being imposed on the Kennedy Center.” On Monday, Trump criticized Hamilton.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Come here and see a show. I was never big fan of — I never liked Hamilton very much. And I never liked it. But we are going to have some really good shows. I will say this: Come here and watch it, and you’ll see over a period of time it will improve very greatly physically, and we’re going to get some very good shows. The thing that does well are Broadway hits. And we have some beauty. I guess we have Les Mis coming, and we have some others. But the Broadway hits have done very well. So, I’m going to spend some time. We have a good board. In the meantime, we’re running the country, and we’re running it well.
AMY GOODMAN: Rhiannon Giddens has also cancelled an upcoming appearance, as did the actor Issa Rae, who had sold out, and others.
We’re joined now by two musicians who decided to go ahead with their Kennedy Center concert on Thursday but opted to use the stage to protest Trump’s policies. The folk musicians Nora Brown and Stephanie Coleman unfurled banners during their concert that read “Reinstate Queer Programming” and “Creativity at the Kennedy Center Must Not Be Suppressed.” Nora also read this message from the stage.
NORA BROWN: We are outraged by the tyrannical change of leadership at the Kennedy Center. By weaponizing the Kennedy Center’s stages, Trump has systematically sought to silence queer and BIPOC artists under the flimsy pretense of rooting out wokeness, a dog whistle for anything that dares challenge his hateful and dangerous administration. Protest comes in many forms, and we want to honor the legacy of the Kennedy Center as a radical space.
AMY GOODMAN: Nora Brown and Stephanie Coleman join us in our studio here in New York.
We welcome you both to Democracy Now! It was Thursday night, when Vance was booed, that you were there. Nora, start off by talking about the banners you unfurled and your message, why you decided to perform but also share this message of protest.
NORA BROWN: Yeah. Thanks, Amy.
I guess — well, there was a lot of lead-up to this decision, you know. There are many people canceling, as you mentioned before. And we were really considering what the most effective means of protest would be for us as smaller artists who have access to the stage. And we ended up deciding that our voices would be loudest on the stage and that that was the place for us to kind of raise some awareness of the situation, but also, like, create a space for collective singing and, you know, use folk music, which is what we do best, to kind of allow for that resistance to exist in the music itself. Yeah.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Stephanie, what’s at stake, in your viewpoint, for the arts and creative freedom under this Trump administration?
STEPHANIE COLEMAN: Oh man. What’s at stake for the arts under this Trump administration? I mean, this is — the arts are a fundamental way for people to express ourselves and for us to recognize other people’s stories and experiences and struggles. And for the arts to come under attack by the Trump administration is — just seems like such a blatant and disgusting way of trying to divide people. And, you know, as musicians, this is our way of connecting with others. And it just feels like that’s just such a clear, like, step in the authoritarian playbook.
NORA BROWN: Yeah, and I feel like art is a unique medium of resistance, because it’s all about self-expression, and self-expression invites critical thinking. And that’s what really is what Trump is afraid of. And we see that in how he’s, you know, defunding higher education, that he doesn’t want people to question his administration. He doesn’t want people to be exposed to other ways of thinking. You know, that’s really what he’s afraid of.
AMY GOODMAN: One of the things he did yesterday — there aren’t other presidential portraits, but John F. Kennedy. It’s the John F. Kennedy Performing Arts Center. But he unveiled portraits of himself, of Melania, of JD Vance and of his wife Usha. You chose, one of your songs that you performed was “The Unicorn.” Why?
NORA BROWN: Well, I learned the song recently. It’s by a guy named Peter Grudzien, who was what maybe would fall into the outsider artist category, kind of an anti-folk thing that was happening in maybe the early ’70s. And he was from Astoria and was — he’s been dubbed kind of the first gay male country musician. And so, it kind of seemed to fit with the program that we were working on, you know? But yeah, it’s a beautiful song, and he’s really such an incredible and unique songwriter, and we were excited to share that with people. Yeah.
AMY GOODMAN: You express yourselves through your music. And you’ve brought your fiddle. You brought your guitar. What do you want to share with us?
STEPHANIE COLEMAN: Yeah, well, we’d love to play a piece of _The Unicorn.” It’s the song we love so much. And so we’d love to play it for you now.
AMY GOODMAN: Go right ahead. We welcome Nora Brown and Stephanie Coleman on the stage here at Democracy Now!
NORA BROWN and STEPHANIE COLEMAN: [performing “The Unicorn”] One, two, three, one, two.
The spring is in the streets again And too many seasons gone by We move to cruise and stare at ourselves Hoping to find Someone half-blind Somebody who Will make us new To hold in the night And guard us from fright
Change all that’s gone for the new
While in our very city there lives a real-life unicorn The queen that holds the unicorn Will be reborn Calls on that day Storms pass away The night turns to day The whole world is gay
Angels descend from the sky.
AMY GOODMAN: The folk musicians Nora Brown and Stephanie Coleman. They performed on Thursday. That was the day the Vances were booed as they came into the Kennedy Center. Nora and Stephanie performed “The Unicorn” and much more. They also unfurled banners at their concert reading “Reinstate Queer Programming” and “Creativity at the Kennedy Center Must Not Be Suppressed.” We’re going to ask you to stay after the show and record some more of your music. I thank you so much for being with us.
Democracy Now! is produced with Mike Burke, Renée Feltz, Deena Guzder, Messiah Rhodes, Nermeen Shaikh, María Taracena, Anjali Kamat, Tami Woronoff, Charina Nadura, Sam Alcoff, Tey-Marie Astudillo, John Hamilton, Robby Karran, Hany Massoud, Denis Moynihan, Safwat Nazzal. Our executive director is Julie Crosby. Special thanks to Becca Staley, Jon Randolph, Paul Powell, Mike Di Filippo, Miguel Nogueira. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González. Thank you.
