As President Donald Trump and his hand-picked allies continue to assert their power over the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, it was announced that the institution would be renamed after Trump. However, that announcement is getting significant pushback, including by members of the Kennedy family, who are calling out Trump for dishonoring the late president and attempting to violate the law in changing the organization’s name.
Trump allies vote to add Trump’s name to the Kennedy Center
On Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced, “I have just been informed that the highly respected Board of the Kennedy Center, some of the most successful people from all parts of the world, have just voted unanimously to rename the Kennedy Center to the Trump-Kennedy Center, because of the unbelievable work President Trump has done over the last year in saving the building.”
Leavitt congratulated Trump and, oddly, also congratulated the late Kennedy, “because this will be a truly great team long into the future!
Trump responded to the news, telling reporters, “I was honored by it. The board is a very distinguished board — most distinguished people in the country. And I was surprised by it. I was honored by it. We saved the building.”
The notion that Trump was surprised by the name change decision seems unlikely, given that the president replaced much of the center’s board with loyalists and personally assumed control of many of the duties of the center, including the annual Kennedy Center Honors. The idea of renaming the center after Trump has been floated for some time, with Trump joking about the prospect in the past. But the decision by Trump’s allies is not the final word on the matter.
An Ohio congresswoman and the Kennedy family push back against the name change
Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty of Ohio, an ex officio member of the Kennedy Center board, pushed back against the narrative being pushed about the name change.
“For the record. This was not unanimous. I was muted on the call and not allowed to speak or voice my opposition to this move,” Beatty posted on X, formerly Twitter, noting that others were also silenced from raising objections during the call. “Also for the record, this was not on the agenda. This was not consensus. This is censorship.”
Members of the Kennedy family also pushed back against the name change, forcefully arguing that it’s both disrespectful and illegal. Former diplomat Joe Kennedy III, a nephew of Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and grandnephew of JFK, called out the center’s board for lacking the authority to rename the institution.
He posted on X, “The Kennedy Center is a living memorial to a fallen president and named for President Kennedy by federal law. It can no sooner be renamed than can someone rename the Lincoln Memorial, no matter what anyone says.”
Journalist Maria Shriver, the daughter of Sargent Shriver and Eunice Kennedy and niece of the former president, posted a long note blasting the name-changing move.
“The Kennedy Center was named after my uncle, President John F Kennedy. It was named in his honor. He was a man who was interested in the arts, interested in culture, interested in education, language, history,” Shriver stated. “It is beyond comprehension that this sitting president has sought to rename this great memorial dedicated to President Kennedy.” She speculated, “Next thing perhaps he will want to rename JFK Airport, rename the Lincoln Memorial, the Trump Lincoln Memorial. The Trump Jefferson Memorial. The Trump Smithsonian. The list goes on.”
She continued, “Can we not see what is happening here? C’mon, my fellow Americans! Wake up! This is not dignified. This is not funny. This is way beneath the stature of the job. It’s downright weird. It’s obsessive in a weird way. Just when you think somone can’t stoop any lower, down they go…”
The move by Trump’s allies to add the president’s name to the Kennedy Center is not surprising. It represents the latest example of Trump and his associates ignoring normal processes and even the will of Congress to aggrandize the president and push his agenda. While Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center has rapidly transformed the organization, this latest move is getting significant pushback from several circles, including members of the center’s board, the late president’s family and the plain text of the law that created the organization.