Thread: The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center For The Performing Arts

Democracy Now: Trump & Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Controversy

https://www.democracynow.org/shows/2026/6/16

[36:22] Trump & Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Controversy

Credits:
Channel: Democracy Now
Published: 6/16/26

President Trump adds his own name to the Kennedy Center

https://www.npr.org/2025/12/18/nx-s1...e-change-trump

UPDATED DECEMBER 19, 2025
4:25 PM ET

HEARD ON MORNING EDITION


Andrew Limbong

3-Minute Listen

TRANSCRIPT


New signage, The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center For The Performing Arts, is unveiled on the Kennedy Center, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025, in Washington.

Jacquelyn Martin/AP

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts will now have a new name — the "Trump-Kennedy Center." White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced the news on social media Thursday, saying that the board of the center voted unanimously for the change, "Because of the unbelievable work President Trump has done over the last year in saving the building."

The website for the center has already been updated to reflect the change, and new signage on the building went up on Friday.

Shortly after the announcement on Thursday, Ohio Democrat Rep. Joyce Beatty, an ex-officio member of the board, refuted the claim that it was a unanimous vote. "Each time I tried to speak, I was muted," she said in a video posted to social media. "Participants were not allowed to voice their concern."

When asked about the call, Roma Daravi, vice president of public relations at the Kennedy Center, sent a statement reiterating the vote was unanimous: "The new Trump Kennedy Center reflects the unequivocal bipartisan support for America's cultural center for generations to come."

Other Democrats in Congress who are ex-officio members of the Kennedy Center Board, including Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries issued a statement stating that the president is renaming the institution "without legal authority."

"Federal law established the Center as a memorial to President Kennedy and prohibits changing its name without Congressional action," the statement reads.


CULTURE

Senate Democrats are investigating the Kennedy Center for 'cronyism, corruption'

Tributes, not politics, play center stage as Trump hosts the Kennedy Center Honors

Earlier this year, Trump installed himself as the chairman of the center, firing former president Deborah Rutter and ousting the previous board chair David Rubenstein, along with board members appointed by President Biden. He then appointed a new board, including second lady Usha Vance, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Fox News host Laura Ingraham and more.


PERFORMING ARTS

The Kennedy Center's history was marked by cooperation and independence — until now

Trump hinted at the name change earlier this month, when he took questions before becoming the first president to host the Kennedy Center Honors. He deferred to the board when asked directly about changing the name but said "we are saving the Kennedy Center."


CULTURE

Former Kennedy Center president refutes Trump's critique of 'bad management'

The president was mostly hands off with the Kennedy Center during his first term, as most presidents have been. But he's taking a special interest in it in his second term, touring the center and promising to weed out programming he doesn't approve of. His "One Big Beautiful Bill" included $257 million for the building's repairs and maintenance.

Originally, it was called The National Cultural Center. In 1964, two months after President Kennedy was assassinated, President Lyndon Johnson signed legislation authorizing funds to build what would become the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

CorrectionDec. 18, 2025

An earlier version of this story said President Lyndon Johnson signed Kennedy Center legislation in 1963. It was in 1964.

Kennedy Center removes Trump's name from the building

https://www.npr.org/2026/06/12/g-s1-...mp-name-remove

UPDATED JUNE 13, 2026
12:46 PM ET

By Fatima Al-Kassab, Frank Langfitt


A tarp covers the facade of the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, on June 13, 2026. Workers removed President Donald Trump's name from the facade of the building.

Alex Wroblewski/AFP via Getty Images

WASHINGTON - Workers have taken down President Donald Trump's name from the Kennedy Center, hours after a court-ordered Friday deadline to remove it from the building, and less than six months after it was first affixed to the iconic performing arts venue. The removal of the more than a dozen bronze letters followed a judge's ruling that the Center could not be renamed without Congressional approval.


NATIONAL

The many ways Trump wants to change D.C., from buildings to statues to parks

In a court filing, Kennedy Center Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer Charles Matthew Floca confirmedthat President Trump's name has been removed from the building façade, despite what Floca said were weather-related delays. References to Trump on the center's website are also gone.

Just a month into his second term, Trump ousted the Kennedy Center's president, board chair and board members, then replaced them with a group of trustees that soon named Trump as chairman. Soon after, the president's name was added to the building, so that it became, "The Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts."

The administration had on Friday asked a higher court to stay the ruling as it argued that Trump's name on the building had helped attract donors and was crucial to raising funds for the Kennedy Center's renovation.

"Without the name, "Trump" on the Building, our fundraising will not only come to a halt," the administration wrote in a court filing, "but any and all monies raised or committed would be obligated to be returned, refunded or terminated."


NATIONAL

Former Kennedy Center curator talks about the venue's future

An appeals court denied that request Friday night. Workers erected scaffolding on Friday around the section of the building where Trump's name had been added in December 2025. Then, in a pre-dawn operation, the laborers draped the scaffolding in tarpaulin, before removing the giant metallic letters. The Kennedy Center had asked a judge to briefly extend the deadline for this removal —because of Friday night thunderstorms forecast for Washington D.C.

Finally, with the scaffolding up, and tarpaulin covering their efforts, workers began to remove Trump's name. Hundreds of people braved the rain and thunderstorms overnight to document the take-down. Some heckled those involved for hiding the removal using tarpaulin – with shouts of "Cover up!" and "Cowards!"

Among the onlookers watching proceedings was Krystal Brewer, 40, who works for a social justice advocacy group. She said removing Trump's name was a way to enforce accountability, maintain government checks and balances, and reclaim a piece of Washington from a president who she said has tried to impose his stamp on the nation's capital. "It's about just not being able to do something just because you think you're the most powerful person and you can defy the courts," Brewer said.


Protestors wave a U.S. and signs as workers prepare to remove President Donald Trump's name from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, Saturday, June 13, 2026.

Cliff Owen/AP

Trump has recently overseen the controversial demolition of the White House's East Wing in favor of a giant ballroom, and ordered large banners of his face to hang from several federal buildings during his second term. "I wanted to see us get a part of our city back," said Brewer. "With all the things that he's trying to destroy and corrupt and taint and alter, it's nice to see a piece of it being restored."

Also among those gathered on the Center's plaza Friday was Rep. Joyce Beatty of Ohio, who initiated the lawsuit to remove Trump's name from the building. She wrote on social media that she had stood outside to watch, writing "No more stalling. It's time for Trump to obey the law."


PERFORMING ARTS

Trump's name must come off of the Kennedy Center, judge rules

Watching the tarps go up a little before 2 a.m., Saturday, another onlooker, 60-year-old nurse Mary Foltz, said it was a metaphor for the Trump administration.
"I think there's a lack of transparency — and that's just the epitome of it," Foltz said. "This is a meme."

• kennedy center
• donald trump