The Trump-Kennedy Center? No!
December 19, 2025 8:43pm
A lot of stupid decisions are made in Washington every day. And while the decision to rename the Kennedy Center may not be the worst decision of the day, it was certainly a stupid one.
In a unanimous vote yesterday, the Board of Trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts changed the center's name to "The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts." Why? Because the entire board was appointed by Trump, he serves as its chairman, and the sycophantic fealty of those MAGA trustees has no limits.
But is the name change legal? Via a joint resolution on January 7, 1964, Congress mandated that the National Cultural Center be named in honor of slain President John F. Kennedy. Therefore, only Congress can change the name. But the Board wasted no time changing the name on the building. Earlier today, the sign included the added Trump name. The sign's letters are not off-the-shelf stock from Home Depot. They were custom made, indicating the name change was a fait accompli long before yesterday's vote.
But with a few exceptions for acknowledging major donors, current law states that "no additional memorials or plaques in the nature of memorials shall be designated or installed in the public areas of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts." Unless the name change is not a "memorial" to Trump, the law's verbiage is pretty clear to me. Changing the name was a stupid - and probably illegal - action. But there is more to be said about it.
Sales of memberships have declined since Trump’s people took over governance of the center. Consultants have resigned. Theatrical productions have canceled their appearances. And artists have refused to perform there. That tells me those so-called "artists" are more concerned with their political activism than the performing arts; and that is disgraceful.
Lastly, I find it to be very hypocritical that the people crying the loudest about this name change are the same Leftist malcontents who, just a few years ago, demanded we change the names of cities, military bases, sports teams, consumer products, university buildings, streets, and more in pursuit of their self-righteous effort to replace America's history with their politically cleansed, woke versions.
As for me? I opposed all those name changes. I also opposed the name changes to "Gulf of America" and "Department of War." And I love the arts. Because "Earth" without art is just "eh."
NOTE: Don't give me credit for that last line. I heard it at an American Advertising Federation event more than twenty years ago.