Over the summer, Donald Trump referred to an upcoming event at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and quickly added, “Some people refer to it as the Trump-Kennedy Center, but we’re not prepared to do that quite yet. Maybe in a week or so.”
As it turns out, it took a little longer than that. The Associated Press reported:
President Donald Trump’s handpicked board voted Thursday to rename Washington’s leading performing arts center as the Trump-Kennedy Center, the White House said.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced the vote on social media, saying it was because of the ‘unbelievable work President Trump has done over the last year in saving the building. Not only from the standpoint of its reconstruction, but also financially, and its reputation.’
This did not come out of nowhere. On the contrary, the president has spent months talking about this name change, online and in public, suggesting it was only a matter of time before Team Trump tried to formalize the Republican’s wishes.
But before anyone starts ordering new signage for the performing arts center in Washington, D.C., there are some relevant details to keep in mind.
First, Leavitt’s online statement made it sound as if the Kennedy Center’s board members were so moved by Trump’s extraordinary leadership that they felt compelled to rename the institution. What the press secretary neglected to mention is that the White House seized control of the Kennedy Center board of trustees earlier this year, at which point Trump appointed himself chair and started naming loyalists to leadership roles and purging its traditionally bipartisan board.
This change was made for Trump by Trump and his pals.
Second, there’s no reason to assume this is legal. Congress created the name for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and at no point did lawmakers delegate powers to the center’s board to rename the institution unilaterally.
Leavitt’s statement was an opening salvo, but there’s no reason to assume this is a done deal.
Stepping back, it’s worth appreciating the broader pattern. Last month, the White House said Trump wants a football stadium to be named after him. He also likes the idea of renaming Dulles Airport after him, and by some accounts, the president wants the upcoming White House ballroom to be named after him, too.
What’s more, this is the same president who wants his face on both sides of a commemorative legal-tender coin, and whose White House has made official inquiries into adding Trump to Mount Rushmore.








