An Editorial by Dawoud Kringle
Last April, I wrote an editorial about Donald Trump coopting and taking control of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (EDITORIAL: Trump and the Kennedy Center | DooBeeDooBeeDoo NY). The Kennedy Center was meant to be a cultural landmark honoring art, not Trump’s ego. There was no reason for him to have done this except to build or confiscate more monuments to his worthless legacy.
Now, he has taken it a step further. He slapped his name on it.
Earlier this month, White House press secretary / MAGA cheerleader Karoline Leavitt announced the news on social media, saying the Center board voted unanimously for the change: “Because of the unbelievable work President Trump has done over the last year in saving the building.” Shortly after the announcement, Ohio Democrat Rep. Joyce Beatty, an ex officio member of the board, refuted the claim that the vote was unanimous. 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.”
